2014 9x9x25 Challenge by Todd Conaway

2014

2014 AUTHORS David Allegre Ruth Alsobrook- Hurich Stuart Blacklaw Sal Buffo Laura Cline Mark Frederick Dave Graser Chris Heyer Curtis Kleinman Le Anne Lawhead Charles Lohman Joanne Oellers Tina Luffman Lori Riden Ellen Savoini Nancy Schaffer Mark Shelley Mary Verbout James Voska Roxanne Wessel Jason Whitesitt Denise Woolsey

Contents Welcome Back!

The 2014 Program for Online Teaching

Welcome to the Second Annual<br />9x9x25 Challenge!

Course Creation

Why I iPhone

Weak One

Don’t Monkey with Success

Them “Bells and Whistles”

In Memorium: Richard “Coach” Geske

Science Online: How do you do "do"?

5-Minute Papers

Public vs. Private: A Potentially Tiresome Extended Metaphor, or Wh...

Howdy colleagues!

I’m in it for the ice cream~

Holy Smokes Batman! What Is That?

Here I go……

9x9x25 Post One: What is the Adult Education Program?

Grading grades

TRANSITIONING INTO PROFESSORING

“Enabling” or “Empowering”?

Can’t See the Trees for the Forest

Does it Pay to Blog?

Why Don’t Students Ask for Help?

Front of the House, Back of the House

Let’s get physical ♪♫

Fear Goes Down. Fear is out. I’m Victorious.

What about the iPad?

A Taste of Your Own Medicine

The Autumn

Getting Some QM Rolling Along

The Journey

Students Don’t Know What They Don’t Know… or THAT They Don’t Know!

PREPARING TO TEACH and FACILITATE

QUOTES FOR SUCCESS

The Value of Formatting

9x9x25 Post Two: Teaching Widely (Part I)

The Evolving Online Lab Report

Guide on the Side or Sage on the Stage

Cross-pollination

I Love Phi Theta Kappa!

From Bumbling Students to Brilliant

Duck! Rabbit!

How to Sit in Your Chair at Your Desk While Working on Your Computer

The Homeschooler’s Bartender

Google…The Ultimate Bat Tool?

Being Human

My Latest Struggle: Teaching Adults vs. Older Adolescent Learners

No Man is an Island

100

Verboutian Theory of Extended Adolescence

101

Oral Readings Plus for College Students

102

A World Without Grades

104

Note Passing, Please!

106

I sure could use a fall break

108

"Hands On" or Applicable Labs

109

Baden-Powell all the Boys and Betty Crocker all the Girls

111

keepin’ it FUN~

113

Contemplation

116

Student Engagement

118

Tangents

119

A Savory Sampling…

121

Generation Specs

123

Teaching Widely (Part II)

125

I Hope “My Story of No Excuses” Can Help You

127

"Please Excuse Any Miss Spellings."

129

Learning by Learning: How Being A Learner Teaches me about Teaching

131

USING VIDEOS, AVATARS, AND FUN THINGS ON COURSE PAGES

133

How College is Different From High School

135

The Donkey in the Well

137

My Latest Compliment Comes Complete With Goosebumps!

140

Setting Up Collaborative Teams

142

Online “Kinship”

145

#adults’r’ew!

146

It’s not me; it’s you

149

Create Chaos

150

Outrageous

151

Name the Disorder Game

154

Student Success

156

CEC’s and ME

158

Don’t Take Your LMS to the Zoo

160

Four Fundamental Questions Addressed in FYE 103

162

Shooting for Buy-in

164

Humans Don’t Do Optional….

166

Why ECE?

168

Infobesity???

170

MENTORING STUDENTS IN ONLINE FORUMS

172

Anatomy Goodie Bag

174

Ok…Now Go Collaborate!

176

Who Moved my iPhone?

178

Field Trip!

181

Adaptability & A Theme Park

182

To Allow Resubmissions or Not to Allow Resubmissions—THAT is the Qu...

187

How to Start a SMART Workout

189

My Reading Life: Or, When I Forget that I Love Reading

191

Top Ten Reasons for Going to Conferences

193

The Lead

195

Portfolio Creation

197

New Developmental Education White Paper Coming Soon

198

Week Whatever

200

What Does “A Culture of Learning” Look Like?

202

Pushing a big, giant boulder up hill!

204

I wish I’d known then what I know now!

206

When Did You First Want to Become a Teacher?

207

Dual Enrollment or AP English?

209

What If

212

HOW DO WE DO OUR ONLINE PROFESSORING WORK? (PART 1)

214

The Road Most Traveled: Kleinman/Shelley Prescott Valley to Phoenix...

216

Sharing – The Google Way

219

Keeping It Relevant

222

Two Reasons SmartMat’s Second Promotional Video Ain’t Too Smart

224

Giving Away our Pizza for . . . Wait for It . . . Partnership!?! – ...

225

Adaptability & A Theme Park – Part 2

229

there’s a class for this?

231

Playing with Clay in College

233

Being Good Citizens and Digital Citizenshttps

235

STUDENT SUCCESS

237

Encouraging Every Student to Talk

239

How Much is That Worth?

240

Podcast Junkie – Is This Working?

241

Go Find Me a Poem

242

ITV: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

244

Don’t Do Cookie Cutter

246

Honor after Heartbreak, Soccer Style

248

Friendships Beyond the Classroom

250

Two questions to ponder

252

Critical Thinking

253

Café scientifique

254

Online PE: Answering The Two Hows

255

Pharmacology Scavenger Hunt Assignment

257

All Bells & Whistles and No Place to Go

258

Yavapai vs. Harvard?–Riders Win!

260

Lady in the Classroom?

264

A deep breath before the longest mile

266

Serendipity…

268

It’s That Time Again…

270

HOW DO WE DO OUR ONLINE PROFESSORING WORK? (PART 2)

271

Collaboration in Your Writing Classroom: Team Projects

273

On Being Shy: Teaching Introverts and the Online Environment

277

The Best Teaching Weeks

279

Some Tips on Collaborating in Google

280

Meta-Learning

284

Tell Me a Story

285

$9.38, $53,000 & 36 million kids

287

Rosetta Stone is a Scam and Treats You Like a Two-Year-Old

289

CRAZY

292

Perspectives

294

HOW DO WE DO OUR ONLINE PROFESSORING WORK? (PART 3)

296

Southgate

298

What Todd Learned in His Classroom Management Class

300

‘Final’ Projects & “I&rs...

302

STUDENT RETENTION

303

Changing Mindsets and Motivation for the Basic Writer

304

Stress and Learning

306

We are Who We Think We are: or, Fake it ’till You Make It

308

Reflections 2014

310

Overcoming Boredom with Teaching

312

Communitas Rather Than Merely Community

314

My Top Five Simple Tools and Resources for Teaching Online

316

Engage Students By Making Them Board

318

Shorten the Chain to Work out After Work

323

My Dad and Albert Einstein

324

Two Years of 9x9x25 = 323 Posts

326

Reflection

328

Mirror, Mirror- A reflection of the 9x9x25 experience

329

REFLECTIONS ON WRITING ABOUT TEACHING AND LEARNING FOR THE YAVAPAI ...

331

But… OK: Reflections on 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

333

Reflections on the 9x9x25 Challenge

335

Reflections on the Challenge, The Sequel

337

Reflection

339

My 2014’s 9x9x25 Challenge Reflection

340

Until Next Time…

341

Welcome to the Second Annual<br />9x9x25 Challenge! Monday, September 08, 2014 Welcome to the Second Annual 9x9x25 Challenge! As usual, we triple dog dare you to take us up on the the Challenge! We begin this year on September 22nd! The 9x9x25 Challenge is about educators sharing ideas about teaching and learning. The Challenge is about writing as a reflective practice in teaching. The Challenge is about sharing your experiences as an educator, discovering new ideas about teaching and learning, creating a deeper sense of community between faculty at Yavapai College. The Challenge is also about learning what the internet is capable of and how it can be used in academic environments. And this year, we are hoping to bring some other colleges into the mix of faculty writing and conversation. With all of that at stake, how can you not participate? What are the expectations? The Challenge is nine weeks long and each week, except one, you will be expected to complete 25 sentences about teaching and learning. This year, the sixth week will focus on commenting on your colleagues writing. The writing you do needs to be in a place that anyone can see it, read it, and interact with it. In most cases, that means writing on a “blog.” That is it. This year, we have a few new treats for those that complete the writing each week. We will start with Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream because it is so yummy. We have some great books about teaching and learning from The GIFT Center and we have some very cool stuff from Educause, the Instructional Technology Council, and The League for Innovation in the Community College. The cookies went over pretty well last year so we will continue with that tradition. TeLS can help you with all the technical parts of completing the Challenge. We have a few trainings set up prior to the start of the Challenge. You can find them here. During the next two weeks the TeLS staff will be coming around to offices with the Official 9x9x25 Race Bags. If you choose to participate you will get a race bag complete with all the tools to get you started.

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

The awesome opportunity is sponsored by the Yavapai College GIFT Center and TeLS. You can see the work your colleagues did last year by visiting the TeLS Webletter. If you have questions you can email todd.conaway@yc.edu or give Todd a call at 634. 6580 Posted by TeLS at 10:02AM (-07:00)

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

Course Creation Monday, September 22, 2014 It has been a long time since I created a course from scratch. I had forgotten how much time this took and how much energy goes into this. What really shocked me was how much fun I am having in this creation process. It could be because I am learning more as I design. Whatever it is, it is a wonderful feeling.Since the last time a course was completed from scratch (Second Life – 2009) and the creation of two classes now, I have gained so much more information on course creation and teaching best practices. It has been a whirlwind of “stuff” being thrown out from all different areas. Quality Matters was a great experience and I look forward to the face-to-face version this Friday (9/26/2015). These steps they follow are quite in depth. It is a lot of work to bring courses up to QM standards. I feel I can work toward this and start with baby steps. At least I hope to have an easier flowing online class. With researching, learning new technologies, and bringing in new ideas for good teaching skills, I am certain I can create some top notch classes. In fact, I pulled out one of my old guides and found a mapping site to use to sketch out the course (Spiderscribe.net). You know, course story boarding. This is an important first step to get you where you need to be in the end. It’s all still developing and I find myself changing things as I work through an assignment and assessment. Low and behold today I discovered there was no “Your Instructor” navigation in either class. Me of all people to forget this. The one who yells all the time to be “present” in the class – even online. They are in there now and I am happy to say the Welcome Letter, Syllabus, Calendar, Assignment 001, and Assessments 001 are completed in both classes. Now that feels good. At least the students will have something within both classes in Spring to start with… Posted by Ruth Alsobrook at 04:58PM (-07:00)

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

Why I iPhone Monday, September 22, 2014 Why am I glad that I got an iPhone last year at Thanksgiving? Well, it certainly wasn't so that my bill would increase. But I certainly have experienced many benefits, and so have my students.

1. I can receive all of my personal and work email up to the minute in this device. 2. In addition, the college and personal email are separated, so I can choose to view either one, or ignore either one. 3. Students now hear responses back from me far more quickly because they don't have to wait until I sit down at a computer to respond to them. 4. The iPhone has the ability to become a hot spot, so even when I am in an area where there is no phone signal, I can log in and check email, grade papers, and so on. Yes, it does run up the data plan, but seriously, I do it so seldom, that even on the long trip I took this summer, I never came close to using up the data available. 5. And then there is the all-too-popular Yavapai College app. Okay, so it isn't too popular, but I can still log in and see what the dining opportunities are in Prescott just in case I need to work on the main campus. 6. Navigation with the Maps or Google Maps apps has gotten me many places. All I have to do is type the address of the location I want to go, and these heavy-weight navigation programs get me there at least 90% of the time. 7. "Reminders" is another useful app for teachers. How many times do we think of something when walking back to the classroom only to forget about it on the way? With "Reminders," all we need to do is tap the app, hit the microphone button, and speak the reminder into the device. It will remain their until we delete it. Okay, so we still need to check the reminder. 8. I really appreciate the Calendar app. When I am in a meeting and need to check my schedule, I can see what is already scheduled to see when I am available. I can also add new appointments on the spot rather than waiting until I get back to the office.

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

9. "Spider," a solitaire game, also comes in handy when my brain is on overload, when I am stuck in the airport waiting for the plane to take me to a conference, or when I need a diversion. I do not suggest using Spider during class or office hours, of course, but I do think that a healthy mind is one that finds moments for relaxation. 10. And last, but certainly not least, is the Dropbox app. I seriously use "Dropbox" for all of my work files these days. I can access all of my files from work, home, and even iPhone whenever needed. I hope you have found at least one reason to consider using a smart phone to enhance the options available. I know I have found even more ways to use the iPhone than listed in this blog, and I am sure you will find ones I haven't even discovered. Blessings! Posted by Tina Luffman at 07:31PM (-07:00)

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

Weak One Tuesday, September 23, 2014 I accepted the 9x9x25 challenge very quickly. I am passionate about teaching and learning and I love the idea of spending time exploring the subjects. It is only now, as I begin to compose that I recognize the commitment I’ve made. I take my writing seriously. I am not one to thoughtlessly dash off a publicly available sentence in Facebook, much less an essay to be read by my colleagues. If I’m going to post an essay, it cannot be a weak one. That concern for doing work of high quality has been a part of me as a student throughout much of my life. It certainly has been an aspect of my college work and was in high school as well. There was a time, however, when I don’t recall being quite so concerned about it. What is clear to me now is that my commitment to doing quality work depended, originally, on the expectation of my audience. When I was producing work as a child, I imagine there was a point that was “good enough.” I recall practicing my coronet for exactly the time required by the teacher and no more. Somewhere early in high school, externally imposed expectations were supplanted by internal ones – and I had much higher expectations for myself than others had generally placed upon me. American journalist Sydney J. Harris wrote, “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.” He meant, of course, that education moves a person from self-absorption to global awareness. It occurs to me that education turns windows to mirrors as well. That is to say, with maturity, you recognize that all you produce is seen through the window by the world around you and all that you do reflects your character. I recall a time in a high school journalism class when the student-teacher pointed out that I used the wrong form of the word “there” in an article I had turned in. When she pointed it out to me, I turned bright red and she laughed and commented on how clear my embarrassment was. I remember feeling not only the embarrassment, but pride as well. I was actually quietly pleased that she could see that the error meant so much to me. I have taught long enough to know that some people have no internal drive toward excellence – at least not in coursework, where my perfectionism tends to be strongest. I like to imagine that these students are just not there yet, but the internal drive is coming. In the meanwhile, however, it seems apparent that we as instructors have to set our expectations high in order to instill externally what we hope will be developed internally in time. I wonder how well I might play the coronet today if my teacher’s expectation was that I learned to play my assigned part with ease, rather than setting a time limit that failed to produce the level of performance that I would, today, expect of myself. I might be quite good. Either that or I would have abandoned the hopeless endeavor much earlier, thus saving myself, my teacher and my parents from two years of woeful, droning sounds. Posted by Stuart Blacklaw at 11:03AM (07:00)

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Monkey with Success Tuesday, September 23, 2014 A few weeks ago I did this: For those of you not versed in my particular brand of poor penmanship, the angry calligraphy at the bottom of this sheet reads: "Don't do this Again -Move back to Discussion Board!!" This fit of pique was inspired by my online world literature course and its use of Voicethread. What once was revolutionary (well, for little ol' YC) and progressive, had, over the past few years, grown stale and burdensome. Voicethread, which allows students to engage in online discussions using voice and video, is seldom welcomed with open arms by new students. There are some technical hurdles to jump and the ever-present web browser shenanigans to overcome before students can settle into its use. I would get emails not many, but enough. Sometimes they were mean. Couple this with the requisite work and logistics required outside of Blackboard's traditional grading system, and my enthusiasm had more than flagged. Why not simply use the built-in, well-worn discussion board feature? Most everyone else does it, and the students expect it. I've previously discussed the advantages of having actual faces in an online course, but it had come to feel as if the benefits no longer outweighed the negatives. The reason for this is related to the unique workspace of an online instructor. We sit in front of a computer, technically connected to the entire world, and yet, effectively and most often, alone in a room. Our interactions with students generally come in the from of emails, and, as is the nature of feedback, its usually from the disgruntled. The silent and happy majority do not make an appearance. Thus, we encounter a complaint and then set about our work, which is made more onerous through the use of the exact same gadget the student was ragging on. In my case, Voicethread. Because Voicethread does not interact directly with Blackboard's grade book, I have to count and identify discussion posts myself. A crumpled and ugly spreadsheet (shown above) is my method of choice. This is time-intensive (20 students x 5 video posts each = 100 short videos per week) and is vulnerable to English instructor math mistakes. After a couple of years of complaints (which, though few in number, loom large in a vacuum) and hard work (after each semester the posts have to be individually deleted by hand: 100 videos x 12 topics =1,200 total), I had decided to revert back to the simpler days of the discussion board. However, on a whim, I chose to first include an opinion poll in that week's reading quiz:

"Please state which of the following formats for online class discussion you would prefer 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

and briefly explain why: A, the voicethread/guestbook method we are currently using, or B, the traditional discussion board approach with better organization but no video or audio." The results were surprising. Two students said they were ambivalent and one student said she preferred the discussion board. The entire rest of the class indicated they liked or even loved Voicethread. Some of the endorsements were less than ringing: "Abecause I can state how I feel at the time without having to be grammatically correct." But others were downright awesome: • "I would prefer to keep the method that we are using now which is the voicethread/guestbook. I find it to be more personable. I like to see the other students, as well as listening to their responses. It helps with understanding the material especially when students go into detail about what they read, and how it made them feel. I don't think this can be conveyed through mere writing." • "I went to an online high school. I spent my two years of high school video chatting with teachers and answering questions face to face. Through these two years, I liked the way my classes were set up, I’d do work in writing, and multiple choices, like these quizzes, and then do video chatting like in the Guestbook. In college, I’ve taken the majority of my courses online, each one the same, a discussion board post, with two replies, and that was it. I like the way this class is different, the way it allows students to interact such as they would in discussion board, but this just seems to be more personal, it really gives off a sense of connecting with the other students. I know every week, I think, “Oh, I wonder what Rachel’s going to think.” I like being able to listen to other people’s opinions and compare them to my own. It might’ve been a bit awkward at first, but I got used to it, and I honestly look forward to doing the voice threads. This type of format makes it a bit more fin and a lot more personal, which is something that I like." Needless to say, despite my angry chicken-scratch above, I will be keeping Voicethread in my course. The moral here being, don't simply bow to what Blackboard does best, and, before assuming what students do or do not want online, don't be afraid to ask them! Posted by Jason Whitesitt at 11:49AM (-07:00)

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

Them “Bells and Whistles” Tuesday, September 23, 2014

I am working on a presentation. I am working on it as I write. Who knows, maybe writing this will help clarify some of the thoughts I have? I am looking at technology in education as a mass of stuff that in some cases had become that now infamous “ubiquitous,” and in other ways much was still seen as unnecessary “bells and whistles.” So just what are those bells and whistles one wonders? Can you think of one? An easy one for me to identify are those hideous options in PowerPoint that allow you to deliver, magically flipping around on the projection screen one letter at a time, the characters in a word that is in a bullet pointed list. Only more disturbing, is the faculty who sits and watches it fly around on the screen along with the audience. You have seen them at conferences or in classrooms. Just because your software can do something, does not mean you need to use it. Another for me is looking at a Blackboard course that has the text for a single assignment displayed in a multitude of colors, sizes, fonts, and font styles. You know, the due date is in dark red and bolded. The date is blue and italicized. The title of the assignment is bolded and italicized and underlined and is in dayglo green. Perhaps, some specific and clearly important part of the directions are highlighted in yellow and in bold and made into a different font altogether and in a larger size. Crazy. I have other examples of what I consider “bells and whistles” but where the idea has led me is to the very nature of the LMS and how often tools that were seen as bells and whistles are now integral part of the web and the learning opportunities that can happen using it. Yet, the LMS platforms themselves are still built and used as “management” tools. So I have been pondering the role of “management” in learning and how too much or too little can cause all kinds of problems. Recently, that has sparked some interesting interactions. I have first gone back to one of the best pieces of writing about the LMS I have read. In 2009 Lisa Lane 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

offered us “Insidious Pedagogy: How course managements systems impact teaching.” You can read it here. One of my takeaways has been the notion of “the fault of the defaults” and how what is given to faculty often tells them how to teach. Be it the rows of ordered chairs or tables in a classroom or a LMS platform, the default a faculty is presented with often drives the structure of their classroom/online pedagogy. I can tell you what the bells and whistles are now. They are the things that are not in the defaults of the LMS. Or at least they are often seen as such. I can say that with some authority because while we are making decent strides in using the whole of the web as educators, most of us are still only using the management tools found in the default settings the LMS has provided us with. So what do we do with all those tools out there when in many cases they are not supported by the institution? Obviously important as well are the capabilities of our students when it comes to these tools and types of interactions. And what about the already overworked faculty person? Well, we are on a slow path to improvement in many ways and this is a just a part of it. Some things I would like to get across: • Don’t let your pedagogy be managed by the LMS (or a classroom for that matter) • Clearly define the goal/outcome before you select the tool/strategy you will use to achieve it • What were “bells and whistles” yesterday or important parts of the internet today • Over-management of learning environments removes the possibility of discovery and developing self-directed learners

I am trying hard not to bash the ol LMS. I think is a part of how we organize our institutional information and a place we can start from when it comes to the internet as a tool in learning. The images below are in my office. I think the two together share what I see as the potential for students to engage in a meaningful way the discovery of the world around them and be responsible for, and own, the work they do. I was going to used “student centered” in the last sentence, but there were already too many edujargonish words in there. Sorry. In the mildly satirical video below, my daughter and others go about creating some pretty amazing stuff with what might be considered “bells and whistles” in education. I assure you they are not. I tried to contrast the capability of the web and her understating’s of it with what we often expect, at least at the technical level, in our classes. Posted by Todd Conaway at 01:25PM (-07:00) 22

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

In Memorium: Richard “Coach” Geske Tuesday, September 23, 2014

One of the greatest educators I’ve ever met was a man by the name of Richard Geske, but most people I know just called him “Coach". Geske taught General Business at Prescott High School, but he was best known for the work he did on the hardwood and out on the track. He was a masterful teacher and an even more masterful coach. Geske demonstrated two critical attributes for an educator, above all others, these were intelligence and love. These two of the most essential elements that constitute a great teacher, Geske had in abundance. Geske had an amazing mind for the markets. He understood statistics and probabilities. I remember sitting in his General Business class in the spring term. While we were all day dreaming of swimming pools, watermelon and baseball games, all of which seemed just a few weeks out of our reach, Geske was saving his greatest plays for late in the game. He devised an incredibly complex yet ingenious game of stock investing in which we would wager money on the market. The game lasted weeks and we’d play every class period. We’d buy and sell stocks and factor in changing futures prices based on a number of fake calamities, everything from drought in Florida affecting tomato crop yields, to potato blights in Idaho. Day after day we’d wager and lose our money, and eventually we had to stand by bankrupt as we watched Geske Incorporated soar to super-Wall Street-stardom alongside the likes of Apple and Berkshire-Hathaway. The man’s mind was as sharp as a razor. To be honest, by the end of the game, and the subsequent end of the semester, I still didn’t totally understand how to play and succeed, but the one thing that I did understand was what Geske wanted us to understand; the markets are unpredictable and risky and anything can happen. Another thing I quickly came to understand was that Geske got it. Eventually we stopped playing for ourselves and simply stood back, watching to see how much further he’d get ahead of all of us. It was like watching Michael Jordan on the basketball court, a master among children. The man was intelligent. He brought that intelligence with him to the basketball court. I remember playing for him as a junior. He devised this incredibly complex fast break drill, that if ran correctly, would nearly always free up an open three point shot from the baseline or an even easier two point lay-up under the basket. He called it Kansas. I remember the first time we ran it; 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

there were people bobbing and weaving all over the court. I was immediately back in that General Business classroom debating whether to buy Proctor and Gambel or Nike stock. The play came so easy to Geske, but by the end of the season, I think we only ran it correctly, maybe once or twice in a game. I remember Geske throwing up is hands in desperation or swatting his forehead crying “Doh!" like Hommer Simpson in his signature gestures of frustration with us mere mortals who were so far below his strategizing abilities. I think Coach eventually just gave up on Kansas and chalked it up to something he’d have to implement if and only if he could work with players with higher basketball IQ’s, you know, like the Suns. However, when we were able to keep up with Coach, some amazing things happened. He had this amazing in-bounds play that we just labelled “5". It was complex, but not beyond us and we saw the wisdom in it. We ran it and ran it until we had the play perfected. It was great. It used two ruse pick and rolls and one final off the ball pick and roll that often freed up a man for an easy lay-up, but then the real genius was that there was this final super-delayed pic of the guy that put on the first pic and he was the real target. It would entirely clear out the lane and leave the last guy, usually the “5 man" (or the center) with an easy lay-up or a dunk. I watched my older brother Brian get dunk after open dunk on that play and eventually I stepped into his shoes and got a lot of lay-ups and at least one dunk on the play. It was a thing of beauty when it was ran with precision. The only draw-back was that with all the off-the ball screening, it would take the play a while to develop and with only five seconds to in-bound the ball, time was of the essence. I remember our off-guard inbounding the ball and actually releasing the ball before I had even come off the final pick, in anticipation of me eventually being there. This was done in order to avoid a five second call. Of course, when I did eventually emerge off of the last delayed screen and the ball seemed to magically appear in my hands, well, that made the play just that much more spectacular. Although I never ran track, Geske’s sporting acumen was just as famous among the track and field events. I had a friend who ran track and he would talk about Geske’s master plans. He would line out the entire team on a grid system and place runners in positions to make points based on the competition’s weaknesses and strengths. He was a sports mastermind and it paid dividends both on the court and on the track. He coached the famed 1996 basketball team to a state runner-up and region championship run, by far the most successful of any PHS basketball team since the school’s inception. He also led the school to state championships in track and field on various occasions including in my senior year in 2000, when my friends ran, threw and triple jumped to victory. The only master-teacher attribute that outshadowed Geske’s intelligence was his love. It is not often that great intelligence and great love are found in the same person at the same time. Intelligence often engenders a condescending attitude, an inflated ego and an overindulged elitist view of one’s own self-worth. Nothing could be further from Coach Geske’s demeanor. He was unassuming yet confident and he always made you feel valued. Far from being condescending, he considered the opinions of even the lowliest among us and he made us all feel important and as if our contribution was essential to the overall success of the whole. I was deeply impressed by him, when, as a freshman, I rode with my two older brothers down to the district office where we used their old staple machines to staple football programs together in preparation for home football games. Geske took hours and hours out of his busy schedule to help us raise money for basketball. I would fold the programs, pass them off to my brother Brian who would wrap the glossy covers around the inserts and then he would pass them off to my brother Andy, and to Coach who would then run them through the staple machine. Scott McIlvain 24

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would then stack and order the programs for selling later that night. We would also set up a popcorn sales booth. Coaches Geske and Reedburn would help us man the booth. We’d spend our time making popcorn, eating popcorn, selling programs and watching would-be buyers slip and fall on their back-sides on the slick cafeteria floor during rainy games. Coach would quiz us on making change in our heads and would have us interact with the customers. We weren’t paid, but these experiences were my first interactions with the public and with real customers. I remember these days fondly. Looking back now, I think the most indicative demonstration of Coach’s love for us took place in the summers. Year after year, he would shuttle us into the old 15 passenger vans that belonged to the district office and cart us down to Paradise Valley High School. PV High had summer basketball leagues every year where all the schools would come together and play against each other. Those were times of great experimentation. Geske played around with different rosters on the various teams (freshmen, JV and varsity), different offenses and defensive sets and of course, with different combinations of players. He was charting our success and looking for that winning formula. As an educator myself, I cannot imagine giving of yourself that amount of time without any recompense. What’s more, Geske would have to float PV High the entry fee for all three of the teams, months in advance! As we didn’t know what the make-up of our summer teams would look like, he would always do this out of his own pocket, hoping that we would eventually pay him back. Some players paid, others didn’t, but he took us down to Phoenix anyway, all three teams, freshman, JV and varsity, faithfully, three days a week, every week, nearly all summer long. I remember sitting next to him in the passenger’s seat. He would flip on the cruise control and unfold his big long lanky leg from the driver’s side and stretch it out across the dash board in front of me, with his big sandaled foot blocking my view of the road. The awkward position made me kind of uncomfortable, to be honest, but it was a symbol of the great sacrifice that he made, spending hours behind the wheel of warn out vans with barely working A/C that were about three sizes too small for the giant of a man we called Coach. He was a special man, and an amazing educator. I remember, after one particularly trying game for me, he noticed my distress and sat down next to me in a quiet and dark locker room. “You know Kleinman, you realize that you don’t have to be the hero out there every game." “I know Coach, but I just wanted to be there for the team, and I know I let them down tonight." I said, through tears and a quivering voice. (I wasn’t exactly the most emotionally stable youngster to ever stalk the halls of Prescott High School). “If you just play to have fun, that’ll be enough. It’s a game, making it fun is always enough, whether we win or lose." Well Coach, the game wasn’t always fair to you. You faced disease in your family and in yourself and heartbreaks few of us ever could really understand, but you never forgot that this life needed to be fun. You made it that way, and you taught us to make it that way. You taught me to have fun again with the game of basketball and with my life. You made a better man out of me, albeit a young man. You made better men of us all, and we carry a piece of you with us, now and for always, wherever we go. Rest in peace old friend. I hope you’ve found a basketball court somewhere there on the other side, where your three pointer is always finding the bottom of the net and your centers don’t miss their free-throws late in the game. We’ll miss you! 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

Posted by Curtis Kleinman at 01:56PM (-07:00)

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Science Online: How do you do "do"? Wednesday, September 24, 2014 One of the most difficult things I have faced as an online instructor is the implementation of meaningful lab activities into my course. The question that always comes up is: “How can you do anatomy labs online?” That is a great question, and the main one that I struggled with for years before taking the online plunge. To wrap my head around how I was going to do this, I started at square one; the student. What do I want the student knowing or being able to do when they leave my class? This question applies to all of my classes (traditional, hybrid, and online). This statement seems obvious as we all follow the learning outcomes for our courses. To me, this question means more. My question is not what I need to check off on a list of topics we must cover, but instead what they should know. I can only speak for science here, but in science it is important to not only know but to be able to do. Again this applies to whether I see them in person (traditional or hybrid) or not at all (online)? So, how do you do “do” in the online environment? With that perspective in mind, it became easier to approach building activities for the online student. Instead of trying to adapt in-class activities to online students, I looked at the outcomes and tried to think of ways to get the student to that point. Once I shifted my mind to that style of thinking, the learning possibilities broke wide open. I was able to generate visions of the online class labs being more effective in practical learning and application than the traditional format. If a student needed to achieve mastery in understanding the anatomy of the heart, two questions come to mind. How are they going to learn about the heart? What are they going to use that information for? This then brings up the subject of my student population and where they are going, academically. Anatomy & physiology (basically form and function) is the backbone of any educational path in the health care field; doctors, physician’s assistants (PA), nurses, pharmacists, physical therapist, athletic trainers, radiologists, dentists, dental hygienists, etc… They need to learn about the heart so that when they get to their clinical training (medical, PA, or nursing school) they can have a basis from which to read the diagnostic tests. Even then it is not enough to read the results. They must be able to interpret the data. That is the critical leap. All of my students need to walk away from our anatomy classes with the understanding of how something works so they can figure out what has gone wrong in a patient. Then, when their medical training teaches them the treatment protocols, it makes sense and becomes more than a ‘if this happens to this” learning rubric. Basically, the information they need to be given forms the foundation to develop their skill set for interpretation of the information they will get and the application of that information to the patient. Posted by Ellen Savoini at 06:41AM (-07:00)

