Teaching in Higher Ed

Making challenging subjects fun

with Ainissa Ramirez

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Ainissa Ramirez shares about how and why to make challenging subjects fun.

Making challenging subjects fun

Guest: Dr. Ainissa Ramirez

http://www.ainissaramirez.com/bio.html

“I learned that this thing of investigating and being curious around the world was the thing that people called science.” -Ainissa Ramirez

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Early influences

 

“By seeing my reflection in this young [African American] lady on television doing science, it gave me permission to say, ‘maybe I should be doing this.’”. -Ainissa Ramirez

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  • Teachers as a big influence

Making learning fun

“When it comes to teaching, I try to come across as approachable.” – Ainissa Ramirez

“I don't think I have the luxury to come off as extremely heady, because there's so much stuff that's going to prevent communication from [happening].” – Ainissa Ramirez

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Service-oriented teaching approach

“I feel like it's my job to get you there. I can't get you there completely, but I can at least figure out where the gaps are and tell you where to head.” – Ainissa Ramirez

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More approaches for making learning fun

  • The importance of a hook
  • Experimentation vs memorization
  • Failure as data collection

“If we think of failures as data collection, they lose their sting.” – Ainissa Ramirez

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Materials research society

DemoWorks (a cook book for materials science experimentation with items you can buy at a local hardware store)

“It's the messy stuff where you learn.” – Ainissa Ramirez

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A call to get musicians involved in the call to make science fun

Adventures in giving a TED talk

Ainissa's TED talk

STEM education advocate via TED blog

“It's vulnerability that people really resonate with… If you're willing to be vulnerable, it is a position of power, because you'll connect with many more people.” – Ainissa Ramirez

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Great videos of Ainissa in action, getting people excited about science

Gina Barnett – Play the Part: Master Body Signals to Connect and Communicate for Business Success  (helps you get out of your way)

Importance of having passion in our teaching

“Get back in touch with that thing that made you excited and then share that with other people. Be a beacon for that.” – Ainissa Ramirez

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Recommendations:

Bonni recommends:

Making invitations to learn (my experimentation with extending Remind this semester)…

Ainissa recommends:

Learn from Einstein – “If you can’t explain it to your Grandmother, you don't understand it.”

Teaching lessons from Pixar

with Josh Eyler

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Josh Eyler, and Bonni Stachowiak talk about lessons in teaching from Pixar.

teaching-lessons-from-pixar

 

PODCAST NOTES

#065: Teaching lessons from Pixar

Guest:

Dr. Joshua Eyler, Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Rice University

Josh’s Pixar course

  • The hero's journey
  • Loss in children’s media
  • WallE – environmental messages, religious messages/themes

Student-taught teaching, supported by Rice’s Center for Teaching Excellence

Heard on Twitter: Pixar favorites

Brian Croxall – Toy Story 2

Shyama – Finding Nemo and The Incredibles

Edna Mode

Sandie Morgan

Monsters Inc.

Cautionary note

Funny episode of Very Bad Wizards where they discuss the criticisms of the Inside Out movie, when it should have been clear to everyone that the movie wasn’t intended to actually represent how the brain works…

Opportunities to learn from our students are abundant

Finding Nemo

“If we only focus on [our role of imparting wisdom], we miss out on those moments when students can share something with us that opens our eyes to the material in a way we have never seen it before.” – Josh Eyler

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Bonni shared about making assumptions on episode 63

Great teaching begins with a boundless passion for our subject

Ratatouille

Great teaching begins with a boundless passion for our subject

“Passion is sometimes an underrated part of what we do as teachers that can be really effective in reaching our students.” – Josh Eyler

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Gradually reducing coaching helps students learn

Finding Nemo

David Merrill’s advice on instructional design: Instructional guidance should be gradually reduced

“In order to learn anything, we need to confront the failure of faulty knowledge, of faulty mental models. Students aren’t given enough opportunity to do that and when they are, the stakes are way too high for them.” – Josh Eyler

