Last semester was a banner term! Concerns about COVID didn't seem to dominate the year as they have in the past couple of years. Student seemed ready to be back in the classroom and engaged with the material. Sure, I had a few grumbles about the amount of homework that I give and the hours students spend writing, but overall this semester was pretty grand.
Looking back on the term, one of the challenges I noted to be a time-consumer had been the shifting policies surrounding COVID. Another challenge has been shifting classroom climates, technologies, and rapidly changing curriculum to adapt to media and social changes surrounding professional writing expectations. Despite these challenges, I have found that some of things are working in my favor, and I am planning to expand on them in the coming semester.
One of the things that I tried this year was talking to students about what kinds of activities they are interested in before selecting an in class activity for practice. Since I'm a veteran teacher, I have an arsenal of tools in my toolbox, and focusing my lessons on activities students are interested in performing just sounded...well... logical to me. OK, arsenal isn't probably the best word to use, but in the grand scheme of my vernacular tools, it's what I've got. When I was in college, many of the teachers talked about plan B's. I have planned C's, plan D's, plan E's, plan F's, plan geez...so many different plans! In any case I have a lot of possible options for teaching one thing period giving students options gives them a little more control of their learning. Students are invested, and I found I was not only not inconvenienced, but I spent less time planning and more time doing activities with my students. I had fun!
Another thing that I tried this year was having students metacognitively express how they were applying theories and concepts they were learning to practical situations. Education has come a long way from rote learning and memorization, so I can't ignore the practicality of strategies that help students think critically and use problem solving to figure out how to apply what they have learned in real world contexts (and how to object to a proposed solution respectfully instead of something like "Why would you do that?"). Some people might argue that since I work in a college that caters to trade industries this is a more relevant approach, but I argue that this is true across the disciplines and across the curriculum. Students should learn to think and talk about what they are learning.
How does that help me look beyond? In the coming term, what worked will be used again--with some new and (hopefully) improved options! I'd like to pull some more tricks out of my sleeve. One of the things that I want to spend more time doing is engaging with my students using mediated technology. Many of my students like the accessibility of brief tutorials. I mean brief like Tik Tok brief. 1 minute; no more. Anything over a minute seems to lose their attention, and while I'd like to blame the TT, I've also gone down this particularly technology rabbit hole and lost myself in wonderland. Fortunately, I have not been late for any very important dates, but if I can turn a massive Tik Tok time suck into learning, my students gain.
I've found a few favorite medias, and I try to be intentional about what I focus on. For instance, I use Flipgrid for out of class discussions. This is a great way for students to have group discussions and bring findings back to class. I also like Tik Tok for what to/not to do in an interview reels. Some students posted iMovies of their kindness projects. I'm not sure how they felt about making them, but I had a blast watching them!
Whatever the new year brings, I am being intentional about making learning more...curious? Exploratory? Adventurous?
Happy new year!
Best,
Michelle
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