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5-Minute Papers Wednesday, September 24, 2014 I teach a career and personal development class for technical students and one technique I like to use at the beginning of class is a 5-Minute paper. The purpose of 5minute paper has many uses. First, it lets the class know that we are starting the learning process. Second, the subject matter of the 5-minute paper is tied into the learning lesson for that session. Third, it offers me insight of the students writing capabilities and their critical thinking skills. Fourth, it is also a quick way to take attendance without doing a role call at the start of class. Fifth, by giving points for the paper, it encourages a student to be on time for the class, since the paper only happens at the start of class. Examples of questions; • Which is more important in your career filed of choice, time management skills or organizational skills? Why did you make the choice? • After all of the assessments, exercises, assignments, worksheets, and lectures in this class, which one piece of information made the most impact for you on your career search? Why? Which had the least impact? Why? • List five things that mean the most to you in your life… 1.__________________________________ 2.__________________________________ 3.__________________________________ 4.__________________________________ 5.__________________________________ • Identify a work accomplishment: Define the work situation in detail. • What you did? • What was the result? • What strengths did you use in the process? • What is your ideal job and why is it your ideal job? • Using the job descriptions that you provided for your career field last week, list 4-5 key bullet points of your summary of skills or qualifications for the position. I find that having the students do this 5minute exercise, their responses come more from their gut than what they think I want to read. After the papers are submitted, we have a class discussion about the topic of the paper. These type of quick papers, I find, help kick start the thinking process of what type of career they would want and address the why of the career choice. I also have been in a position to identify students that would need the services of the learning lab early in the term. Oh, there is one more point for using the 5-minute paper – it only takes 5-minutes. Posted by James Voska at 10:01AM (-07:00)

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Public vs. Private: A Potentially Tiresome Extended Metaphor, or Wh... Wednesday, September 24, 2014 When I was a little girl, I kept a diary. Most of the time, I wrote about boring things, like what I’d done that day, what I’d eaten, or lists of things like the books on my shelves. Sometimes, I wrote secrets: boys I liked at school, things that made me mad about my parents. My diary was private, and I knew that it was private because it came with a small brass padlock and a cheap set of- very easily broken- keys. All through my youth and adolescence, I wrote in these private spaces, sometimes with a lock and key, sometimes just with two covers keeping my secrets inside, but the expectation was always that my words were just for me, no one else would ever see them. Although I’m pretty sure that stores still sell those diaries, with princesses on the cover and chintzy locks, it is pretty obvious that we no longer live in a private world. This is especially true when it comes to information online. In theory, we still have locks and keys (we even use that dated symbol of the padlock on every website). These come in the form of security settings and passwords, but just like gossip whispered in a school hallway, the words that we write online are bound to spread. With every article that I read about “big data” and every leaked nude celebrity photo or corporate data breach, I realize that most of what I say isn’t really mine. The lock on my diary was easily broken, and so is the little lock in the corner of the screen. So, what does this all have to do with teaching? As a teacher of writing, working to send students out in the world able to communicate with a variety of audiences in a variety of situations, I also feel that it is important to help those students learn to communicate in a way that they would be proud to share with whoever may stumble upon their words. I have asked them to write in public spaces, on the web, where their audience could be anyone: their mothers, their best friends, their children or their future bosses. It is a great challenge to have to face a world where communication, tone, and awareness of audience are so much more important than they have ever been before. My students have to come to terms with the idea that each click of their mouse and clack of their keyboard is building a public portfolio, whether that is what is intended or not. And none of this is meant to induce paranoia or to invoke the incredible power of the collective gaze (I know as well as anyone that most of the time no one is looking), but to emphasize the importance of words and the power of sharing them. The caveat is that I have to model this myself. I have been writing publicly on the internet for the for years, first for classes and then on my own personal blog (and of course on social networking sites all along). Although I am proud of what I write in public, I have always tried to maintain separation between my “private life” online and my “professional life” online. I was operating under the very assumption that I want my students to reject, that a separation like that was possible. Once upon a time, a professional persona was the few lines written on a resume and the suit that a candidate wore to the interview, now it is my Linkedin profile (which I don’t have, btw), but also my Facebook page, and the pictures of my dogs on Flickr, and the time that I was in the local newspaper for my role in the high school play. The internet is one big journal, chronicling our lives, with the covers ripped off so that everyone can see what is inside. So, that is why I joined the 9x9x25 challenge, so that I could work on acknowledging that there is only one me, and that I am a teacher, and a blogger, and a high school drama geek, and a fanatical pug lover, and

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

whatever else you might find when you google â&#x20AC;&#x153;Laura Cline.â&#x20AC;? Posted by Laura Cline at 01:03PM (-07:00)

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Howdy colleagues! Wednesday, September 24, 2014 This is pretty scary, but I’m looking forward to connecting with my colleagues about teaching and learning. Looking over the blogs that have been posted so far, I was pleased and surprised to see the variety of subjects. I guess I expected that we would jump right into the topics of teaching and learning, but the topics really are quite broad and inclusive. I appreciated Curtis’ memoriam to his former teacher and coach, Mr. Geske; it was quite touching. I can relate to Stuart’s post. Sharing my writing with my colleagues is quite unnerving, but since I make my students do peer review, turn about is probably fair play. Jason provided interesting insights: Ask the students what they want and sometimes they will surprise us. Tina loves her smartphone. I just got one myself but haven’t needed to use it for work much. I’m on the computer at home and at work, so it feels like that’s enough presence for now. There’s a question I want to throw out and see what kind of discussion it generates, but I am not sure if it was discussed during the last 9x9x25, and I’ll be smacked down. Or what if there is a really easy answer to my question that everybody else already knows? Ok, here goes. What are the different ways that instructors inspire all the students who approach class with the lofty academic goal of “getting through”? As a Gen Ed / Foundations instructor, I have many students who believe (a) they read and write well enough, (b) reading and writing don’t matter anyway, and (c) they will receive their degree without having to struggle. The way I describe this is by saying that “they want to get through without getting any on them.” For the most part, I believe that I keep things active and learner centered – I swear I do! This attitude also combines with another: students who think because they can’t do something perfectly the first time, that they will never be able to do it. Am I looking for a way to infuse my students with “grit”? Am I looking for a way to infuse myself with grit? Maybe I will find the answers in this 9x9x25 challenge. Maybe I will find more questions. Posted by Mary Verbout at 03:17PM (07:00)

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I’m in it for the ice cream~ Thursday, September 25, 2014 Fitness instructor as I am, I do enjoy an occasional scoop of ice cream. The simplicity of vanilla. The excitement of a good, rich chocolate. And my most favorite, mmmm.mocha!! I appreciate your enticing us into this challenge with the promise of the crème de la crème, Ben and Jerry’s. I may share it, or I may take a big spoon, find my west facing rocking chair and enjoy the passing of another day with sirs Ben & Jerry~ Wow, that was only 6 sentences. And three of them are called out by that darn squiggly fragment line. Of which I am conveniently ignoring. Ok, I’ll play. As long as y’all conveniently ignore my fragments and English faux pas, I’ll join in this 9x9x25 race. I have certainly enjoyed reading past writings from our fellow instructors. It’s a journey in itself going through the ramblings, the ah ha’s and inspirations from each of you. Congratulations for participating and sharing your skills and talents. I enjoy teaching fitness classes. The variety of ways our body can move is infinite and this is thrilling to me. I study, learn, & practice ways to expand and stretch our entire being. The simple joy of warming up our cardiovascular system is so satisfying. For students to up their level of fitness in a fun environment is my goal. Working out can be oh, so FUN. And working out together, in a class, can be rich on so many levels. Thanks for this opportunity to delve into the heart and soul of what being a fitness instructor means to me. I truly love what I do and hope to share this passion with you. Let’s have fun writing and expressing our inner workings of our given skill. And remember, I’m in it for the ice cream~ Posted by Roxanne Wessel at 03:18PM (07:00)

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Holy Smokes Batman! What Is That? Thursday, September 25, 2014

“Robin and Batman” by ABC Television – eBay itemphoto frontphoto back. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons That Robin, is project-based learning…”a dynamic classroom approach in which students actively explore real-world problems and challenges and acquire a deeper knowledge.” (Edutopia) Extreme exposure has been known to drive teachers mad. And there it was the solution to all of my problems…project-based learning. Engage students in a significant activity based on a interesting question (WOP!). Give them scaffolding resources to keep them on track (POW!). Have them complete a realistic assessment to demonstrate their learning (KAPOW!). It was a terrific plan and for a while kept Gotham content and happy(KA-CHING!). But as everyone knows, Gotham City is filled with an array of nefarious characters ready to defeat the peaceful city. Sometimes powerful measures must be taken to defeat the likes of Riddler, Joker, Catwoman, Egghead, and Penguin.

“Batman villians 1966″ by Greenway Productions – eBay 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

Last semester it was the nefarious forces of faculty load that forced me to teach an extra class section. Since one of my classes had low enrollment, I taught an extra section of College Algebra to make up for this deficit. This was in addition to the two College Algebra sections I was already teaching along with three other classes. What’s the big deal? In each of these classes I assign four projects over the semester. The due dates are all staggered so on any given Friday, projects are due in only one class. However, when you have three sections of College Algebra…that means 90 projects will be due on a Friday (four times throughout the semester!). It’s kind of like this episode. Just like Batman and Robin confronting Riddler, assigning individual projects seemed like a good idea. Students could work on similar problems together and then turn in some type of document explaining their work. But I walked right into a trap…grading all of those individual projects was exhausting and took me over a week and a half each time. I was often grading College Algebra projects as projects from other classes were coming in. Like Batman and Robin, I was spinning, spinning…bound for certain death. Or at least madness. Batman and Robin always manage to get out of every jam. Through a little teamwork…maybe some cool tool from the utility belt, they always escape the clutches of the villain. The batarangs and tranquilizer guns are effective for Batman. But something tells me that they might be prohibited under the College’s Weapons policy. And I have found that putting students to sleep is not really an effective teaching tool. So I needed some new tools on my utility belt and I needed Robin…maybe even Batgirl. I didn’t see any of my colleagues jumping up and down to be my sidekick (not even with the cool prerequisite tights). Instead of an instructional “team”, perhaps I could organize my students into teams. They could work collaboratively to solve the projects instead of individually. I could grade fifteen or sixteen team projects instead of ninety individual projects. This could save me a lot of time grading, but would it be a valuable learning experience for all members on the team? Would this solution simply lead me into another bat trap? Over the next few weeks, I’ll explore teamwork in my college classroom and how I added Google Tools to my bat belt. I’ll look at the logistics of getting students on Google, the collaborative tools available, the modifications I made to several projects, and the self assessment students completed for each project. Although I teach mathematics, most of this discussion could be applied in other disciplines where you want students to work together to produce some “product”. So join me again next week…you know the drill…same time, same bat channel.

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Posted by Dave Graser at 05:15PM (-07:00)

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Here I go…… Thursday, September 25, 2014

It may seem strange that for someone who easily talks with large groups of people, and regularly performs music, that sharing my written word feels so challenging. This is now my 27th year in education. The roller coaster ride of being part of the education profession remains exhilarating at times, and exasperating at others. I still get excited about planning my classes and inventing new ways to present material that I’ve taught a million times. I still feel challenged to find a way to reach and inspire the quiet student in the corner of the room. Whether my student is five years old, or fifty years young, my passion for teaching remains alive. Amidst the joy and rigor required to be a teacher, we continue to find ourselves embattled by budget dilemmas, ignorant policy makers and an unending blame game. Reflecting on teaching and learning is something I require of my students. When my students are ending their program here at Yavapai College in Early Childhood Education, they participate in a capstone seminar. These seminars are our last chance, within the confines of our ‘teacher/student relationship’ that we’ll formally discuss and reflect on their preparation for, hopefully, a long and successful career in the field of education. Our seminar agendas vary. Often, our capstone seminars are organic in nature. We have the ability to share successes and learn from lessons that flopped. We explore professional dispositions, discuss how learned philosophies are applied in the ‘real world’ and encourage one another to care for their own health and well-being. Conversations with students have allowed me to reflect on my own journey in education. Now, my journey will take a new route. This 9x9x25 challenge will stretch me in a new way. This opportunity will provide me with an outlet to organize my reflections. The topics are swimming in my mind. Where do I start? Perhaps with the comparisons of teaching young children and college students? Should I write about how I believe it’s not WHAT you teach, but HOW you teach? Maybe I’ll write about how everyone should care a lot more about knowing how early childhood impacts…well…….everything! So – practicing what I preach…… Here I go…. 36

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Posted by Leanne Lawhead at 05:54PM (07:00)

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

9x9x25 Post One: What is the Adult Education Program? Friday, September 26, 2014 This semester, I am teaching a section of FYE 103 (Success for College, Career, and Life), but most of my classroom time falls within Yavapai College’s Adult Basic Education program. There are some folks out there who know what we do (and some of you have even taught with us), but the overwhelming majority of people at Yavapai College just give me a blank stare and a polite nod when I tell them that I’m an Adult Basic Education (ABE) instructor. In ABE, we teach courses that prepare students to get their G.E.D.’s (there should be a trademark symbol with G.E.D. now–the textbook company, Pearson, bought the test–so let’s just pretend that the symbol has been inserted to keep the lawyers from that megacorp at bay). We also offer courses in English as a Second Language (which is now called ELAA, but, in previous incarnations, it was ESL or ESOL—it keeps changing). I don’t teach ELAA, so I can’t speak to it. All of our classes currently prepare students for college and the workforce. A fair number of our students go on and attend Yavapai College, so you’ve probably had them in your classes. So I teach G.E.D., and even more folks know what that means (fewer blank stares, more nods of understanding). More specifically, I teach courses to help students build their academic skills in order to pass the G.E.D., and then move on to college or a better job. Our students typically attend two classes a week, for three hours each (so 6 hours a week). They can come more often, if they wish. I teach four nights a week, and some of my students come every night in order to accelerate their learning. We teach a very wide variety of subjects (and the challenges inherent in this diversity may well be another 9x9x25 entry). Our students need to study reading (fiction and nonfiction), writing (composing essays of different sizes), math (up through intermediate algebra), science (biology, chemistry, physics, and a few others), and social studies (political science, history, geography, and economics). We spend more time on math and writing than on the others because those areas tend to be our students’ weakest subjects. There is no typical G.E.D. student, just as there is no typical Yavapai College student. Nevertheless, generalities can be made (with an understanding of the dangers inherent in generalities). Our students are likely to be low income. They are likely to be working class in culture. They are likely to have at least one learning disability. And it doesn't surprise me if they are in, or have been through, one of the local rehab centers. They have a fair chance of having some sort of criminal record (typically connected to a petty drug charge). And my G.E.D. students tend to be motivated, brilliant, and fun. In fact, an argument can be made that, despite their (often) low academic skills, they possess greater problem-solving skills than the average college student—in part, perhaps, because they’ve had to be so very clever to make it in this harsh world. However, this is open to debate, and I don’t want to detract from the other students here at Yavapai College. So, I do most of my teaching in Adult Basic Education. If you’re curious about us and our program, drop me a note (mark.frederick@yc.edu), and we can get together and chat.

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Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re also welcome to come to any of my G.E.D. classes. Just give me a heads up, and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll make it happen. Posted by Mark Frederick at 04:04PM (07:00)

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Grading grades Friday, September 26, 2014 There is an old Zen story of a perspective student who approaches a Zen master and asks the question; “How long would it take for me to reach enlightenment?” The master looks up and answers, “Ten years”. But master what if I studied real hard? The master looks up again and responds, “20 years”. The student surprised, asked again: “what if I worked very, very, hard and became your most dedicated student?” Again the master looks up and says, “In that case, 30 years”. The perspective student seemed very confused at this point, “I don’t understand, the harder I work, the longer it will take for me to reach enlightenment? Again the master looks up and says; “As long as you have one eye on how close you are in achieving your goal that leaves only one eye for your task.” I always think of this story when students seem more concerned about the grade they’re receiving rather than what they’re learning. From early on in our education, grading becomes the focus of learning. I remember back in the 1980’s and 1990’s studies were conducted to determine what affects grading had on students and education. The results were not only interesting, but troubling as well. Students ‘placed more interest on grades rather than what they were learning. Also, grades may directly influence the degree of a students’ thinking. Students may study only what they think they need to know to get a passing grade. Even more interesting, one particular study had two groups of students; one was told they would be graded on how well they learned a lesson in social science and another group of students who were told that no grades would be given, but asked to review the same social studies lesson. The results showed that those students that were told that they would be graded showed less understanding of the lesson with less recall ability. The students that were not being graded had far better understanding of the lesson with much improved recall than the graded group. OK, I get it, we need some way of assessing our students and grades may never go away, but perhaps we as educators need to put more focus on what is the real intrinsic motivator of learning. What makes a student want to learn more? How do we as educators promote and encourage learning without the need to misplace the focus with a ranking letter grade which is supposed to indicate the degree of the students learning. Jean Piaget described the importance of facilitating learning rather than direct learning, the importance of ongoing assessment and turning the classroom into a setting of exploration and discovery. Perhaps it’s time to challenge our thinking about how we assess our students, but for now, Saturday mornings will be spent drinking strong coffee, as I grade my student’s assignments. Posted by Salvatore Buffo at 05:28PM (-07:00)

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

TRANSITIONING INTO PROFESSORING Friday, September 26, 2014

There are different names for the imparting of knowledge, ideas and methods to students, and sometimes they are used interchangeably; I interchange some of them myself. There is teaching and instructing, good words both. Professoring I pretty much made up, but it pays tribute to the status of the appointed positions in our colleges and universities. In my doctoral program the faculty used the term facilitating, indicating that they did not teach at that level but assisted us in learning ourselves. So if there is more than one way to say this in the English language, when we make a move to be a professor, it must be more than a trivial move indeed; and so it proves to be as soon as you face your first students (same institution called these learners – as faculty and students alike were learning). As scholars have said, we who reflect, do, and write as we live may be thought of as scholars / leaders / practitioners. This is not just the faculty, but the students as well, putting us all in somewhat the same boat as we pursue growth, usually as we explore three credit hours’ worth of offerings from scholars and practitioners who have trod before us. I am not sure how many professors, tenured and secure in their situations, stopped learning completely – maybe virtually none – but you have to wonder who at least reduced their learning pace and became satisfied with what growth got them to the point you see them. I am not sure, but the scholar / leader / practitioner mindset helps keep that syndrome at bay. So who are we who practice, or lead, or are scholars? I was taught that most people are all three – but one or more aspects are in play at any time. We have practitioners; the people at work in whatever field you are thinking of; the professionals on the front lines; where lessons of experience are learned. There are the scholars; perhaps their offices have windows from where you can really see ivy and feel like you are in a learning institution; they are professors and they write. But wait! Do not practitioners write as well? We are getting to my point. As for leaders – well, they who practice or instruct also lead; one inevitably follows the other. Often, such people alternate between scholarly pursuits and honing their professional practice skills. This scholar / leader / practitioner idea does not draw lines between the categories of contributing people; ideally, we are always all three, but may have more emphasis on one or more dimensions than the third one. Perhaps this idea can keep us all on a footing of mutual support for each other.

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

We are just getting to my ideas on getting to work at a learning institution! I suppose, ideally, some thinking goes into the move beforehand. But how to fit in – naturally, I have a few suggestions. I developed two rules as an adjunct or new professor: #1 – take care of the learners. We all have an idea of what this means, and there should be little room for argument that the students are what we are all about, and no greater victory can be had but to see them grow and graduate to new and next steps in life. #2 is, generally speaking, do what you are told. Now there is an interesting rule, written to be warmly welcomed by deans, directors, and coordinators everywhere. This does not mean professors should submit to their superiors in toto and endure absurdities without a voice, and what would we think of a professor who would? Such a practice betrays the leadership tenet of true followership in any case. Instead, I am suggesting that professors should recognize that sometimes/often their peers may “get set in their ways” about certain things – perhaps how to present material, or how to use rubrics to grade, small things or big things – and resist any decision or wave of change that will upset “their ways.” It seems to the rest of us who see this behavior pattern to be less a mark of emeretus expertise than an unfortunate close-mindedness that self-serves, serving no one else to any real good and upsetting many, and makes the professor look pathetic. Instead, give the deans a break, or your support, or both; roll with the new directives and offer suggestions if something about them really does not work. Students watch, too, and may well draw the conclusion that superiors are people to be manipulated if they can just gain the leverage to do so, as their entrenched professor must have. So, trust us, the image does not look pretty. I suggest we serve who we promised and support our teams of scholars / leaders / practitioners – you’ll shine like gold then. Posted by David Alegre at 10:15PM (07:00)

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

“Enabling” or “Empowering”? Saturday, September 27, 2014 Lately, I've been reconsidering some of my classroom practices in light of the question, “Am I really helping my students?” Is accepting late work helping creating student responsibility? Is the option to “re-do” assignments a learning tool or an excuse for not doing one’s best the first time around? Does my attendance policy coincide with the expectations of the “real world” after college? If students chose to play on their cell phones in class, should I really care? The lens to which I am drawn in order to assess these issues is the concept of “enabling” versus “empowerment.” In short, “enabling” is when I—either intentionally or inadvertently—reinforce a behavior or habit that does not or will not serve my students well. An example of this might be allowing students to show up late to class regularly. Certainly this behavior will have negative consequences in their future endeavors. “Empowerment” on the other hand, is when I provide students the structure and opportunity to move forward, to progress and to perform in ways that will enhance their present and future outcomes without instilling unwanted practices that may not work to their advantage later on. I wish this were an easy exercise—“Yes, that empowers my students,” or “No, that doesn't help them at all.” What I’m finding is that there are many shades of gray. So a second perspective I’m employing is whether my intended procedure just serves them for the short term (e.g., this course, this semester) or does it have the potential to reap long term benefits for the student. It’s sometimes easier for me to “enable” students because it makes my life as an instructor easier. So what if they miss class? They’re adults (almost), right? Who cares if their papers are late? It’s just an academic exercise. I admit the temptation to streamline things for myself. But that’s not why I’m here. That isn't why I chose to teach. I want my students, perhaps later in life, to say to themselves, “I’m glad my instructor insisted on this practice. It’s sure helping me now!” instead of “I wish my instructor had made me do that. I’d be a lot better off if he had.” Attendance, late work, resubmissions, cell phones. These are some of the issues I’ve been re-contemplating. I’d like to know what issues others have been dealing with and how. Posted by Mark Shelley at 01:25PM (-07:00)

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

Can’t See the Trees for the Forest Saturday, September 27, 2014 Original Post is here. Have you ever been there? Your class is running with a well-prepared interactive lesson only to have it sabotaged by disruptive behavior…again. It only takes a few students misbehaving to ruin the experience for the rest of the class. Have this happen a couple of times in the first four weeks of class and your mind begins to seek a label for “that class.” And so it begins–seeing the class as a forest instead of seeing the trees that make up the forest. Once again I have one of those classes. Comparing the two sections of the same course, one is doing great with just a few hiccups here and there, nothing that can’t be handled swiftly or even overlooked without much interruption. The other section, however, needs constant vigilance of any disruption or it snowballs. I have already had two students in that class complain to me because they are so distracted by the disrupters. The epiphany came for me when I was talking with another student this week about an entirely different situation. After multiple emails and sending out an early alert, I was able to meet with this student for a second time just this week about his grades. The first time we met, he assured me that now he was over his illness he would be attending class regularly and turning in all his assignments. Three weeks later, he has accumulated 4 days of absence (two weeks out of six so far!), and no homework has been turned in. His response upon being confronted the second time was, “I got this! Honestly, from now on I’m going to be a good student. You are going to really be pleased. Don’t worry, Schafer!” As I pondered this response, I realized that what I had heard was a coping reaction. This student knows how badly he is doing, and he probably feels helpless to change his performance in the class (a fixed mindset). Hence, he covers up his dilemma with a smoke screen of optimistic bravado. Masking the reality is a lot easier than facing it. Unfortunately, I don’t have confidence that things will turn around for this student by the end of the semester. He may need to fail and face the consequences, but I am going to attempt one more time to break through his defenses to see if we can’t strategize a better solution. So what was the epiphany? When I pondered his response, I began to ponder the behavior of the disrupters in “that class.” As I broke apart the group and looked at the individual players, I could see the same misguided attempts at coping in their new, unfamiliar circumstances here at college. One student is resorting to the class clown role to maintain his status in the group while camouflaging his insecurity. Another is using his disruptive behavior to mask his failing grade in the midst of his achieving buddies. A third is resorting to behavior that worked in high school to maintain acceptance, and the rest of the group just gets entangled in the entertaining moment. None, of course, is considering the impact upon the instruction taking place or upon the other students in the room. Having looked at the individual trees again, I have a renewed compassion for each 44

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student’s plight, and I can now devise a more appropriate approach for each individual. I may not be able to reach every disrupter, but I might be able to lessen the mass impact by dealing with some of them. This week I will be meeting with two of the students, and I am already thinking about how I can change my discussion of the issue with each of them. Again and again, I come back to my main defense in behavioral issues in the classroom–getting to know my students as individuals. Since I teach required and remedial courses, I face resistance of all kinds every semester. Some students don’t see the need for the course; some just don’t want to be there. If these students choose to act out because of their attitudes, then other students lose valuable opportunities for learning. As the instructor, I can’t let the behavior monopolize the atmosphere of the classroom. I handle it in the classroom when it happens, but that may not solve the ongoing problem. In fact, it may increase the bad attitude. I have found another approach that is effective for me. If I require each student to conference with me early in the semester, I can begin to develop a relationship with these individuals that mitigates many of these inappropriate coping responses, thus stopping potentially disruptive behavior before it begins. A lesson learned once again…and spring semester conferences planned for the second week of classes. I need to keep looking at the trees in the midst of each forest. Posted by Nancy Schafer at 05:28PM (-07:00)

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

Does it Pay to Blog? Sunday, September 28, 2014 This 9x9x25 project of writing weekly blog posts has been something that I have been wanting to do now since it began several years ago. I enjoy writing, although I’m no Ernest Hemingway or J.K. Rowling’s by any means. How simple it was to have many ‘excuses’ to not join a project like this. As an educator, I feel comfortable with much of the technology we have available to use, but I just had this mental block about learning how to set up a blog site. Perhaps the site was ‘just one more thing’ that I felt I was going to have to maintain or maybe I just didn’t want to take the time to get it established, whatever it was I made it to be larger than it should be. This year, I challenged myself to join my peers to work on this project. So all on my own (which is a big deal to me), I modified an old abandoned blog webpage that I set up many years ago with the help of the TeLS group. “So what,” you might say, “everyone has a blog these days.” Well now I can say that I do also. But just how am I going to focus this new site of mine. I did a few Google searches to find the reasons as to why I should maintain this blog. I searched as an individual, a business owner, an educator, and as a nurse…and received hundreds of thousands of sites explaining how each of these personal roles can be improved by maintaining a blog. I found that many educators have their students use the blog process to provide reflection on their lessons learned. Nurses use them as a form to de-stress, network within the profession, and teach other nurses. I also found that many of the bloggers are actually making money from their writings. As an example, another quick search, ‘making money with a blog’, took only 0.19 seconds for about 449,000,000 results to show. One that I found interesting was, Bob Lotich and his blog post at christianpf, where he has written a detailed description just about how to make money blogging, enough so that he quit his day job. What? I had no idea that blogging has become a form of employment! Well I don’t think I’m ready to quit teaching nurses to blog daily for a paycheck. Nope it’s just not going to happen! I enjoy interacting face to face with my students way too much to sit in front of a computer screen for hours on end. But wait! I do both daily as it is, perhaps this blogging thing could start paying for itself after all. I understand our first 9x9x25 paycheck will be in the form of a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, I guess blogging really does pay. P.S. There is no such thing as “a quick Google search.” I found that I spent too much time reading others’ blogs. The time spent reinforced one my concerns stated earlier, do I have the time to maintain a blog? I’ll let you know in 9 weeks. Posted by Lori Riden at 05:42AM (-07:00)

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

Why Don’t Students Ask for Help? Sunday, September 28, 2014 This rhetorical question in the title for me has morphed into a non-rhetorical question that demands an answer, why don’t students ask for help when they need it? Not wanting to be accused of forgetting what it is like to be a student (or a young person!), I examined myself in this regard. Here’s some of the dialog in me when I am challenged. • “If I work harder, I will figure it out.” • “It is important that I prove I can do this by myself.” • “I can do it faster myself” (a classic defense for refusing help!) According to College Parents of America, this is also what college students say about asking for help. But they add more, and three are related to perceived dumbness. • Only dumb students ask for help. • Other students will think I am dumb if I ask for help. • The professor will think I am dumb if I ask for help. • I’ll be cheating if I ask for help. • I’ve never needed help before, I shouldn’t need it now. There is no lack of explanation. Clemson University contributes that the shock of realization one cannot master a topic quickly as they are used to can cause a student to retreat. And this told to me directly, “Something must be very wrong if I need help.” SMU posts “Guiding Principles” on their Web site contrasting high school and college experiences for students. Here is an example. “High school is a teaching environment in which you acquire facts and skills; college is a learning environment in which you take responsibility for thinking through and applying what you have learned.” So here we after Exam 1, and the expected wake up call has arrived. Students who have fallen short want to know what to do now. Perhaps that is the pattern that motivates students to ask for help. Posted by Joanne Oellers at 07:01AM (-07:00)

