I first assessed my learning style here
Active or Reflective
Hmm: Somewhere in between but mostly Active. As a verbal person, talking about something, "doing something active with it" is my natural tendency. But when it comes to editing/writing I prefer to do it alone. A recent group editing session was particularly hard for me. Though that could have been because I was so tired from lesson planning and teaching/not eating enough.
Intuitive
Abstract, yes, math, no. Lab, not so much, but I'm happy to make connections and be tested on those things that I have not yet been explicitly taught. Though I have to admit, this was not the case in in Epi over the summer. Can I be an intuitive learner when it comes to abstract ideas and a sensing learner when it comes to Epi?
Verbal
I just have to be. It would be crazy if I wasn't. I REMEMBER visual learning tools very vividly. But I tend to skip, say a flow chart or a graph and read the accompanying text before I really engage with the visual representation. In last semester's census data analysis class, as I worked with the data in excel, I would create a table or a chart to analyze and eventually report what the data said, but only as I worked on a sentence to explain what I was seeing did it make real sense. Also, I talk. A lot. About what we're learning, what we just learned, etc. = Verbal, right?
Sequential
I might be a global learner as my study habits seem to fit the suggestions, but my gut says I am a sequential learner; and I think my experience with Epi over the summer was like that: i could do problem sets well enough, but it would take a few days after the assignment for me to truly understand what I had been doing with those problem sets.
How does understanding the diverse range of learning styles help you in your approach to teaching?
Reflect on any classes you’ve taken in which the professor or GSI’s approach to teaching did not match your learning style. What might they have done to better reach students with your learning style?
This just in! According to the online activity: I am:
a 9 on the Active scale
a 7 on the Intuitive scale
a 5 on the Verbal scale
a 5 on the Global scale
The Global is the only thing that surprises me, but truthfully, not so much.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
As promised, more to myself than to my vast blog audience, here I am addressing the topic of office hours again. I enjoyed the reading(s) on the subject and found that although the intended readers is faculty and more of the more professorial type, there were many lessons to be learned from Elaine S. Barry's "Using Office Hours Effectively"
Below I pull a few topics from the article and relate them to my experiences.
Communication
From the article: "Remember that what you say first will set the tone for the meeting, and what you say last the student will remember. Make sure to communicate clearly, listening to and understanding what the student says and making it easy for the student to listen to and understand you. Beware of one-way communication — some faculty are so busy making sure the student is listening to them that they forget to listen to the student!"
--in particular the "what you say first and last" reminder above is a good one for me moving forward. For the most part, the office hours have been of the "get-to-know each other" variety. But I try to end them with some substance; talking about paper topics, or relating students' interests back to city planning and the course material. Starting next week, this tip will be more useful as we'll be in one-on-one office hours and talking more seriously about paper topics as well as commentaries.
How to Give Praise and Criticism.
"Do not forget to point out the positives. Be sure to identify strengths and compliment the students’ abilities and successes. For the most effective feedback, provide specific, focused comments about the behavior, not the person. Start positive, describe the behavior and situation, give reasons for the criticism, and end with what you expect (Hanna et al., 2008). For example, “Your first draft was well done. Your sources were appropriate and you cited them correctly throughout. However, there were several places that were unclear and disorganized with some repetition of ideas. This left me wondering what the main point of the paper was. Your paper will be much more clear if you reorganize it and take out the repetition.”
--I've employed a bit of the above in my responses to the weekly commentaries. I ALWAYS start with a positive comment; while this seems obvious, I also know from experience that the feedback I have received from GSI's and profs has started with or at least included the good, making me much more likely to be able to read the "bad" and be able to see the room for improvement.
This is another tip that I will keep in mind as we move to more one-on-one meetings.
Back to my own experience — yes, this blog very teacher-focused, but perhaps this outlet allows me to be more student-focused in section and office hours! One can hope!) I find that at the graduate level I haven't gotten enough constructive criticism in order to improve my writing and overall performance. I hope that by giving each student a suggestion or more (following a compliment on student ability, success, etc.) those who want to, can work to improve the quality of the assignments they turn in. At minimum, (when necessary) I provide a tip or two about engaging with the material so that each student can be better prepared for the midterm and final paper.
