I spent hours freaking out and working like a dog at grading and prepping for class - way too intensely, I think, but it was still good. I overestimated the amount of stuff I'd need to fill one class period. (By, like, times 3.)
First class: a lot of stony, then cautious silence. I babble.
2nd class: Way more participation! Giggling! Looks of mutual disbelief exchanged between students at my antics - all right and good.
I felt that the class really came together today - they gelled - they laughed at my jokes - they raised their hands and talked. Mostly the same 6 or 7 people out of 30+ but still, it was great.
Two things right off. One is that overwhelmingly (except for JM) I got told that I would not like my students and would be horribly disappointed and disillusioned, and they would be rude, and awful. This was a huge lie. I love them already, they're awesome, they worked super hard for me already, they pay attention and are participating and thinking, all their essays were sincere efforts, and I respect them a lot. So, everyone else can go fuck right off, because I like the students.
Part of this is because I like people in general. Part, I suspect, is because other people have messed up expectations of how they need their asses kissed and respect for authority or something and so they stand up in front of a class and act like jerks... and are rude. So yeah they get rudeness back. IMHO I am there to work for them... what a cliche, but, I'm there to figure out what they need to know and how to teach it to them...
SO. The 2nd thing is, I was told by nearly everyone to give a pseudo-final exam the 2nd class. I was going to, but didn't have the heart and instead had them write on the exam essay for 20 minutes. That will be their (and my) benchmark for where they started and what they learned in this semester. THEN I asked them to tell me what they felt the main topic was - and was going to draw a mind map with their collaboration... IN about 30 sconds I saw that was not going to work. & said, "This isn't going to work. Let's do something else" and I think some people died of shock.
Instead, we drew a mind map of the class reaction and feelings to writing the exam essay. (I apologized for the hippie new-age woo-woo factor.) On one side of "Writing the essay" I had a heading in red, "YUK" and on the other side a heading in green, "YAY!" Yuk was for all the mind-mappy stuff that was obstacles to writing, that was negative feelings or difficulties. That side grew very fast with red marker as people called out ideas. As each idea came in, I commented on it and made it a little more intense or added stuff. The "yay!" side was for tools that worked, techniques that helped or that made them able to write and feel confident about writing the essay. That side was not very filled out. So then I pointed out that the entire goal of the class was to move YUCK to YAY and that we would take every obstacle and give it stuff on the other green side, to fix it or to help. At that moment I felt that the class actually began to trust me. That was very cool magic.
I forgot i had my camera and could have taken a way cool photo of that diagram. But I'll recreate it and post it on their google group.
That exercise led very nicely into my next thing which was a handout and lecture on "prewriting." I wrote the handout last night, because I don't have a textbook yet and didn't like any of the ones I found online.
The other side of the handout we didn't get to, but will do that next class (on more ideas and tools for writing.)
Then I tried to go meta briefly again and had them tell me what they remembered about last class and what we (I) talked about & wrote that on the board. (Again, should have taken photo! DOH!)
THEN (gasp, more) I passed back the in-class essays (stories) they wrote last time. I remembered a lot of names and the paper-passing and walking around was good to help me learn more names. And I rambled a bit while doing it.
I made them get into small groups and read each others' papers and try to brainstorm possible main themes/topics of the stories told. For most people I marked one, if it existed, or wrote down possibilities to start them off. The group thing seemed to throw them for a loop and freak them out. But once they started, and I walked around the room and talked to each group briefly, they seemed really happy and were having fun and didn't seem to want to stop.
This also made me super happy. And they could see each others' cool work and appreciate it. I teased the cool-looking attitude dude in the very back of the class about his paper, which was hilarious, about a fight during a golf game, and had the moral homily at the end, "Never pee on anyone's balls." I was howling with glee at his nerve at writing that for his first essay... Howling...
I also passed out a class roster with emails and what their interests and majors were, to encourage them to email each other about assignments. They seemed really surprisingly happy to get that list.
About the grading I did of the in-class essays from Class 1: I spent WAY too long on this, because I couldn't help it. But also because I wanted to be super encouraging and feedback-giving as a sort of kick in the pants right in the beginning. I clearly can't keep up that kind of pace of detailed grading and commenting, but I think it was the right thing to do for the very beginning of class. The two best essays I felt I had to respond in a lot of detail:
- one from a woman who had the worst actual mechanics/English/spelling in the class, but was the *best writer* and thinker. She wrote a short paragraph in tiny handwriting in shy, light as possible pencil. It was structured, clear, intense, detailed, gripping, and heartfelt.. and then at the end she jumped about 3 levels of critical thinking to grasp something super wise. I loved it. And on her personal info sheet she had said she is a very bad writer... So I wanted to explain to her she is a very good writer as far as composition and thinking. Mechanics is another issue. Which... if she doesn't improve drastically... she might flunk the exam... I must push her to sign up for the lab and extra tutoring.