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

Front of the House, Back of the House Monday, September 29, 2014

Five Star Education In college, I worked a lot of restaurants in order to make ends meet. From all of that restaurant experience I learned one very important lesson; there is a huge difference between the front of the house and the back of the house. In restaurant lingo, the front of the house is everything with which the customer interacts, the hostess, the servers, the food, the dining room, etc. All of these items are the “front of the house". The back of the house is all that happens behind the scenes to make the customer experience work. The back of the house includes the cooks’ and servers’ stations, the dish room and the prep cooks’ line. One things that always surprised me was the vast difference that seems to separate the front of the house from the back of the house. Some restaurants looked gorgeous in the front and ghetto in the back. Where the dining room was all pomp and circumstance, the back of the house was little more than a roach motel with Shamrock deliveries four times a week. However, the very best restaurants, the best of the best, demonstrate excellence in both the front of the house and the back of the house. This combination is rare, but when found, you get award winning restaurants that GMs can be proud of. What’s the connection here? Some teachers are the epitome of five star front of the house dining, others have a back of the house with floors clean enough to eat off of, but the finest teacher is he or she who has mastered both front of the house elegance and back of the house pragmatism. I consider myself pretty good in the dining room. My student evals are pretty high yearafter-year because from the students’ perspective, I got my stuff together. I spend a lot of time on my lesson plans and when it’s “show time" as I call it, I’m ready. I have engaging, interactive activities a-plenty for each class meeting and I bring a lot of energy to the room. Translation: beautiful dining room with awesome service and top notch food. However, where I lack is in my back-of-the-house-savvy. I am slow getting students feedback, I grade with rubrics that could use some work, so, my grading might lack some validity and reliability and I don’t always stick to the stipulations that I present in the syllabus, leading to some student-by-student partialities and perhaps even bias. I realize that if the health inspector dropped in, my back of the house report card could look a little bleak. Some teachers are all back of the house. They work like fiends outside of class to prepare a well-designed online course, or to provide timely feedback on every piece of student writing, no matter how inconsequential. They return even lengthy papers quickly and efficiently, and the feedback is not only timely but prolific. However, often their inperson presence is weak, low-energy or even boring. Their online design isn’t much better. A truly excellent restaurant . . . er, class, has a teacher with perfection in the front and the back. I think of a Debbie Roberts. She brings enthusiasm and interesting lectures to the 48

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front and relentless fairness to the back. She works like no one I’ve ever seen to be fair to her students and treat everyone equally (and let me assure you that everyone gets treated equally well). She tells me of the things she brings into her front of the house discussions that make my jaw drop; I’m amazed and interested. But then, outside of class, she’s a tough grader and provides each student with feedback and direction that leads to better and better assignments throughout the semester until, by final exam time, each one (that is, each one of her students who passes the class) is converted into a historian in their own right. Here’s to all of the Debbie Roberts of the educational world! The word’s out, you’re a true five star dining learning experience. Posted by Curtis Kleinman at 01:14AM (-07:00)

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

Let’s get physical ♪♫ Monday, September 29, 2014

Physical fitness is having the energy to meet our daily physical demands. You know, demands like jumping out of bed, enjoying our morning stretch/run, job duties, the big box store trip, or keeping up with the rest of the family’s schedule. As well as handling any unexpected challenges like assisting a sick relative, or being able to dodge a falling rock with grace and ease. Physical fitness also includes having the energy to enjoy our choice of recreational and leisure activities too~ There are a number of components that make up the entire package of being physically fit. 1. Cardiorespiratory. Our body needs oxygen. We inhale it into our lungs where it is absorbed into our bloodstream. That fresh 02-ed blood travels to our heart where it is pumped out to the rest of the body. The better our heart and lungs work the stronger our cardiorespiratory fitness is. My Zumba® Fitness class is a fantastic way to build up this system. It’s fun, easy, and makes for a good sweat~ 1. Muscular Strength and Endurance. Muscular Strength is the contracting of muscles. This allows us to do something that requires strength like lifting the grandkids, planting a tree, etc. Muscular Endurance is the ability to repeatedly work the muscles over a length of time. Like baling hay, gardening, or frequently transporting car seats. Working out in with me in the weight room is a great way to build this component. 1. Flexibility is the range of motion around a joint. All joints. Toes, ankles, knees, hips, spine, shoulders, & neck. Flexibility improves our posture, can give us a sense of relaxation, release muscle tension, and also reduce the risk of injury. I LOVE teaching my morning classes of Stretch and Flex and Yogalates to enhance our flexibility for daily living~ There are so many ways to up your physical fitness. I hope that you are already in the habit of incorporating movement into your daily life. Classes are a great way to create and keep momentum. Check out a new PE class at Yavapai this next semester. You’ll meet some new folks, and reap lots of seen and unseen benefits. Let’s get physical ♫♪

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

Cheers to your health~ Posted by Roxanne Wessel at 02:41AM (07:00)

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

Fear Goes Down. Fear is out. I’m Victorious. Monday, September 29, 2014 Original Post is here. As a boxing fan, and maybe it’s my generation, but as a huge Mike Tyson fan, I’m going to share how Tyson beat fear to become boxing’s greatest of all time, how I beat fear to become a community college faculty, and hopefully, how these two stories of being human will encourage anyone reading this to beat fear in order to become victorious in anything they decide to do. Tyson’s Story In the video, Tyson concluded about his opponents, “. . . He goes down. He’s out. I’m victorious. Mike Tyson – greatest fighter that’s ever lived.” Now, of course, Tyson didn’t always have this knowledge of how to use fear to become victorious. But with training, discipline, and beating fear repeatedly, he learned fear could be beaten. But let’s back up to Tyson’s early career to see how he beat fear. That’s right. As seen in the video, the greatest, toughest, hardest puncher of all time cried from fear. But what is most important is how Tyson beat fear by deciding to fight. In the next clip, Tyson explains his fight with fear before his first amateur fight. As seen, Tyson shared that he had a choice. He could let fear win and get on the train and just leave, or he could fight, and as we saw, by putting himself together with the discipline he learned from his trainer, and he fought, scoring a third round knockout. He beat fear, and as we all know how the story goes, Tyson became the greatest boxer of all time. My Story Now, I’m not the greatest boxer of time, and I’m not even close to being famous. But I am human like Tyson and like anyone who is reading this. So, hopefully, my story of overcoming fear will be encouraging as Tyson’s story of overcoming fear was encouraging to me. In 1999, I had the opportunity to teach a weight training course at Tidewater Community College (TCC) with approximately 20 plus students. This opportunity, I knew, if taken, would change my entire life. So I prepared for the course. I wrote my first syllabus. I wrote my first lecture, and I practiced my lecture over and over, and on the first day of class, I even arrived hours early to practice my lecture in the actual classroom. This was no ordinary classroom. It was a lecture hall with a podium to stand behind and all. After many practices, I was ready! To take a break, I left the classroom to walk around for a little bit. I walked around the entire building, and when I walked by the classroom, I glanced in, and I saw that the room had a few students sitting in there. I got a little bit nervous, but I just continued to walk around the building, and when I walked by the classroom again, I glanced in, and I saw that the classroom had way more students sitting in there. I was no longer a little bit nervous. I was a lot more nervous. Actually, I was petrified. So I continued to walk around the building again, thinking I could just walk off the fear. 52

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As I walked, I told myself, “I will walk around this last time; then, I will walk into the classroom, start the class, and just do the lecture that I was so well prepared for.” But instead, I walked around the building, glanced in, and then just continued to walk around the building again. I must have walked around the building four or more times, each time just glancing in the classroom and each time making myself more nervous with an overwhelming feeling to just leave (just like the Tyson story above), and I mean, I had a literal feeling to just get in my car and just leave. But at the same time, what kept me there was that I knew deep down inside if I entered that classroom my entire life would change. So, I told myself again, “I will walk around this last time; then, I will walk into the classroom, start the class, and just do the lecture that I was so well prepared for.” As I walked around the building, I started to tell myself repeatedly, “This is the moment that will change my life.” As I got closer to the classroom, I said it one more time loudly, “This is the moment that will change my life!” And against every bit of fear in me, I walked in the classroom with twenty plus students staring at me. I walked behind the lecture hall podium. I took out my syllabus with all my lecture notes on it, and I just read the highlighted parts of my syllabus. I had so much fear in me that instead of continuing with my planned lecture, I just simply passed out the syllabi as I told the class to come prepared for the second day of class in the weight-room, and then I dismissed them. Now, I know my first day of teaching was not quite like the Tyson story where I got a knockout during my first match, giving the best lecture the world has ever seen, but with all the fear that gripped me that day, I beat fear because I have been a community college teacher ever since. I beat fear like Tyson or as any human can do – “Fear goes down. Fear is out. I’m victorious. Charles Lohman – the greatest fighter that’s ever lived.” Mike Tyson fear of losing and humiliation “. . . When I come out I have supreme confidence. But I’m scared to death. I’m totally afraid. I’m afraid of everything. I’m afraid of losing. I’m afraid of being humiliated. But I’m totally confident. The closer I get to the ring the more confidence I get. The closer the more confidence I get. The closer the more confidence I get. All during my training I’ve been afraid of this man. I thought this man might be capable of beating me. I’ve dreamed of him beating me. . . . once I’m in the ring I’m a god. No one can beat me. . . . I keep my eyes on him. I keep my eyes on him. I keep my eyes on him. Then once I see a chink in his armor ”’boom”’ if one of his eyes may move then I know I have him. Then when he comes to the center of the ring he still looks at me with his piercing look and as if he’s not afraid but he already made that mistake when he looked down for that one tenth of a second I know I had him. He’ll fight hard for the first two or three rounds but I already know I broke his spirit. . . . He goes down. He’s out. I’m victorious. Mike Tyson – greatest fighter that’s ever lived.” Posted by Charles Lohman at 09:02AM (-07:00)

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

What about the iPad? Monday, September 29, 2014 When I first started using the iPad, I was really excited. I could sit on the couch in the living room and work on this tablet in the evening. But what I learned is that I could not easily access assignments in Blackboard, but the Discussion Board posts were visible with no problem. In later updates, the assignments came up as well, but only if opened using the "Needs Grading" window. Although this is a minor issue, I still can't scroll through the entire grade book on the iPad, so I seldom use it for Blackboard access. I am sure that newer Blackboard apps will come out to correct and improve the functionality of grading on this device. The iPad is great for checking my work and personal email, the bank account, and Facebook. I also have a Brother app so I can print files open on the iPad at home. I can also access Dropbox files with the Dropbox app, which makes life really convenient when needing to access work files even when not sitting at my office computer. The trick here is that I have to save the files to Dropbox and not the Zdrive. I am sure many of you have much to share that would encourage me to use this device for even more work-related purposes. Please share. One of the best attributes of the iPad is the larger viewing screen for many of my apps such as Kindle, Overdrive, and others. I can make the screen view a full page or turn horizontally to have a split page that looks like a traditional book. I feel that the iPad is a Kindle on steroids, and much more. If you are considering getting a Kindle, don't, unless you really want the smaller screen. I have been very happy reading books on the iPad. The lighting options, ability to increase font size, and so on are great. Even an elderly relative with very poor vision was able to read text on this device. Also, my husband and I bought a Fisher Price case for the iPad and purchased some really awesome games for our grandsons. We believe a solid case is a must. The iPad has fallen off the back of our couch onto the tile floor more times than we can count--with no damage. If you have preschoolers, please check out Endless Reader, Endless Numbers, the Toca games, Monkey Math, and Monkey Preschool. I am sure actual parents of preschoolers know far more than a grandma. Honestly, when traveling across country, the iPad was more comfortable to work on than the regular laptop when browsing and reading. When I had to get down to serious grading, however, I did go for the laptop most of the time. A laptop computer has a better 54

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work interface because of the stability of the shape and size as well as the traditional keyboard. I am not a fan of using the touch keyboard on tablet computers. Also, using the laptop would nudge me to go sit at the desk, which is better for posture. One last tip--with an iPad, less is more. What I mean by this is that although many apps are free, managing the updates for all of those free apps can be time consuming. My suggestion is to keep your apps to the minimum of those you really use. Also, keep apps in handy folders. This will make the iPad more user friendly for you and those with whom you share the device. I hope this brief blog will help educators who are considering what type of tech tool to purchase for home, work, and family purposes. I wish you the best in your decision. Posted by Tina Luffman at 09:20AM (-07:00)

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

A Taste of Your Own Medicine Monday, September 29, 2014 “Your Dad is going to be okay.” That’s what the doctor said right after his pacemaker operation early last week. Dad would be in the hospital 3-4 days, and then be sent home with medicine for recuperation. It’s been a scary month of doctor visits, new medicine, tests and more tests; and then more medicine. Then, oops! Well, guess he’s not okay. Back into the hospital we go. Not sure what happened, but it the medicine is fixed and we go home again; then back to the hospital. You see, this takes place in just a week. I’m behind in my grading, my copies and posting for class this week. There is no time to sleep, and, DANG, I haven’t finished by 9x9x25 yet (sorry, Todd). Okay, now I see what my students see and feel – chaos. Especially those first-year students who are already on overwhelm, and we’re not quite at mid-semester. You know the defenses: “I’m having difficulty managing school, my job, my kids, and my family.” “There just aren’t enough hours in the day.” “I can’t come to class – couldn’t finish my assignment – my child is sick.” We’ve heard them all. Breathe, I tell them. Just breathe. It’s just setting priorities -like medicine – creating a schedule for each category – reading – writing – studying – working – family. Allow some flexibility for those events you can’t schedule, like family illness. But, don’t forget to breathe. Interestingly, this week’s focus is on brain care and balance – Exercise – Food – Sleep. Get enough of each. Shorting one creates disorder in another. “Just 30 minutes of exercise gives you increased blood flow and helps with concentration, memory, mood, learning, and stress, I tell them, and it will help you balance all those things you need to get done.” Eat good food – fruits and vegetables – good fats – feed your brain. Get good sleep. It’s proven that sleep actually has neurological benefits far beyond rest and rejuvenation. “Oh, and don’t’ forget to breathe”, I tell them all the time. Ahem. Not quite so easy when the advice, or “medicine”, is for me. I have priorities. I have schedules. I’m really good at knowing what’s due and when. I have reminders to post information or make copies for class, or to remind students. There’s a different set of expectations from different places, and yet there’s no one to remind me of those priorities. No one to give me that medicine ? Today, I’m finishing up with required Instructor-Student meetings. It was my last student meeting today. She reminded me to just breathe?

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Posted by Chris Heyer at 02:40PM (-07:00)

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The Autumn Tuesday, September 30, 2014 While school has been back in session for a number of weeks now, Autumn is only recently officially here. Autumn’s arrival is, for most of us, synonymous with the start of school. As nature’s cycle wanes, the campuses come alive. They are fresh with optimism and renewal. They are the spring sprouts amid the fallen leaves. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.” This moment is why I am here. My spirit soars when the students and faculty arrive. Who thinks of summer as desolate? Yet, as one passionate for academics, I am fine with the summer’s end. I have felt this way forever. Further, I cannot recall a time when the call to teach was not in my heart. And so it was that in my youth I aspired to teach youth. In my adolescence, I aspired to teach adolescents. In my tertiary education, I could imagine only college teaching as a suitable place to seek fulfillment. There is irony, then, in my parent’s guidance that teaching was not an acceptable career track. They saved me from becoming an education major, and therefore setting my trajectory into secondary schools. By dissuading me from pursuing what was in my heart at high school graduation, my parents unwittingly directed me into the field of communication, and therefore into a field that I would ultimately study in sufficient amounts to qualify to become a college professor. I often say that no one thinks as a child that they aspire to be a professor. Many faculty members landed in the academy because they chose paths of intellectual passion that had few opportunities within them except to teach. Few, at least anecdotally, expressed the passion for teaching first. Then, again, when I tell my own story, I usually begin by suggesting that my first career was in the media. It is only in deeper discussions that I reveal my mostly secret early aspiration to teach. For some years now I have been engaged in hiring faculty members. What I am looking for is not hard to articulate. What I am looking for is hard to find. How do you identify, within the confines of the academic search process, deeply held passion for interacting with students? It may seem an identifiable characteristic, but in practice, I have found that passion disguised within crusty, rules-bound classroom tyrants and laid-back, free-style instructional facilitators. I have found it in lecturers and active-learning leaders, in essay testers, oral examiners and Scantron processors. I have found it in community organizers and Constitution originalists. It is only revealed in the act of teaching, over time. When I see it, I know it, but it can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart. Posted by Stuart Blacklaw at 04:18PM (07:00)

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Getting Some QM Rolling Along Wednesday, October 01, 2014 Excited to have good attendance at our first @QMProgram workshop. pic.twitter.com/yPUDoBdo4u — Todd Conaway (@Todd_Conaway) September 26, 2014 Last week we had 18 faculty in a seven hour workshop about Quality Matters. The title of the workshop was “Applying the Quality Matters Rubric.” It is described by QM as, “The Applying the Quality Matters Rubric (APPQMR) workshop is QM’s flagship workshop on the QM Rubric and the process of using the QM Rubric to review online courses. It is intended for a broad audience, including but not limited to faculty, instructional designers, administrators, and adjunct instructors who wish to understand more about the QM Rubric and process of course review.” What excites me the most about Quality Matters is not so much the rubric itself, but the peer reviewing process that is part of the implementation of course reviews. While all the faculty who go through the Applying the Rubric workshop have access to an online self–review tool from QM, there is also a peer review process that can be done at the local college level or by having qualified faculty from other QM institutions review a course and get a course “QM Certified.” Either way, I am excited to get some of our faculty involved in an organized process of peer reviewing courses. I have been part of the “Blackboard Exemplary Course” process over the last few years and it is always really a great learning experience for me. I see course from other institutions and can see how they are organized and designed. I can see the different tools used and how the faculty see the delivery process of the class. And Blackboard has its own rubric. In fact, it was the Exemplary Course program from Blackboard where we first got the idea for our “Faculty Course Tours” on the Webletter. While the tours are not a peer review process, at least you can peer into a colleague’s course and see how they describe what they do. I think that is important. Particularly important in the online environment where faculty do not often see what others are doing well. Maybe you can do a course tour of your awesome class and send it to me! Here is our awesome Jason Whitesitt’s contribution.

At the QM workshop, it was great to see that many faculty wondering about improving courses in a systematic way. It is not as if we do not have pretty good participation at our summer and winter institutes, but it is not often that 18 faculty spend a whole day on a topic regarding online teaching. We will be doing the workshop again. Hopefully, within a few months. I think it is important that we take this opportunity with QM and really leverage the interest in it. I hope that when the workshops are offered they are mostly full and that some faculty continue on with other QM workshops that allow them to become certified reviewers. I hope that the division deans take the workshop so they can be better informed when looking at faculty courses and making informed decisions about them. I hope our upper management take the workshop so they can better understand the challenges and intricacies of teaching online. I hope that the QM rubric and the peer review process become part of the teaching culture here at Yavapai. I think we can learn much and make some good strides in improving our courses. Posted by Todd Conaway at 10:39AM (-07:00) 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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The Journey Thursday, October 02, 2014 For this post, I was going to bring into play many of the exciting things learned in the Quality Matters Course. It was a very interesting class. The online component was far more brutal than that of its face-to-face. To me, a blended approach would be idea. Now this is what I was going to write about. Things change. Ideas morph. My brain moves in ways no other does. So this latter idea became nixed by something far more interesting. What do our faces say about us? This morning, in the wee hours before the sun appeared, I started researching this as I have a new dark spot in the strangest place upon my face. Now, for those of you who have known me for years, I have several dark spots on my face. This came from being a child of the 60′s and 70′s. Being in my 20′s during the 80′s was not so helpful either. We spent our time outdoors as a child. The 80′s are just a blackout for me; can’t really say where I was or what I did (in detail). So, many sun damaging spots, and other bad things for the body, are prevalent upon the face. Anywhooooooooo In the wee hours of the morning, I decide to search the great keeper of knowledge we know of as the internet and find information about the connection between the face and our internal organs. If you have never done this, I highly recommend it. The links below this post were several found. For me, this was a learning experience, and as a person who loses focus quickly, a trip down several paths. What started as a subject of facial components related to internal organs, wound up taking me on a journey of Chinese Medicine and Culture. Was this a bad thing? I think not, for I was still learning; absorbing information. Then I thought of my students. Not the Zumba® ones, they stay pretty focused. The online learners; the ones out there in cyberspace. Does this happen to them when they research? How can I help to keep them focused on the topic? Should I? Should I allow creativity based on where the research leads? Where will their research lead?

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Any thoughts and suggestions are appreciated. Just know, they may lead elsewhere in my mind’s eye. • http://www.eruptingmind.com/chinese-face-map/ • http://facereadingdictionary.com/organs-related-to-face-parts/face-readingphysiognomy-meaning/ • http://www.kasiaorganicsalon.com/2010/09/3059/ • http://kimberlysnyder.net/blog/2009/12/05/how-our-face-reveals-how-healthy-ourorgans-are/ • http://www.hps-online.com/nbagman.htm • http://sennyong.blogspot.com/2010/04/outer-beauty-is-inner-organs-balancing.html • http://www.dermalinstitute.com/us/library/33_article_Ancient_Diagnosis_Modern_Res ults_.html Posted by Ruth Alsobrook at 09:50AM (-07:00)

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Students Don’t Know What They Don’t Know… or THAT They Don’t Know! Thursday, October 02, 2014 Last week, Sheila Jarrell (our Registrar) came into my College Success class to share about how the college “works” in terms of registration processes, grades, transcripts, appeals, etc. I think it’s fair to say that most of this was new information to the students. To be honest, I even learned some things that, if I was a student here, would have been very advantageous. At one point we put up “vocabulary words” regarding terms we use in higher education and asked the students to tell us what they understood about them. The first words that Sheila threw out to the class were “Academic Standing”—you know, whether a student is in good standing, academic probation (or financial aid probation, which is different than the academic version), etc. Certainly the class would know SOMETHING about this, right? Dead, still silence. The “deer in the headlights” look. Not a clue. The point here is not what “Academic Standing” is. What struck me (and not for the first time) is the ASSUMPTIONS we (who have gone through the higher ed process and have obtained graduate degrees) make regarding what our students know and don’t know. Many of us have been teaching for decades, and the processes for navigating a fairly complex culture and the strategies for success are second nature to us. Indeed, they are a “taken for granted” part of our academic culture. But students straight out of high school or coming to us from the work force for the first time don’t have this “insider knowledge,” much of it critical for their success. I have likened coming to college as moving to another country to live. Stepping off the plane, everything is quite foreign. The “taken for granted” knowledge about how the world works suddenly doesn’t cut it anymore. We experience “culture shock.” Our students, for the most part, experience “college shock” when they come here for the first time. When I first arrived in Indonesia to live in 1980, I remember stepping off the plane in 90 degree heat with 90+ percent humidity (with all the smells that accompany that climate in an overcrowded, Third World city like Jakarta), finding breathing (a normal activity for most of us) a very different, and even difficult, experience. On the taxi ride to my accommodations (a frightening experience in and of itself), I saw numerous billboards advertising what seemed to be different kinds of “air.” (The ads were written in Indonesian, a language I literally knew not one word of at the time.) This kind of made sense to me, given my immediate experience. I quickly learned that “air” (pronounced ‘aye-er’) in Indonesian was the word for “liquid or ”water.” The billboards were pushing juice and soft drinks! After teaching what has become our First Year Experience course for five semesters, I am convinced that the majority, if not all, our new students experience this kind of disorientation, EXCEPT--because this is Prescott and our policies, procedures and ways of doing things are expressed in English--they often don’t realize how disoriented they really are! They need “air.” It doesn’t matter how smart the students are or how well they

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did in High School or their jobs, college is still a new culture. Bottom line is simply this: Students don’t know what they don’t know, or even that they don’t know! We wonder why our retention and completion rates are low when we don’t equip our new students with the “cultural knowledge” to be able to survive and thrive in this new place. It seems we could almost say that, if we encourage or expect success, we have a kind of moral obligation to provide our new students with what they need, in terms of information and strategies, to succeed. That’s why I am an unapologetic advocate of mandatory new student orientation and a required First Year Experience course for all new students. I deeply want our students to succeed, both at Yavapai College and in life. We can’t expect this if we don’t intentionally equip them with the tools to navigate our “cultural environment” (which, by the way, sometimes even confuses us!). Posted by Mark Shelley at 11:49AM (-07:00)

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PREPARING TO TEACH and FACILITATE Thursday, October 02, 2014

As a professor assigned to facilitate a course, with the course scheduled and students being added to it that you can see when you look the course up, you do feel an excitement well up from anticipation and recognition of the challenge that goes with “professoring.” I may word things from the perspective of online courses, as there are so many today in colleges and universities, but neither many of you nor I will forget mastering the art of meeting your students face to face and making good use of your communications talents, whether you use the front desk / podium positions or not. As some of us know from suddenly being handed a course as an emergency replacement at the last minute, preparation is key to staying organized and excelling as you lead the students. Of course, in keeping with Rule #2 (do as you’re told) we start with the syllabus. Whether we have had a chance to weigh in on what is in it or will get to next time, the syllabus is there, approved, and we must follow it – otherwise, why withhold points from a student for not following it? You may notice that an answer “because I am the professor” is neither one I use nor accept from others. So load syllabus items into the course we proceed to do. We may all agree this is arduous work and a bit on the tedious side. We all have our favorite methods. I suppose one is to load all of one type (Discussion Board forums, quizzes) before moving to the next; another is to load everything one lesson at a time, working from beginning to end. Only a proofreading-class check can ensure you have changed all the dates from last semester – this is after having run the course at least once and corrected all the misspellings. A preview of the text helps build our expertise, part of the benefit of teaching, which as it did in the military, makes us experts through sheer repetition and reflection from answering questions. I tend to preview lessons in order the students will, to see if what we are having them do does not make sense. Usually it does, as course writers intended, so sometimes it is good to speak with them about the course and let them share what they think about it and why some parts are written as they are. And then there is the writing. Even for notes, announcements, and assignment instructions that are posted online, we do a respectable amount of writing to get your average three credit-hour course completely loaded. The items we write and post onto online courses merit a bit of description. As I mentioned, there is a lot – often separated by folders or tabs as we tend to organize a 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

course page into weekly lessons or units. Here is what I do about this: I have Word documents made with a copy of what I post. Depending on the course, it may be divided into weekly lessons or by category of item (welcome notes first, then all announcements, then lesson notes, then Discussion Board posts I intend to make). Preparatory writing for what I will post gains importance if the institution requests that we professors lead by example for substantiveness of posts or support from sources, or both. I save these notes pages, which for one set of five courses runs to 100 pages in one file; most are just 40. As the posts and notes are saved, so is my way of providing assignment feedback. After awhile, I have a set several choices on how I praise excellent work, coach on citing and matching with a reference list or on how to write strongly, or provide students additional material of interest. Once drafted, I will paste these, adding the studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name and details on the questions (they are sometimes scrambled), and above all CHECK THAT I AM CALLING THE STUDENT BY THE RIGHT NAME! Getting this wrong would be too embarrassing to think about. Posted by David Alegre at 02:20PM (07:00)

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QUOTES FOR SUCCESS Friday, October 03, 2014 I’ve been focused on assisting individuals work on their career paths for the past eighteen-years. I’ve been teaching for the past thirteen-years, mostly career concentrated classes, but also some business centered classes for various colleges and universities. When I first started teaching the career strategy classes, I started collecting notable quotes. Some of the quotes were to the point, others were on the lighter side, but all aimed to help individuals think about their career choices. About seven-years ago, I put together a PowerPoint of some of the quotes (Quotes for Success) I collected – a total of about seventy-five. I have the PowerPoint quotes on the screen before class. Each quote is up for 10-seconds and then segments to the next quote and then recycles at the end of the PowerPoint. As the students start to filter into the classroom and get settled, they have the opportunity to view the quotes as they cycle. Some of the quotes are; • “Chose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Confucius • “Communication is more than just words.” Peter Drucker • “Knowledge is power.” Francis Bacon • “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Abraham Lincoln • “The trouble is, if you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.” Erica Jong • “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” Albert Einstein • “I couldn’t wait for success, so I went ahead without it.” Jonathan Winters • “Don’t confuse having a career with having a life.” Hillary Clinton • “Life is a banquet and so many suckers are starving.” Auntie Mame • “Memento Vivere – Remember to Live.” In a previous writing, I talked about how I use a 5-Minute paper at the start of class. Around the eight session, I find out who has a birthday closes to the date of the class and ask him/her to pick a number from 1 to 75. The number that is picked will match the slide number of the PowerPoint and that becomes their topic quote. The question is usually stated to read the quote and write how the quote applies to their career field. In order to get the full points for the paper, the students need to write at least 8-10 sentences – coherent sentences. We then have an open discussion about how that one quote has so many different responses. I have used this same process in other disciplines I have taught. As an example, when I teach in the Service Industry Management area or the Business Communications area or the Change Management area, I have quotes that reflect those career fields. I have been told by some students, after the term is over, that some of the quotes made them think or even re-think their perspective on their careers and their life. After all, the class I facilitate is Careers and Personal Development. Posted by James Voska at 11:03AM (-07:00)

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The Value of Formatting Friday, October 03, 2014 Formatting. No, not a document, class formatting. I don’t know about you, but it seems like I try to stuff too much into class most of the time. Not because I want to, but because I want to share as much as I can with students. Everything is just “too important” or “really necessary”. So much info – too little time! How to cover everything? I really did not realize that I had the same organization until a student pointed it out to me by telling me how much he appreciated the same activities each class. After thinking about it, I realized I do have a ‘format’ to class. Here’s a couple of things that help me: 1) set up groups early in the class, and 2) use a standard format for each week: Set a Theme – Do Reading – Talk Watch – Discuss – Do. Groups: To set up groups, I use colored card stock (4 colors, depending on number of students); each color is a group. So, whenever I tell the class to get into groups, I don’t have to waste time with counting off, or rows – they just get into groups. I do allow them to change if they wish. Format:

• The theme usually follows the textbook content, and I build everything else around it. For example, if the chapter is on writing a business summary, the theme might be eCommerce. Everything else, then, is in the same theme. • The reading is done outside of class from the chapter and outside reading from newspaper articles to web sources based on the theme. • We talk in class about what the theme – maybe some history or current events – and the goals for the week and for assignments and projects. • I usually show a video on the subject (as current as possible) or my own presentation, but no more than 8-10 minutes max. (OK – if we are pressed for time, this may not be shown.) • Then we discuss the reading, discussions, and video in class, and any questions that may arise thus far. • The “do” is usually in a group or with partners. It can be a quiz, pair and share, a journal writing, or assignments that are completed over a couple of classes. For example, if I give a quiz, I may give it twice. The first time individually, which gives me a snapshot of their content knowledge. If time, I do the same quiz in their groups where the content is discussed and deliberated, and the answers are determined collectively and by consensus. Students study (and learn) content so they can pass the quiz, and then they learn more as their discussion with group allows them to understand it more deeply. It also helps them practice critical thinking skills. If it’s a project to reinforce learning, they must keep within the theme, and they sometimes work on and complete the project outside of class. For example, this might be time to work on a marketing summary, or class presentation. Do I still try and put too much into every class? Yep. But I find that creating groups and 68

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keeping to a format really does help me see whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been covered. It also helps create continuity so students know what to expect each class period. Any suggestions? Posted by Chris Heyer at 04:20PM (-07:00)

