Monday, March 29, 2010
Exciting Times!
For a new Ph.D., anyway. Two on-campus interviews in the last two weeks--more on that as things unfold--and someone anonymously (and successfully) nominated me for an "Outstanding Teaching Award"! Life is good!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Yes, Virginia, I'm still alive, OR, The Love of Teaching
My word! How the time can slip by! The job hunt has stolen my precious blogging hours for over a week! How could I be so remiss? (Answer: job hunt, teaching, research, service, career dev...)
Not to worry, though. What this post lacks in quantity, it makes up for in practicality. Yes, I am including a link to the work of a man who revolutionized my teaching. (For the better.) L. Dee Fink's Creating Significant Learning Experiences transformed my classroom experience from something I really liked to something I really love. (My students love it, too--student evals have gone from decent to fabulous since I implemented Fink's ideas.) Fink also posts a condensed version of his book for free on the Net.
I'll just share two of the most useful ideas I found in his work. (Since he makes them available for free, I don't think I'm cutting into his profit margins--indeed, I encourage you to buy, beg, or borrow Creating if you can. No, I don't get a share of the profits.)
The taxonomy of significant learning goals: These are learning goals that motivate students by showing the broader import of what they are studying. In addition to the usual concepts and skills that teachers hope to inculcate, Fink lists four categories:
Only Friday several of my students complained that they disliked their Organic Chemistry course precisely because it failed to meet this goal: "Where on Earth are we ever going to use this material again?" they lamented. I don't know Orgo, so I couldn't help them. When I ask students to write short papers integrating course material with other areas of their lives, however, they generally love it. And I get great papers back, which makes grading a pleasure(!).
Human: How does what we are studying/doing in this course help us understand human nature better? Or ourselves? Or those different from us?
Can you believe I actually managed to work this into my freshman comp course?
Caring: What sorts of values should we share upon leaving this course? What kinds of emotions or feelings should we experience?
I confess that this is the hardest one for me to implement--but also the most important, for if we reach students' hearts there is nothing they will not do for us.
Metalearning: Fink calls this "Learning about learning", but I found this a mouthful; so I use the term metalearning. (As a recent job interviewer said to me, however, "And 'metalearning' is not a mouthful?") This means using the class as an opportunity to help students become better learners. In my comp class last Fall, I used the theme "Self-Education"--a metalearning concept--as the subject matter of our course. Students loved it! Not only did they get to learn strategies applicable to their entire college career (and life-long learning) but they got to think through and respond to actual pedagogical texts.
The other major benefit I learned from Fink is simply in what order to design the different elements of a course. Fink suggests that one plan in the following order: first goals, then assessments, then activities, and finally a plan for the semester. It's that simply, but it makes my courses a heck of a lot more coherent. And students respect this. Which only makes sense, inasmuch as I do it partially to show respect for them.
So if you love teaching, or at least want to love it, I encourage you check out the Fink for yourself. Happy teaching! :-)
Not to worry, though. What this post lacks in quantity, it makes up for in practicality. Yes, I am including a link to the work of a man who revolutionized my teaching. (For the better.) L. Dee Fink's Creating Significant Learning Experiences transformed my classroom experience from something I really liked to something I really love. (My students love it, too--student evals have gone from decent to fabulous since I implemented Fink's ideas.) Fink also posts a condensed version of his book for free on the Net.
I'll just share two of the most useful ideas I found in his work. (Since he makes them available for free, I don't think I'm cutting into his profit margins--indeed, I encourage you to buy, beg, or borrow Creating if you can. No, I don't get a share of the profits.)
The taxonomy of significant learning goals: These are learning goals that motivate students by showing the broader import of what they are studying. In addition to the usual concepts and skills that teachers hope to inculcate, Fink lists four categories:
- Integration
- Human
- Caring
- Metalearning
Only Friday several of my students complained that they disliked their Organic Chemistry course precisely because it failed to meet this goal: "Where on Earth are we ever going to use this material again?" they lamented. I don't know Orgo, so I couldn't help them. When I ask students to write short papers integrating course material with other areas of their lives, however, they generally love it. And I get great papers back, which makes grading a pleasure(!).
Human: How does what we are studying/doing in this course help us understand human nature better? Or ourselves? Or those different from us?
Can you believe I actually managed to work this into my freshman comp course?
Caring: What sorts of values should we share upon leaving this course? What kinds of emotions or feelings should we experience?
I confess that this is the hardest one for me to implement--but also the most important, for if we reach students' hearts there is nothing they will not do for us.
Metalearning: Fink calls this "Learning about learning", but I found this a mouthful; so I use the term metalearning. (As a recent job interviewer said to me, however, "And 'metalearning' is not a mouthful?") This means using the class as an opportunity to help students become better learners. In my comp class last Fall, I used the theme "Self-Education"--a metalearning concept--as the subject matter of our course. Students loved it! Not only did they get to learn strategies applicable to their entire college career (and life-long learning) but they got to think through and respond to actual pedagogical texts.
The other major benefit I learned from Fink is simply in what order to design the different elements of a course. Fink suggests that one plan in the following order: first goals, then assessments, then activities, and finally a plan for the semester. It's that simply, but it makes my courses a heck of a lot more coherent. And students respect this. Which only makes sense, inasmuch as I do it partially to show respect for them.
So if you love teaching, or at least want to love it, I encourage you check out the Fink for yourself. Happy teaching! :-)
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