Finding a Balance

Guest Blogger:  William Donohue

As I sit in my office, on a beautiful autumn afternoon, writing this blog, I have a moment of calm to what has been a chaotic week—both professionally and personally, some my doing, others beyond my control. This has not been a typical week (is there such a thing?), but a few times every semester there is a perfect storm of so much going on that I can’t catch my breath.

The question that I want to ask, and that I look forward to reading about in the comments, is how do others find balance in their lives during the sprint that is a semester of teaching? How do people in The Lincoln University Community find motivation to keep going?

To illuminate my week, here are some snippets:

 Monday, 8:45 a.m.: The power to University Hall mercifully comes back on as I am setting up for the first of 28 student conferences of the day and preparing a backup plan to take written notes that I can transcribe to the computer later.

Sunday, 7:30 a.m.: After making coffee and tuning in to WXPN, I take a draft to read from the pile of the 150 drafts (2 per ENG 099 student) that I will discuss with students in their one-on-one conference.

Monday, 11:15 a.m.: Power goes back out; I hope that I saved the Excel document with the notes about individual student issues taken during the morning conferences.

Tuesday, 4:30 a.m.: My 15-week-old son, Sawyer, the first child for my wife and me, decides it is time to get up and start the day.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, around midnight: I fall asleep reading a student draft and decide that it is time to go to bed

Tuesday, 12:30 p.m.: I am halfway through the student conferences and although I have explained “run on sentences” in most of them, showing each student seems to help them understand.

Thursday, 7:30 p.m.: A device called “The Snot Sucker” is put to use on Sawyer’s nose while my wife holds him and I suck.

Friday, 9:06 a.m.: I find most of my students it the library after they followed a handwritten note taped to the classroom door saying “Class Is Meeting At The Library ACC. Information System Ask Help Desk For Direction.” I lead them back to our classroom, and we discuss revision.

Monday, 3:08 p.m.: “Cherish life,” says a student in my ENG 102 class.

Monday, 3:07 p.m.: I ask the question, “In the play Our Town, what does Emily’s ghost mean when she says ‘They don’t—understand—do they?’

Wednesday, 1:10 p.m.: I can see the light at the end of student conference tunnel and I am exhausted. But I am reminded of the words of the great composition teacher Donald Murray, who wrote of writing conferences, “I am tired, but it is a good tired, for my students have generated energy as well as absorbed it.”

Wednesday, 4:15 p.m.: While watching the end of a documentary titled OT:Our Town about students from Dominguez High School in Compton, CA, who put on the school’s first play in 20 years, I tear up a little when the student playing Emily says, “Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it—every, every minute.”

Tuesday, 5:45 a.m.: Sawyer falls back asleep with his head on my shoulder.

The Use of Cell, Mobile or Smart Phones in the Classroom

Guest Blogger: Safro Kwame

According to The Lincoln University Students Handbook, "Cell phones are not to be used in the classroom during instructional time. Cell phones that ring and/or answered during classroom instruction are subject to confiscation by the Professor. Confiscated cell phones will be turned over to the Dean of Students. (http://www.lincoln.edu/studentaffairs/studenthandbook.pdf)

First, I do not know how many people enforce this policy. This is not to suggest that no one does. Secondly, I am not sure that this policy was approved by the faculty or even discussed. Thirdly, however, I think we need to discuss and approve a general but flexible policy on cell (mobile or smart) phone use in the classroom, probably along the lines of our general policy on attendance.

Here are some of the reasons or considerations:

1. On any school day, you are likely to find students spending a considerable amount of class time talking on their cell (mobile or smart) phones, in the hallways, while classes proceed without them; and in these or other classes, as teaching is going on, some students are texting their friends or relatives while others surf the internet and check social media sites reading or viewing class-unrelated material. Some, however, use their cell (mobile or smart) phones to take notes or pictures (of information on the smart, white or chalk boards) or check class-related information (such as dictionaries and encyclopedia) on the internet.

