Alien Pedagogy

I am unable to collect student feedback this year.

A student in my school tested positive for H1N1 and our classes were suspended to prevent further transmission of the now pandemic flu.

Undaunted, I decided to try to get feedback. I emailed the class, explained why I wanted feedback, and gave five guiding prompts (My regular survey would have more questions and would be anonymous). I got very few responses.

I sent out a second email with this statement “I’d like to hear from everybody that took a class with me this year.”

I got far more responses.

Intrepid Teacher posts here on how/ why teachers (especially literature/ LA) should be posting content online. It’s worth considering.

But aside from the argument, Intrepid Teacher is disappointed that he did not express himself as effectively as he could have. In my opinion, this happens when we do not take the time to practice presenting to a safe audience, which should be our faculty or department.

At my school, we spend quite a bit of time presenting ideas to each other. It’s something all of us should do more than once. What we currently lack is a feedback system.

Have you presented to your faculty? Do you have a feedback system?

Chris Lehmann offers a good review of the benefits and problems with pre-service teacher training here. I liked the post because it was rational and considered. It offered personal anecdotes, which a blog should do. It was more than just a list of links — in contained insight.

It made me realize that I’m seeing far too much stale blogging in my PLN feeds lately.