As
anyone knows who has read this blog for long, I believe in communicating with
my students. I email them A LOT to (a) convey
information, (b) provide encouragement, (c) point out things I want done
better, and (d) provide hints and suggestions for success. A good friend of mine, Steve Markoff at
Montclair State, passed along an email that he had sent to his students
recently. It seemed so much like what I
might have done that I asked Steve for permission to pass it along to you. This is the kind of advice that helps students do well for you.
Notice
that his suggestions do not drop in for no apparent reason. They are not random. He ties them to New Year’s resolutions. I like having suggestions tied to a
reason. We are into February. To convey this same email now, I might do so right after our first test with a note,
“Here is something to think about as you review your first test.” It is important to realize that there are really great times to convey
suggestions—times when students are more likely to pay serious attention. Figure out when your students are open to
advice and pass some along to them. Steve did it right at the start of the semester. I might have used the first test for the same purpose.
(I
must state that my favorite part of this email is Steve’s section titled
“Embrace Struggle” and the comment about learning to walk. I guarantee – I will steal that idea. It made sense to me and it will make sense to
my students.)
***
From
Professor Markoff – an email to his students.
I
have resolutions – teaching resolutions.
At the start of each year, I make a list of 3-5 things that I am
committed to doing that will make me a better teacher in the semesters that
follow. I write them out, determine how
I am going to measure how I am doing at them, and make a determined effort to
improve in these key areas.
I’m
thinking that most of you could use some resolutions – student resolutions –
things that you can do to make yourself a more effective student.
So,
allow me to suggest a few. Specifically
5. These 5 are geared toward my class,
but I can tell you that if you make progress on these, not only will they help
you in my class, they will help you with all of your classes and outside of
class as well. These are in no
particular order.
Come out of your “learning comfort zone”
We
all have preferred ways of learning, and that’s good. However, when you shut
down and are closed minded to teaching that is being done in a different way,
that’s not good. Too often, after a
student obtains a subpar grade in a course, they will blame it on the
instructor and how that person taught.
As you move forward in your education, you will find professors with
various teaching styles. Also, some are
plainly better instructors than others.
You have to deal with it either way, and your attitude will go a long
way toward determining how well you adapt.
The same is true in the work world with managing or supervising styles. You have to learn to work and be effective
with all types.
In
my class, ALL of you will have to adapt, as my teaching style is one which none
of you have seen before, and you will not see it again here at MSU, except for
me. Your ability to achieve will be
directly correlated with how well you can adapt and work with this system. And that depends on your attitude.
Embrace struggle
Can
you walk? Yes YOU. Do you consider yourself good at
walking? I bet you go days or even weeks
without stumbling or falling. I bet I
have some of the world’s best walkers right here at MSU. Did anyone teach you how to walk? Did your parents show you a PowerPoint and
give you a lecture? “Here Bobby, today’s
lesson is how to walk. First, position
your feet together as shown on the slide.
Then start to transfer your weight onto you left foot and then gradually
toward the front of the foot as shown on the Exhibit. Meanwhile, your right hand should start
moving forward ever so slowly for balance, etc. etc.”
Have
you had the chance to be around a toddler trying to learn how to walk? Hard to watch isn’t it? They keep falling and falling and stumbling
and fumbling. It looks like they are
never going to get it. And nobody gives
them a lecture and PowerPoint. There are
no office hours. They just carefully
watch everyone around them and start to mimic.
If they fall, so what. They start
again. And again. And again.
Finally they get it. That’s
effective learning. When it’s learned,
it’s really learned. It’s not forgotten.
In
my class, I am going to assign problems. Some easier than others. Some downright hard. I am going to ask
questions in class. Tough
questions. Why? Well, first of all, if all I did was ask
questions that were easy for you guys to answer, then you wouldn’t need
me. Same with the homework – we wouldn’t
need the course. It is through the
struggle that you will develop the skills to tackle tough questions, just like
the toddler learns to walk by falling.
When the learning does come, it is much more permanent and valuable.
Mindfulness & Awareness
I
see a lot of students whose bodies are physically in class, but I can see that
their minds are clearly somewhere else.
Maybe it’s something happening at home.
Perhaps it’s another class on your mind.
An issue with a boyfriend or girlfriend.
Whatever. All of these things
compete for your attention, but we only have 75 minutes together for a class
and need to accomplish certain things. If you are going to get the benefits of
class, you must be there 100%. That
means you must turn off ALL other distractions and focus. That is one reason I do not permit laptops in
the class. When I ask someone a question
and they ask me to repeat it – I know that their body might be there, but they
are NOT really there.
Now
some people want to pay attention when I ask THEM a question, but pay less
attention when I am questioning others, which happens to be most of the
time. With my method of teaching, most
of the benefit comes from you observing the exchange between myself and other
students. This is how you learn NOT just
from the book, or from ME, but from OTHERS as well.
It’s
only 75 minutes. Be THERE. You want me to be there for you when you need
me? Sure. Be there for me when I need you.
Say goodbye to embarrassment
I
play flute. The first time I played at a
recital in front of others, I went to play the first note and NOTHING CAME
OUT. Ooops. Embarrassment city. Guess what?
I did NOT lose my membership card to the human race. I am still here. I still play flute. In fact, when I got done, everyone clapped
and gave me a standing ovation. It felt
great.
I
ask tough questions in class. Some
people hide along the edges and corners or in the back of the room hoping I
won’t ask them any. Some people don’t
want to feel embarrassed by giving a wrong answer in front of their
classmates. Let me tell you 2
secrets. Secret #1: I don’t care whether you are right or
wrong. I only care that you are 100%
prepared and can engage in the process.
Secret #2: Most of the people who
you are worried about probably have an even worse answer than you! When you give an answer that shows me that
you aren’t prepared, however, you are letting both myself and the team down –
and THAT I don’t want or expect.
The
reason I don’t mind wrong answers is related to what I mentioned above about
struggling. As a group, wrong answers
allow us more opportunities to explore the steps and theory behind the correct
answers. They allow us to figure out
TOGETHER why they are not correct or complete.
Some of my least effective classes have been ones where I got a high
percentage of correct answers – because I wasn’t asking the right questions and
forcing people to challenge themselves.
Be
prepared. Answer. Get out of your comfort zone. Question other
people’s answers. If someone says
something you don’t agree with, challenge them.
Be brave. Really, nobody gives a
darn whether you are right.
Have a sense of humor
Last
but not least – relax and don’t take yourself that seriously. Take life seriously. Take your education seriously. But don’t take YOURSELF that seriously. It creates excess stress and it lessens your
ability to think creatively and solve problems.
You
will find that the better prepared you are for class, the less stress you will
have worrying about me calling you and the more “THERE “you will be. The more MINDFUL you will be. The more AWARE you will be of what is going
on around you. The BETTER you will be at
expressing your ideas, The EASIER it will
be to come out of your comfort zone, and the MORE SMOOTHLY you will be able to
embrace challenges and struggles.
****
Will
all of your students listen to such advice?
Of course not, they are college students. I usually apply my rule of thirds: 1/3 of the students will pay close attention, 1/3 will pay
some attention, and 1/3 will wonder why you are bothering them.
However,
over time, if you keep giving good advice (and the above is excellent advice),
the words and thoughts will sneak beyond the students’ defense system and begin to
slip into their brain. By the end of the
semester, most of them (maybe not all but most of them) will be considerably better students because you (yes, YOU) took
the time to give them some darn good suggestions. Communicate!!!