- one from a sort of bad attitude dude... who was the only one who left most of the personal info sheet blank... a very Mind Your Own Business message and a back of the classroom sprawly person in big pants. I'm all thinking, hey dude, I also have some issues with authority and trusting it... np... i can deal with that. His essay had structure, had metaphor... a super great one... and again had some critical thinking in there that got me all happy. He had made effort (as only a few peopel did) to go back and correct it and to cross out boring verbs and replace them with exciting verbs. (like turning "make" into "spark". )
Then assigned them to go home and revise and type it, type in the brainstorm, and type up what they think the topic or theme is. 4 copies, one for them, one for me, one for group members. It will become their paper, which they will fill out with two other stories written in class (next time).
I hope this works!
It's really really fun. Oh, I'm going to make them blog and it's going to kick ass. My goals are to have them all pass -- (Probably not going to happen but i hope so, and think it possible, aim high, etc.) -- to have them come out of this feeling confident and having actual useful tools for school/life -- to be thinking critically and -- bonus thing not part of class, to be doing it on the freaking INTERNET please... I feel it is crucial and will be empowering maybe not right away but in the long run. Also a bonus goal of teaching community skills, peer group, looking to each other for help and getting it, using each other as a valuable resource, thinking of each other like colleagues.
Note: if at any point you want me to stop jumping in and commenting on your teacherly posts, TELL ME. Because you see, I'm so very excited for you and I want to know how the story unfolds, so I feel the need to comment on every.little.thing. Anyway.
1) I do believe I said you'd overestimate on how much to stuff into a class. Everyone does for the first few classes. Never fails. You should have seen how much I _didn't_ cross off my notes for the first day, my first time!
2) Get yourself an egg timer for paper grading and hold yourself to 15-20 mins per essay. Really. It'll save your sanity. (I could go into a really boring discussion about the amount of time spent & comments written vs the amount of comments students actually read, but I'll spare you. Just get a timer.)
3) 6 or 7 people out of 30+ talking? that's _awesome_. Don't let the blurters dominate the conversation, but appreciate them for being there.
4) People who tell you that you'll hate your students tend to be not-good-teachers. Just saying. (I agree: such people can fuck right off)
5) If you're not _forced_ to give a diagnostic essay, probably good not to do it as long as you do something diagnostic so that they're/you're not totally off the mark when it comes to the first graded thing. Also spend a little extra time at the end practicing how to tackle these exam prompts because they'll have to do it for their final. I got a lot more out of their responses to "Printcrime," from a diag standpoint, than I did their in-class essays.
6) all your other stuff sounds great great great but be ready to have to report to administration how it all fits into the stated goals of the course. those people are sticklers for assessment, and it sucks, but just have an answer in your back pocket.
go you!
Posted by: JM | January 31, 2007 at 05:16 PM
comment away! Of course, you know i live to entertain you, JM!
I think assessment will be okay - I will def. be reading the goals out loud to the class a bunch more... and keeping them in mind!
Posted by: badgerbag | January 31, 2007 at 06:24 PM
I'm really impressed.
Teachers often seem to be judging students and their abilities more than and sometimes to the exclusion of helping them.
Students are usually put in the position of competing against each other without much experience of helping each other.
Hurray for you.
Posted by: Robin | February 01, 2007 at 10:29 AM
I'll hurray myself with more surety when I get them all to pass the class!
So far from just 2 short writing samples it's stunningly clear who will fail the class even if they try and do all the work -- So I am going to recommend to all of those people that they sign up for the extra lab class. I am not confident in their case that it will turn the tide... I'd say about 5 of them out of 33 are not going to be able to catch up or keep up.
Posted by: badgerbag | February 01, 2007 at 01:38 PM
Such good stuff! I agree with JM that people who hate their students tend to be bad teachers, just as people who constantly complain about their kids are usually not good parents.
I'd be in your class in a heartbeat!
Posted by: Debbie | February 03, 2007 at 01:23 PM