Chapter 06 - Why Do Student Development and Course Climate Matter for Student Learning
My first question in reading this chapter is what is the student population studied by Pascarella and Terenzini in the 1991 edition of How College Affects Students. Since the studies were conducted prior to 1991, I am going to assume that a more traditional college student was studied and one that likely lacked a high number of Chinese, SE Asian, Russian, and former Soviet bloc students. This got me to wondering how applicable the contents would be to my student population.Although my students are primarily outside the traditional model, the concepts appear to be very applicable to my group. The point made on page 166 about "making sure their expectations are reasonable given student's current level or intellectual development" (Ambrose, 2010). Students in my classes may have achieved a high degree of intellectual, emotional, and social development; however, due to life issues may be relearning some of these skills.
Students enrolled in Prof/Tech programs through worker retraining programs may have suffered some type of damage prior to starting the program. Damage is not intended to be a negative term describing the students, but is used to describe what has happened to the students--accidents, medical issues, job loss, financial problems, loss of a partner or family member, relocation, and such. These major life issues may force students to relearn and/or re-evaluate themselves and their connection to others.
- What challenges have you experienced in your teaching due to student variations in social identity development?
As I talked about in our group discussion, I do not have discipline issues in my classrooms. This may be because 1) I don't have them or 2) I don't notice them. I think there is a little of both going on. I've been a ski instructor for over 25 years in which there is nearly always chaos in the classes. We can't control weather and others on the slope. We work within the situation at hand. I can do that in the classroom as well.
When I was faced with huge differences in social identify development, I had to reassess the model used in my class and create other learning methods that allowed students to see the value in all others. I've invited in speakers, showed value in diversity, used TED.com, movies, discussions, and role-playing. We've had some very productive discussions about language that brought students in the US, Canada, Mexico, China, and Russia, for example, closer together by exploring a common bond of one language with multiple dialects within a large geographical area.
- How do you create a classroom "climate" that accentuates a holistic approach to student development and that is explicitly inclusive?
One method I often use in class is to honor students who are learning a new language and studying in that language all at the same time. I will also speak in the language of my Midwest born mother to show how just because it is English, doesn't mean all English speakers understand it. The idea that is presented is to use plain language and to include all in the discussion.
The classes I teach now do not include subjects that may naturally be exclusive. I am careful to include names that are other than English in origin and have consulted with experts in our Sociology program for best practices in presented the data gathering techniques for Sex and Gender.
- Think about a time when you successfully turned tension and discord in a class into a learning opportunity. What was your thought process as you prepared to speak and act to "seize the moment" for learning and what was the outcome of your actions?
I can think of one situation in which I handled with very poorly. I am normally able to diffuse tense situations by exploring the comments and finding the positive side. But in one situation a student accused another of being a bully. The student making the accusation was the one who was doing the bullying, including bullying me. When I tried to address the issue with her, she accused me of not being sensitive to her African-American culture and the call-and-response method learned in church. I tried to explain that I was familiar with call-and-response and that was not the issue in the class. The issue was interrupting me when I was speaking to the class. Methods to temper the student's behavior did not work and were met with further claims that I was trying to silence her in class. This student was white. My students who actually did interact in call-and-response were African-American transplants from the Katrina-ravaged areas of Louisiana and were never an issue in class. If the situation were to arise today, I would ask the student to meet with me and a representative of the Care team to see how we might better work together.
Ambrose, Susan A., Michael W. Bridges, Michele DiPietro, Marsha C. Lovett, and Marie K. Norman. How learning works: seven research-based principles for smart teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2010. Print.
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