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9x9x25 Post Two: Teaching Widely (Part I) Friday, October 03, 2014 So, I’m trained as a historian. I did my undergraduate work in European history and political theory. I have a Master’s in medieval European history, the equivalent of another Master’s in American history, and I’m ABD for a Ph.D. in American history, specifically the environmental history of the American West. But, I don’t teach much history anymore. I do teach G.E.D. preparation courses, which does include a section on U.S. history. It also involves some civics (a.k.a. American government), for which I also have some training. Nevertheless, I have received little formal training for much of what I teach, which is pretty much the entire high school curriculum. Now, I did get through high school, and I received a decent liberal arts education as an undergraduate. So, drawing on those (now rather old) skills, I started teaching G.E.D. preparation in 2007. About half of all of my time in the classroom is spent teaching mathematics. Yes, some of you are shuddering in revulsion. Others are letting loose an inner cheer. And some of you may be shrugging with indifference. Now, I took College Algebra at age 17, about 30 years ago. Apparently I remember almost none of it—I kid you not, it’s a real “use it or lose it” discipline. It didn’t help that I utterly despised math through most of my life. Until January of this year, I taught rather basic math (the equivalent of MAT 082 here), and I did well with it. However, with the rise of the Common Core standards, high school is becoming more difficult, so the G.E.D. rose with it. Our math instruction must now include much more algebra (MAT 092 and part of MAT 122). Drawing a blank when it came to factoring polynomials and dealing with functions, I scrambled over to Building 4 here on the Prescott Campus and jumped into some math classes (many thanks to Brian Brockert, and now Shane Gibson). Having taught math for over seven years, and now taking math classes once again, I’ve come to rather enjoy it, despite a lack of inherent aptitude. I’m more secure than ever teaching it, and the beauty of numbers has entered my soul. Each math problem that I solve, either as a teacher or a student, brings that feeling of satisfaction one gets from successfully finishing any puzzle. Because I struggled so much when I was young, I’m able to share that “Got it!” feeling with my students. In short, by teaching outside of my original comfort zone, I have broadened my intellectual horizons and changed for the better. This can also happen to instructors who only teach within their own discipline (the one in which they were trained). However, when I lecture on, or read, history, there are familiar channels within my consciousness that become richer and deeper. Yet when I teach, or learn, mathematics, my mind bursts with new activities and new possibilities. And I get to say “Got it!” And that’s just cool. So, given the opportunity, you might want to jump at the chance to teach widely. You never know what good may come of it. 70

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Posted by Mark Frederick at 05:41PM (-07:00)

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

The Evolving Online Lab Report Saturday, October 04, 2014 How do I get students to get a ‘hands on’ type of lab experience at home, taking an online class? I first went through my list of topics and thought about what they needed to know and what they should be getting out of the ‘hands on’ lab experience (in the lab or at home). I also had to give up some things I feel is important, like actually working with a microscope. My first lab online was a lab about types of tissues in the body (BIO 201 Human Anatomy & Physiology I) and the hormone secreting glands (BIO 202 Human Anatomy & Physiology II). These both involved students looking at tissue slides through a microscope. OK, not a realistic thing to expect online students to have access to a microscope. There are three things I really need students to know when they are done with these labs (in the lab or online) when they are presented with a specific slide image. 1) be able to recognize where that image came from in the body. 2) know specific features from that image (e.g. collagen fibers or name of a cell). 3) describe what that tissue does or what that gland secretes. If I let go of the importance of actually using a microscope and focus on what they need to know regarding the subject matter, then the vast array of quality photographic images available online become the primary resource for these labs. I created a lab report guide for students to follow. In that guide, I listed the tissues or glands they needed to find images for, then a list of features they needed to point out on those images, and finally a series of questions about each tissue relating to its function in the body. I left the report pretty open to allow students to be creative in how they made the report. They could have used Glogster or Prezi or Power Point or a word processor or any format that allowed them to show what I asked for in a way that made sense to them. I looked forward to seeing what the students would create. The first semester I launched this online lab reporting I had them submit the report as a document or web link. They just had to attach it or post it to the assignment page in Blackboard where I could view it, write comments about their report and post their grade. This was great until I started grading the lab reports. The reports were mostly cut and paste jobs put into a word processor taken almost verbatim from Wikipedia with the image also provided on Wikipedia. That first round of grading did not go well as my comments included their plagiarized portions of the lab along with a warning note. Now I had to rethink this to get my students to actually ‘learn’ something from the lab (i.e. the actual purpose of doing the labs in the first place) rather than just making a ‘hoop they have to jump through’ where they only do what is listed with no attempt at gaining any knowledge from it. I had to then tighten up the report guidelines, which I hated to do because the good students did a remarkable job in finding great images and were very creative in their own way of presenting the material. The rest of the semester was a balancing act of making the report process rigid enough to force the less inclined students to gain the necessary experience and open enough to allow the creative students to generate a report that shows the depth that I had hoped for. Whew, now that semester was over, I had to rethink things. I was so impressed with many of the great reports that I thought that the other students should be able to see it and then they can also be inspired and motivated to improve or at least learn something from their fellow students. The following semester, instead of having students submit their reports to the assignment page where I was the only one to see it, I had them post it to the designated blog for that 72

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topic in Blackboard. Then I made it a requirement that each student had to view and comment (including one constructive criticism and one complementary comment) on three fellow students lab reports. I thought that by forcing students to view other students works they would be inspired and also knowing that their reports were going to be viewed, they would be more motivated to present a better report (as if submitting a report to their instructor for a grade was not enough, which it wasn’t for some students). This improved things a great deal but for me when I did my portion of the grading, I still could not tell if the students ‘got it’ or if they just were better at paraphrasing. My next change was to make the students ‘teach’ their fellow students. Instead of having students write reports, I wanted to hear them tell me about what they know. I took that part for granted when I would teach students on campus. I had a verbal interaction that allowed me more insight into where a student was on their learning process and I could better read what they needed from me. Online, I never even knew if they could pronounce the words. So, I decided their lab report should be a video. Same report outline but now they had to make a video that was ‘showing’ or ‘teaching’ the class about that topic. They still had to include all the tissues or glands on the list and the features and the actions. However now instead of bullet lists with attached images, they show an image on the screen and recorded their audio while pointing out what they are talking about. This helped a lot for me to get a better feel of where students were in their understanding. As anyone on our side of the desk knows, you learn more about the subject each time you teach it. Why not give students that opportunity? They posted their video as a link and their fellow students still had to view it and comment. This not only sparked better content demonstrations and many mini tutorials for other students to learn from but it broke down some of the online barriers and made students communicate in a more meaningful way. Posted by Ellen Savoini at 04:09AM (-07:00)

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Guide on the Side or Sage on the Stage Saturday, October 04, 2014 When I was a practicing therapist, I would often get asked “what’s your theoretical orientation?” I always felt awkward answering that question since I feel one approach could never apply to everyone. Now as an educator, I’m sometimes asked about my philosophy on education. Are you more teacher-centered or student-centered? Do I favor more being the “guide on the side” or “sage on the stage?” I guess it depends. I learned to do both, use what I need based on the needs of the class. I teach eclectically, I never did like prescribing to a particular group, be it political, religious, or anything too trendy,(OK, I own an I Phone). Eclectic, as the name implies is an approach that incorporates a variety of principles and philosophies in order to create a program to meet the needs of our students. Instead of insisting a strict adherence to one particular approach of school of thought, being electric allows us to employ elements from a range of techniques with the goal of establishing a course that is personally tailored to the needs of the class. The primary benefit is not only allowing the classroom experience to become more personalized, but it encourages the instructor to be more creative is class design and delivery. At one time, most therapists rigidly adhered to a single style, but eclectic therapy today is the most common style used by practicing therapists. It is a more flexible approach that allows the therapist to adapt to each client’s individual needs. Perhaps I adopted my personal teaching style from my experiences being a therapist, but there seems to be a common tie to this approach. What is best for the student? And how to we as educators not only identify what is best for our students, but how do we approach those needs in our instruction? It is so much easier to teach every class the same and put the responsibility on the student to adjust to the needs of the instructor, but I found in my 27 years practicing as a therapist, this approach will surely guarantee a lack of investment in outcomes in the learning process. I’ve known many therapists who were reluctant to call themselves “eclectic” in fear of sounding too wishy-washy or being insufficiently focused. In the early stages of my training, I was told by my supervisor, “Never say you are electric, for you will lose credibility with your peers.” The truth is that most therapists practiced electric therapy, but never admitted it. So perhaps the question we should all be asking ourselves is not what our teaching style is, but rather, how do we adapt our teaching to our students? Every class is different. No matter how many PSY 101 classes I have taught, they are never the same. The subject material remains the same, but the students will always be different and so should our approach to how we deliver that subject matter. Perhaps like in therapy, unless we our willing to constantly re-create our teaching and thinking, we set ourselves up for boredom and even burnout. 74

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Posted by Salvatore Buffo at 01:18PM (07:00)

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Cross-pollination Sunday, October 05, 2014 I have been polling my students about how taking an Environmental Biology class might be impacting their lives or connecting to other courses they taking. After getting over the fear of getting a “no influence” response was heartened to hear about a positive impact. One student told me he discussed the Industrial Revolution, apropos for many subjects, (biology, philosophy, history, english) topic in three classes at the same time! Other students told me they had begun to feel very guilty about certain things they do. This was a start (Thanks, students!), however, my view is broader. My interest lies in how a basic understanding of how the Earth works is useful in understanding everything else. I do recognize in myself some bias and will be the first to admit being somewhat obsessed with how everything is connected. To me it is all the same thing.

Switching Flowers, Antonio Picasc I think environmental biology or environmental science may be the single most important course in anyone’s education. Students may (with hope) come see the world differently and gain an appreciation for diverse organisms and processes that support life, discover the scientific basis for concepts they may have already experienced or heard about. What could be more important than discovering the way nature functions, how humans affect this, and the solutions to environmental problems? Without Earth, where would we be? I see this as a survival for the 21st Century, a toolkit for the future, a deep topic to talk to people about in other classes. I call this cross-pollination. Cross-pollination is all over the place…literally. It is a scientific term used in everyday life in the same manner as evolution, as in the The Automobile Industry and its Evolution or DNA as in Sigourney Weaver says ‘Alien’ role ‘part of her DNA. So we have Crosspollination in Ecofashion and Perfecting Cross-pollination from the Harvard Law Review. To me the metaphor in relation to the study of Environmental Biology and discussion of Environmental Biology is about cross-pollination among college courses, students, and instructors. Whenever humans are involved as in simply reading this piece, we are in the Environment viewed through politics, science, media, psychology, history, ecology, literature and other media. It is probably a stretch to ask for most to consider zoology, botany, microbiology, physics, and chemistry in the mix, but I am working on it! As 76

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animals, we are formed with and act by the same rules of physics and chemistry, etc. And yet, there is this other element I will call humanness. Humanness offers us the option of seeing the broad Earth as a vehicle for knowledge and a chance to communicate in unique ways. Experiences in the environment (taking classes, teaching), no matter if they are called environmental experiences, are just part of our complex lives. Viewing environmental studies or environmental biology as separate topics, I suppose is important, since we are not accustomed to recognizing one of our important roles on Earth as part of a vast ecosystem, going from one flower (course in college, or experience) to another flower (course in college or experience) taking knowledge and mixing it around. It all the same thing, only bigger. Posted by Joanne Oellers at 08:35AM (-07:00)

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I Love Phi Theta Kappa! Sunday, October 05, 2014 Since I am sitting down at the transfer fair today, advertising all of the benefits of Phi Theta Kappa, I thought that I would advertise them to the faculty as well.

Just in case this is as far as you read, here is what I want faculty to know: Phi Theta Kappa is a honor society. It helps students get transfer scholarships and to develop themselves as leaders and scholars. To get in, students must have a 3.5 GPA, be taking at least six credit hours at YC, and have previously taken at least 12 credit hours. The best way to encourage students to join PTK is by telling them what it is, and also by telling them that you think that they would be a good fit. Also, please consider coming to one of our events or to our induction ceremony. Faculty matter to students, and seeing your faces in the audience makes them even prouder of their achievements. I’ll admit, when I started advising PTK, I didn’t know what it was. I knew it was an honorary, because someone told me that when I took the job. Otherwise, I probably would have thought that it was a sorority or fraternity, which is something I hear a lot from students. I went to a four-year university straight out of high school, so I never had the opportunity to join Phi Theta Kappa. I’m pretty sure that I did get a Phi Beta Kappa letter, and I crumpled it up and threw it in the trash along with all my other “junk” mail. So, basically, like many students and faculty, when it came to the letters PTK, I was totally in the dark. During my first year as an advisor, I learned a lot. It was trial by fire. Phi Theta Kappa is a world of acronyms and jargon and I didn’t know what any of it meant: HIA, C4, College Project, Hallmark, PAM, and on and on. It would have been all could handle to process memberships, and try to decipher the website, but I had chapter President who was a real firecracker. She wanted to do EVERYTHING! She paid for herself to attend regional conferences, where she learned all the acronyms and taught them to me. She planned events; she went to the Foundation Board to ask for money to attend International Convention in Nashville, TN; she ran for and accepted a position as the Vice President of the Arizona Northern District (without even telling me). Phi Theta Kappa changed her life – and her career path. Through her experiences in PTK, she decided that she wanted to be a community college teacher. I’m proud to be her advisor and one day I will be proud to be her colleague. That spring, because of her, I ended up in Nashville, TN at the Phi Theta Kappa convention, which is where I officially drank the Kool-Aid. Phi Theta Kappa convention is hard to explain. You might be able to relate if you have, perhaps, been to a cheerleading convention. Honestly, I didn’t really think it was going to be my bag; and, honestly, it isn’t. I’m a true introvert, and being around people non-stop for three days exhausts me. And it is loud. The defining feature of a Phi Theta Kappa convention is the general session room. This is a room for 4000 people, filled with flashing lights, and yelling, and loud music. I wasn’t looking forward to this. What changed my mind was seeing how exciting and inspiring it all was for my students. Also, I get to see some great speakers like Malcolm Gladwell and Allison Levine. But mostly, it is about the chapter members. It is at these conventions that possibilities open up for students who maybe weren’t even sure that they could go on to a university. They get to see others up on the stage that come from backgrounds just like them, who go to community colleges, who have challenges in their personal lives, and who have carved out a future by being exceptional leaders and scholars. This helps our students set goals 78

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and move toward them, the simplest and best (according to me) predictor of success. Phi Theta Kappa provides opportunities: opportunities for students to travel, opportunities for networking, opportunities for leadership, transfer scholarships, and, for me, opportunities for some of the greatest professional development I have had. Advising Phi Theta Kappa is the most exciting and rewarding job I have done. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve met some amazing YC students through the organization, and have enjoyed following their successes as they move on to universities and into the job market. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve also made friends through Phi Theta Kappa, and I know that my students have as well. They find their niche when they become actively involved. So, please tell your students about Phi Theta Kappa, and support their attempts to further their goal through the organization. They will appreciate it, and the thank you will be their success. Posted by Laura Cline at 10:14AM (-07:00)

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From Bumbling Students to Brilliant Sunday, October 05, 2014 (http://zitscomics.com/) For this blog I would like to take off on what Mark Shelley was discussing last week: Are we enabling or empowering the students in our classes? As Mary Verbout likes to say, all instructors who teach 100-level courses or below are dealing with at-risk students. In other words, most students who come to community college do not know how to be college students. Perhaps, neither of their parents attended college, or their high schools did not prepare them for college. One of my current students who has not been in school for over 30 years remembers, "I didn't have to do a stitch of work in high school because I was a football player. My teachers just kept passing me on. Everything you are teaching us is brand new to me." Other students assume that they can successfully juggle family and work obligations with 12-15 credits. Another one of my students is a full-time manager and a mother of a two-year-old who does her studying between the hours of 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. The underlying causes for being at risk may vary, but the results are the same--lack of persistence and completion. We instructors can choose to complain about our students in the back hallways and continue to be frustrated in our classes, or we can do something about the problem. And, no, we do not need to resort to dumbing down our courses. An article in The Chronicle of Higher Education states: "Effective strategies start with a clear vision of who today's students are. The majority are nontraditional in some wayâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;they work and go to school; they don't live on campus; they take longer than expected to graduate. Equally important, the fastest-growing populations are those historically most underrepresented and underservedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;first-generation students, low-income students, and students of color." As community college instructors, we need to have a "clear vision" of the students sitting in our classrooms. They are indeed inexperienced college students. We cannot assume that when they enroll in our courses they already know how to meet our expectations for performance. One of the "odd" behaviors I have to address every semester is a misconstrued belief about the insignificance of homework. This semester I have two students who have come to every class eager to participate...but not prepared. They have incorrectly assumed that if they show up they will at least get a C, even though they have not done any of the assignments. I can't wait around for them to figure out the consequences, failure at the end of the semester. Thus, if my students have not done an assignment within the first week, they receive an email from me reminding them of the importance of completing the assignments to their ultimate success in the class. Then I reinforce this with a quick conversation before or after class. I also email 4-week progress reports. Is this babying them as students? I don't think so. The responsibility remains with them to decide whether or not they will respond to the correction. Some do and some don't, but at least those who don't know why they have failed the course. Those who do respond have learned a valuable lesson for the rest of their college careers. A second misconception I encounter is the student assumption that they can zip off an assignment the night before--or even the half hour before--class. In my lower level 80

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reading course, the reading assignment may be only 4-8 pages long, but the written response requires critical thinking and analysis. Usually, one quick read of the essay will not be enough to provide them with a sufficient understanding for answering the prompts. I can recognize these hasty completions by the short answers and lack of proofreading. If I allow the students to continue to do this, they will fail the course and will not have learned what they need to learn. They will also become frustrated and give up without realizing how they could have done better, when doing better may simply be a matter of slowing down and spending more time on each assignment. Karin Kirk in "Motivating Students" recommends: "Students perform best when the level of difficulty is slightly above their current ability level. If the task is to easy, it promotes boredom and may communicate a message of low expectations or a sense that the teacher believes the student is not capable of better work. A task that is too difficult may be seen as unattainable, may undermine self-efficacy, and may create anxiety. Scaffolding is one instructional technique where the challenge level is gradually raised as students are capable of more complex tasks." Because of my students' poor performance this semester, I have had to devise a new method of scaffolding. For example, one of my assignments requires that students explain the significance of various quotes in the assigned short story. The students must explain how these quotes either help to develop the plot, reveal information about characters, or contribute to the story's meaning. For our first two stories, the majority of the students (over 90%) simply rephrased each quote, obviously in a matter of minutes. I had to figure out how to empower my students while maintaining high standards for their performance. Many of their first attempts at the assignments were receiving 5 out of 10 points. This was discouraging both for me and for my students, so I decided to allow students to resubmit any assignment with corrections for the first half of the semester. Once I announced this in class, we then went over my expectations for each assignment, and I reemphasized the amount of time required to achieve those expectations. This brings up a third issue: the amount of time students devote to learning outside of the classroom. This often reflects their prior educational experience. If students have been able to graduate from high school without doing very much homework, what will they assume about college? Early in the semester in our FYE 103 student success class, we have our students track how they spend their time for an entire week. Here are the statistics from my two sections: 18 students are taking 15 credits: The highest number of hours studying was 18. The lowest number of hours studying was 0. The average number of hours studying was 14. 10 students are taking 9-12 credits: The highest number of hours studying was 21. The lowest number of hours studying was 3. The average number of hours studying was 13. 3 people have 6-9 credits with an average of 7.8 hours studying. (11 students either turned in the assignment late or did not turn it in at all.) What were students doing with their time as recorded in these diaries? Many hours of Netflix, video games, and socializing. Based upon these results, we can see that our students do not know or understand what they should be doing outside of class in order to be successful in college. Thus, in our FYE 103 courses, we are continually reminding students of the 2:1 ratio of homework to credit hour. It doesn't take long for them to realize that this ratio really does work. They also discover that when they organize their time they actually can do better on their assignments. What do we need to do as community college instructors to promote student success? First, we cannot assume that our students already know how to be good college 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

students. We need to educate them about the college culture and expectations. This must be done across the campus in all our classes. Second, within our classrooms, we need to make our expectations clear and demonstrate how students can meet those expectations. It is up to the students to take responsibility for their own learning, but we are doing them a disservice if we do not teach them what this responsibility looks like in college.

Posted by Nancy Schafer at 10:36AM (-07:00)

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Duck! Rabbit! Sunday, October 05, 2014

“For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are.” ― C.S. Lewis Integrating children’s literature into all of my courses has become a powerful strategy. Most of my students quickly learn of my interest….okay…obsession with children’s books. At first glance, my adult students may brush it off, thinking, “Well, this course IS about kids, right?” However, after the first several weeks have passed, I find that these selected titles become a beacon for understanding concepts, and can sometimes, simply, knock a student to their knees. Literature that whispers powerful messages such as, accepting others perspectives, seeing the big picture, and perseverance, can pack a big punch. It isn’t long before my students tell me that they have ordered these books for themselves. (you’re welcome, Amazon!) As instructors, we may be sure that our students are cynical, jaded, or perhaps lazy and disenfranchised; all of which increases our stress level as we attempt to connect and inspire learning. I’m usually amazed at how even the most disconnected student may come around with the use of these titles. Many books intended for kids are worthy of any aged audience. Most are NOT condescending (if there are worth the printing) or full of preachy parables. More often, the levels of absorption varies; depending on the age, development or life stage of the reader. In addition to Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krause Rosenthal, referenced at the top of this post, here are a few other favorites: One that comes to mind is The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Sharing 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

excerpts from this book can remind us about love, what’s important in life and what you should never forget, no matter how old you are.

Challenging the reader to consider what it means to ‘see the big picture’ is only one great reason to use the wordless book, Zoom. For nothing is ever as it seems in Istvan Banyai’s sleek, mysterious landscapes of pictures within pictures.

Originally published in 1936, this recommended story of a bull who would rather stop and smell the roses than fight in the bull ring was seen as propaganda and banned by Hitler. Naturally, Gandhi loved “The Story of Ferdinand” as a celebration of pacifism. Lastly, when considering how technology may be altering our lives, my students love, It‘s A Book by Lane Smith. I’ve included the image of the last page of the book (which, yes, did stir controversy. There is another version available for a younger audience, just so you know.) If you can’t read the text from the last page, it says, “It’s a book, Jackass”. Now, you want to read it too, right? Cultures, reinforcing concepts, and opportunities to apply critical thinking and inspire creativity can all be found within the pages of some of our best literature…..and those books just so happen to be in the children’s section. Posted by Leanne Lawhead at 04:19PM (-07:00) 84

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How to Sit in Your Chair at Your Desk While Working on Your Computer Monday, October 06, 2014 Original post is here on dotcomyoga.com I know all the hoopla of standing at your desk verses sitting at your desk to sitting on an exercise ball at your desk verses sitting in a chair at your desk. But as a physical education and health instructor and as a certified personal trainer and yoga instructor, I must be honest. One prolonged position is not better than another, especially, if the prolonged position is incorrect. And having studied human behavior, I know most people will not give up their chairs when working on their computers at their desks. So, in this short writing, I’m simply going to share how to sit in your chair at your desk while working on your computer. OK. With a little addition to the above video, I’m going to list some basic steps of how to sit in your chair at your desk while working on your computer. Sitting in Your Chair: – Sit in your chair with your back straight and without leaning forward. – Adjust your chair’s seat so your feet are flat on the floor. – If necessary, you can use a foot stool so your feet are flat on the foot stool. – Adjust your chair’s seat, so your knees, quads (thighs) and hips are horizontally leveled. – If necessary, your hips can be slightly higher than your knees while sitting. This position may slightly differ depending on what’s most comfortable and suitable for your body. – Support your lower spine, where your lower back curves, by placing a rolled up towel, a small pillow or some type of small cushion between your lower spine and your chair. – Your chair may have a lower spine supporter. If it does and if it works to support your lower spine, use it, but just because your chair has a lower spine support, it does not mean it will work for your body. – Adjust your chair’s armrests, if it has them, so you can rest your forearms on the armrests, making sure your elbows are at approximately 90 degrees and with your shoulders relaxed. Sitting in Your Chair at Your Desk While Working on Your Computer: – Make sure there’s nothing under your desk and scoot your chair in towards your desk. – Make sure you are still sitting with your back straight and without leaning forward. – Place your computer monitor straight in front of you with the top of your computer monitor slightly below your eye level (United States Department of Labor, n.d.).

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– Place your keyboard right in front of you. – Place your mouse next to your keyboard. – When using your mouse, make sure your hand and wrist are in a comfortable position. It may also be beneficial to learn how to use the mouse with either hand. – Adjust your body, so you can place your palms on the wrists pad with your elbows at approximately 90 degrees. – Remember; when typing, make sure you do not rest your wrists on the wrists pad. Rather, hold your wrists above the wrists pad in a comfortable position with your wrists and hands in-line with your forearms, and when you are not typing, make sure your palms, not your hands, are resting on the wrist pads. – Place all the tools you use, like the phone or a stapler, in close reach, so you are not reaching repeatedly or overreaching to get to them. Now, again, I must be honest. Ultimately, it’s best to use a combination of the different ways to work at your desk. You should sit in a chair for a while. You should sit on an exercise ball for a while to engage the muscles that were not engaged when you were sitting in the chair. You should stand when you can, such as while you are stapling papers, while you are talking to a coworker or while you are talking on the phone. And you should take timed breaks by setting an alarm that will remind you to take a break in order to walk around for a bit or to stretch. And, of course, I know in the real world it’s not that easy. So don’t make things difficult. Even if you don’t want to do everything listed above, that’s ok. At the least, make a promise to yourself that you will do just one thing differently, just one thing, and if you forget to do it or don’t do it for any reason be forgiving and try again. References United States Department of Labor. Occupational Safety & Health Administration. (n.d.). Working Bibliography Mayo Clinic. Healthy Lifestyle Adult Health. Office ergonomics: Your how-to guide. (04/13/2014). Posted by Charles Lohman at 08:11AM (-07:00)

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The Homeschooler’s Bartender Monday, October 06, 2014

I have a number of friends who home-school their children. I have a number of qualms with this, especially one friend who seems to think that she, with no educational training whatsoever, can be a much better teacher than any of those which the public schools have given her son. Many of these folks, when they realize that they are over their head, come to me for advice. My role is to listen to them very carefully and then to rant. This last one became a blog post about the ways in which giving students math word problems before they are ready often overwhelms their cognitive resources and they do not learn concepts from completing these problems. Here is the original conversation, for your enjoyment:

You made a comment about research showing that doing “real life math problems” don’t help people do better in math. Is there a place that you can direct me to check out that research? I am very curious about that. The more that I see in current elementary math education, the more I think they are promoting the idea that it’s going to help kids do better in real life. It is my opinion that when kids are actually out “in real life” doing actual things with numbers, that math concepts are better understood and make sense. And by other things, I mean: counting money, shopping at the store, cooking and baking, building things, etc. Point me in the right direction to check out that research! Great question Lisa, the answer is complicated, but interesting! It’s not that nestling instruction in real-world situations is bad. It’s good actually, very good, but often it is over- and precipitously applied, to the detriment of some students. Being able to apply new concepts to prior knowledge is a sign of deeper learning. If we can apply concepts to real life situations, this is an indication that we really understand a concept and it’s very good to see how new concepts work in the real world. That’s the goal of learning and the whole idea behind Bloom’s famous taxonomy. Most schools only teach rote memorization, and therefore, students never really LEARN anything. They simply memorize some things for a test, and then they forget about them shortly thereafter. If we learn something deeply we use it constantly and apply it in many different ways in our lives. That’s why lower level learning in Blooms is categorized by “recalling, remembering, and identifying,” typically facts. A higher level of learning (which is real learning that is resistant to forgetting) involves “application, evaluation, 88

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comparison, and synthesis”. If students can do these higher level things, they likely will never forget. Public schools are bad at getting so many of their students (herded cats) to go beyond the “recalling and identifying” stages. They don’t have time (usually due to too many standards to meet [e.g., Common Core]) to apply, create, interact, meditate and evaluate in diverse circumstances and domains. That’s the problem with public schools. However, most schools know that they should be doing these types of things, so they try to give intimations of higher level thinking skills—usually this translates into just one type of application question mixed into their normal school work, because it’s easy to do and add to a worksheet, translation: math word problems. Students who are used to rote memorization techniques (the lowest end of the taxonomy) are often met, out of nowhere, with the highest end of the spectrum, evaluation and application, when they see a math word problem. No wonder they don’t do well with math word problems; in no other aspect of their schooling are they getting these real world or pseudo real world experiences, then suddenly they are sideswiped by the hardest aspect of assessment, with no build-up and no warning. The ideas of John Sweller, who started the “worked problem” movement in education stated that with a word problem, there is just too much going on for most students and that to set up a problem like that involves expertise in the target domain that is far beyond most novice students’ abilities. His idea is that novice students cannot learn from word problems. They can sometimes find the right answer, but they are not learning, typically. He believes that students spend so much of their time and mental capacity simply setting up and making approaches at solving the problems, that the brain has no cognitive resources left to actually learn anything about mathematics and the larger picture of math application by solving the word problem. They just get the answer, be the answer right or wrong, and then they let out a sigh of relief or, a shout of frustration, or (more likely than not, just simply give up and go back to their video games) and nothing is transferred from working memory, to long term memory regarding the whole experience. Getting something from working memory to LTM is the real goal of education. So, word problems are good, but they have to be scaffolded a great deal. Give students much support with them, have them connect them back to the equations they have already solved. Fill in most of the variables for them and have them explain what other variables are missing and why, and perhaps most simply, just solve them for them and have them explain why the solution works. Using hands on activities, like counting money, buying things at the real store, are great experiences. And, if you give the students a lot of support and guide them through these experiences, they can be very beneficial, much more so than math word problems. Research shows that beginning students will LEARN more from studying an application question, like a math word problem, that is already worked out and solved for them, then they will from having to solve their own word problems (Sweller, 1988). However, word problems are good, if students are experts in the domain. These problems push their expertise further and propel into deeper learning, according to the taxonomy of learning. John Sweller and other cognitive load theorists (van Merrienboer, Paas, Mayer, Moreno, etc.) reject the constructivist theories of learning that hold sway in the current educational dialogue. They feel that constructivism, which basically holds that since each student’s prior knowledge is idiosyncratic and that learning occurs differently for each student, that all students should construct their own learning activities in very real-world circumstances 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

and contexts. This idea is very false because, often, novice learners simply aren’t ready for real world contexts and they simply aren’t ready to direct their own learning in a meaningful way. If true beginners are given a tough problem, they spend all of their time solving and none of their time learning. Novices need lots of guidance, scaffolding, support and Socratic methodologies (e.g., cognitivism, or the cognitive approach to learning theory). Then, when students are ready, you let them loose to create, explore, apply and synthesize, but not until they are ready to utilize the key concepts. When learning about the heart, we don’t show med students a real heart right off the bat, the fatty tissue and individual nature of each heart make seeing the key valves and ventricles very difficult. No, we give them a model of the heart, complete with color codes and arrows pointing to key concepts. Then, after much much guidance and experience, they cut into their first real heart as a cardiologist. So, why do we give students numbers and word problems and let them cut into “number hearts” the first time they hold a scalpel? We have to build up to application questions and number expertise, just as we have to build up to heart surgery and heart expertise. At least, if we want students to learn. There is a famous article, highly debated in academia, written by Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006), three cognitive scientists, decrying the over-application of constructivism in the school system. It’s worth a read, as it has made many educators question their blind, whole hearted acceptance of the constructivist learning movement: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17238095/Old%20Domin/Completed%20Classes/ID T%20860%20Cognit.%20and%20Design/Readings/6%20Kirschner%2C%20Sweller%2C %20Clark%20%282006%29-Why%20Minimal%20Guidance%20doesn%27t%20wrk.pdf Other than that, there is a raft of research on giving students worked-out problems, instead of word problems in math, before they have developed a good measure of expertise, mostly by Sweller and colleagues (especially check out “The worked example effect and human cognition”, Sweller, 2006). Here are just a few but there are hundreds of others: Mayer, R. (2004). “Should there be a three-strikes rule against pure discovery? The case for guided methods of instruction.”. American Psychologist 59: 14–19. Kirschner, P.A.; Sweller, J.; Clark, R.E. (2006). “Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: An analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching”. Educational Psychologist 41 (2): 75–86. Sweller, John (2006). “The worked example effect and human cognition”. Learning and Instruction 16 (2): 165. doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2006.02.005. Sweller, J (1988). “Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning”. Cognitive Science 12 (2): 257. doi:10.1016/0364-0213(88)90023-7. Sweller, John; Van Merrienboer, Jeroen J. G.; Paas, Fred G. W. C. (1998). Educational Psychology Review 10 (3): 251. doi:10.1023/A:1022193728205. In sum, the goal is to follow what researchers call “the guidance fading effect” (Sweller, 2006). This means that we give learners tons and tons of guidance at first, and as they grow and learn and become more expert, we slowly fade the guidance until they are on their own, learning, applying, comparing and constrasting, etc. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a sure-fire way to ensure learning.

