Maymester

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Class Not In Class

June 2, 2009 in Education | 5 comments

I’m sitting in Augello’s Coffehouse.  We just had class here today; we also had class here last week.  At first, I just suggested this venue to my class out of a desire to do something cool, leverage some Maymester advantages (extended class time, meeting every day, small class), and support a local business I want to succeed.  Today, however, while discussing challenges to the grammar of schooling presented by Elliot Eisner, Walter Parker, and Rosetta Cohen, I realized that I was challenging this grammar by meeting in a coffeehouse.  It was unintentional, but having class sitting around a big table while sipping on coffee and discussing articles suggests that school can be different from simply sitting in desks, viewing a powerpoint, and listening to an instructor.  It was a nice bit of synergy, even as it was unintentional and not necessarily realized by all my students.

I don’t want to pat myself on the back too much.  I still did a lot of talking.  I sat at the head of the table, making myself the center of class.  I need to find ways to encourage my students to respond to each other rather than just look to me for commentary after a student speaks.  We did break up into groups (the coffeehouse makes a nice format for that!), but our class activities weren’t much different that our normal class activities.  Maybe they shouldn’t be, but I want to be careful not to elevate my change in venue to some major pedagogical breakthrough.

Still, having class in a coffeeshop is pretty cool.

Beginning Maymester

May 18, 2009 in Education | 3 comments

Today was my first class of the 110 course in Maymester.  I’ve never taught 110 in the summer before, nor have  I ever taught Maymester.  It will be challenging to keep everything focused for 2.75 hours per day, 5 days per week, for three solid weeks.  I’m trying to create some fun activities for the students that will break up individual days and weeks.  Today, for instance, I did the “biographical scavenger hunt” activity I usually do on the first day of class; that’s a nice way to break up the “here’s what’s in the syllabus” talk, as well as get the students talking with each other.  I also introduced the first and most important concept of the course — The Grammar of Schooling. We had a 15-20 minute discussion of the concept, then I sent them out of the class for 15 minutes armed with digital cameras.  Their task was to take a few photos that illustrated the concept.  The activity worked well, other than the simple logistics of displaying photos from 12 cameras on the classroom PC.  That started to drag, so everyone didn’t get to show and tell about their photos;  I need to try and resolve that before I try the activity again.  Any ideas?

The other thing Maymester affords me is the ability to work closely with a school.  We’re partnering with a local elementary school to help them with field day and are spending all class Friday at the school, getting a tour and talking with the principal.  I hope that will ground my student’s experiences a little more and give them some additional exposure to schools in a role other than student or teacher.

Here’s hoping it all works.