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Archive for April 11th, 2023

11
Apr

Be Kind, Rewind

Dawn Gibbs hit me with that saying today while I was in the 05 English Office this afternoon. I was reading a sign on Dr. Jennifer Lane’s door that said something about being kind. We laughed about how old we are to remember that saying from the Blockbuster VHS tapes we used to rent. She actually had to remind me of the saying even though I’m older than her, but it got me thinking about my students and how young they are. It’s easy to forget they generally have no idea what the heck we are talking about when we make references to things. I can’t even remember what I was talking about, but one student spoke up after I made a comment about something and said, “Does anyone in this room look old enough to be alive in the 80s?” I did the math in my head and looked around the room. I guess he had a point. They were all traditional college students: 18-23, born between 2000-2005.

We had a good laugh at my expense, but it was all good. It gave us an opportunity to chit-chat a bit before we started the lesson. I’ve been teaching so long, that I don’t really think about how I build community in my classes anymore. I’m a competitive person by nature and I love to challenge students, but I usually make them do it in groups. Our classrooms are set up in 4 computer station pods, so technically I already have groups before we do anything. I’ll point at a pod (group) and say if all four people in this group can give me an answer, you can be top dog this week. No one even knows what top dog means, but they’re into it. “Name four NFL teams on the western side of the US.” “Name animals that walk on two legs.” I just make up stuff on the fly which is usually silly, and we debate the prompts before we settle on a good. It’s classic wasting class time. But is it really?

Of course not. We’re building community and building a sense of belonging in the class. I build in 15 minutes for questions and chit-chat at the beginning of each class where I ask them questions and practice their names. And at the end of the class in their digital exit ticket, I ask them three things. List one thing you learned today, one question you still have, and any random fact about anything. I’m always amused by what they write on these exit tickets. They like to joke and give me a hard time about asking dumb questions or how I still can’t pronoun their name, but thanks for trying. I try to keep it light, so students feel comfortable asking for help if they need it. It’s not really anything that’s planned (aside from the time). It’s just my natural way of teaching.