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Posted by Curtis Kleinman at 08:33AM (-07:00)

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Google…The Ultimate Bat Tool? Monday, October 06, 2014

Wiklipedia Batman’s utility belt first appeared in 1939. In this comic Batman used a choking gas capsule as part of his arsenal. Since then, the utility belt has expanded to include more and more incredible tools. Batarangs, grapple guns, glue globules and freeze grenades all appeared just in time to save Batman’s bacon. In a similar manner, tools from Google have appeared and improved to help save my bacon. Until a few months ago, Google Sheets, Docs, and Slides were an afterthought to Microsoft Office. Office offered everything I could possibly want. However, it was often difficult for my students to have those same tools due to cost constraints. In a single class, I might have students using three or four different versions of Microsoft Office. As an instructor, it was difficult to create documentation for those versions…and there were the versions for Apple products to contend with. A simpler solution was to use a free product like Google Sheets or Docs. I could create one handout on a topic…like creating a graph in Sheets…and know that every student would be using the exact same version of Sheets. During the summer, Google added new functionality to allow students to collaborate on document creation. Features like commenting and suggested edits help me to set up group projects and to simplify grading. Over the next few weeks I hope to help you explore these features. But before I do that, I need to show you how to enter the Google landscape. Many of you may already have a Gmail account that you use for your personal business. However, you do not want your students communicating with you via this account. Instead, you want them to use your college email. Similarly, you don’t want to communicate with your students via their personal email. You want to use their college email. Luckily, Google offers accounts without Gmail. This means you can have all of the benefits of Google, but without Gmail. And you can link the account to your college email address. If you have your students get the same type of account, all of them can 92

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communicate via your college email system but have the benefits of Google. To get this type of account, go to https://accounts.google.com/signupwithoutgmail. This account will not include a Gmail account.

Form at https://accounts.google.com/signupwithoutgmail to sign up for Google account without Gmail. Enter your first and last name and your college email account. It is extremely important that you get this email address correct…without it you can’t share documents with your class via your college email. Fill out the rest of the form and submit it. You will be sent a confirmation email with which you will need to verify…so check your college email after submitting this form. Despite me saying several times to not sign up for Gmail with this account…some of you will do so anyway. Your students may also ignore your request to sign up without Gmail and be upset when the sharing does not work properly. You can check to see if this is what happened by logging into Google with your college email address as the username. After you have successfully logged in, you should see a photo (or a place to put a photo) in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Click on this photo.

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Your info may look a little different. You will probably see a placeholder photo instead of my photo and your own name instead of my name. However, it is extremely important that your college email appear underneath your name. If it is not, the wrong email is attached to the account. You will need to modify your account so that your college email appears here. For students, this is often the most difficult part of the process. By understanding what is going on, you can help them to get past this temporary obstacle. Click on Account.

Under Personal Info you will see a box like the one below.

If the primary email is not your college email AND not a Gmail address, you can select Edit and change the primary email to your college email. If the primary email is a Gmail address, you signed up for an account with Gmail. You will need to delete this Gmail account to share any documents with your class via you college email. For students, this typically happens when they are completely new to Google so deleting the Gmail account does very little â&#x20AC;&#x153;damageâ&#x20AC;?. To do this, select Data Tools. Select Delete Products. 94

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You may see several options here, but the one you want is Remove Gmail permanently. When you select that option, you will see this message.

Check the Yes box and enter your college email as the primary email address. Also enter your password for the account and then choose Remove Gmail. Now when you log into Google with your college username, you will see that email displayed with the Profile info in the upper right corner of the screen. Once both you and your students are set up properly, you can share documents (and they can share with you) via their college assigned email. This helps to simplify the process since most faculty have fairly easy access to those emails via their class roster. In my next post, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll show you how to share a document with your studentsâ&#x20AC;Śin my case a Sheets document. This process is similar to what would be done with any Google document in Google Drive. Posted by Dave Graser at 08:55AM (-07:00)

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Being Human Monday, October 06, 2014 It’s a funny thing. People go camping to re-create a life circumstance that we have spent most of human history trying to escape. Much of recreation is the re-creation of the laborious tasks of our ancestors. People sew, garden, cook from scratch, walk, run and hike, hunt, fish, ride horses, climb mountains, create pottery and weave baskets, pick their own apples or strawberries, and on and on. So many modern conveniences are abandoned just for the fun of it. One of those re-created activities is school. People by the thousand fill our campuses every year for a seminar or symposium, a workshop or class, not for the academic credit they may earn and often not to improve skills for their work, but for the love of learning. What a luxury, to learn. Imagination’s flame is fueled by knowledge. Each epiphany reveals another vast unexplored cavern. Learning is the most profound celebration of being human. And yet so many come to college and look upon it as an obstacle course, a maze through which to navigate and the best outcome would be to find your way through with as little effort and as a little time expended as possible.

Abigail Adams observed that “Learning is not attained by chance; it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.” That ardor is present in some students – certainly those who come for the love of learning, those who find the act of learning is itself the reward. Where it is lacking, I wonder if it might not be related to our social construction of education as a means for employment. What utter banality education must seem when that is the carrot. What hope should our young students have to be enraptured by a system which asks you first to discard your interests in favor of a small menu of pre-selected subjects? That is not the fertile soil in which we should plant our young. Humans are seldom fulfilled by labor which is more effectively done by animal or machine. A fulfilling life is not lived at 96

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the base of Abraham Maslowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pyramid. What might we create in our society if the object of school was to ignite a passion for learning? It is impossible to imagine a graduate describing herself as unsuccessful if she emerges from a college with an immense passion for more learning. It is hard to imagine the task that such a graduate would be unable to advance. The greatest task of all, however, would be to create a society that so values learning. To start, perhaps, we need to design a college built first to inspire.

Maslowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hierarchy of Needs

Posted by Stuart Blacklaw at 01:50PM (07:00)

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My Latest Struggle: Teaching Adults vs. Older Adolescent Learners Monday, October 06, 2014 For the past 20 plus years, I have been teaching within a variety of nursing programs at both the community college and university levels. Many of my students are adults (over age 25) returning for a career change, finding that what they have been working for decades may not be providing them with the satisfaction that they desire. Although there have been those occasional students coming straight from high school to apply to nursing, most are considered the adult learner. This semester I have branched out with teaching in a different arena and I picked up a First Year Experience (FYE 103) course, which consists of all of my students being under the age of 25. Although society may determine a person is an adult by 18 to 20 years old, many of our nursing textbooks state that the span of adolescence begins around 11 years of age and concludes at the end of the 24 year. I am finding this semester that I am experiencing a culture shock in trying to apply the same teaching concepts that I have used for so many years. Malcolm Knowles, an author of education for adults, has established the following five concepts for adult learners: 1. Adults understand why something is important to know or do 2. Adults have the freedom to learn in their own way 3. Learning is experiential 4. The time is right for them to learn 5. The process is positive and encouraging Now I believe I have a full understanding on these concepts and I do apply them frequently within my classroom settings. But, do they apply equally to both sets of students that I am teaching this semester, that is my new struggle? My challenge is to keep the attention spans of the FYE 103 students as engaged as the nursing students. I try to provide the experiential learning in a variety of methods to meet them each as individuals. I teach with a variety of techniques as many instructors do: interactive activities, videos, guest speakers, role play, learning games, computer activities, interviews, etc. It doesn’t seem to be the different teaching techniques that is the problem, as both sets of students are willing to try most of these activities. I believe that I provide both sets of students with a positive and encouraging environment in their classrooms. I have not heard otherwise which opens up another question, “would they even tell me?” (I’ll save that question for another day.) The fact that the FYE 103 course is being taken during their first year here at Yavapai is the right time for them to be taking the course. But perhaps, it is not the right time for them to be in college. I would like to combine this thought with the first concept above, ‘Adults understand why something is important to know or do’. As a previous ‘adult learner’ myself, I realize the importance of having students in college after graduating high school, but are they really ready? Of course I can answer this, “some are ready and others are not, depends on the person.” I wonder if the returning students applying to the nursing program were some of these

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actual students in the past. Perhaps they started some college classes or even completed a program, only to work in a field that was not fulfilling to them. Now they understand the importance of and are making the time to be back in college to learn something different; nursing. How many of my FYE 103 students may fall by this path? I so hope that I am able to keep them interested enough that even if this is not their time to be here, they will still stay. I will continue to give them my â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;ALLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in preparing them to understand that now is the right time and that college is so very important for each of their futures. Posted by Lori Riden at 02:15PM (-07:00)

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No Man is an Island Monday, October 06, 2014 What a strange profession teaching is! Though we pass our coworkers in the hall, eat with them at lunch, sit beside them at meetings and share supplies, joys and fears, our labor itself is solitary. In five years of teaching at Yavapai, I’ve had only two colleagues in my classroom. We’re accustomed to this independence, some of us even celebrate it, but it’s certainly not the norm. The bricklayer can view his buddy’s growing wall, the lawyer her opponent, the doctor his office partner –their techniques, feats, and foibles are all quite public to the profession. This is not the case with teaching. Students filter in and out, but our peers do not. At work, perhaps only the author is more isolated in her practice. The result of this is a sort of Galapagos evolution: over the years we adapt and improve but only within a very narrowly defined, self-determined ecosystem. Yes, occasionally diversity washes up on our shores in the form of conferences, Academe articles, and 9x9x25 Challenges, but, for the most part, our pedagogy plays out in isolation. This can create didactic dodos –creatures perfectly suited for their own environment but incapable of adapting to new challenges. In a century thus far defined by ever-evolving technology, increased governmental attention, and administrative pressures, an inability to react and alter course may ultimately prove a genetic dead-end. So what’s the answer? In a career that lends itself to professional sequestration, how do we promote sustainable adaptation? Easy. We just need to introduce a little hybrid vigor. Now, before you get all hot and bothered, realize that, for us, this means watching other teachers at work. We need to get into their classrooms, attend their lectures, take their quizzes, complete their assignments, and then shamelessly incorporate anything of value into our own instruction. At some colleges this method of career development is institutionalized, but more often teachers have to seek it out on their own. So let’s do more of that here at Yavapai. Open your classroom to a colleague. Take a course from a friend. Join a MOOC. Do anything collaborative –just don’t be a didactic dodo. Posted by Jason Whitesitt at 03:54PM (-07:00)

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Verboutian Theory of Extended Adolescence Monday, October 06, 2014 First, I must confess that this posting is late. I was debating about what to write about and was kvetching with Curtis when it hit me. The Verboutian Theory of Extended Adolescence. Here’s how I stumbled upon my theory. I read the book In the Middle by Nancy Atwell. It is about middle school students, so I thought it would be interesting but not applicable for me; after all, I’m teaching college students. In one chapter Atwell describes her students: insecure, unsure of what they want to do, posers trying to impress each other. It hit me: she’s describing my students! The more she described the behaviors, the more I recognized my own students. Why is this, I pondered. Here is what I came up with. Americans are living longer and longer, and adolescence has stretched out from 12-18 and now it stretches through the twenties. Think about it: isn’t it conventional wisdom that people will switch careers three (or is it five? Seven?) times in their lifetimes. The average life expectancy in the US is close to 80 years (according to InfoPlease). If we’re going to live a long time and need to change careers, does it make sense to drag out the young, fun part as long as possible? (Or is it the helicopter parents? Do we have helicopter parents stalking their kids through YC? But I digress.) For whatever reason, I believe that for many students, adolescence has stretched through their twenties. They are much more concerned with fitting in with their peers than with what we have to offer. So how do we gently guide them to the reality of college? Do we all read the book In the Middle? Do you tell them to snap out of it? Do we complain to each other and hope that the students will change into the kind of dream students that we were back in the day? (Really.) Here are a couple of the things that I try to do. First, everything has to be specific. The paper is due in Blackboard by 11:05 a.m. on Tuesday, October 7. Second, there have to be consequences for everything, and they have to be implemented consistently. If your paper is one minute to 24 hours late, you will receive 10% off. This is a lot of work, but it seems to be necessary to teach and retain students. However, I think it is Parker Palmer who wrote that if you’re working harder than the students, there’s something wrong. Is this accurate? What do the rest of you think? Should I continue to work on my Verboutian Theory?

Posted by Mary Verbout at 04:31PM (-07:00)

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Oral Readings Plus for College Students Monday, October 06, 2014 A few years ago I attended a SWADE (Southwest Association for Developmental Education) conference in the Phoenix area along with several other staff and instructional employees from Yavapai College. Along with presenting with three others, I also enjoyed learning from other developmental education instructors from colleges in our region. The best tip I picked up was the oral reading activity to assist students with fluency, pronunciation, and comprehension. Here is how the oral reading works. First, I read a passage out loud for about two minutes. Then I mark how much text I had covered. Second, I type this text into slides. Third, I add a background and clip art to make the slides visually appealing. Finally, I record myself reading these slides in Jing. Once these slides are recorded, I save the file in Screencast.com. Screencast gives me a link that I paste into Blackboard. You can use any site that you like, but this one has worked well for me. (11) When introducing these readings to the class, sometimes I have the students do a prereading activity such as completing a K-WL sheet. K-W-L sheets are broken down into three columns. In the "K" column, students write what they already Know about the topic in the reading. In the "W" column, students write what they Want to learn about the topic. If we do the K-W-L activity, now is the time to share the recording. I dim the lights and play the recording. Students have the choice of following along in their textbook or of watching the PowerPoint slides roll through as they listen to me reading the text. Hopefully the modeling of intonation, pronunciation, and pace train the class to use similar positive reading habits. So what if we don't do the K-W-L activity? Sometimes we skim-read the passage. Some days we annotate the reading. Some days we just dive right in and create an outline or a summary later. But the main point here is that students do more with the reading than to just read it through one time. After the class listens to the slide presentation, we get into pairs. If we have an odd number of students, one reads with me. I watch the clock and have student A read the beginning of the passage for thirty seconds. Then student B reads the same passage as A. Then both 102

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A and B read the same passage a second time. Over the semester, students get better and better at being able to read out loud, they gain comprehension in a noisy environment, and they gain enjoyment reading in a social environment. If you have a class that needs to comprehend a lot of reading materials, please consider adopting some of these techniques, and you can always ask a reading teacher at Yavapai College for ideas to work with your specific curriculum and/or situation. Enjoy!

Posted by Tina Luffman at 05:11PM (-07:00)

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A World Without Grades Monday, October 06, 2014 In my ideal world --as a faculty member of Utopian Community College in Nowhere, AZ (which is not the same place as Nothing, AZ; see photo)-- I would totally do away with grades. Grades, I say. Away with you! Feedback? Yes! Evaluation? Absolutely! But no grades. Students would take on the responsibility of self-assessment (with sagely guidance from yours truly). Learning would be for learning's sake. Period. I actually tried that once. While teaching at Grand Canyon University, a colleague and I taught a course in "The Sociology and Philosophy of Education." He was on the Ed Faculty, and I a sociology professor. We had 30 students, mostly Juniors and Seniors-almost all education majors, "Future Teachers," if you will. We told them the first day of class that everyone would receive an "A" if they wished. We had carefully planned the course and laid out what we felt were pretty engaging and meaningful assignments and projects. None of them, however, was "required." Nothing at all was required. Not class attendance, not assignments, not tests. Nothing. We were going to offer them an opportunity to learn and stretch themselves. It was totally up to them whether they wanted to participate or not. In any case, their grade was not on the line. We hoped, seeing that most of these were aspiring educators, that they would take us up on our challenge. After all, at that time GCU was a private, not for profit, on-theexpensive-side University. These were "seasoned" college students. Of course they wanted to learn, right? Well.... not so much. The first few weeks class attendance was great, and the interaction dynamic. "Ah-ha!" we said to each other. "Our students ARE outstanding! They want to be here solely for the sake of learning!" Our jubilation was premature. Attendance began dropping off. Fewer and fewer students completed assignments. By the end of the semester, our average class attendance was down to five (but these students were super-engaged!). We did send out a notice that we STRONGLY RECOMMENDED and would HIGHLY APPRECIATE everyone's attendance at the last class session. Almost all the students 104

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showed up. During that class period, we had them self-assess. We handed out our "final exam" with just one question: "What grade should you be awarded in this class and why?" The vast majority of them responded, "A. Because tha'st what you said we'd get, regardless of our performance." A few responded, "B. I didn't do most of the work, but I did SOME!" Those hardest on themselves were those five that had weathered the entire course. So, was the experiment a failure? A disappointment, for certain. But from a sociological perspective, not a failure at all. We had succeeded in demonstrating that--even with an otherwise highly motivated and talented group of undergraduates--the conditioning of our education system toward reward through grades (not learning) is nigh impossible to erase. Has our educational system all but obliterated our love of learning? This, to me, is an extremely sad commentary. Some may argue that if college courses were "more relevant" then students would be more motivated. Personally, I doubt it. Others might argue if the delivery were more dynamic, students would learn for its own sake. Perhaps, but none of our students told us the class was "boring" or "irrelevant." They were honest in saying that if they didn't HAVE to learn to get a good grade, they would simply "make better use of their time" and study for other classes in which they didn't already have an A. For them, the choice was strictly utilitarian. The class probably had a greater impact on us as instructors than it had on the students. I guess I'm idealistic enough that this experiment didn't totally destroy my desire for students to learn for learning's sake. How do I deal with this idea of "learning beyond grades" now? Stay tuned...

Posted by Mark Shelley at 07:53PM (-07:00)

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Note Passing, Please! Tuesday, October 07, 2014

How I miss the days when students would simply pass notes to friends! Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s note passing has been fully hijacked by technology with studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s texting those right next to them during the class lecture. Incessant cell phone use during class continues to be an issue. As smartphone companies add more glitz and glamour, students display addictive behavior and a constant need to access their cell phone. After leaving a class earlier this semester, I felt more like a member of the cellphone police than a college instructor. I began to question if this was really a barrier to student learning or if it was just my old school beliefs. I have tried to embrace the new trend and include assignments where students are encouraged to use their phones. My goal was to give them a familiar tool to help build an insatiable desire to learn. While the students enjoyed the assignments and they were engaged momentarily, it merely masked the bigger issue of detachment and multitasking. Subsequent researching of various studies confirmed my old school beliefs still had significance. The amount of research on this topic is tremendous. A study by Duncan, Hoekstra, and Wilcox (2012) found 75% of students regularly used phones during lecture. The students self-reported cellphone use three times per class session; however, classroom observation indicated much higher use. Even more interesting was the direct correlation between cellphone use and grades. The students who used a phone during class earned significantly lower grades than non-users. For those of us interacting with students daily, this validates what we instinctively already knew.

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The current trends direct the question of how to deal with cell phones in class, back to each instructor. It emphasizes the importance of having “A” policy. The strictness of that policy is at instructor’s discretion. As a Communication instructor I believe anything that distracts is contrary to good pedagogy. Students are adapting to the norm of having such policies within the course syllabus. However, if no policy exists, the belief is that the student has the right to text during the course. As we continue to equip students with life skills, perhaps one of the best tools is to help each recognize they are not the multitaskers most believe they are. Posted by Denise Woolsey at 07:24AM (07:00)

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I sure could use a fall break Tuesday, October 07, 2014 I drove to work yesterday and today, and I couldn’t figure out why traffic was so light. I thought at first that I was just a lucky woman (and I am), but then it hit me: FALL BREAK. My sister teaches 3rd grade at a private school, and she’s on break this week. (This is the only time that I’m jealous of her. Except for her thick hair, but that’s not YCs problem.) I want a fall break. But it’s not just for me: the students need it. I have people who miss class because they need to take care of their kids who are on fall break. And what about the mid-term hoo-ha’s experienced by students and instructors? We all need a break to relax and catch up. I’m sure it would help retention. We always have a spring break, so why do we discriminate against fall? I approached the Senate with the idea a couple of years ago, and they didn’t even pass it on to a committee to study. They just rejected it! We could start two days earlier and finish three days later. This semester we could have started the semester on August 13 and ended on December 9. That still leaves a long enough summer and Christmas break, doesn’t it? Then we would have nine luxurious days to catch up on reading, grading, and napping. There are logistics that need to be considered. We could see when the majority of K-12 schools across the county have their fall breaks and use that date. It won’t help all the parents with kids, but it will help the majority. Students who are a little behind can catch up. Instructors who are a little behind can catch up. There’s no down side. Let’s do it, colleagues! Let’s try a fall break! Posted by Mary Verbout at 02:35PM (-07:00)

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"Hands On" or Applicable Labs Tuesday, October 07, 2014 I have visions of ‘more effective’ learning in terms of practical application when I update my anatomy classes each year. Bridging the gap from pointing to a heart on a table or even better in a cadaver to reading an MRI or ultrasound. Here is the basic image of a heart that all anatomy students must learn.

However, in the clinical setting very few (or none) will ever see this in a person. What they will see are electrical tracings or images like these: These look nothing like what they learned in anatomy class. Being educated clinically, means re-learning anatomy in the context that will be viewed with the evaluation tools available. So I must ask myself, as their anatomy instructor, how do I prepare them for the applications of what they actually need to know. Here at YC, we have a great cadaver program. Thanks to Dr. Bronander many years ago, we were one of the first community colleges in the state to have a cadaver program. I am very proud of what we can offer our students with these resources. We provide students with an opportunity to dissect these cadavers as first and second year undergrads; a privilege that is reserved for graduate students at any university. Oh, I digress… The cadavers are great, but they are dead! There are lots of things in a cadaver that look nothing like they would in a live person. The spleen for example in a healthy person is a rather disgusting organ (I guess it is gross in a dead person too) in that it is a roundish, fibrous tissue blood-filled balloon. Think of a zip lock bag filled with cotton with blood flowing through it (for filtering of course). In a cadaver it is a hard, dense ‘lump-of-clay-like’ organ that has no resemblance to the squishy, delicate ‘live’ organ. Sorry, enough of the gross talk, I hope you are not eating anything right now. But trying to appreciate the spleen in real life from a cadaver is literally like studying a grape by looking at a raisin. Students can’t imagine how delicate the spleen is and how easily it can rupture (or pop) when a driver hits the steering wheel in a car accident. How can I relay to students how nearly impossible it is 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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to stitch it back together without risk of blood continuing to ooze out of it. That is why the spleen is frequently removed after a traumatic injury. OK, enough of the anatomy lesson but you get the point that a student canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always appreciate the anatomy they are learning for future clinical use, even in the best cadaver labs. My dilemma and ultimate goal is to teach the clinical anatomy applications when they are first introduced to the anatomy topic in my class. The online environment is the perfect medium for this to occur. It is more conducive to images than a holding a real, stinky heart. These clinical images are really what they are going to need to know. Thus, the next frontier of my course is to establish basic anatomy along with MRI and ultrasound images so that when they move on to their clinical education they are truly prepared. Posted by Ellen Savoini at 02:50PM (-07:00)

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Baden-Powell all the Boys and Betty Crocker all the Girls Tuesday, October 07, 2014 Thanks to Mark Shelley’s post about grading. “Examinations are of use only so far as they test the child’s fitness for social life and reveal the place in which he can be of most service and where he can receive the most help.” John Dewey I would like to talk about examinations and working with groups of people that are larger than, oh, say, five. And I would like to ponder making observable changes in another person’s behavior and the hope that the change will continue even while we cannot see it for ourselves. And talk about the challenges that creates. I would like to ponder big groups, like countries, and how the leadership/management of them can determine classroom expectations and policies and even grading criteria. But I can’t. I just can’t breathe. I want to talk about the “air conditioned” air that leaves us sitting in dull rooms staring out the window at the beautiful and challenging world around us. I want to talk about the air conditioning we blast into our safe classrooms with so there is little chance of failure and how such clear cut standardized rules, exacting syllabus expectations, and Scantron tests might help us dumb-down expectations. I want to talk about our tidy expectations that come down from a Pearson textbook or PARCC or the next massive corporate/political entity, that will make it easy to execute the multiple choice questions and make it clear who is fit and who is not. I want to talk about the disconnection we are developing with the world around us and our obsession with machinery and numbers that is throwing us into a metallic and data driven dystopia. I want to talk about our industrialized history of trying to create cookie cutter and “bakeable” students who have so much in common and so many unifying characteristics even when we know real strength is only found in rich and deep diversity. I want to talk about how that very diversity challenges us in large groups, particularly in classrooms. I want to talk about strategies for overcoming the misuse of high stakes testing and the simple rote learning methodology so prevalent in all classrooms. I want to talk about our “one size fits all” mentality and the notion of individualized instruction. Real individualized instruction. I want to talk about field trips, trombone lessons, sitting under trees, and the potential learning that accompanies truly challenging situations. I want to talk about crafting danger. I want to talk about “canned courses” and how the further we push teachers from the brilliantly diverse choreography of learning the closer we get to a grey clad and uniform classroom experience and how we may yet reach the nightmarish nirvana of a computer grading all our students work. I want to talk about easy and how making things easy just might hurt us. Or talk about how it already has. I want to talk about who is really “in charge” of the classroom instruction, the learning objectives, and the grading. And how and why it is the way it is. I want to talk about why I hear, “It is easier to grade that way,” from teachers. I want to talk why we think “easy to manage” is a good thing. I want to talk about the dangers of easy. So I did.

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I want to talk about people and learning. I want to talk about things other than numbers and data. I want to talk about relevancy and meaning. And purpose. I want to talk about formative assessments that are better than the institutional and national placement tests that we now use to herd the sheep. I want to take a step backwards and slow down. I want to talk about ideas of the past that we have somehow forgotten. I want to talk about the people from the past who reformed education and how their messages are still incredibly relevant and much needed in our classrooms. I want to talk about the value of experience. And how rich the world is with experiences and how often we forget to take our students out to meet it and play in it. I want to talk about smelling the roses and not being too busy to spend time improving my craft. I want to talk about the value of reflection and the time it takes to reflect deeply. I want to talk about how we might have to work harder to learn how to be better. Even when we think we already work real hard. I want to talk about how difficult learning is and how often we take the easy way out. Even as teachers. I want to talk about the difference between leadership and management. I want to talk about our focus on money and testing. Our focus on competition with other people and other countries. I want to talk about the media and how it uses us. Even when we think we are immune to it. I want to write about wanting. And how that is different from offering solutions. I want to write about these things. So I will. Today I wanted to talk about grading, but I can hardly breathe. Posted by Todd Conaway at 03:26PM (-07:00)

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keepin’ it FUN~ Tuesday, October 07, 2014

Let’s keep it fun. Fitness that is. I’ve seen the hard workin’ gym buff, the high mileage runner, the avid, long distance biker and I say YAY! Yay to you for following your passion. Yay that you have set your goals, built your endurance, got yourself to this action stage of rockin your levels of fitness. You are in the 20% of git er done. Yay~

Yet, for the rest of the general 80% who are not in the athletic stage of fitness, keeping the motivation may be a bit on the slack side. As we know from any type of behavioral change there are several stages to consider when adding something like fitness into our lives. Precontemplation is when we’re not even thinking about working out or still denying the mere mention of it. Then the dreaded contemplation stage. This is when we know it’s time as the physical signs are rearing their pretty little heads. ‘I have no energy.’ ‘I can barely lift these groceries.’ ‘I’m getting thick around the middle’… all signs that you know something has to be done. Next the preparation stage which could be quick or lengthy. This is when we are getting ready. Getting ready by deciding what we are going to do, what our schedule will be, what gear we will need, where we want to work out. when, with who… until finally, action!

I believe that this is where the FUN comes in. Our time is valuable and schedules are full. We must find activities that will keep bringing us back. Our bodies can move in an INFINITE variety of ways! Let’s maximize on this. This is my main classroom model. I 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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love to mix it up. Work different aspects. Some days we’re kickin it in GEAR, some days it’s intricate breathing and rich, deep moves. Then there’s the music! Zumba Fitness definitely brings this to the forefront. In Zumba we say, Join the PARTY! We can burn 700 calories per hour, tone the body with squats, trim the middle, and never even realize that we we’re exercising! This is FUN!

