Alien Pedagogy

(Last weekend, I attended a session on Leadership, led by Bambi Betts)

Seth Godin once said that email would be more properly called “me-mail” since people are so self-centered. So it was no surprised that two of the most popular activities in this PD opportunity were the ones that invited us to categorize our personalities.

So who am I?

On Change:

When it comes to change, there are five categories that Betts identified:

• Innovators — My principal and I agreed that I fall into this category.
• Early Adopters
• Early Majority
• Late Majority
• Late Adopters — 17% of teachers fall into this category. Wow.

On Leadership:

When it comes to leadership, we identified ourselves with a Compass of Leadership:

• North – Concerned with Getting Things Done
• East – The big picture and the vision are what matters most
• South – Lead with the Heart
• West – Data driven analysts

I quickly identified myself as a North and took charge of our group, setting goals and seeking consensus so that we could move on. We finished four minutes faster than the other groups…

What this means:

When I looked at my teaching within this framework, I realized that one reason I’m an innovator is that I’m eager to become a better teacher.

However, I also realized that it’s possible for good teachers to not be innovators or bottom-line efficiency enthusiasts because they are more inclined to consider the benefits of their work. This might also suggest that I’m a workaholic.

I also realized that I need to be a more patient person when working with others who may be more cautious than I am.

Perhaps a ridiculous or pretentious topic, but there are some things that I’m beginning to notice my students really appreciate.

• Greetings – Even students I don’t teach seem to know my name lately, and I can only think it’s because I greet almost everyone I meet while on duty or heading to class.
• Deadlines – Steady and fair, with room for exceptions.
• Expectations – Lessons that clearly outline what is required for success and formative feedback from that lesson.
• Smiling – Not like a jerk. Just find reasons to laugh at jokes or tech problems.
• Humor – Not sarcastic and not at someone’s expense.
• Noticing hair and fashion changes – And if their hair hasn’t changed, you’ll still get credit for complimenting it.
• Sincerity – Enjoy your subject and reveal how it affects your life.
• Hobbies – Have your own hobbies.
• Ideas – However irresponsible they may be, many students want to discuss responsibility. So invite them to think about ethics.
• Boundaries – Friendliness cannot compromise your advocacy of every student’s rights in the classroom.
• Punctuality – Run lessons efficiently.
• Avoid trap questions and activities. Think, pair, share.
• Food – Even if you don’t share it, many kids seem to respect or identify with adults that eat in public.
• Student feedback – Ask students for their opinion about their learning.
• Get involved in your school community.

I’m not saying I do this every day and this is by no means a complete list — and I haven’t tried to categorize these suggestions. They are just some things that I’ve begun to notice the students at my school really appreciate.

If there’s one thing that wasn’t taught to me in teacher college, it’s visual design. How hard is it to look at the assignments and handouts we give?

This year, I’ve taken over Moodle courses from a departing teacher. Her resources are excellent, but the screen is a mess — so many horizontal bars and varying colors. There’s nothing predictable or consistent about the page that makes finding information easier. It took me almost an hour to get rid of all these distractions and eye-sores — how long did it take to create them?

To be honest, my design skills are awful. So I offer these tips quite humbly:

• Be predictable — Use consistent backgrounds, titles, and fonts
• Run to the Right – Serif fonts
• Draw the eye down the paper — Indented sections are better than horizontal lines
• Don’t do more than you need to — Any one of bold, italics, or underlines will be sufficient

A great deal of discussion is devoted to the clarity of language and expectations. Does anyone have any resources related to visually designing an assignment?

***

If you’ve never considered design, here are some links to get started:

• Give power to designers – Utko on Ted
• Steve Jobs on beautiful typography (about four minutes in)
• “How Not to Use Power Point” – Of course
• Dy/Dan’s design entries

I did a Ticket Out of Class yesterday and almost every student commented that they liked the wide range of activities that we do in class. Our activities rarely last longer than fifteen minutes.

You can find many fast activities online. To begin, click here.

Here are some practical things that I try to do to make my activities effective:

For learning:

• Clear instructions
• Clear time limit given for the task
• Clear statement of purpose / learning goal
• Collect formative assessment through notes or stats
• All students should be given the chance to do the activity — so anyone who plays pictionary should do so in small groups rather than as a class.

For management and motivation:

• Strong transitions
• Strong teacher presence in the classroom
• Use activities that speak to many skills (reading, writing, visual representation, etc.)
• Return to previous activities
• Create rapport by circulating

For a longer-lasting impact:

• Students should share what they produce with each other
• Students should reflect on what they have done
• All activities should be closed with a clear restatement of purpose

On the whole, I find that having a wide range of activities adds pace and energy to my lessons.

I’m monitoring the extra-curricular Reading and Writing Club, a student group. Yesterday we had an activity fair in the school hall, filled with students yelling out for people to join.

We displayed our writing and then sat in a circle reading.

We stood out.