“I'll be right back,” our two year-old said, in the middle of our Finding Dory movie night. I asked her where she was going.

“I'm going to get my blanket to put down on the couch, Mommy,” she replied. I watched her go, thankful for the seasons in which our kids have been able to gain more agency in their lives. As their language and motor skills develop, they're able to seek their own paths more.

She carefully placed the blanket down on the couch, climbed up and sat down, with the most satisfactory expression on her face.

“It's better for my butt, Mommy,” she said with delight.

I'm thankful for tonight's distraction of Finding Dory and “better butts,” but I'm feeling less-than-delightful this evening. My heart is broken for so many in our country who believe their own agency will now be diminished, under a new president.

Because that wasn't enough to process, I also have a loved one who is starting to show signs of cognitive decline. This has been a week of appointments to attempt to capture whatever we can in designing a long-term plan for care.

I keep attempting to channel my inner Kerry Moore during this season. I occasionally have moments of success at it, but mostly I keep trying to control the universe of this situation far more than will ever be feasible.

While some have criticized movies like Inside Out for being unrealistic, I'm taking all kinds of comfort that Dori is able to navigate her world so well. I cling to the hope that it might be the case for my loved one, for as long as is possible.

I had been asked to participate in a post-election dialog by a student-led group a few weeks prior to the election. My first inclination had been to politely decline the invitation. However, I decided that this was no time to avoid risk and to remain comfortably distant.

My acceptance came when I thought I knew who our president would be… Tuesday's election results were a complete surprise to me and I know I wasn't alone in that.

The night of the panel, I was emotionally raw and had no idea how I had come across. The room was filled with teary-eyed students, along with others whose expressions I could not read. I knew at least one student in attendance, who I hold dear, had voted for the president elect (or at least had said she would during our most recent conversation about the topic, prior to the election).

It was painfully difficult to try to balance my desire to express the reasons for the raw emotions so many are feeling, while trying not to demonize those who had voted for the president elect. Afterward, I channeled my inner Shelia Heen (co-author of Thanks for the feedback: The science and art of receiving feedback well) and privately sought input on how I had come across.

“What's the one thing I did during the conversation that held me back from being as influential as I wanted to be?” I asked of two of my students who stayed after the panel.

Both students were very gracious about the impact I did make, but had a suggestion for how I could have been better. I had gotten choked up while talking about how I didn't want to explain to my kids what certain words meant, when the leader of our country was speaking on television. However, one of the students said this didn't really resonate with her, not having kids.

They indicated that I could have been even more effective if I had brought up issues closer to their concerns, as college students. While I had addressed the concerns over those who could potentially lose their healthcare, with a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, most of our students are on their parents' health plans and are also incredibly healthy. I completely agreed with their critique and know that I need to become more well-versed on college affordability and accessibility.

One expert I know I will benefit from in this quest is Sara Goldrick-Rab, author of the book Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream. Angela Jenks has shared on the podcast about her perspective-taking as it relates to knowing the price of our assigned textbooks. It is easy for us to lose touch with what it is like to attend college from a financial perspective, for our students.

I need to get better. I need to be better. My students deserve better than my current level of knowledge on an issue that has such a clear impact on their lives. Especially the most vulnerable of them…

I'm incredibly grateful that I'm not alone in wanting to do this work. Sean Michael Morris and Jesse Stommel challenged us this week:

Champion each other. The fight we need will be started with hugs not assault rifles. Don’t be afraid to use the word “love” in your pedagogy.”

May we all have loving our students at the centerpiece of our teaching. Thank you for reading this post. It has been the hardest one to write that I can remember.

There's a lot of talk at my institution about course evaluations right now, since we are moving ours online and also changing the questions that students are asked.

My conversation about course evaluations with Betsy Barre is still rattling around in my head. She has written a fabulous post about whether or not course evaluations really deserve an “F”, which is totally worth a read. This course evaluation literature review compiled by Betsy is also a terrific resource.

Try not to get too lost in this interactive tool for looking at the gendered language that exists on RateMyProfessor.com. Try not to get too depressed by these warnings about response rates going down, once you move evaluations online, not to mention these cautionary tales about these surveys not actually measuring teaching effectiveness.

