Worth the Read: Applied Andragogy

A powerful piece at NPR makes some salient points about education, in the form of a Literacy Narrative. It tells the story of a "terrible" man who may have been an excellent English teacher - and highlights the difference between politics and teaching theory - and offers some warning about the direction education currently takes. The author Alva Noe says:

however depraved his behavior may have been in other respects, at least in my eyes, his practice as a teacher was grounded on respect. He didn’t tell us what to think. He didn’t manipulate us. He exemplified a phenomenon — a certain kind of caring about literature, and language, and argument — and he trusted us to form our own judgments about that phenomenon.

You’d have to be a fool to send your kids to school to learn what the teacher thinks or believes. So said Augustine, who, like Plato, believed that you can’t teach knowledge by telling. What a good teacher can do is afford his or her pupils an opportunity to learn something, not by telling, but by enabling something to be seen, experienced, learned.......Politicians — at least the politicians in this American culture we live in — use words not to communicate, or to argue, or persuade. They pretend to do this. But they don’t. Politicians, like sales people, are interested in outcomes. They want to influence you and they are interested in your beliefs and attitudes only in so far as these are potentially levers they can manipulate

Beloit College Mindset list.

The Beloit College Mindset list came out this week. Find it here or find some discussion why it's relevant here. In it teachers are reminded that most freshman this semester were born in 1992, and their cultural references differ from those of their teachers who come from different generations.

I'm struck by the following - this year's crop of students

• have always had email and may never have written a letter and sent it "snail mail."
• They've never recognized that pointing to their wrists was a request for the time of day (and likely don't wear watches).
  
• "Go west, young college grad," has always implied "and don't stop until you get to Asia and learn Chinese along the way."
• With increasing numbers of ramps, Braille signs, and handicapped parking spaces, the world has always been trying harder to accommodate people with disabilities.
• Woody Allen, whose heart has wanted what it wanted, has always been with Soon-Yi Previn.
• Galileo is forgiven and welcome back into the Roman Catholic Church.
• Secondhand smoke has always been an official carcinogen.

NPR offers a nice and well-thought-out riposte - that the list tells us more about the people making the list than it tells us about the new crop of students.

15 things you don't know about me

1. I cook. I like it and I'm pretty good at it.
2. I do all the laundry at my house.
3. I'm also the first to change dirty diapers - provided my son dirtied them.
4. I taught kindergarten for a year.
5. I wrestled varsity in college. Lettered 3 years.
6. I thought I might be an atheist from age 14 to about 28 - but it turned out I was just stuck in a very bad mood.
7. I've worked on farms much of my life - and can drive a tractor pretty well.
8. I like traveling and have visited at least 9 countries.
9. When traveling, I eat all the weird foods. Few people have eaten things I haven't tried.
   
10. My primary mode of transportation for about 3 years was a motorcycle.
    
11. I've broken at least 5 distinct large bones not counting noses, toes, fingers/thumbs, or ribs. Too many of those to count.
    
12. Television can hypnotize me - I won't touch a remote control unless I'm completely alone.
13. I can read on a bus, in a full sporting auditorium during a competition, during a riot, etc.
    
14. I speak ( or at least spoke) passably fluent Mandarin Chinese.
15. When I worked in a convenience store I sold cigarettes and beer to pregnant women (not exclusively or even most of the time - but I remember it because it bothered me).
    
16. I played nose guard in 4A High School football. We won league and made it to state semi-finals. I was all league. I weighed 153 lbs dripping wet at the time.
17. I went to a catholic grade school.
    

New Year/ New Semester resolutions

1. I will lose the 3 kilos I put on over winter break.
2. I will get the coffee monkey off my back.
3. Classes will grasp the meaning of deadlines - I will be firm in NOT accepting late work for credit.
4. We won't extend deadlines for the class.
5. We will make the connection between our comp classes and real life more clear and understood.
   
6. I will make greater use of the text-book.
7. Students will learn that communication is important and excuses only mean something if they come BEFORE the deadline/ missed class/ whatever; Therefore, if you have commitments to school sponsored activity, or religious holiday tell me well in advance and we can work something out.
   

notes

1. Re: # 1 - and then continue to lose 4.5 kilos more.
   
2. Re: # 2 - I will at least stop buying it.
3. Re: # 3 - I'm by far not the only instructor who got burned on this last semester. One had students asking to turn in late work after the grades were posted!
4. Re: # 4 - Students liked it in the short term - but complained about it in summative (semester-end) reviews.
5. Re # 7 - The school formally does not recognize any absence as excused.
   

What Kind of Car Would I Be?

In my teaching demo, and in classes this semester, as an icebreaker, I've asked students, "if you were a car, what kind of car would you be?"

In both cases I avoided questions about my answer. I had a pat answer that was no longer valid, and I recognized that my identity had changed but hadn't had the time or motivation to find a more accurate response.

So, new answer: I'm a 2006 Honda Element. Atomic blue. The vehicle tends to defy classification, but generally gets lumped with SUV's. The height and shape make it stand out. The design is thoroughly practical. The rubber floor and walls can be hosed out. There are minimal buttons, lights and switches. Fewer things to break. The most amazing part of the on-board computer may be that you don't realize it's there - but it makes decisions re: power supply, time for maintenance, etc. It's also functional. The rear seats are ingeniously designed to fold down, fold up and out of the way for a van-like experience, or come out: all with no tools and minimal effort. Perhaps most importantly, you can depend on it. It's reliable.

Some things might be unpleasantly analogous to my effect on students. The unusual styling grows on one - but first impressions tend to be negative, and the suicide doors look cool but are a bit pretentious. It isn't made for off-roading but it looks like it ought to be.

I heard a funny story about the marketing of this car. Forbes mag notes that it was very intentionally created for the active 20-something market. Looking around at owner fora (forums?) the mean age seems like 43. Owners are unemployed adolescents or much older, and.... Something unexpected happened. It appealed to a different demographic more than it appealed to the demographic it was designed for.

FYI: the slogan from the Honda website = "Unorthodox: built for those who live their own unique way." I do challenge orthodoxies on a daily basis - pretty much can't help it. Real character flaw in polite society.

[photos from http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z10764/Honda-Element.aspx]