The socialization that comes from group fitness can be a huge, super fun, benefit for keeping people coming back to class as well. Friendships formed in the classroom usually get kindled by an after class coffee and can continue into an organic blossoming friendship around an exercise class! I love it! I love sharing fitness with the world and showing how a small shift of the shoulders, can add a wonderful dimension into a stretch. Mix it up. Try something new. Play a game that you loved as a kid. Sign up for a new group exercise class. Cultivate FUN and keep coming back for more. Your body will thank you~

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Posted by Roxanne Wessel at 09:53PM (07:00)

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Contemplation Wednesday, October 08, 2014 As I sit here this morning looking out the balcony of our room, and gaze at the waves crashing, I think of the continual splashing of education. NOT I am actually looking at the beauty of the world surrounding me. This is an amazing place we live in. There is so much going on that no one could ever imagine the possibilities of what is out there. Sure, if you are a scientist, you marvel over the methods and research the quantum mechanics of it all. Maybe youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll look at the metaphors to bring into the dialect of a thesis some obscure idea. Me? I am a simple person, with a simple mind. Though I love to learn, this process takes time for I see thing backwards. Sometimes, I can forget the easiest of processes. Things that are completed on a daily basis without thought can often become a continual crashing of the waves for me. A forgotten series of clicks can cause me to relearn something all over again. This is my battle I face daily. Some can pass through the day without a care, absorbing every ounce of newness. All I can do is marvel at the beauty Jesus Christ has provided and pray that I am open today for learning and retaining that knowledge. I say this to you for I can relate to many struggles that our students have. Sometimes, we forget how hard it was for us (maybe not not all of us). Stop at times and really focus on how hard a student is trying. So they misspell a pronoun and the whole sentence becomes an abomination to your psyche. Were they headed down the right track? Did they find something right about the topic? Did they try to descriptively prove their point? Sometimes I hear from instructors on how students do in their courses, and often find myself whining about the same students or issues. Today, I am choosing to refrain from this as I sit and watch each wave make its way to the beach. My hopes are to continue on a path of remembrance on how hard it was (and is) for me to learn a new process. Listen to what is being said or asked and provide the best guidance to the solution. This is where my heart wishes to go. So now if you will excuse me, the beach is callingâ&#x20AC;Ś.

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Posted by Ruth Alsobrook at 08:26AM (-07:00)

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Student Engagement Wednesday, October 08, 2014 I’m not talking about getting down on one knee and opening a small box with a diamond ring. I’m talking about getting the students attention right from the start of the first class. Before the first class, I review my roster and identify who is in the class, what program is their career focus, and any other key components that help separate them in my mind. I have also attended new student orientation and observed the new students, of which some are in my class on Career and Personal Development. I do take advantage of the situation by using the information I have gathered at the student orientation in the first class. As an example, a student came into the classroom for the first class session. I recognized her from the new students’ orientation session and I greeted her by name which surprised her since we have never met. During the first class session, I go through my background, my expectations for the class, touch on key points in the syllabus, and the outline for the sessions. I pair up students and do an exercise called introduction and lifeline. I have them interview each other and then do their partners introduction to the class. The introduction consists of the name of the student, their program focus, any work experience they have had, and one fact the student would like to have the class know about her/her. The lifeline part is for their information to contact each other if they miss a class or have a question on an assignment. While they are doing the introductions of each other, I have a seating chart and start to fill in the names and the one fact. After the introductions, I make sure that I call on students by name as we proceed with the class. If there is a class discussion and I try to incorporate a students’ one fact into the discussion. This, I feel, connects to the student on a more personnel level. Usually, by the end of the first session, I know most of the names and the faces that go with the names. Doing the simple exercise during the first class gives me new information about the students which connects me with them over a much shorter time line. I also think that it help bonds the class quicker. Another technique I use is having the class create the rules of the classroom. I usually start off with a statement to listen and do not interrupt one another. The students then following with their own statements like respect other viewpoints and be on time. Usually there are about eight to ten items. I post these on the board for each class and also on BlackBoard as a reminder about the rules of conduct. The rules of the classroom are not my rules, but the student’s rules. They created them and they take ownership of them. On occasion, I have to remind some students about what they agreed to in the first class session. Sometimes, other students remind their peers of the agreement. I think that I have an advantage with student engagement. The outcomes of the class have a major benefit for the students in helping them create their employment portfolio and their own future outcomes. Posted by James Voska at 02:25PM (-07:00)

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Tangents Friday, October 10, 2014 Todd’s message referring us to Harvard’s Teaching & Learning last week was interesting – and Joe Blatt’s “Three Puzzles of Pedagogy got me to thinking. He states his second mystery is “the paradox of preparation. I can’t go into a class session without a detailed map of the points I want to convey, plans for discussions and other activities I hope students will find engaging, and an explicit list of the ideas I want students to leave thinking about.” He states further that this preparation gives him the “chance to be more spontaneous.” I agree, especially when you have class two times a week for 1-1/2 hours. It goes fast! Going off on tangents – sometimes – is a good thing. I make detailed notes on each class; then I go back and rank my notes – yes, rank them according to the time I have. What’s the most important topic / things I want students to know when they leave class? Oh, I want to give them interesting content, sure, but also some great resources or links to find out more. But most of all, I want to give them inspiration to go beyond what’s written in the textbook – what’s on the PowerPoint or Video or Prezi – what’s beyond the discussion in the class or online. I want to give them a reason to look further – to go beyond that day or class’s learning – to be inspired by a story. So. Think about “tan·gent”; from the Latin tangent, or “touching; from the verb, tangere. Some definitions: 1. A straight line or plane that touches a curve or curved surface at a point, but if extended does not cross it at that point. 2. A completely different line of thought or action. “He quickly went off on a tangent about wrestling” 3. Mathematics: the trigonometric function that is equal to the ratio of the sides (other than the hypotenuse) opposite and adjacent to an angle in a right triangle. A straight line or plane that touches a curve or curved surface at a point, but if extended does not cross it at that point. Think about this in terms of teaching. How many times do we focus on our “point”, and approach it in many ways; bending and curving our way to ‘touch’ students – without crossing – so that they come into their own understanding to the subject. Sometimes when I ‘go off on a tangent’ – I may seem like I’m wandering in the beginning. It may be a personal observation or story. It may be an event that I can then tie back into my subject. I always have the plan to come back to the subject.

A completely different line of thought or action. “He quickly went off on a tangent about wrestling”

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Sometimes, a totally different or new thought expands the subject and the class lesson – Students thing about a topic in a whole new way. For example, if I’m teaching horticulture and the zones of plant species, my tangent may go to farm-to-table, or hunger, and the effects on plant diversity. The subject is still horticulture, but the tangent enhances my subject. In teaching business, my tangents are usually about entrepreneurs and how they change the local economy (for good and bad). I might go off on a tangent – or tell a story of owning my own business – on how certain business changed the economic landscape. Again, the topic is the same; my plan is in place, but the tangent makes is interesting and more in depth.

Mathematics: the trigonometric function that is equal to the ratio of the sides (other than the hypotenuse) opposite and adjacent to an angle in a right triangle. OK – I’ll have to ponder this one! In Business Communications, we have a ‘trial’ on a current event. SO, I guess I’ll take off on a tangent equal to the “right side” opposite [to the affirmative side] and adjacent to an angle [uncommitted side] in a right triangle [OK, I’m really lost!] Perhaps this one won’t work! So, try going off on a tangent in your class. Make sure that class plan is in your pocket, but allow yourself the freedom to be spontaneous. Who knows, your students may just have some fun learning.

Posted by Chris Heyer at 04:31PM (-07:00)

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A Savory Sampling… Friday, October 10, 2014

Call me a nerd if you like, but coming up with a teaching strategy that creates active learning and student participation feels as good to me as tasting a yummy dessert. For this week’s blog entry, I thought I would document and reflect on a couple recently used teaching strategies that proved to be effective with my students. Both strategies have enriched classroom discussion and improved the comprehension course material. Do you have an old checker board at home? Maybe several of the checker board pieces had fallen out of the box and are now hiding in the dark and dusky corners of your game cabinet? Or….maybe you have some poker chips lying around? You probably don’t have time for your poker game nights during the semester anyway, right? Well, these items make pretty good props for prompting classroom discussion. I have specifically used these to reinforce material from class reading assignments. First, I have a bag of two colors of game pieces. The students then grab a piece as they arrive in the classroom. ( I change it up, so they are never sure WHY I have had them pull a red or blue chip or why they are now holding a red or black checker…..but building anticipation does help prepare a mind for learning.) On one particular day, the goal may be that If a student has pulled a red chip, then they are expected to make a statement that demonstrates their comprehension about the reading. If a student has a black chip, then they are expected to ask a question about the reading in which others will respond. For the ‘questioners’, it has also helped to provide a list of action verbs related to learning to help prompt higher level questions and not simply questions that are of the lowest level of recall. (i.e. verbs from Bloom’s Taxonomy) This strategy can work for both small groups and whole class discussions. One can also have students pull from the bag several times, so that they may be responsible for adding additional comments and/or questions to continue the conversation. Usually, the chips act as an icebreaker to get things rolling, and as the instructor, I can quickly observe which of my students have read and comprehended the material. The second strategy is what I’ve come to call the bumper sticker activity. Often when presenting historical perspectives and educational philosophies, I notice that students tend to glaze over. The mere length of text to form an explanation, or simply interpreting language norms of the 19th century can incite a lot of head nodding and complete classroom silence. When these quotes and lengthy phrases are at the heart of the learning objective, then this small group activity can assist in providing clarity and understanding. By dividing the class into small groups of 2 or 3 students I’ll give each group a copy of a lengthy quote or explanation. Each small group is then charged with interpreting the text and simplifying it into as few words as possible…..even something 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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that would fit on a bumper sticker. This activity has also revealed misinterpretation and provides the platform for reteaching, clarifying as well as rich classroom conversation. As Thomas Jefferson said, “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” Teachers at any level can never have too many strategies up their sleeve to create active learning and student participation. Hearing a classroom buzz with ‘on topic’ conversations is a truly satisfying moment for a teacher. But, now that I think about it again, that chocolate covered strawberry did look really good! Until next time…. Posted by Leanne Lawhead at 05:51PM (07:00)

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Generation Specs Saturday, October 11, 2014 Apparently, the Millennials aren’t very smart. No, really, there’s even a book on the subject: The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future. Falling just outside this maligned designation, I’m rather fond of Mark Bauerlien’s title, and I enjoy confronting my students with it. Their reactions generally veer from woeful acceptance: “Yes,” their sad little eyes say, “yes, we are,” to righteous indignation, “who does he think he is!” Regardless of the student’s emotional response to Mark Bauerlien’s published impertinence, the book is a capital conversation starter and a fine segue into discussions on parenting, technology, consumption, and even philosophy. On particularly diabolical days, I’ve been known to divide classes, force them into a little research, and then let them go at it Law and Order style. The resulting class session neatly encapsulates one of the more important debates of our age, and offers a nice rebuttal to Bauerlien’s assertion: these kids are smart, you just have to get them away from them:

Lacking a personal video to prove this, I’ll instead introduce one of my teacher-crushes and let him do it for me. Mike Rugnetta has made over 100 brilliant and funny shorts for the PBS Ideas Channel, and, this close to Halloween, I’ll go with his talk on Zombies. Regard: Great stuff, right? Well, your opinion might vary according to your age. Remember the expression, “if it’s too loud, you’re too old”? In this case, it’s more like “if it’s too fast, too mashed-up, too multi-faceted, too self-referential, you’re too old.” Rugnetta is delivering a fusillade of fine information on the topic of zombies, his thoughts and ideas ranging carelessly (and pointedly) from pop culture to classical sociology, from low brow to high. He colors with all of modern human experience, and he’s not afraid to go outside the lines. Now, the most common invectives lobbed at Millennials accuse them of a lack of concentration, diligence, and the ability to think deeply. And some studies bear this out. However, the brain exhibits remarkable plasticity, and while technology and modern life may weaken some skills, it’s actively strengthening others. Video games and multilayered social engagements train young people to access and absorb a great deal of information quickly. Refer back to Rugnetta’s rant on zombies. Ideas are relayed via video, text, audio, and image simultaneously, resulting in a thought-collage rather than a one-dimensional point. The advantage of such a system is readily apparent though still undervalued and certainly underserved. 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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As a literature professor, I can surely appreciate the importance of concentration and deep reading. However, as a pop-culture teacher, I can also value stimulation and multiplicity. Reaching students and providing a meaningful education means not choosing one over the other, but rather utilizing both, and in so doing engendering a learning environment everyone can benefit â&#x20AC;&#x201C;regardless of generation. Posted by Jason Whitesitt at 03:16PM (-07:00)

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Teaching Widely (Part II) Saturday, October 11, 2014 I was trained as a historian, but I don’t teach much history. Most of my time in the classroom is spent teaching as much of the high-school curriculum as possible to highschool drop-outs who are attempting to get their G.E.D.’s (and, if all goes well, attend college). Last week, I wrote a few thoughts about my new-found joys in the field of mathematics. This week, I’d like discuss the other dimensions of teaching widely and how this diversity has affected me. I teach a fair bit of writing, such as how to construct an essay, how to use proper English grammar and punctuation, and how to relax when it comes to putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboards. Having long enjoyed words, teaching this subject is less burdensome than, say math. Still, I was not trained as an English instructor. Like many who receive a decent liberal-arts education, I learned how to write papers and essays, and I usually knew when a sentence looked wrong and needed some change in punctuation or grammar. But when it came to explaining why we write in certain ways, I needed to investigate the particulars. Purdue OWL and the Little-Brown Handbook became my allies in these efforts. In my own undergraduate and graduate years, I learned a great deal more about Latin and French grammar that I did about English. Luckily the processes dovetailed; yet, it did show me that my education in English was far from adequate. Nevertheless, as the learning curve became less steep, I discovered that I had become a more confident writer. Now, most mistakes result from sloppiness rather than ignorance of the language. This literary security produces positive results each and every day. Despite this confidence, a deep sense of humility persists. While teaching writing has made me a better writer, I still have so much more to learn in this field. As a result, I take writing courses here at Yavapai College. Kudos to the creative writing staff for helping me as a writer AND as a writing instructor. Indeed, I regularly take a host of classes here. I learn subject knowledge, skills, and (by watching my colleagues) more effective methods of instruction. I’m exceeding pleased by the quality of teaching at this institution. I’ve absorbed knowledge in art history, literature, psychology, philosophy, physical education, communications, education, the humanities, and more, as well as creative writing and mathematics, as mentioned earlier. I now see science courses on the horizon. I take these classes for different reasons, but since I need to teach widely, I need to learn widely, and, as a product of the modern American educational system, I do this best as a student in a classroom, or, if necessary, online. I pour as much of this knowledge as possible into my G.E.D. classes. And, just as important, I keep learning how to be a better teacher from other instructors (those both more and less experienced than I). Without hesitation, and with credit whenever possible, I adopt ideas and tools from my colleagues. If I’ve ever been a student in one of your classes, then I’ve probably picked up at least one pedagogical 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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technique from you. I feel blessed by how much Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve learned here. So, strength through diversity is not only true in our communities but also in our own minds, and, by extension, our effectiveness as teachers. If you get a chance to teach widely, do so. If you get a chance to take courses from your colleagues, do so. Such personal and professional variety is humbling and exciting. And, over the years, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve become fully convinced that it can make you a better teacher. Posted by Mark Frederick at 04:58PM (07:00)

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I Hope “My Story of No Excuses” Can Help You Sunday, October 12, 2014 Original post can he found here. Every spring semester at Yavapai College (YC), I teach the ACE Personal Trainer Preparation course (PHE 252). Since the course is intense, the certification exam is intense; the pressure of passing the certification exam is intense, and since I understand that YC students have a life outside of my course, I share with my students a personal success story of finishing my Master’s Degree when all odds were against me. To finish, in one semester, I had to take an overload of Master level courses; I had a fulltime job; I had a part-time job; I had to be a husband; I had to be a father, and as a family, we were uprooted from our home in Tallahassee, now, living in Virginia with a relative. I share this story with my students in the hopes that my students, whether it’s to become a personal trainer or not, succeed in something they want or need even when all odds are against them because like me they made no excuses. Below is the story I share with my ACE Personal Trainer Preparation course’s students. I just simply copy and paste the following story in the course’s first week’s blackboard announcement. My Story of No Excuses I hope ‘My Story of No Excuses’ can help you I understand many of you have other stuff going on besides this ACE course, and the priority of studying and passing the ACE Certification Exam may not and just cannot be on the top of your priority list. I understand, and I get it. I live in this world too BUT, and yes, I said, “BUT” with a capital ‘B,’ ‘U,’ and ‘T,’ do NOT let other stuff or how you list your priorities be an excuse not to study or pass the ACE Certification Exam. I know it’s easier said than done, but here is one of a personal success story of finishing my Master’s Degree when all odds were against me. I share this success story because may help you make time to study and pass the ACE Certification Exam. In 2008, I lived in Florida, and I had two more semesters of graduate school left in order to earn my M.Ed. in Physical Education. To finish the degree, I was going to take a full course load in the spring semester and one course and the internship in the fall semester. However, life happened one week before the beginning of the spring semester, and I had to decide how to cram those two semesters into just the spring semester. Long story short, my family and I had to move back to Virginia. I had a wife and at the time two kids (now 4 kids), but I still wanted to finish graduate school. So during the spring semester of 2008, I took more than a full-time load of graduate course work to finish (a full course load, one extra course, and the internship); I had a full-time job; I had a part-time job, and I still had to be a husband and a father. At the time, I thought, “There is not enough time in a day to do all this,” and that’s when it hit me. I thought, “The only way I can do this is to wake up at 3:30 am every single morning for the entire semester and do my graduate work from 3:30 am – 6:30 am.” So this is exactly what I did. For the entire spring semester, I literally woke up at 3:30 am 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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every single morning and even on the weekends, and I did my graduate work, and at the end of the semester, I graduated with a 4.0 GPA in my M.Ed. in Physical Education. This following was the typical day of that spring semester. I woke up at 3:30 am; I made my coffee; I turned on my computer, and I did my graduate work until 6:30 am. Then at 6:30 am, I got ready for work; I made something to eat; I ate while I drove to my full-time job; and the day continued. Now, of course, the days varied, and many days I did not get home until 11:00 pm, and most of the time I did not get to sleep until 12:00 midnight or later, but regardless, I still woke up at 3:30 am ever single morning, and I made my coffee; I turned on the computer, and I did my graduate work until 6:30 am. My point is that I did not make excuses!!! Now, of course, my wife was supportive and gets much of the credit, but I also give myself credit for her being supportive because whenever I had a break during the day or a whole day off from work, I forced myself to be a father and a husband, which made her be supportive. Now, PLEASE, understand I am not supporting getting only 3 or 4 hours of sleep a day for the entire semester, nor do I promote eating while you drive All I am doing is sharing my story, and basically saying to you, “Do not make excuses!!! You can do it!!!” For more information about my YC’s ACE Personal Trainer Preparation course, please, just simply email me Charles.Lohman@yc.edu

“Do you love your job? Or are you inspired to do something more? Discover how you can start a new career as an ACE Personal Trainer from the fitness professionals who do it for themselves. Get there by preparing for the exam using ACE Academy Elite, our interactive, video-led study platform.” – ACEfitness Posted by Charles Lohman at 08:21AM (-07:00)

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"Please Excuse Any Miss Spellings." Sunday, October 12, 2014 Yep! That is a sentence I read at the end of a student's email. I have never met Miss Spelling, but I have seen a lot of misspelled words in my days as an English instructor. I consider most misspelled words symptomatic of a deeper cultural problem: the lack of reading in our society. Most students who choose to come to a community college rather than a four-year institution have not been reading on a regular basis. Chances are the misspelling traditional students have not had a good prior educational experience, whether it was from their own lack of performance or the fault of the school they attended. Many of our older students find themselves with the same issues because they have not been in school for quite a while and have also not been reading. What is the result? A lack of exposure to our most common words, and a lack of exposure to seeing words in print. For example, when Spell Checker gives students options for an erroneous version of "definite," many students will choose the option "defiant" without sounding out the word to recognize the error of their decision. This also leads to the humorous error of writing about their "collage" experience here at Yavapai College. Then there is the issue of open, hyphenated, and closed compound words. Students are not used to seeing the printed forms of compounds. Nowadays becomes "now a days"; somewhere becomes "some where"; and anyone becomes "any one." I have seen high school as "High School," "highschool," and "high School." Air-conditioned becomes "airconditioned" or "air conditioned." I have even seen "with out" used in papers. When in doubt, sound it out, right? Based upon this premise, students will write "would of" instead of "would have." They actually don't know this is an error because they are not used to seeing these words on a page. Accompanying the spelling errors is a use of the vernacular or cultural dialect in writing. Here is where I must confess to my own grammatical prejudices as I teach my students about what will and won't be allowed in their essays. "To where" drives me nuts! "He studied to where he fell asleep at his desk." And then there is the infamous "He asked where Suzie was at." Definitely a cause for red ink! This also leads to "try and see" instead of "try to see." All of these expressions have become a common part of our student's oral communication, but they are not an accepted part of academic communication...yet. These trends lead me to an ongoing discussion with my students about the importance of reading for pleasure. The errors I have used as examples in this blog will probably not go away no matter how often the errors are corrected by instructors. They won't go away 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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until our students begin to read on a regular basis, and this won't happen until they discover the joy of reading. As an institution, we could return to using the same kinds of spelling drills and grammar practice sheets in ENG 101 that so many teachers used during elementary school, but we are dealing with a different issue. Those drills exposed students to the norms of our written language that were reinforced as they read. Somewhere around the time of junior high or middle school, most students stop reading. When they reach an age filled with more choices for using their time (sports, TV, video games), most reading assignments become an avoided chore, a boring requirement, something to be avoided. This is when all that earlier learning begins to disappear because the students are no long immersed in our written language in the form of engaging stories. Many of the students we see in our classes made it through high school without ever reading a book. Ah, the blessings of electronic Spark Notes! There is hope. Yes, many of our students arrive at college with poor spelling skills and a misunderstanding of when vernacular is appropriate. However, the more they read for our classes, the more they will relearn what they have lost from misuse. To encourage students to do the reading assignments, we need to help them get the most out of their books, and we need to make those reading assignments count. I have heard some say that their instructor doesn't require the textbook: I have heard others complain about the difficulty of the textbooks they are trying to read. I would challenge us all to teach our students how to read our textbooks. Our students don't know that scientists and historians don't approach reading in the same way. They assume that every textbook gets read the same way, in the same amount of time, and in the same night before the due date with the same skills that got them through high school. All of us need to take a few minutes out of class to explain how we would read our textbooks. What reading techniques work best with your texts? We can even speed up the process of relearning spelling and removing the oral dialect if we can get our students to enjoy reading. We should be sharing our favorite books in our classes. The students are inundated with trailers for upcoming movies, teasers to get them to buy a ticket and a bag of popcorn. We should be creating quick, one-minute teasers about books in our fields that might be interesting to our students. This summer I read The Origin of Feces by David Waltner-Toews (not exactly in my field of study). I have shared the book with every one of my classes this semester. The title alone is the best trailer for the book, and when the students hear that there is an entire chapter devoted to the discussion of the most appropriate word to use when talking about this "taboo" subject, I have them hooked (You will have to read the book to find out what he concludes.). The author approaches an ignored part of every ecosystem that is now affecting us globally in such a humorous way that I think every student could enjoy it and learn from it. I may not have a single students take me up on the recommendation, but all of them will have heard about my delight in reading this book. If they are hearing the same message from all of their instructors...who know what might happen? A revolution of reading? The situation is not hopeless, but it does require patience. Rather than dumbing down and giving up on reading assignments, we need to support our students in their efforts to learn how to take full advantage of this unfamiliar college culture based so much upon the written word. And we need to inspire the joy of reading.

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Learning by Learning: How Being A Learner Teaches me about Teaching Sunday, October 12, 2014

I have a tote bag with a Dorothy Parker quote on it:

Curiosity is the cure for boredom. There is no cure for curiosity. I know that there has never been any cure for mine. I love to learn, and there is no subject left behind. I may not be great at everything, but there isn’t anything that I’m not interested in (except maybe geometry; I’m not good at or interested in geometry). My husband told me the other day that I’m the “most self motivated learner” he has ever met. This is something I wish I could instill in my students, because, frankly, it makes school a whole lot easier. But that is material for another post. I personally don’t remember a time when I didn’t love to learn. I’m sure this is a mix of my genes and my environment growing up, but going to school was never a chore for me. I even like traffic school (so many facts!). Since learning is such an important part of my life, I take classes nearly every semester. Since I teach mostly online, I am especially interested in taking online classes. I take them through YC, but I’m also addicted to signing up for MOOCs through Coursera. I rarely complete these courses, but I do love browsing them. By accessing so many different types of online courses, I am constantly finding new ideas for my own.

One particular example of this is a course that I took (and actually completed!) through Coursera called “Modern and Contemporary Poetry” or ModPo. It is offered through the University of Pennsylvania, and has a fanatical following amongst people who take MOOCs (is there a name for that?). There are some things about the course that can’t be 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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replicated in my own courses; for example, the teacher is really fricking fantastic. However, as I prepare to teach my first literature class online in the Spring (ENG 230Introduction to Literature), there are a couple of things that I have learned that I would like to use in my own course: 1. The hardest part about teaching literature online is replicating discussion. It is very difficult to teach close reading without modeling it, which is something that happens naturally in a classroom setting, but is very forced in an online environment. There are a number of ways to address this. One is lecture, but then I feel like students believe that — even though I tell them that there are different interpretations and ways of reading– only the ways that I mention in my lecture are “correct.” Then, there is the discussion board, which is clunky and generally ineffective. Students are concerned with their own posts, but not much about the posts from other students. Also, if I wish to post, I find that I am having a discussion with individual students and not with the whole class. I admit that I haven’t tried synchronous methods; however, my experience with ITV in other situations has taught me that discussion mediated by technology is almost never just like discussion face to face. So, in ModPo, the instructor has gathered a group of teaching assistants and graduate students, who model a class discussion and a close reading of a poem in place of video lecture. They go line by line, talking about the significance (or possible significances) of each line in a poem that they are working on. Most of these videos aren’t posted online (outside of the Coursera LMS), but the question/and answer live webcasts (done in Google hangout) are available at their YouTube channel. I’m still working on the logistics of doing something like this is my own course, but I hope that I can identify a group of students that can prepare to model close reading for the rest of the class. 2. Another strategy that I have learned from this and other courses that I have taken is to vary the content in the weekly assignments. It is easy in any text-based class to only focus on written material, and to forget that poems are lively in performance, or that the learners in the classroom have a variety of needs and learning styles. So, including video and audio from different sources in each week’s assignments is one of my goals. I receive many gifts from my intellectual curiosity, but one of the most salient is that it makes me a better teacher. I don’t think that we have enough opportunities to learn from one other or to remind ourselves of what it feels like to be a student. I know that we are all busy, and that it isn’t always convenient, but taking a class (or even just browsing or visiting one) is one of the quickest ways to gain a new perspective on our own practices. Posted by Laura Cline at 12:22PM (-07:00)

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USING VIDEOS, AVATARS, AND FUN THINGS ON COURSE PAGES Sunday, October 12, 2014 We may agree that communicating to our learners with just the written word is a sincere effort to educate and promote learning of the lessons and the course as a whole. Another professor may add that the quality of the written words determines how well the lessons are taught, and who could refute this? We frequently grade the learners on exactly that, in their papers, projects, essay answers, and Discussion Board Posts. Reasonably, then, we are all “on parade” when we post or upload anything we write. Certainly our deans, supervising professors and coordinators remind us of this, and we can empathize with what they occasionally have seen from their professors. Looking at writing, perhaps we are ready to admit there are practical limits to fostering enthusiastic reading to our professorial writing. To help gain this admission, I offer now that there must be an upper limit to writing length or bulk, after which it is no longer effective, even if we cannot generalize and must judge each and every writing ever developed separately. When is a post or upload too big? For ourselves as individuals on faculty, this answer varies. Some topics may bore us almost instantly, and for others, we are or have seen other people so enthusiastic about the topic that they will read dozens of pages of details such as statistics, disease descriptions, historical accounts, to pursue what interests them, be it career matters or as an amateur or enthusiast. Even so, the presentation of material of high interest to a certain audience can still be a challenge to read, if it is so much or so level in approach that we think of it as very “dry.” So we have our reasons to liven our presentations to students. In the short time since I started as a professor, institution staffs – usually college/university technology/network support office members – have suggested a thorough list of features to add to our written items. Online classroom pages normally are designed to permit the upload of embedded photographs and drawings, YouTube videos, slides, and accompanying files of many formats that can be attached but have to be opened. Some of these items, such as photos, are simple additions, and can aid in focusing on the topic or communicating about it, such as cartoons. Videos can communicate more, or even communicate everything about a point for us, and just take a bit more preparation to embed so a student-reader does not have to open a new window and paste the URL to watch. There is some little time investment to get started with any of these choices, in particular the time needed to open a free account and learn enough of the tools to get an avatar or video posted correctly. There are college/university policies to consider beforehand, so no non-word feature is potentially and unjustifiably offensive (or, no more so than the words are already). Of course, there is the need to apply the art of choosing a good fit to your lesson page or weekly notes. What might you think I use the video embedded above for? When you have everything embedded or attached, it may look great to you, and better than just words, and likely it is in fact. As far as the students’ feelings go, you may get feedback over time and indirectly that your course is memorable because of what you integrated that was, perhaps, fun. I am not sure we get flooded with requests for autographs. But if you occasionally see survey feedback about your course that seems to indicate that students found themselves more receptive to your course material because

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of the enhancements you added, that may be the encouragement you have been looking for. Be on your toes about originality! Some students take more than one of your courses. Posted by David Alegre at 04:00PM (07:00)

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How College is Different From High School Sunday, October 12, 2014

Image from Hamilton-Wenham High School Once again, I am investigating questions of my own about teaching and learning. I hear (or say) that college is different than high school, but never saw it in a quantified form. Lists of the differences between college and high school are easy to find with a quick Internet search. Yes, I see skewing and biases, but mostly what I have read really enlightened me. How are students supposed to know this? I would not have been able to articulate it very well, even though I just knew because I had been through it myself. Here is what North Carolina State University’s College of Education has to say about “guiding principles” and grades: • Guiding Principle in High School: You will usually be told what your responsibilities are and corrected if your behavior is out of line or if you’re struggling to do well. • Guiding Principle in College: You are old enough to take responsibility for what you do and what you don’t do and to understand that each of your decisions has a consequence. • Grades in high school: Test grades early in the year may not have an adverse effect on your final grade. • Grades in college: First tests may count for a substantial part of your grade; therefore, you can’t afford to wait if you do not understand course material. As soon as you think you might not be doing well in a class, talk to your SSAC advisor. You should also talk with your professor and consider going to academic success workshops offered by the SSAC and the Counseling Center. Now they have gotten my attention. Let’s go to personal choices and studying. • Personal choices high school: You can count on your parents and teachers to remind you of your academic responsibilities and provide guidance as you set your priorities. • Personal choices in college: You will be faced with a large number of decisions, including choosing a major, getting involved in activities outside of class, and making the best use of your time in college. You must balance your responsibilities and set priorities. Your SSAC advisor can help you with this, but you will need to take the initiative to seek help. • Studying in high school: Study time outside of class may be as little as two hours a week. You are expected to read short assignments that are then discussed and often 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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re-taught in class. Teachers often remind you when work is due or when you’ve missed a deadline. Teachers usually tell you what you’re expected to learn from assigned materials. • Studying in college: If you’re taking 15 credit hours, plan on spending 30-45 hours outside of class. Think of college as a full-time job. This worksheet can help you budget your time.You will likely be assigned a substantial amount of reading for each class, and it may not be directly addressed in the classroom. Therefore, you need to develop your reading comprehension skills. Workshops offered by the Counseling Center can help you find strategies to get the most out of readings. You are expected to complete all assignments listed on the syllabus on time, without being reminded. It is up to you to read and understand the assigned material; lectures and exam schedules are based on the assumption that you have done so. I know the bulk of this blog is not in my own words, but these are words I want to use along with the many others from this college on this topic. They reflect the gap I experience consistently every semester. How can students span this gap? Are we at Yavapai College articulating this type of guideline strongly enough? Posted by Joanne Oellers at 06:18PM (-07:00)

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The Donkey in the Well Sunday, October 12, 2014

At the beginning of a lecture on the effects of stress, I told this story to my class: One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off! So what’s the moral of the story? Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up. One student raised his hand and said, “That was great story professor, but being a student in college today has its own set of stressors.” Ahh, the perfect opportunity for a discussion that relates to the topic and has meaning to the class. Dare I take the challenge and meet this potentially hot topic head on? OK, I’ll bite, I asked the student if he would share with us the stressors he was referring to. “Well to start, feeling intense pressure to obtain high grades, especially if you’re in a program that may connect with career opportunities, taking final exams, trying to establish some kind of social life and dealing with the costs of college.”