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Mindset matters and so does proximal development

Toy Story

“Understanding our intellectual development in more complex terms can help students wrap their minds around the learning process.” – Josh Eyler

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The pursuit of knowledge can be heightened through curiosity

Constructivism

“Curiosity is one of our most deeply rooted mechanisms by which human beings learn.” – Josh Eyler

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“It’s that curiosity – that desire to know – that we need to be cultivating in our classrooms.” Josh Eyler

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The knife that solves the butter problem

spreadthelove

Learning happens everywhere

Up

“The reality is that learning is a very big idea and it happens everywhere.” – Josh Eyler

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“My wife has been very sick for the last year and I’ve learned quite a bit about courage from her. I learn so much from my three year-old daughter about how to tackle life with a toddler’s zeal.” – Josh Eyler

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RECOMMENDATIONS

Bonni recommends:

Josh’s essays:

Josh recommends:

Closing notes

  1. Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show.
  2. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests.
  3. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

The weekly review

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Bonni Stachowiak shares how she improves her productivity through a structured, weekly review.

weekly-review

Podcast notes

The Weekly Review

Getting Things Done, by David Allen

Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them. – David Allen

GET CLEAR

GET CURRENT

  • Review task manager (I use OmniFocus)
  • Review calendar (last week, next 2 weeks)
  • Review Waiting
  • Review Project Lists
  • Review Checklists

GET CREATIVE

  • Review someday/Maybe List
  • Add new projects
  • Refine system

Recommendations

Bonni recommends:

Give a weekly review a try for one month… and share how it goes…

Closing notes

  1. Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show.
  2. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests.
  3. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

Triumphs and failures – Day 1

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Bonni Stachowiak shares about the triumphs and failures in her first day of teaching this semester.

TRIUMPHSFAILURES

Podcast notes

Triumphs and failures of day 1

Failures

Treyvon trip up

Forgotten supplies

Triumphs

  • Mostly kept pace between three sections of the same class
  • Kept my stuff together – cords, etc. Grid it system worked like a champ
  • Experience what my teaching is like, versus me talking about it (while still explaining while we go)
  • Continually working on just-in-time learning/demonstrations, when possible (tapes, SnagIt)

Recommendations

Bonni recommends:

[reminder] Share your own failures and triumphs [/reminder]

Closing notes

  1. Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show.
  2. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests.
  3. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

 

Mindset

with Rebecca Campbell

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Rebecca Campbell shares about the power of mindset.

Podcast notes

Mindset

Guest: Dr. Rebecca Campbell

Recommended by Michelle Miller, from episode #026.

Associate Professor of Education and the Director and Department Chair for Academic Transition Programs at Northern Arizona University.

Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.  – Christopher Robin

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Background on mindset

  • Early introductions
  • Dissertation work on a piece: epistemological beliefs – where knowledge comes from.
  • “You either get it or you don't.”

Growth vs fixed mindset

Isn't about teaching differently, but about framing the conversation differently. – Rebecca Campbell

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Performance barriers

A better way of describing those things holding students back from academic achievement

How to help students achieve more of a growth mindset

  • Normalize help-seeking behavior: supplemental instruction, tutoring, writing centers, office hours, peers
  • Help seeking behavior is a big deal

The shift between high school and college is pretty big. – Rebecca Campbell

… students come and arrive with lots of incoming characteristics. None of these things have to be overcome, in order for them to be successful.

  • How they engage in learning. How they leverage help-seeking behaviors. << That's what defines student success.

These processes can be guided, coached, mentored and taught. – Rebecca Campbell

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When we make the processes explicit, we make effort explicit and we are saying everyone can grow if you engage in the right processes. – Rebecca Campbell

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We can guide students about the process of learning.

Recommendations

Bonni recommends:

Rebecca recommends:

Be kind to students. Don't make assumptions. – Rebecca Campbell

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More on performance barriers

Reframing the conversation

Closing notes

  1. Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show.
  2. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests.
  3. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.