Staying On Course

March 2017

How CCC Faculty and Staff Help Students Thrive.

In last month’s newsletter the question “How do you help students thrive?” was posed. Below are some responses from your colleagues:

“One way I work towards helping students thrive is through supporting engaging instruction during the evaluation process with instructors. I capture data on levels of student engagement and look for patterns/trends for where student cognitive engagement increased as a result of instructional strategies. For example, when math instructors purposely plan a math problem for students to attempt and then explain to a partner, student engagement goes up. The planning is critical, because ideally you have the two partners working on slightly different problems.” Dr. John Forbes, Dean of STEM

“One way I have found students thrive academically is to create a study group or social interaction group related to their classes. I have found that students that create connections on campus and have relationships with other students they are more likely to attend their classes, complete their assignments, and seek help and support from other students.” Elizabeth Rutledge, DSPS Learning Disabilities Specialist

“[My students read about] critical pedagogy by Paulo Freire. Once they under-stand his argument, I ask them what it is they WANT to learn as opposed to what they have to learn. Then I design modules that teach those ideas (if I can) or arrange for a guest speaker (if I can’t). This work is not graded and is supplemental to the class. They are learning because they want to—not for a grade. Examples are how to buy insurance, how to save money, how to under-stand a loan, how to invest money, how to change a tire, how to play the stock market, how to write a resume, how to know when someone is lying, etc. Often a classmate can teach the module, which is fantastic!” Cynthia Elliott, English Instructor

Rebeca Rangel, Sociology Adjunct Instructor explains that she uses ice breaker activities the first three class sessions of the semester, “First, I break class into dyads and ask students to collect four pieces of information from each. Name, why they are taking course, where they live and if employed , what they do. I provide 3-4 minutes for this exercise. After the allotted time, each triad stands and introduce each other.

This is most effective in assisting students to see they have more in common than differences. There's usually much laughing and students asking each other questions about where they work or live. As a result, many students have created carpools and made new friends.”

Winner of the “How do you help students thrive?” gift card: Elizabeth Rutledge

Thank you to all for sharing your ideas.

Structure to Try - Hatful of Quotes

Are your students sometimes reluctant to contribute to a discussion? Maybe they did not understand the assigned reading or they highlighted irrelevant points. The purpose for using Hatful of Quotes is it keeps students focused on discussing the actual text that has been assigned, it allows time for students who need to think before speaking (this is a good thing), and it eases the pressure of calling on people for a response that may not be thoughtful.

Instructions:

1. Prior to a discussion of a text, the instructor types out key sentences, phrases, concepts, or assertions from the as-signed text. Each “quote” may be typed several times onto separate slips of paper and placed in a hat or bowl.

2. Students are then asked to draw a slip from the hat and think about and jot down a few notes about the quote they’ve drawn for two-three minutes.

3. Students are then asked to read their quote and comment on it (one at a time). This can be done whole class, in small groups, or in partners. Students may be instructed to find others who have the same quote as they do to discuss and then share out with the entire class.

Students appreciate the time to think about their responses and this structure allows for the instructor to clarify any misunderstandings or expand on ideas from the selected reading. To modify for a large group instruction class, the instructor might have five key phrases listed on the screen and students choose two to think about and to jot down some related notes. Students can then share out with their classmates around them or a handful of volunteers share with the whole class.

Upcoming Activities to Promote Thriving on Campus

Spring Extravaganza: Tuesday, April 4th 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Colleague Connections

If you have successful active learning strategies and ideas you want to share or want to highlight what you learned at workshops or conferences, send me an e-mail: ann.brandon@cloviscollege.edu

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

~ Benjamin Franklin