June 19, 2008
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Returned to Ken Bain’s book, what the best college teachers do, tonight…
Chapter Two, what do they know about how we learn? touches on some key things I hadn’t thought of in awhile. Plus, it caused me to jot down a few ideas in my snappy little journal. First, some quotes from this particular chapter I speak of:-In regards to the first day of class: “Rather than laying out a set of requirements for students, they {the teachers who were cool enough to write the book about, of course} usually talk about the promises of the course {this dude also wrote a book called The Promising Syllabus – more cool stuff}, about the kinds of questions the discipline will help students answer [...]” I hope to revise my first day crap to include more of this. The one idea I came up with was to have students, for the second day of class (typically a Friday), write something horrible. I mean, most of them (or possibly all of them) have been told or have felt that they can’t write worth a ____. So, I’ll ask them to write badly. It’s kind of like when I had the Creative Writing students write a bad poem. It’s got potential to be a very interesting assignment with some interesting conversations, etc.
-Some prof at the University of Cali implements what he calls “‘WGAD’ – ‘Who gives a damn?’ At the beginning of his courses, he tells his students that they are free to ask him this question on any day during the course, at any moment in class.” That is so BLASPHEMOUS!
-”We {Ken’s posse} found people who constantly sprinkle their classes with personal anecdotes and even emotional stories to illustrate otherwise purely intellectual topics and procedures.” Yes, yes, yes. That’s how I learned from Dr. Kathy Cummings. It was Educational Psychology, and it was tough stuff to wrap one’s head around, but she told stories. They connected to theories, obviously, and it all became clearer to me earlier how certain ideas and theories connected and could work in the classroom.
-”‘It’s sort of Socratic… You begin with a puzzle – you get somebody puzzled, and tied in knots, and mixed up.’” = “Humans are curious animals.” Yeppers!
-This chapter also broke down the types of learners out there: deep learners, strategic learners, bulimic learners, and performance-avoiders. It also tackled the types of knowers; this encompasses how students think that learning occurs.
-Another idea: “Not every student benefits from the same set of experiences at the same time…” = Spice up the variety of assignments and options!
-Lastly, this great group of teachers who were written about/talked to/analyzed also emphasized in their classrooms “what it means to get an education” by connecting their literature & lessons across the curriculum. Great idea – made me think of asking more departments what they have their students WRITE.
It’s really all about creating a “natural critical learning environment.” Students should be allowed to “try, come up short, receive feedback, and try again.”
Only two chapters in, and I am hooked on this book again.