I think I have a defensive student in the making:
The article suggests: Be sure to discuss the student’s behavior or performance, not the student’s personal attributes (ex. “We need to work on your writing skills” rather than “you are not a good writer”). See “how to give praise and criticism” below.
The student in question was quite vocal in section and even lecture at first, but has in week 3 turned in a commentary calling the class, readings and professor biased, saying that none of the previously mentioned belong in the department or the field of city planning. Rather than respond directly to the student's assertions about bias and content I initially complimented the student on his engagement with the material, his passionate response to it and his improvement over the course of 3 assignments -- he turned in two assignments in week 2 and met with me as he has a pre-thesis class that has deadlines he needs to meet plans to use the paper in this class to satisfy those requirements. I also pointed out that the student was making assertions without necessary providing evidence, needs to continue to work on sentence structure and verb tense agreement, and I invited him to do more research about the department, the field the professor who is teaching the class and the author that he was attacking.
He has been much quieter in lecture and in section. I hope that he will engage more this week in section and I intend solicit his input in as indirect a way as possible. We'll have to meet again within the next week or two, so I can check in better face to face. As well, this and last week's lecture material were likely to have inspired a similar reaction in him BUT the professor has begun to make the case for why this material is relevant and necessary for those interested in working with urban communities. AND the task of the GSI this week is to continue to make that case. I look forward to seeing his next commentary! (Kind of... No, I do, but I have to admit the idea of not being able to have a real dialogue with students like him makes my heart rate go WAY up and makes me ponder just what it means to me to "teach." Hmmm, more to chew on.
Why do I think he will be defensive? I might be getting ahead of myself. Let's see what his commentary this week looks like...
Below I pull a few topics from the article and relate them to my experiences.
Communication
From the article: "Remember that what you say first will set the tone for the meeting, and what you say last the student will remember. Make sure to communicate clearly, listening to and understanding what the student says and making it easy for the student to listen to and understand you. Beware of one-way communication — some faculty are so busy making sure the student is listening to them that they forget to listen to the student!"
--in particular the "what you say first and last" reminder above is a good one for me moving forward. For the most part, the office hours have been of the "get-to-know each other" variety. But I try to end them with some substance; talking about paper topics, or relating students' interests back to city planning and the course material. Starting next week, this tip will be more useful as we'll be in one-on-one office hours and talking more seriously about paper topics as well as commentaries.
How to Give Praise and Criticism.
"Do not forget to point out the positives. Be sure to identify strengths and compliment the students’ abilities and successes. For the most effective feedback, provide specific, focused comments about the behavior, not the person. Start positive, describe the behavior and situation, give reasons for the criticism, and end with what you expect (Hanna et al., 2008). For example, “Your first draft was well done. Your sources were appropriate and you cited them correctly throughout. However, there were several places that were unclear and disorganized with some repetition of ideas. This left me wondering what the main point of the paper was. Your paper will be much more clear if you reorganize it and take out the repetition.”
--I've employed a bit of the above in my responses to the weekly commentaries. I ALWAYS start with a positive comment; while this seems obvious, I also know from experience that the feedback I have received from GSI's and profs has started with or at least included the good, making me much more likely to be able to read the "bad" and be able to see the room for improvement.
This is another tip that I will keep in mind as we move to more one-on-one meetings.
Back to my own experience — yes, this blog very teacher-focused, but perhaps this outlet allows me to be more student-focused in section and office hours! One can hope!) I find that at the graduate level I haven't gotten enough constructive criticism in order to improve my writing and overall performance. I hope that by giving each student a suggestion or more (following a compliment on student ability, success, etc.) those who want to, can work to improve the quality of the assignments they turn in. At minimum, (when necessary) I provide a tip or two about engaging with the material so that each student can be better prepared for the midterm and final paper.