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More hands rose to the occasion, single parents balancing work, school and family, how layoffs forced career changes and with those changes meant going back to school, and what about after graduation, will I be able to find a job in my field of interest?, and don’t even start me on the topic of student loans. The class was beginning to sound more like an AA meeting, with individuals sharing their fears and concerns about the stressors of being a student. It was stress in action and needless to say the discussion became how these stressors affected the students personally. Following up on our discussion in class, I came up with some interesting facts about stress and college students. • Associated Press conducted a survey in 2008 on college student stress at many colleges throughout the United States. The survey found that four out of ten college students report they feel stressed often. One out of five say they feel stressed most of the time. One out of four students report experiencing daily stress and one in ten report thoughts of suicide. • The American Freshman Norms report from the Fall 2010 was revealing in terms of trends in college student attitudes, health, and stressors. Looking at the trends in the last two and a half decades, students’ perception of their own mental health has been on a steady decline. In 2010, males and females’ perception of their own emotional health hit the lowest marks in twenty five years, decreasing approximately 13% for both males and females from 2009 to 2010. • The Spring 2013 edition of theNational College Health Assessment, where the average age of those survey was 21 years, reported that almost half (46.3%) of all undergraduate students surveyed felt trauma or overwhelmed in regard to their academic responsibilities. Almost half of students surveyed reported they have more than average or extreme stress. We live in interesting times, the rapid acceleration of technology and social change. The emergence of the internet, smart phones, Facebook, Twitter and other social media technologies have fundamentally altered the social fabric and the ways we relate. Our students live in a hyper-connected world which gives them ever more access to an endless array of choices and information that can be overwhelming and confusing. Psychological research on choices shows that in many cases, more choices lead to more anxiety. In addition, we now have endless access to information that might be psychologically disturbing, via constant news of troubling stories. Yes, college can be extremely stressful. It is, in many ways, a rite of passage, but with that comes much adjustment difficulty. This student’s response given in a Blackboard assignment seemed to really encompass the fears and the concerns that many of our students have. “There is an enormous pressure to know what you are going to do with the rest of your life when you leave school. People say that it is okay to not know what you want to do, but there is this unspoken expectation. You are expected to have university lined up, or an internship, or a job. I just can’t imagine what I want to do with the rest of my life. That in itself makes me feel unsure and helpless.” Posted by Salvatore Buffo at 07:39PM (-07:00)

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My Latest Compliment Comes Complete With Goosebumps! Monday, October 13, 2014 Last week I blogged about a struggle of mine to keep my FYE 103 students engaged in their weekly classes and assignments. Just when I thought I was not getting through to them, they surprise me. Really surprised me! This past week we were discussing distinctive test-taking strategies and how using a variety of them at different times can benefit students in numerous ways. Such as how important it is to read the assigned chapters before a lecture. When asked if they read assignments in advance, many provided the same comment about not having enough time to read. I mentioned scanning the chapters and I saw their eyes actually start to roll to the back of their heads. Something in me clicked and I realized they really did not know how to do this process. We then talked about the actual steps of how to scan a chapter in fifteen to twenty minutes and the importance of it, especially right before the lecture. I got their attention when I pulled out a nursing textbook and actually demonstrated the steps of scanning a chapter. Once we scanned the text pages as a class, a young man in front who is usually very quiet, asked, “Why were we not taught how to do this earlier?” After clarification, he wanted to know why he was not taught the scanning process in high school or even earlier in junior high. Before I could even try to address his question, a peer sitting behind him spoke. She’s a young mother of two children returning to college for a career change. She adamantly stated, “I didn’t learn this either, but I’ll be teaching my children how to do it.” Her children are only age two and four. Afterwards, I had that feeling that we as instructors get every now and then…you know that one, where you feel that you have actually made a difference! I do have to agree and ask with the young man, why do we not teach students how to study in grade school? A second incident happened this same week that also confirmed that I may be making a difference. The current FYE 103 assignment was for students to meet with one of their course instructors for a short question and answer session. They were to ask a few questions that would help them understand more about the course, or to develop a better relationship with their instructor, or possibly both. It’s a win/win situation of both of them. And then I even win, as I then meet with my students to “debrief” their interviews with them. Many say the expected typical responses, “I feel more comfortable with my instructor now.”, “I found out there is no extra credit available.”, or even “He’s cool! I wish I had gone to see him weeks ago!” (That last comment was said about a math class – who knew a Math Professor could be “cool” – just kidding!!!) During one of the recent interviews, a young female student (recent high school graduate) asked me an “out of the box” type question that indicated she had really been thinking about our class lectures. It was so much fun talking to her about the subject that I started getting goose bumps on my arms. We continued the conversation and I noticed I was actually getting “giddy” about how much she had recently learned. After congratulating her on her accomplishments, I drew her attention to my arms covered with goose bumps and told her, “I’ll be living off this moment for the next two weeks.” After we

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shook hands she left smiling ear to ear and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m still giddy remembering the moment a week later. Posted by Lori Riden at 02:22AM (-07:00)

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Setting Up Collaborative Teams Monday, October 13, 2014 In my last post, I looked at how I set my students up in the Google environment. In this post, I want to look at how I assigned students to teams. The easiest way to assign students to teams is to simply assign them randomly and wait for the fallout. Left on their own, students have a tendency to socialize, not work toward a common goal. A group without a leader is likely to flounder aimlessly until the very last minute. A group without any technology skills will often implode. To be effective, the groups need to be an appropriate mixture. I needed Batman AND Robin (and maybe Batgirl). They had complimentary skills…experience and youthful enthusiasm….brains and support. Teams that have these types of complimentary skills, are most likely to succeed. To gauge what each student was like, I created a survey in Google Forms. In a later post I’ll look at the mechanics of how this is done. In this post I want to look at the questions I posed and how I used the responses to assign groups. In the first two questions, I asked each student about their level of college experience.

Each group needs to have several levels of college experience. New college students do not have a good sense of how much time coursework can take. By mixing new college students with more experienced students, groups will not wait until the last minute to work on their projects. But this mixture is not a one way street. Recent high school graduates are more likely to have participated in collaborative learning in their high school courses. They are more likely to embrace group work than more veteran college students. These questions are designed measure each student’s attitude toward mathematics. I like to balance the more negative attitudes in groups with positive attitudes. It is also useful to set the tone for the semester by having student remember a moment when they were successful in mathematics. Studies show that students learn better when they have a positive attitude about what they are learning.

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This is the most important question in the survey. Each group needs to have one leader in the group. I also do not want a group of five leaders all together. Like other questions, I want to balance of leadership to make sure each group moves forward.

Each person in the group should have the same idea of how their group will operate. I match students with similar responses. I do not want a student who expects to meet with other students to be matched with students who do not want to meet face to face. These questions help me to discover how they expect to collaborate and to put them with students that have similar expectations.

Spreadsheets are a very important part of my College Algebra class. I teach students how to work with them in the class. However, groups with prior technology experience function better than groups without that experience. Less experienced members can learn from more experienced members. I seed students with good technology skills throughout the teams so that each team has a technology â&#x20AC;&#x153;expertâ&#x20AC;?.

The earlier questions help me to focus on the characteristics that typically make teams successful. But there are other things I need to consider. A student might be 7 months 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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pregnant or have National Guard duties. These complications can have a big impact on the team. I ask this question to learn of these difficulties. Having them think about what it means to be in an effective group is also useful. They think about the complication now and not in a month when it might have a bigger impact to the team. It gives them the opportunity to plan for complications instead of react to them. If the student chooses to share this information with their team, the team can plan in advance for issues that might arise. Posted by Dave Graser at 08:48AM (-07:00)

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Online “Kinship” Monday, October 13, 2014 I have been an online teacher since 2000 and still find it challenging to develop the same type of bond with my online students that I have with my face to face students. Every semester I find retention in my online courses challenging. Simply, there is a loss of personal connection and a feeling that the student is sitting in an empty classroom. Inspired by Dr. Tinto’s presentation, I decided to enter the semester with a goal to increase retention in my online courses. One of the things Dr. Tinto mentioned was how important it is for the student to feel a bond to the class and its members. Many of his examples centered on meeting others and creating interpersonal relationships. As I listened to his presentation, I kept asking myself, “But what about online?” The very sterile environment makes it difficult to form connections. To overcome this barrier, I have developed Kinship Groups (KG’s). The idea behind the groups is to give students an additional link to the class. For the initial class assignment, all students complete a getting to know you type discussion. Based on the responses, I created groups of 4-5. The groups are formed based on a common trait (interests, age, gender, etc.). The goal of the groups is to facilitate a method of social connection online. Within Bb, each group is given its own group page. This provides the members the opportunity to interact independently through discussion and email. Each week, I post unique discussion questions or critical thinking problems to the separate group pages. Students then interact within the groups to discuss the issue and come to a consensus. Participation within the group is graded. While the semester is not yet complete, I am encouraged by the involvement and interaction that is occurring above and beyond the assignments. Student feedback has been positive. Group members are taking it upon themselves to follow-up when there has been an extended online absence. I am anxious to determine if these groups will bridge the connection gap and provide a valuable interaction with classmates.

Posted by Denise Woolsey at 08:51AM (07:00)

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#adults’r’ew! Monday, October 13, 2014 I really enjoyed Mary’s post last week about how students demonstrate, at least many of them anyway, a kind of extended adolescence which often makes twenty year olds act like 14 year olds. I agreed with her in my response:

I think you just might have answered your own question about why students want to just "get through college" without "getting any of it on 'em". Students are very immature these days! Mark Shelley once told me that the true sign of maturity is the ability to delay gratification. Immature people "want what they want and they want it NOW"! Students in America are like little kids trying to avoid eating a marshmallow that's right in front of them (excuse me Jenny and Nicole). Everyone around them is eating the marshmallow, why can't they? I don't care how high-quality their early childhood education is, immature kids want and whine for marshmallows. In America, they perceive that wealth and success come relatively easy, so they want those marshmallows without effort and they want them now! They see the situation of their parents and they want the four bedroom house right out of college. They don't recognize how much waiting and working went into those big mortgaged marshmallows. Like little children, students feel entitled to easy success "as Americans" and they are frustrated when they have to expend effort to obtain, As, degrees, houses, girlfriends, etc. Pretty much everything that requires WAITING will eventually betray their lack of maturity. They’re children; our "extended adolescents" act like pre-pubescents all the way up to graduation day, thinking, as all children do, that they are the center of the universe, that rules don't apply to them, that exceptions should be made for them, and that somehow people should arrange the world to come easy to them, because . . . they're them! Because, after all, 'how could all of this awesomeness be wrapped up in one single person?!' You're also right, acting like a good mom, who sets standards, disciplines, and follows up with consistency, is the only way to let them know that they're not the source of all that is cool in the universe and that they are actually hard-wired for failure and that life isn't going to give them a free ride to marshmallowdom. Like a child though, if these great moms exist in the form of English or Math professors, what happens when they leave these great classes and go to, say, the soft Spanish professor Dad, and get spoiled and have their way. Will they learn anything that way? Should we have universal college standards that we all uphold so that some of us aren’t the good cops and others the bad cops? But on a larger scale, before we can break them of their “center of the universe syndrome" that lies at the root of their immaturity, we have to also consider how they come to act this way. This is a larger problem of society and as you know, it all centers around technology, specifically, the cell phone. Students today think that they are special and should receive special treatment because in their online universe, they are the sun and all of the their facebook/Instagram follower 146

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planets revolve around them. 24/7 they are surrounded by their sycophants that comment continually on all that they do, wear, think and eat for breakfast. It’s status update diarrhea and it’s being consumed by their entire online universe. In fact, so many of our young students are so instantiated within their online universe of worshipers, nearly all of them their own age, that they demonstrate great difficulty when interacting with any outsider. The world has become one great inside joke, shared by you and the two hundred people that think you’re funny. Many students have such a culturespecific vocabulary that it becomes hard to interact with ANYONE outside of their online social group. They don’t have the words to express themselves and they definitely don’t have the social skills. It’s getting bad. Many youth simply don’t interact with adults, ever, period. They don’t have to. They used to have to call a home phone in order to hail their friends. Every now and again, heaven forbid, they’d reach Johnny’s mom, or dad, and they had to pull out some of their best social graces in order to ask Mrs. or Mr. Steven’s if they “could please speak with Johnny, this is Cody". That’s gone now. I’ve seen it. If you don’t have a cell phone in high school, your friends would just rather NOT call you, then have to call your home phone and risk having to talk to your dad. Most youth don’t even realize that every phone number cannot receive texts. They might try to text your home phone, but that’s about it, and good luck receiving that text. This has all created what Jimmy Fallon and I call the “Ew" culture. Any time youth have to talk to an adult and look him/her in the eye, “it’s like sooo awkward" or it’s just simply “Ew". “Oh my gosh, I tried to call Katelyn last night and, EW, I think like her dad picked up the phone or something. So disgusting! I just hung up. It must have been like a land-line or something. Can you believe that? Like I was really going to like talk to her dad." Here’s a few of my favorite Fallon takes on the subject: (see the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK29skMZZhQ ) For years, some of the most rude youth show up to the door of a date, or a friend to be picked up and they honk, but everyone knows how annoying that is, so the most polite might ring the doorbell, risk interacting with adults, and pick up their friend for a night out. Cell-phones have knocked that one off too. Now, they show up, leave the engine running in the driveway and text their friend, “I’m here man, u comin’ out?" Students don’t come to our office hours because they CAN NO LONGER remember how to interact with us. We are old, awkward, and most of all EW. They don’t interact with us in office hours because they NEVER have to interact with adults in any other zone of their life, so they want to “get through" college without having to interact with adults. After all, they’ve made it okay this far. They’d rather fail than have to step outside of their online universe and subsequently their huge safety netted comfort zone. Students’ phones have made them rock stars and celebrities, if nowhere else, at least within their online social universe and within their own minds. The paparazzi follow them around at parties, snatch pictures of them and then post them online. Students selfie and publish themselves, increasing their fame. Famous people don’t have to work, they don’t have to struggle to get a degree. Celebrities don’t have to interact with non-celebs, especially old ones like teachers! Ew! All things should come easy to them. After all, they’re celebrities. Cell phones have made us all celebrities and we’re starting to act as immature as Lohan with a get out of jail free card and a trunk full of vodka. Like celebrities, we are forgetting about the concept of other people. We lose track of the idea that other people matter, other people besides ourselves and our entourage that is. I have a TWO-YEAR-OLD that’s just like this. He has no idea that he is not the center of the universe. Whatever he wants, he takes from people. So maybe our students aren’t 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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even adolescents as Mary suggests, maybe they are little children. “Give me that A, it’s mine, because I saw it first!" “Give me that degree, I sat here all semester after all, that was practically like waiting my turn". “Give me that house, car, and give me that tattoo! Because the people that follow me on Instagram are going to love it!" #myphoneismypet, #mytat, #degreeseasy, #youngmoney, #indebt, #allplaynowork, #easyteachersrule, #adultsareEW To close, I don’t want to be totally negative about our young students, I love them, deep down. In all honesty, I only see these behaviors in their worst form among the very young dual enrollment student. And although students today are projected to be the most selfcentered, entitled, hard to manage employees ever, at the same time they are also projected to be the most productive the world has ever seen. I just hope I don’t snap and acogotarlos before they have the chance to reach their productivity apogee. Posted by Curtis Kleinman at 09:24AM (-07:00)

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It’s not me; it’s you Tuesday, October 14, 2014 Boy, howdy, do I have a doozy of a student this semester. Actually, I’ve had students like her before, maybe one or two a year since I started teaching. She’s also in classes with Laura Cline and Nancy Schafer, and she is not happy with any of us. When she’s with Laura, she complains about Nancy and me. When she’s with me, she complains about Laura. I’m pretty sure that she complains to Nancy about Laura and me. (Although in one piece of writing she said that Nancy was strict but fair, and she was learning a lot from her. Yeah Nancy!) She’s working with the Learning Center, but they haven’t finished what they were supposed to. According to her, we aren’t doing what we’re supposed to be doing and what she expects us to do. And her problem isn’t just with YC. The K-12 system let her down; all of her English teachers were just there to get a paycheck. She is a supreme victim. When I ask her what she’s working on and how I can help, she gives me a litany of problems that she’s encountered, through no fault of her own. I let her blow off a little steam, then I redirect her and ask again what she’s working on and what she needs help with. I’m not a psychologist (but I like to play one), so I wonder if this is some type of disorder that has a name. A conversation with her is like playing tennis: she lobs a problem at me; I lob a possible solution; she lobs it back with, “Yes, but (X) hasn’t done (Y), so I can’t do what I need to do.” The match goes to the perfect victim. According to her, she’s working hard, but since her instructors are not doing their jobs, she’s unable to be successful. OK. What do we do with a student who is angry, defensive and full of blame? On the one hand, I would like to say to her, “Stop. All you’re doing is blaming. What do you need to do to be successful this week?” I just read Charles Lohman’s blog about no excuses; I think I’d like to pass that on to her. I wonder what her response would be? I’m not a perfect instructor, but I’ve done what I am supposed to do in the class. What else can an instructor do? Are there people who are never satisfied? Are there people who always find someone else to blame? (Am I turning into one of those people?!) Seriously. Is there a diagnosis and a method for working with students who accept no responsibility? Posted by Mary Verbout at 04:13PM (07:00)

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Create Chaos Wednesday, October 15, 2014 Create Chaos A few years back, I was co-facilitating a six-day student event for preparing them for choosing a college industrial career choice – Career Institute. The program was aimed at high school students getting ready to enter their junior year. We housed 32 students (16 male and 16 female) for the six-days and our daily full schedule started at 7:00AM and went until 11:00PM. The students attended classes/labs, workshops, recreational activities, and company tours of related industries. Since we housed the students for the six-days, we also provided their meals. On the second day, one of the students did not like the submarine sandwiches provided for lunch and demonstrated his displeasure with the lunch by smearing the sandwich over the walls in the men’s restroom. Shortly after the lunch break, the building facilities manager contacted myself and my co-facilitator of the program about the mess in the restroom. We made the decision to put the responsibility on the students. We gathered all of the students and told them of the mess in the men’s restroom. We then told them, calmly, they have 10 minutes to decide what actions they are going to take to correct the problem. We then left the area. In under the ten minutes, a group of about ten male students came out of the room and asked where to find cleaning material. They then proceeded to clean, not only the walls, but the whole restroom. The issue ended and we returned to our normal schedule. Now for the rest of the story. What we found later in the week, was that one of the students took a leadership role and organized the group to clean the restroom. If a student admitted to creating the mess, we never knew who he was. We did see the result of the student that stepped up to organize the cleanup. Through the rest of the week and activities, he was in a position of leadership. As a result of this episode, we, as cofacilitators, decided to create a moment of chaos in future Career Institute programs to hasten the development of individuals into leadership and responsibility roles. Moving ahead two-years, I was having lunch with a friend, when a wait staff came up to the table and addressed me by name. I did not recognize her, but she introduced herself. She was the mother of the student that organized the cleanup group. She then thanked me for having the Career Institute and crediting her son’s experience during that time in helping him be the first in their family to complete high school and follow his career dream in becoming an auto mechanic. He enlisted into the military right after high school graduation and his SOP was auto mechanic. As instructors, we do not usually see what impact we make on our students future. But I have to admit that it is a great feeling when we do get that feedback, chaos or no chaos. Posted by James Voska at 09:53AM (07:00)

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Outrageous Wednesday, October 15, 2014

The Facebook post was from a former student of mine from back when I worked at a high school. Now in her 40s, she posted: “My 9th grader has a career day at a local college. She got to choose a field of study and then attends a seminar-type event. Teaching kids that you need a college degree to have a career? Outrageous.” After a friend of hers chimed in with: “I am so sick of government schools. Depending on what you want to do, a formal education is a huge waste of money.” My former student then added: “The internet has every piece of education a person could want.” Of course, she’s right, in a sense, about the internet. It is extremely easy to find countless reports about the correlation between education and income. For example, there’s this graphic:

http://www.ghotit.com/2010/09/dyslexia-high-education/#b Some people (especially those who haven’t gained strong critical thinking skills) aren’t inclined to believe statistics (because they know of someone with a master’s degree who is unemployed and someone who dropped out of high school who is successful). Personal experience is definitive and trumps all research – especially if you have no

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personal experience with research. So I am giving my former student some latitude with the belief that the internet is an amazing tool for discovery of information. It is. It is definitely not, however, a resource that offers “every piece of education a person could want.” I would not want to live in a society that hired self-taught people to design our bridges. Without a populace with critical thinking skills, our society should consider the internet a pretty dangerous place. It was, after all, on the internet that I found this person spreading the idea that schools should not be promoting higher education. Again, she is correct to suggest that you don’t have to go to college to have a career. In fact, nobody says you have to have a career at all. Forbes recently ran a story on the 10 best-paying jobs of 2014. I found it on the internet. http://www.forbes.com/sites/naomishavin/2014/08/13/the-10-best-paying-jobs-of-2014/ Here’s the list. Remember: Use the internet to teach yourself and save thousands! 1. Surgeon 2. Physician 3. Psychiatrist 4. Orthodontist 5. Dentist 6. Petroleum Engineer 7. Air Traffic Controller 8. Pharmacist 9. Podiatrist 10. Attorney To be fair, the source that Forbes used for this list, Careercast.com, also lists the top ten things you can do without a degree. http://www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/best-jobs-without-degree-2014 That list looks like this: 1. Administrative Assistant 2. Appliance Repairer 3. Automotive Mechanic 4. Bookkeeper 5. Carpenter 6. Computer Service Technician 7. Dental Hygienist 8. Electrician 9. Hair Stylist 10. Medical Records Technician Noble professions, all and, indeed, people still today find a way into these professions without a degree. But for the average 9th grader heading into Career Day, I suspect his/her skills as a medical records technician are a little weak. And while one or two of them may have an older cousin who can pave their way, the overwhelming majority of people seeking these careers would find the most direct route to be a college degree. In fact, since equipping yourself to become a skilled auto mechanic or carpenter is exceptionally expensive (without a cousin in the business), the college route is likely the 152

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least expensive avenue to a career. All that said, though, the most important reason to track our children into college is to give then the critical thinking capacity to make informed decisions, to give them options, to make them whole and maybe, just maybe, to reduce the outrage on Facebook. Posted by Stuart Blacklaw at 01:58PM (07:00)

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Name the Disorder Game Wednesday, October 15, 2014 I’m not a psychologist, but I like to play one, so I want to know the name of the disorder for people who spend their energy blaming others and ducking responsibility. I’ve had students like this before, maybe one or two a year since I started teaching. My current is a returning student, maybe in her 40’s. She’s also in classes with two of my colleagues, and she is not happy with any of us. (The student is also working with the Learning Center, but according to her, they are not doing what they are supposed to either.) When she started complaining to me about Ms. X, I suggested she go talk to the instructor herself. She refused, so I attempted to answer her questions. What a got was an earful about how Ms. X wasn’t doing anything right. I let her vent a bit, then I redirected her and got her working. Now I know Ms. X to be a great teacher, so I figured that there was some disconnect in the communication chain, and I decided to talk to Ms. X and see if I could get some information that might be helpful to the student. The talk with Ms. X was instructive. Apparently, in a previous discussion, my student told Ms. X what a bad teacher I was: I didn’t answer questions and wasn’t helpful at all. And the student complained about yet another instructor, Ms. Y, who wasn’t doing her job. Her problem isn’t just with YC. The K-12 system let her down; all of her English teachers were just there to get a paycheck. She is a supreme victim. When I ask her what she’s working on and how I can help, she gives me a litany of problems that she’s encountered, through no fault of her own. I let her blow off a little steam, then I redirect her and ask again what she’s working on and what she needs help with. A conversation with her is like playing tennis: she lobs a problem at me; I lob a possible solution; she lobs it back with, “Yes, but (A) hasn’t done (B), so I can’t do what I need to do.” The match goes to the perfect victim. According to her, she’s working hard, but since her instructors are not doing their jobs, she’s unable to be successful. OK. What do we do with a student who is angry, defensive and full of blame? On the one hand, I would like to say to her, “Stop. All you’re doing is blaming. What do you need to do to be successful this week?” I just read Charles Lohman’s blog about no excuses; I think I’d like to pass that on to her. I wonder what her response would be? I’ll admit that I’m not a perfect instructor, but I’ve done what I am supposed to do in the class. What else can an instructor do? Are there people who are never satisfied? Are there people who always find someone else to blame? (Am I turning into one of those people?!) Seriously. Is there a diagnosis and a method for working with students who accept no responsibility? 154

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Posted by Mary Verbout at 04:13PM (07:00)

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Student Success Thursday, October 16, 2014 We hear a lot these days about Student Success. It is almost as if this is a buzz word used to “WOW” the crowd. I don’t know if any of you remember my rant on buzz words from a few years ago. This was one in which I went on and on about pedagogy and andragogy, and how these two words are used, in my opinion, incorrectly. The latter hardly ever mentioned in academia and the first used too often. You can find more information => HERE <== Now we see this new set of words…Student Success. What is this Student Success? How does one achieve Student Success? Could it begin with Teaching Best Practices? Think about that for a moment. Teaching Best Practices which leads to Student Success. Yep. I think it could work. Imagine the possibilities. By bringing Best Practices into the development of courses, Instructors could achieve this one component that everyone speaks of, this Student Success. Some of our own faculty have stepped up to the plate and worked with Quality Matters to start this process. I am very happy for them. It is a daunting task to creating and delivering a course. It is a task that never ends; a continual progression.

http://cms.bsu.edu/academics/centersandinstitutes/ilearn/develop/qm This is not something that can be completed on the first run. We as educators must continue to ask students what works and what does not. This is the only way to achieve this benevolent Student Success. If the teacher forgets the student, then all is for not. We must remember to check ourselves with our students. There are areas in a class which can be improved upon each class. There are some that must stay as they are. Let your students guide you into what is best for them.

http://idreflections.blogspot.com/2011/01/cck11-connectivism-mindmap.html Someone mentioned Active Learning before. I love this. This is Student Success. Teach students to become Active Learners. This, connectivism (love this too), and a little Quality Matters can go a long way in achieving this buzz word of Student Success. 156

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Anywhooooooo….. That’s my rant for the week. Posted by Ruth Alsobrook at 09:54AM (-07:00)

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CEC’s and ME Thursday, October 16, 2014 As a fitness professional, one of our greatest gifts is the joy of continuing education. CEC’s or continuing education credits can be as beneficial as they are fun. Right now, I’m in the midst of taking an online Personal Health and Wellness class. This class is bringing it all back to square one. We are learning the basics of being healthy on every level. Did you know that being healthy involves more than just being physically healthy??

The whole picture on health includes mental, emotional, social, spiritual, and finally, physical health. If any of these components are lacking, our wheel of life will out of round. And when we go about town with something out of round it can be a bumpy ride. This bumpy ride can effect not only our own well being, but everyone around us. Our friends, family, workmates, classmates, those in the service industry of our frequently visited spots, all can be effected by our full or flat health wheel.

I love this stuff. I could read and study on it for hours. The continued learning and expanding of our wellness, activity, lifestyle, fitness; it’s infinite~ I’m also in the midst of an additional yoga certification. This is a 6mo, 8weekend course. Again, I am enthralled with the study!