I'm thankful that there are pioneers out there, trying to do something that gets closer to evaluating what we truly want to assess. Those who “teach out loud” like Ken Bauer and Doug Kee also inspire me, since if we reflect on and share our teaching successes and failures, we seem that much more likely to continue to get better over time.

Mid-semester Feedback

Next week, we cross over the half-way mark in our semester. I spent about five minutes during class on Monday gathering feedback from students, about ten minutes compiling the input into a Word document, and another five minutes in class today sharing the document with them.

Getting Input

I asked my class to take out a sheet of paper and divide it into three columns. At the top of the columns, I asked them to write: start – stop – keep.

Then, I asked them to divide the page into three rows: one for self, one for the class, and one related to the professor.

Consolidating the Feedback

In Microsoft Word, I created the same row/column structure I had asked the students to create on their pages and then typed in their feedback. If they had similar feedback, I combined them and indicated in parenthesis how many other students had the same feedback.

I highlighted in yellow those comments that a large percentage of them had in common. I also highlighted in blue, those things that were stated by one or two people who may be missing key aspects of the class (e.g. the two people who wished there were some sample essay questions they could have, in advance of the exam, when in fact I give them sample essay questions an average of twice a week). I wanted to be sure to take the opportunity to share even more about how the class structure is built to help them do well on assignments and exams.

Sharing with the Class

If we're going to spend class time asking for feedback, it is important to let the class know what you took away from the input and any changes you plan on making.

In my class, I shared that for the self-reflection, students seem to most want to start studying early/more, stop procrastinating, and keep coming to class consistently. The class seemed to want to be building more of a community together and there were patterns about bringing some type of food to class (we meet at noon), and a few random ideas about outside class events they may decide to hold. Finally, students expressed a desire for me to start holding more review sessions outside of class and to keep reviewing through retrieval practice-oriented games and other in-class exercises.

Getting the Most Out of Mid-Semester Feedback

I will admit to being sometimes reluctant to do mid-semester feedback. If you have tried it before, you may have even inadvertently conditioned yourself out of doing it more often, since it doesn't always bring out the most positive or helpful of feedback.

However, my approach is to keep the time invested to a minimum, but still be sure to obtain valuable feedback about the aspects of my class that I may not be able to see. Also, the method I described above helps my students grow their metacognition skills, since they're also reflecting on what they want to start, stop, and keep doing.

Here are a few other ways to get the most value out of mid-semester feedback:

• Avoid feeling like you have to react or even respond to every suggested change. Focus, instead, on patterns that emerge in the feedback.
• Be sure to circle back with the students about what you observed through the feedback and any changes you plan on making as a result. Sometimes, faculty do the start, stop, keep in class as a group, which can work, but could potentially leave you wondering how the less vocal people are experiencing your class.
• Thank the students for their feedback and let them know how important it is to you always continuing to make your own teaching grow and develop, just like you'll hope they commit to being lifelong learners in their own lives.

Have you completed any mid-semester feedback yet? If so, what have you discovered?

 

I'm one of those people who almost always has a soundtrack playing in my head. Sharing music with my students is something I've always enjoyed.

I've now found there to be benefits that I never expected through this process.

Reach Out to Struggling Students

After I set up my equipment for a class, I tend to go sit somewhere in the classroom toward the back. I often find this to be a good way to connect very casually with a student who hasn't been completing assignments, or who did poorly on a recent test.

It doesn't have to be a big formal thing. We can just both enjoy the song. Most often, the student will bring up their difficulties with me, before I even address the topic.

Change the Mood

As some of you might remember, I sometimes teach three sections of the same class in a semester. I still marvel at how different classes can take on such different personalities.

I find it helpful to use music to bring more energy into a room. Or, there are those times when we really all need to settle down and center ourselves a bit, and the right tune will help us to do that.

Expand Musical Repertoire

Before streaming music services existed, students used to get a kick out of how large and how diverse my song collection was. They liked to play deejay before class and would help me rediscover artists I had forgotten about.

Today, it's less about pulling songs from my music and more about being introduced to artists who are new to me. It always seems like a turning point in a class when a student recommends new music to me.