2. According to The Pew Research Center's survey of 2,462 Advanced Placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP) teachers, published in February 2013, "73% of AP and NWP teachers say that they and/or their students use their mobile phones in the classroom or to complete assignments."(http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teachers-and-technology.aspx)

3. The opposing arguments on the use or abuse (including banning) of cell (mobile or smart) phones in the classroom are well documented. In August 2013, for example, USA TODAY reported that "More schools use cellphones as learning tools" (http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2013/08/07/views-shift-on-cell-phones-in-schools/2607381/) and a Forbes contributor argued that "Teachers Must Let Students Use Their Mobile Phones In Classrooms," (http://www.forbes.com/sites/deniserestauri/2013/08/19/teachers-must-let-students-use-their-mobile-phones-in-classrooms-2/) while The Huffington Post reported that "Ontario Teachers' Union Votes To Ban Cell Phones In Classrooms" (http://www.torontosun.com/2013/08/29/ontario-teachers-union-calls-for-classroom-cellphone-ban)

What do you think our general policy about the use of cell, mobile or smart phones in the classroom should be?

What Can We Learn from our "A-ha" Moments of Learning?

by Nancy Evans

Think back to some of the most extraordinary learning moments in your life. Think of one moment in which something became suddenly very clear, or you had a realization that changed the way you would think or feel forever, or opened you to something unimaginable and exhilarating.

Take your time. I can wait.

Now think about the circumstances of that moment.  Was anyone instrumental?  Were you at home, school, work?  What were you doing at the time?  How did you feel?  Were you aware of the significance immediately?

I would wager that many transformative learning experiences don't even happen in the classroom.  Wherever it happens, it is in the moment of being fully awake and engaged that authentic learning is so powerful.  When students are engaged, they own their learning.  What can we learn from our own moments of transformative learning that we can bring to the classroom?

Learning to Teach Online

by Linda Stine

Shortly before this semester began, I woke up from a typical anxiety dream:  it was the first day of class and I could not find my classroom or my students; I was running around frantically, unable to ask anyone for help because I didn’t speak their language.

This time I chuckled a bit, once my heart rate slowed down, knowing that my anxiety was more real than symbolic.  In two days I would be starting my first online class, and  I really wouldn’t be able to “find” my classroom and students since they would be out in cyberspace, in a world where neither I nor my adult students were really comfortable with the language. (How do I explain the importance of regularly attending class, for instance, when there is no physical class to “attend”?)

As a writing teacher, I know that online courses can be successful, if only because most interactions – student/student, student/teacher, student/course content – will have to be conducted in writing, and I’m a firm believer in the adage that the more the students write the better they will write. So it’s a great adventure, for sure, and one I am eager to experience.  I suspect, though, that my sleep will be troubled frequently this semester as my conscious worries spill over into my unconscious.

Below are just a few of the teaching/learning worries that have been keeping me up at night. 

• What can I do in my online course to set the tone of support and encouragement that a physical presence, a listening ear, and a smile can create on a first day of face-to-face class?
•  What have I left off my syllabus or my assignment directions that students will need to know and that I normally would just explain orally?
• And speaking of my syllabus, it’s already 11 pages long!  I know that online syllabi have to be more comprehensive than in-class syllabi, but will the students actually read it? Will it feel too overwhelming?  Have I broken it into clear headings to help them see the sections?  Do I need to keep referring to it in emails to remind them that it’s there?  Should I have started with a graded “test” that required them to go through the syllabus and answer questions?
• What happens when technology problems (mine, theirs) occur?  Will the students have the necessary self efficacy to persevere?  What can I do to prepare them for the inevitable problems, beyond telling them to have back-up plans?
• While I tried to include links to videos among the homework “reading” assignments, the course is primarily print based.  Is that going to be a problem for students who learn better by hearing and seeing images?  Should I have posted each module’s “lecture” as a video rather than a written summary?  Or at least as an audio file? Does the medium matter as long as the content is clear?
• What questions haven’t I even thought of yet that should be added to my worry list?

For those of you who have taught online or been a student online, I’d be grateful for advice about what made online learning successful for you.  For those of you who are contemplating the leap, what kinds of issues are you most concerned about?