One Teacher’s Year in Review
With a little distance between the school year and me, I’m trying to reflect on what went well and what still needs work. This was an important year for me; as I think I’ve mentioned, the contrasts between what I was learning and advocating in my education-related coursework and what I was doing in the classroom became very vivid. As a result, I had something of a crisis of confidence, but I think that when I fought through that I gained some resolve and some inspiration to do things better.
Going back over the year in review, here are some of the things I’m thinking about and where I want to go in the future:
Classroom Layout: I’ve always taken the path of least resistance here and stuck with the traditional rows. This spring I gave students the choice and except for a few weeks in one section, everyone also wanted to just stick with the way the desks were laid out when we walked in. But those couple of weeks have me convinced that next year I should dictate that we rearrange the desks into a circle. It does raise some potential issues with seeing the board, but it does so much to encourage students to engage each other and not just me. And I think it’s a psychological reinforcement of the idea that participation is valued.
Participation Grading: This was a major shift. I’ve always encouraged my students to ask questions and participate, but I don’t think I was structuring enough opportunities for them to do so into the course. So I added a specific participation credit to the course, and allowed students to earn credit for participation in three different ways. They could speak up in class, to ask or answer questions. They could post responses to the discussion questions I provided for each reading in course’s online discussion forum. Or they could complete journal entries in class, where I would ask them to take ten to fifteen minutes to reflect on a question or problem related to whatever we were studying. This adds a layer of record-keeping and commenting that I don’t think I was completely ready for, but it’s definitely worth it. What I need to do, though, is make the journals and online postings a two-way process, and ask the kind of follow-ups that I would ask as part of a class discussion. Again, that’s a lot of work, but I need to build it into my schedule that this is what I’m going to do. Different paths to participation can help students who might not feel comfortable in verbal discussion, but it’s on me to make sure those different paths are all robust.
Reading Guides and Discussion Questions: I used to provide review sheets near the midterm and final to help students with their studying. This year, I decided to switch things around and provide the review sheets from the get-go. One of my initial reservations about doing so is that some students might just look at the review sheets and not bother reading the text. But if I’m honest with myself, I know that many of those students won’t read the text anyway. And that’s not to say that they’re lazy or unmotivated. Reading philosophical texts, many of which are translated and use centuries-old grammar and style, can be a tough slog, and some students are going to decide that the effort/reward ratio is higher if they just come to the class and ask questions there. But if I give students the review guides, along with a list of key questions to tell them what they should be looking for in the text, the slog might seem more manageable.
Along with the these three elements, I’m continuing to work on my own organizational skills. I have a hunch that my “2040 in Review� post to the HoloWeb will conclude with a similar statement.
About Dave Thomer
Born and raised in Philadelphia. Studied philosophy at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I made many great friends and met my wonderful wife. We moved back to Philadelphia, where I studied philosophy some more and became a teacher. Online and off, I'm looking for ways that we can be better citizens and build stronger communities.