My Playlist

Here are a few songs that you’ll hear, if you stop by my classroom this semester:

• Build Me Up Buttercup
• I Wish
• Get On the Boat
• In the Light
• I Love Me
• Try Everything
• Wade in the Water
• I Feel Good
• Don’t You Worry ‘bout a Thing
• Sit Tight
• Farther Up the Road

Your Turn

What are you listening to in your classroom this semester?

I'm one of those people who almost always has a soundtrack playing in my head. Sharing music with my students is something I've always enjoyed.

I've now found there to be benefits that I never expected through this process.

Reach Out to Struggling Students

After I set up my equipment for a class, I tend to go sit somewhere in the classroom toward the back. I often find this to be a good way to connect very casually with a student who hasn't been completing assignments, or who did poorly on a recent test.

It doesn't have to be a big formal thing. We can just both enjoy the song. Most often, the student will bring up their difficulties with me, before I even address the topic.

Change the Mood

As some of you might remember, I sometimes teach three sections of the same class in a semester. I still marvel at how different classes can take on such different personalities.

I find it helpful to use music to bring more energy into a room. Or, there are those times when we really all need to settle down and center ourselves a bit, and the right tune will help us to do that.

Expand Musical Repertoire

Before streaming music services existed, students used to get a kick out of how large and how diverse my song collection was. They liked to play deejay before class and would help me rediscover artists I had forgotten about.

Today, it's less about pulling songs from my music and more about being introduced to artists who are new to me. It always seems like a turning point in a class when a student recommends new music to me.

My Playlist

Here are a few songs that you’ll hear, if you stop by my classroom this semester:

• Build Me Up Buttercup
• I Wish
• Get On the Boat
• In the Light
• I Love Me
• Try Everything
• Wade in the Water
• I Feel Good
• Don’t You Worry ‘bout a Thing
• Sit Tight
• Farther Up the Road

Your Turn

What are you listening to in your classroom this semester?

There are some ways in which predictability is important in our teaching.

That we consistently treat our students with respect and kindness, that we honor our commitments to others and ourselves, and that we keep high expectations while continually encouraging learners toward excellence…

However, some of our patterns translate into monotony for our students. They know what’s coming next and it often doesn’t involve them doing anything other than paying “civil attention.”

Here are five ways to change it up in your teaching, to draw students back in and to engage them more in the process of learning.

Make them laugh

This feat is easier said than done. It certainly doesn’t come naturally to me and can be a challenge.

I use my personal knowledge management system to keep track of items that are humorous that are related to my various courses. I’ve got a tag for each of my classes that I apply (e.g. BUSN114, MRKT369, etc.), as well as a tag for humor.

Show a short video clip

I also tag videos in my PKM system, so that I can quickly find a video to break up the patterns I may have going in a particular class session.

The best length for in-class videos tends to be less than five minutes, but there are certainly exceptions, like with a good TED talk, or with a wonderful speaker, like Seth Godin.

Have them reflect on their learning

Todd Zakrajsek has shared on the podcast, before, about the importance of metacognition. This doesn’t have to be as complex as what the word seems to warrant.

James Lang suggests wrapping up class a few minutes early and having students write down the answers to two questions:

• What was the most important thing you learned today?
• What question still remains in your mind?

It doesn't take a lot of time to get students reflecting on their learning, but it certainly is powerful.

Use the power of in-class retrieval practice

When Robert Bjork was on the podcast, he stated that, “Using our memories shapes our memory.” Retrieval practice is a wonderful way of helping our students focus more on getting information out of their heads, while still being in an environment where additional coaching is available.

I use PollEverywhere often for retrieval practice (in-class, anonymous quizzing). However, I also even change up the method by which I do retrieval practice, so even that doesn’t become monotonous. Buying a custom deck of Ellen's Head's Up game is a great way to review key terms in a class. That's the game I'm playing with students in the picture at the top of this post.

Change up the environment

Another illustration from Robert Bjork, when he was a guest on the podcast, had to do with context. When we study, or otherwise engage in learning, in different environments, our retention increases.

Consider holding class outside, or in a different room than normal on your campus. I sometimes have students get up and walk around the room, giving input using sticky notes or by writing on flip charts. I even occasionally have them walk around the building we are meeting in a couple of times, with a partner, quizzing them on some material we just talked about.

Your turn

What do you do to keep from being too predictable in your teaching?