I think I have a defensive student in the making:
The article suggests: Be sure to discuss the student’s behavior or performance, not the student’s personal attributes (ex. “We need to work on your writing skills” rather than “you are not a good writer”). See “how to give praise and criticism” below.
The student in question was quite vocal in section and even lecture at first, but has in week 3 turned in a commentary calling the class, readings and professor biased, saying that none of the previously mentioned belong in the department or the field of city planning. Rather than respond directly to the student's assertions about bias and content I initially complimented the student on his engagement with the material, his passionate response to it and his improvement over the course of 3 assignments -- he turned in two assignments in week 2 and met with me as he has a pre-thesis class that has deadlines he needs to meet plans to use the paper in this class to satisfy those requirements. I also pointed out that the student was making assertions without necessary providing evidence, needs to continue to work on sentence structure and verb tense agreement, and I invited him to do more research about the department, the field the professor who is teaching the class and the author that he was attacking.
He has been much quieter in lecture and in section. I hope that he will engage more this week in section and I intend solicit his input in as indirect a way as possible. We'll have to meet again within the next week or two, so I can check in better face to face. As well, this and last week's lecture material were likely to have inspired a similar reaction in him BUT the professor has begun to make the case for why this material is relevant and necessary for those interested in working with urban communities. AND the task of the GSI this week is to continue to make that case. I look forward to seeing his next commentary! (Kind of... No, I do, but I have to admit the idea of not being able to have a real dialogue with students like him makes my heart rate go WAY up and makes me ponder just what it means to me to "teach." Hmmm, more to chew on.
Why do I think he will be defensive? I might be getting ahead of myself. Let's see what his commentary this week looks like...
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Office hours
I am following the advice of a number of experienced GSI's and demanding that students take advantage of my office hours at least twice: First to meet in a group of 2 - 4 in order to get to know each other a bit better; and second to retrieve their paper topic with comments from me.
At first I was a bit anxious about demanding the two visits. What if they don't want to get to know me/each other or want me to get to know them? What if they ask me questions I can't answer (about the course) etc. Will I really penalize them if they don't satisfy this requirement?
Most of that anxiety has gone away. Here is an example of a student's response to my asking her to schedule an office hour visit separate from her boyfriend (she tends to do the talking for the two of them).
"The last time I was in a section where we were encouraged to get to know
each other was my first semester here! Thanks for the reminder, I moved
myself to the 2:20 appointment."
We had a nice meeting and she used her talkativeness to interact with a much quieter, shier foreign student by asking him questions about himself.
Overall: I have really enjoyed the get-to-know each other meetings -- and it seems the students do as well. True, I have made myself much more available that I expected to (regular office hours follow section, a time that all students report they can attend), adding an hour or two the last two weeks, but it's been worth it. I remember the students names, they have made some great connections with each other during our get-to-knows, and for the most part, those who have met with me are more willing to speak up in class.
The only complication thus far has been a student who has spend more than 30 minutes now with me (over 2.5 office hour slots.) He waits until he can speak to me alone and wants to discuss far more than simply class. Yesterday I had to explain to him that no, we can't hang out, that yes, we can talk during office hours, and that yes, I have certain obligations to maintain my role as GSI. I also had to ask him to refer to women in different language while in my presence. He's a very confident, somewhat manic, intelligent student who seems accustomed to getting the attention he wants. He's yet to turn in an assignment (8 commentaries over the course of the semester) and he doesn't speak up in class. I asked him directly about the above (his class performance is in contrast to his confident, knowledgeable demeanor in office hours) and he admitted to being "behind" on the readings. I offered him some tips to get caught up and told him that I expect a commentary from him this week, etc. Tips include:- forming a reading group
- identifying one reading for the week to respond to in the commentary, and as he crafts his response attempt to connect it to lecture or another reading, but not to feel overwhelmed by being required to make the connection; rather, to allow his curiosity to make the assignment fun.
- consider the commentaries as preparing him for the midterm and final paper
- he's excited about his paper topic, so that can be a source of motivation/inspiration
Want to read a blog about office hours? Click here.
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