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The body is the body is the body, right? We are all basically the same machine. Eat, sleep, move, repeat. Our way of moving, breathing, & expressing is unlimited. The joy of discovering new ways to guide this movement is my passion. Continuing Education is a tool that I use to enhance my knowledge & skill level. This, in turn, will ultimately empower my students and give them simple, effective ways to get moving in the world! What are your favorite ways to participate in the joy of movement? Posted by Roxanne Wessel at 12:42PM (-07:00)

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Don’t Take Your LMS to the Zoo Thursday, October 16, 2014 When you leave the school grounds with students you are out there in the wide open. Anything can happen! And when you take the class to the zoo, there are all kinds of different activities to do and strange and unplanned events can happen. There are exciting and new opportunities! They are zoo things. And some of the tools and strategies that are applicable in the classroom are not so relevant at the monkey cage or the crocodile lagoon. You probably don’t need your dry erase markers. Or your air freshener. Or your document camera. The desks don’t need to be aligned in rows. Sometimes educators might go to the zoo because the zoo can better explain how playful monkeys are (even in those darn cages) if they are seen swinging around, naked and making monkey sounds. And between the sight, sound, and smell, it is a very different experience than a textbook or what a National Geographic video can offer us. Yea, I know. Seems self-evident right? After all, that is why they invented “field trips.” It is why we interview working and professional psychologists in the psychology class rather than just read the book about what psychologists do. It is why we invite guest speakers into our classrooms because they are from “the outside.” It is why we go sit by the river and paint rather than sit by the computer screen with a picture of a river on it and paint. Things like “service learning” come to mind as methods of getting the students “out there.” Apprenticeships maybe? There is “stuff” beyond our classroom walls that is valuable. We know that. But the walls are pretty thick and they have become even thicker these days with monies for field trips reduced, a deeper institutional fear of lawsuits, more students in the classroom, overworked faculty, and the “coverage” of learning objectives and massive summative testing to gather data being all the rage in Eduland. We need to fix some things. Nonetheless, all that stuff that happens every day outside of the classroom goes on and all the while we get snappier PowerPoint presentations from textbook publishers along with bigger and more expensive textbooks. And as an added bonus that only costs a little more, we get an additional 2,000 true/false questions to fill our question banks in Blackboard. (Total side note: My daughter was home-schooled for sixth and seventh grade. For both of those school years she spent from 8 to 9 every weekday morning assisting a kindergarten teacher get the little kindergarten kiddies going for the day. Our daughter, at thirteen, a time when kids are pretty impressionable and amazing, was given a great responsibility. She was in charge of other kids. I could write many sentences about the confidence the experience gave her and how valuable it was to her and all the kids she worked with. She was really fortunate to have that experience and while not every kid can have such opportunities, I think we do a pretty poor job at placing students in those kinds of places. It seems like we only values the things that happen in classrooms because that is sure where we keep them most of the time.) There is this whole world out there and we reduce it down to a textbook and some PowerPoint slides. 160

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So what are you saying, Todd? Well, the web is like the big world we live in and the LMS is like the classroom. I know, you are thinking there is no comparison? Well, you are wrong. Just like the big world outside the classroom walls, the web does things the LMS can’t. And depending on the LMS being used, it may be able to do some of the things the web at large does, but like a classroom, it has limitations. There are things to consider. When student’s come into our classrooms (or LMS) how do we use the bigger world we live in to enhance their learning opportunities and make the coursework relevant to their lives? How often do we use the “outside” to help them see the work in a different light or experience the content in a way that might address a different learning style? I mean, of course, beyond telling them about the outside world in a lecture. Here are some digital options outside the LMS. I know it sounds like I am comparing digital tools and opportunities to “the physical world” tools and opportunities, but I’m not. The bigger message is that in “online classes” the use of activities that ask students to get away from a computer screen or a textbook are just as valuable as they are in a face-to-face class. Using digital tools outside the confines of an LMS in a face to face class is just as important. The world and the web are big places. Let’s use some of the opportunities that exist out there, digital or otherwise. But whatever you do, don’t bring the limitations of your LMS to the zoo. Posted by Todd Conaway at 03:06PM (-07:00)

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Four Fundamental Questions Addressed in FYE 103 Friday, October 17, 2014 As I understand it, some faculty and administrators here at Yavapai College question the usefulness of First Year Experience (FYE) 103: Success for College, Career, and Life. There are those who may see it as a “fluff” course (although the homework load is considerable). Others may argue that they got through college without such a course, so our students don’t need one. (Well, yes, so did I, but I certainly wish it had existed when I went to ASU in the late 1980s. My life would have been so much easier, and I would have learned so much more.) In defense of FYE 103, one could cite the abundance of data demonstrating a clear increase in student retention and graduation resulting for such a course. One could also look to the swelling number of colleges that are putting similar classes in their curriculum. But, having taught this course for about nine weeks now, I prefer to see its value by looking at a different, larger picture. What fundamental life questions does FYE 103 address? As a caveat, every instructor teaching this course—and perhaps every student taking it—may well have different questions, since we all have different perspectives and experiences. Two of my questions below come from the excellent science fiction series Babylon 5 , and the other two came to mind as we progressed through the course modules heroically developed by Nancy Schafer and Mark Shelly. 1. Who are you? We spend considerable time in FYE 103 on basic self-awareness issues, including multiple intelligences, habits, drives, learning styles, ideas of self, and notions of emotional intelligence. While a college student can gain these insights in other courses—and I, for one, always encourage everyone to take philosophy, psychology, sociology, and other classes that lead to introspection—FYE 103 provides an introduction to these crucial concepts (which some students may never receive elsewhere). 2. What do you want? Academic and career goals function as a cornerstone to the course. They learn more about degree options. They gain more understanding of the potential outlooks of the different careers in which they may be interested. We urge them to look at the short-term, medium-term, and long-term. As a college student, I had to learn goal-setting on my own, and, honestly, I’m not a better person for it. In short, we help FYE 103 students acquire a certain binocular vision that will serve them for a lifetime. 3. How will you survive? Making it through college is not easy for most people. Indeed, those with a weak support network—and those who never had a chance to learn what many educated people currently take for granted—remain at a huge disadvantage in the academic environment. This holds true for life generally. So, we teach our students how to set priorities, navigate bureaucracies, handle money, take notes, do well on exams, and stay motivated in the face of adversity. If your parents or teachers taught you these things before entering college, then consider yourself blessed, for many students at Yavapai College are less

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fortunate. 4. How will you excel? Once a student has some level of self-awareness, some sort of plan for the future, and some basic skills of survival in our modern world, he or she is ready to excel at something. FYE 103 uses a book by Jeff Brown and Mark Fenske called The Winner’s Brain: 8 Strategies Great Minds Use to Achieve Success (Harvard, 2010). Despite its rather dramatic, even cheesy, title, the book is a gold mine of neuroscience, psychology, and common sense. It sets forth numerous role-models of success and analyzes how they achieved their remarkable goals. Who among us won’t benefit from gaining multiple perspectives, and plenty of advice, on how to excel at our life’s work? Now the answers to these four fundamental questions will change over time; truly, they remain in constant flux for all of us. That’s the beauty of introducing them to college students early on in their academic careers (and personal lives). This endeavor helps them enter new worlds equipped with some basic (if early) answers to questions that will endure for the remainder of their lives. Unless our mission as educators at Yavapai College is merely to teach our students how to make a buck (and it’s not), then we would do well to employ every tool at our disposal, including FYE 103, to help them become multi-dimensional and successful human beings. Posted by Mark Frederick at 05:32PM (07:00)

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Shooting for Buy-in Saturday, October 18, 2014 “We knew they wouldn’t stand a chance,” Student X said. “The training we gave them was shit.” Class was long over and a conversation about total institutions had naturally led to the military, and from there to ISIS and the current situation in Iraq. Student X was a vet and spoke freely about his time in the Army. “We’d give them their shiny new M16, aim ‘em at some makeshift target, and say shoot. They’d then blow through a few magazines and we’d call it good.” “That’s it?” I was incredulous. “Yep. No range. Nothing about sighting-in or how to maintain the weapon. We didn’t want them to know too much.” “Because of deserters?” “Yep. Why would I want to train an Iraqi soldier today who might change his mind and decide to shoot me tomorrow?” “Weren’t you an officer? What about your orders to train the new Iraqi army?” “I was an NCO –in the dust with the grunts. We went through the motions but given the reality of our world, actually filling that boot on the ground, we weren’t exactly motivated. It’s no wonder they’re getting beat so bad. We didn’t train them at all.” A feeling of resignation and distant anger took hold of me. It was top-down thinking at its best and a common failing of any large institution. Those in charge, in this case remote politicians and generals, conceive an idea and make a decision. This plan of action is then kicked down the chain of command for actual implementation. Thus, a strategy devised in Washington by high level officials must be executed in Iraq by those on the very bottom of the totem-pole. These sad-sack individuals, living the reality of the conflict, naturally have their own ideas and opinions about what needs and should be done. Given the vast discrepancy in rank, geography, agency, and personal safety, these ideas are often quite different from those of their far-off superiors. So, as Student X says, they go through the motions. They do enough to look busy and avoid getting in trouble, then call it a day. A report then travels up the long chain stating that Iraqi soldiers were trained today. This is not true, but because it is properly filed and sent back up through the ranks (like some vast game of telephone) it gains a sort of organizational reality. After a few months of these reports the politicians and generals at the top assume their plan has been implemented. Large institutions are predicated on this sort of magical thinking. A linguistic imperative is made (in the beginning was the word) and physical reality is then expected to conform. 164

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Now, if this change was anticipated immediately, no one would buy in. However, because the command is uttered by a figure isolated by his/her own authority and expected to be carried out by distant minions, a seemingly efficacious fantasy is sustained: “I told them to train the troops. They said they trained the troops. Therefore, the troops must be trained.” Sadly, the devil is in the details. Given his position Student X can’t really be blamed for this failure. Nor can the generals and politicians be judged for believing these generally honest and hard-working soldiers. Everyone involved, including the tragic Iraqis, is simply a victim of institutional thinking. So, why am I relating all of this in a blog ostensibly about education? Because, for better or worse, we teach within institutions. The stakes are, admittedly, lower, though perhaps no less important when looking at the long-term health and well-being of our nation. As teachers we occupy a unique role in the hierarchy of the institution. We have administrators above us relaying commands and expressing expectations, and below us are our students, to whom we relay commands and express expectations. This makes us the fulcrum of the institution and ideally positioned to combat the perils of institutional thinking. We do this by seeking to understand the “boots on the ground” reality of the students –what are their challenges, hopes, and fears? In turn, we ask for them to buy-in to our vision of what needs to be accomplished. Working in close conjunction (and this is key) we can then pursue implementation together and track results. When looking to our administrators, we must demand the same. Invite them into our reality, share our goals and concerns and then seek to develop an institutional vision together with broad, vertical support. If a teacher feels understood and believes in a president’s plan, it’s likely to succeed. But if not . . . well, we might as well just call it a day. Posted by Jason Whitesitt at 11:35AM (-07:00)

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Humans Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Do Optionalâ&#x20AC;Ś. Sunday, October 19, 2014 Our Faculty Association President Vikki Bentz sent out a recent email that ended: "If you have time, come, listen, and learn how our college operates at the governing board-level. I will be there to represent you, but a strong faculty presence lets Board Members and the Administration know that we care about what happens at all levels of the college." At the last campus update forum a couple of weeks ago, very few faculty attended even though someone obviously tried to schedule it at a convenient time for faculty participation. The mantra among people working with first semester college students is "students don't do optional." We have seen this at Yavapai College. Even though research across the nation has shown that new student orientation, visiting advisers every semester, and student success courses contribute to student completion rates, most students will not voluntarily participate in programs design to help them succeed. Thus, each institution has to decide what, if anything, is worth requiring of students. What will benefit the students the most? What combination of programs will increase retention and persistence the most? I have observed that students aren't the only ones who don't do optional; very few faculty do optional either. It must be a common human condition. Someone said 20% of the workers do 80% of the work. If we look around campus, this same ratio seems to apply. We faculty all participate in one committee, maybe two, but beyond that only a few take up the torch of any given issue. Thus, 20% of the faculty seem to be doing 80% of the faculty representation, including promoting and supporting faculty issues. Although we don't want anyone mandating more participation from us, we don't volunteer for much either. Trust me, I am not accusing anyone without looking in my own mirror. I think this lack of participation reflects our common humanity, rather than any personal lack of commitment to our job. We all have plenty of work to do within our own classrooms if we want to provide the best learning experience for our students. Going beyond that can be difficult depending upon the amount of preparation and grading required in our disciplines. But I find it interesting that those who have the most to do tend to be the ones who are willing to do more and who are asked to do more because of their diligence and commitment. The same faces are seen at most meetings, and year after year the same people are participating in the Institutes. Meanwhile, almost every semester we have trouble getting a quorum at our Faculty Association meetings, and we scramble to get enough representation on our standing committees. There will always be the few who rise to the occasion, or the crisis, to contribute personal time and effort. In history, they are the names we admire, such as Martin Luther King or Mother Teresa. The few, even if they remain nameless, are the ones who make an impact, who provide the impetus for change. But I wonder. What would happen if more of us did just a bit more for the common good of our institution, whether that be toward faculty, instructional, or student issues? Would it make a difference?

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Posted by Nancy Schafer at 10:44AM (-07:00)

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Why ECE? Sunday, October 19, 2014 Across the country, momentum is building for creating stronger systems in early childhood education. In the past ten years, we hear more politicians, business leaders, teachers and families speaking out in favor of expanding access to high-quality early childhood education programs. In Arizona, we are currently implementing much-needed strategies to ensure that by age five, children are ‘ready for school and set for life’. Through First Things First, the 2006 voter approved initiative, Arizona is committed to improving the lives of young children and families. With the growing body of research available regarding the importance of the first five years of a child’s live, this work is critical!

Access to high-quality experiences impacts the lives of millions of children by improving school readiness, which is essential to later academic success and high achievement. The general public may be immune to hearing the term ‘high-quality’…but what does that really mean? Being ready for school is much farther reaching than knowing their ABC’s and counting to 10. Research shows that trusting early relationships, being showered with rich language, as well as intentional play and exploration cannot be underestimated in supporting a young child’s development. Criticisms, however, are often based on misconceptions about early childhood education. Because high-quality early learning is exceptionally important to the future strength of our nation, it is imperative that we get the facts straight. Child care and Preschool are too expensive? While the upfront price tag for high quality early care and education might give some people sticker shock, investments in young children pay for themselves over time in the form of reduced costs associated with grade retention, special education, and crime. In fact, studies show that children exposed to high-quality early childhood education: •Are 40% less likely to need special education or be held back a grade •Are 70% less likely to commit a violent crime by age 18 •Have better language, math and social skills, and better relation-ships with classmates •Have better cognitive and sensory skills and experience less anxiety •Score higher on school-readiness tests. It doesn’t really matter who takes care of little kids? The body of research demonstrating clear benefits from positive early care and preschool experiences are well-established. Two well-known longitudinal studies were among the 168

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first to establish the long-term and far-reaching impacts of early childhood education: the HighScope Perry Preschool Project; and the Carolina Abecedarian Preschool program. These studies provided intensive interventions and showed not only immediate academic gains but also benefits into adulthood, such as reduced need for public assistance, lower crime rates, and higher earnings. The scary thing is, with all of research and knowledge that is known, we are still underfunding undervaluing those that are most effected. As a start, Arizona is launching a quality improvement/rating system, so that early care and education programs can receive coaching and incentives to improve their programs. Families will be able to receive financial assistance to enroll their children into the most highly rated programs. College scholarship programs are also now being made available to caregivers and teachers to support them with the knowledge to improve the daily practice of their most important work. Many of our ECE students are working for minimum wage, with or without a higher education certificate or degree. We must value higher education requirements for those that care and educate those young minds for it is imperative they are knowledgeable and effective each and every day. They need to feel like professionals, be valued and compensated for their critical role in preparing children for school and life! The results are in! Early Childhood Education is a critical component to a healthy, thriving society. Do what you can to support young children and their familiesâ&#x20AC;Śâ&#x20AC;Śat the leastâ&#x20AC;Ś.express your support when you vote! Posted by Leanne Lawhead at 11:07AM (07:00)

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Infobesity??? Sunday, October 19, 2014

A student shares this information with me which I thought it was fascinating. It deals with information overload. The internet is almost 25 years old and already every 60 seconds: 160 million emails are sent. 1500 Blog entries are made. 98,000 tweets are shared on Twitter. 694,445 Google searches are completed. 695,000 Facebook status updates are posted. 6,600 photos are uploaded to Flickr. 600 videos are uploaded to You Tube. The sheer volume of information which is available to us is truly amazing, but perhaps our technology has surpassed our ability to effectively consume so much information. Researchers tend to agree that it’s not the volume of information that is the problem; it’s our inability to organize and process it all without experiencing “information overload, or what neuroscientists like to call “cognitive overload. In recent years, technology strategists have even compared information overload to physical obesity, dubbing it “infobesity. Just as our eyes are sometimes larger than our stomachs, our interest can be significantly greater than our brain capacity. I teach both online and FTF classes and utilize Blackboard for all my classes. Students submit all their work on Blackboard and receive responses from me on Blackboard as well. We have students who chose sometimes not to attended regular FTF lectures, but 170

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continue to turn in assignments or submit any other work required in Blackboard. Levels of understanding of the subject matter will obviously will vary and logic should show the FTF students benefit from having a fuller educational experience. So how can we help prevent students from becoming victims of this notion of infobesity? How do we help students remained focused without getting through college learning the art of “skimming”, you know, that’s when you just learn enough of what your instructor wants you to know. We skim the textbook, skim the information found on the internet, like the proverbial husband who always is being accused of not reading the instructions on a home project, he’ll just “skim it”, because he doesn’t need all that other stuff, until he realizes he missed something. We are so easily districted these days with Facebook, Twitter, You Tube videos, and the last goes on and on. Based on research pertaining to distraction and learning, it was stated that today’s students have shorter attention spans than previous years. This recent PEW study found that a majority of teachers (87%) agree with assertion that “today’s digital technologies are creating a generation of short attention spans.” So the dilemma continues because we as educators rely on those digital technologies. We contribute to this notion of information overload. Presentations become better, more visually interesting. Students stay more interested if there are visuals, especially incorporated in your lecture presentations. It’s about keeping your audience interested and engaging and technology allows for this to happen, but let’s not forget the role of the instructor, the captain of the ship, the headliner of the show, where the buck really stops in regards to teaching. Spending an entire class and having the opportunity to look into your students eyes and speak to them face to face is the ultimate kind of technology, the human kind. I find that breaking up my class with one lecture using PowerPoint presentations and then alternating the next class, talking about the subject matter in a much less formal approach with no use of any technology, just an old fashion “chat and share” about the subject matter. This usually turns into more of a forum for questions, because as we all know, no “proper” student would interrupt the professor in the middle of a visual/technological presentation, now would they? Obviously, I’m kidding about the proper student thing, but does shed more truth than not. The above model works for me and I think for the students as well. There is no getting around technology, but how we affectively use it to enhance learning is the real challenge and perhaps provides the solution as well. Posted by Salvatore Buffo at 07:37PM (07:00)

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MENTORING STUDENTS IN ONLINE FORUMS Sunday, October 19, 2014 This entry focuses on the care in mentorship we professors have the duty to provide students participating in our online courses. From the professor’s viewpoint, starting at the time of the beginning of the course (or before) we can open the roster of grading page and see our list of students. If we have a Discussion Board thread where students introduce themselves, their brief writings about themselves, and perhaps a photo and favorite YouTube music cut (suggestions from one of my colleges), are nice ways to get to know the students beyond the grading page of just their name and grade progress. The grading page is still the place I go to most often in my course pages, as verification of material progress is still a main role of mine even while students go through the materials I have positioned or prepared for them for the basics of learning. So we get to know our students somewhat amid these various means; how then do we mentor, and be about as effective as if we were all together in person? There are several angles worth exploration. The first I’ll address is “rescuing students;” for online, how to help them finish an online course when they stop participating, which will usually lead to an “F.” The effect is similar to a student ceasing attendance in a brickand-mortar class, and it takes an equally sharp eye to catch in an online classroom. As you grade others’ weekly or modular work, you realize there’s a short blank line of cells where the indicator of submitted work should be. For some online course pages, you may be able to see the last time the student opened and viewed it. What makes this detection even more complex is in courses where students may turn in work late; it is hard to tell when they have really stopped efforts in your course. Sometimes you cannot do much; institutions often require a student be dropped if the student did no participation in the course in its first week, among other reasons as a measure to minimize possible financial aid fraud. But if the institution site includes your student rosters with their phone number, you can call them at appropriate hours to speak to them – or, if there are no numbers available to you, an email advisory. If several drop anyway but you save one or two students who were about to drop the class, it is worth the total effort. After the first week, professors can continue to pursue students who “fall off,” though if students have dedicated academic advisors, I email the advisor to ask them to contact the student. More frequently, students want and appreciate help with only slightly lower stakes; clarification and encouragement that they can succeed in earning a grade reflective of their mastery of the material in the final, end-of-course project, or the overall course itself. We designers of the courses tend to forget sometimes that there will be those who lack confidence and feel for a while that they just can’t do what you have structured for them. Others are not sure why assignments, or even the course itself, are structured as they are. Indeed, the course may make more sense to the scholar who has had a chance to explore associated literature on the topic or field, and for students, this usually has not happened yet, except in other courses. For these reasons, and to effectively answer questions or clarify minor points of all kinds, I recommend the following that I try to do: answer/respond/open a dialogue quickly. When a student email arrives, I seek to find the answer (it is best to check what you think that is!) and reply in the same day, often immediately so I do not move on to other activities and forget. If an exam malfunctioned, I will not go away from my computer until I 172

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have cleared it or otherwise fixed it, and sent a reply – the student may be pressed for time and waiting. For courtesy’s sake in general, I answer queries of all kinds, including career advice if asked. I do the same with calls – my goal is to resolve an issue that I assess should be rapidly, and confirming what I did. These are not novel ideas, but in fact guidance from all my institutions where I work to serve well the students and help them have a fair opportunity at taking on the course’s challenges. These offerings all pertain to when the course is underway. Of course, before the course’s start date and while preparing, a professor can design professor’s notes, announcements, add videos that carry a point, and sort what is presented to the student on the course pages with the strategy of maximizing the chance of a positive reaction and motivation to explore what is offered within the course. All of these techniques of effort, deliberate or on-the-spot (virtually), support the value that our students deserve the most conscientious learning experience we can provide – we just have had to learn how to do this online. Posted by David Alegre at 08:21PM (07:00)

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Anatomy Goodie Bag Sunday, October 19, 2014 We are close to Halloween so I think it would be appropriate to tell you about the “goodie bags” I have my online anatomy students pick up for class. Putting together an online course takes quite a while to just think out what you are going to do. Like most things, it is so much easier the more you plan and follow the plan. In a traditional classroom format, it is much easier to ‘wing-it’ when a lab doesn’t work or you want to make changes based on student feedback or learning level. In the online environment, students need to plan too, so you have to have everything laid out from the start. I already knew my online anatomy class was not going to miss out on the smells and textures of an in-person class. Dealing with the smell and feel of dissection specimens is sort of a rite of passage. Far be it for me to allow my online students miss out. About two weeks before the semester I open up my Blackboard site with all the class videos, notes, study guides, web links, lab resources, syllabus, and calendar. I post an announcement welcoming them but warning them about what they will be asked to do (to allow any squeamish students to back out and a chance for another to be able to get in or ask for an alternative activity, if necessary). To make sure that all my students are aware of the class requirement and to mimic the in-class requirement of ‘attending the first day of class to remain enrolled in the class’ policy, I have my online students complete a syllabus quiz and their lab safety quiz. To answer the questions they have to be aware of the policies of the course including grading, withdrawal dates, exam formats, and locations (some exams are at a testing center, some are online), and email policies. In addition, they have to read ‘lab safety’ information so they are aware of what they will be getting in their ‘goodie bags’. After I know they know the rules and risks of the class, they then have to complete a ‘class introduction video’ by the middle of the first week. I create a blog assignment in Blackboard that each student will have access to but other students will be able to view (if a student prefers not to have their information or face disclosed to the other students in the class, I allow them to post their video to a journal page, which only I can see or they can just email it to me directly). This video accomplishes three things. First, I get to see and hear my student and get to know a little more about them than a name on the roster. Second, they get to figure out how to make a video and upload it; a skill they need to know for their upcoming labs. Lastly, they get to view other student’s videos introductions and feel like they are in a class with others and not just on their own island. Great! Now they know what to expect in the class, they get to know each other, I get to know them, and they know how to use basic technology. Once I know they have completed the lab safety quiz, students are allowed to come to my office to pick up their ‘Lab Kits’ (a.k.a. goodie bags). I set them outside of my office door on my cart so they can pick them up at their convenience. I let them know when I will be there to encourage them to stop in so we can meet in person. I really miss that part when I teach online so it is nice to be around when they come by. I also noticed that students that make the effort to meet me in person at the start of class is much more 174

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likely to contact me or come by for help when they need it (not just when I contact them after they did poorly on an exam). In their lab kits I provide the basic specimens lab activity resources. They get the lab guides and more information on Blackboard. My BIO 201 class gets a sheep brain and eyeball (they are required to purchase on their own clay and a mini skeleton). My BIO 202 class gets a sheep heart, blood typing kit, urinalysis dip stick, and a sheep kidney. Most of my students are really excited, in a geeky way about getting these kits. (I even have provisions for pregnant students that do not want to experience the wonderful smells of anatomy).

Posted by Ellen Savoini at 09:20PM (-07:00)

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Ok…Now Go Collaborate! Monday, October 20, 2014 Even Batman and Robin needed a common foe to bring them together as a team. Each week they faced off against more and more challenging criminals. As they became better crime fighters, their opposition had to step up their game. By the second season, we saw first two…then three or four master criminals working together to pull off some heist or to defeat the dynamic duo one and for all. The message was that they could do more as a team than any one could do alone. This is my hope my collaborative teams…together they can do more than any one of them can do alone. However, you can’t throw four or five students together and expect them to be productive right away. Ease them into working together and then have them make some decisions together. This is the idea behind the first project I assign students in MAT 152 College Algebra. Each team is given data for two-year and four college costs in a particular state. The goal is to use the data to calculate the savings a student might incur by attending a two-year college as part of a four year college education. The project letter below describes the task. • College Costs Project Letter (PDF) • College Costs Data (PDF) Through a series of scaffolding assignments, each student makes a scatter plot of the data and finds a linear model that passes through two of the data points.

Here is where it gets interesting…each student in the team picks a different pair of points for their model to pass through. To make sure they do not do the points another student has done, they need to communicate with each other. There are also six ways the pair of points may be chosen and usually four team members. Typically a team leader emerges and either suggests others produce the extra models or does it themself. Either way, a team starts to form that will document the savings from attending two-year college using one of the models.

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Once they do create their models, they also need to decide which of the models their team has produced is best. They compare the percent error at each data point to determine which model goes closest to the data. This often requires students to meet together to make this decision. Online students typically work through a shared document containing all of their work and chat online. In both situations, a decision needs to be made from work that has been produced in parallel. By giving students parallel tasks and requiring them to make a decision based on these tasks, they attack the problem efficiently. Without the team collaboration, an individual would need to check all six possible models of the data and then decide which model is best. Collaboration reduces this task significantly. Once students see this, they often are drawn to the team since it saves them work. They also like the fact that they have a built in support network. If they have problems with their part of the assignment, they can contact the rest of the team for help since they are all working on similar tasks. In my next post, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll look at how a shared document can be used to promote communication and effective collaboration. Posted by Dave Graser at 06:10AM (-07:00)

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Who Moved my iPhone? Monday, October 20, 2014

A very wise man by the name of Todd Conaway once told me that we should “avoid things that are easy" and that “we handicap our kids by making things easy for them". It’s very possible that he was quoting some other wise man or woman, or maybe just blatantly plagiarizing their work, but, one way or another, I think that the concept is correct. We don’t do anyone favors for our kids or our students when we make things easy on them. I don’t know if you’ve notice yet or not, but life isn’t easy, it’s hard. This is another reason why, for me, the iPhone is ruining our educational climate. Today’s student makes no effort in searching for answers because, who knows? iPhone knows. They don’t learn anything. Why? Because, why should you learn anything or know anything when it can just as easily be searcher for on the Internet in just a couple of seconds? I think that this easy access to information creates laziness and a sense of entitlement. I’m entitled to easy answers that are perpetually at my fingertips because I have an iPhone. Americans feel that it is our right to have access to cheap products that make our lives easier. I showed this slide the other day in my classes.I asked my students how they would like to live in a country where an iPhone would cost them nearly $1,200. One student immediately said, “Oh, my parents would still have to buy it for me. We can’t survive without our phones." That felt good. I love hearing stuff like that. Makes me have a lot of faith in our country and optimism for the future. I watched a great little video last week called, Who Moved My Cheese? ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= 16hxCB1Dvd4 ) In the video it shows a man named Hem running in a rat race with another little man and two mice. When the cheese is moved from the usual spot Hem is furious. He walks around angry and asking “who moved my cheese?" Hem at one point states that he is entitled to cheese, because he’s a little man, not a mouse. Our students sometimes act 178

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like they are entitled to easy answers, not working too hard, and everything done for them (easy access to abundant cheese). But the mice, when the cheese is moved, don’t even think twice. They’re instincts kick in and they head out into the rat race, looking for more cheese. When they find it, Hem resents them. Where the mice were accustomed to searching high and low and working for their cheese, Hem had become complacent, entitled and lazy. Since he was a more complex individual he felt like the world owed him cheese. Do we see this tendency in our students? Because I’m the white middle to upper class, I deserve a good education, and iPhone to make my education come to me easier and I deserve good grades without too much effort. “I mean, coming to class each day has got to count for something, right?" During the economic downturn of 2008 a lot of cheese was getting moved on folks. I saw Hem’s resentment surface on the face of many of my students and it got ugly. As a Spanish teacher, the class rhetoric would often shift to in-class debates. Many resented learning Spanish when “they don’t make an effort to learn English". The resentment ran deep. Come to find out, people were angry that their Spanish speaking neighbors were thriving with their own construction, landscaping and other businesses, when their dad’s business was going belly-up in the downed economy. They, the traditional Americans, were entitled to have success and the Spanish speaker definitely should be perpetually below them. They had become complacent and lazy and the hard-working and instinctive mice were beginning to pass them up. The social rhetoric, inexplicably quickly moved to hating on the immigrant. Both legal and illegal immigrants alike, as soon as times became tough in our country, were quickly blamed for nearly every ill the economy faced. “If it weren’t for the immigrants" someone would say, or “it’s the illegals and undocumented that cause this" when, just a year or so before, under better economic conditions (plentiful cheese) no one seemed to mind using undocumented workers to grow their own businesses. Now, have you felt a shift again? The veritable wave of undocumented crime spewing over our boarders during the economic downturn is magically gone. It’s not mentioned in the news the way it once was. The funny thing is, during the economic downturn, there was an increase in illegal immigrants returning home, not arriving here in the U.S. and crime rates did not see a spike when compared to long-term undocumented crime rates. The truth is simple, we want to blame someone when life gets hard, because, just like in the movie, we have grown complacent, entitled to cheese, and soft. This makes us resent and hate when things get hard again and we, unlike others, are no longer fit and ready to run the maze and find cheese. Our economy has changed again and it seems that cheese has once again found us and that it is plentiful, but I don’t think that running the race for us, again, is far off. Hard times are out there and they always will be. If we don’t keep ourselves in good shape, humble shape, when those hard times come we’ll continue to see the mice getting one over on the rest of us. We should get used to it, get off the iPhone, and read a book from time to time. My friend has an email tag line that reads “less face and more book". I’m trying to make those my new watchwords, but it’s hard, even for me, what with all the super-cute cat videos that are always coming up on my newsfeed! Nevertheless, if we want to always be well supplied with cheese, when the cheese gets moved, we’ll have to be ready! And in case there’s still any question, just for the record, candy crush, and Facebook on my iPhone, are not the ways to be ready.

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P.S. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; When I feel that my students and I are becoming too entitled, I show this: https://screen.yahoo.com/videos-for-you/bedrooms-children-around-world013422726.html Posted by Curtis Kleinman at 06:24AM (-07:00)

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Field Trip! Monday, October 20, 2014 I teach a 100% online Environmental Biology Class. Students often ask, “How will I participate in labs in an online class?” It might be difficult for many students or colleagues to imagine how online science labs are offered. (Quite often a more basic question is “How do you teach science online? Do you like it?” Yes….) I preface this description by stating that I was on the path to a secondary education degree and had the privilege of the position of “Science Mom” at Humboldt Elementary School when my daughters attended. In addition, I had many years of outdoor education experience and really enjoyed (and saw students benefitting from) creative approaches to learning about nature before I was hired to teach at Yavapai College. Let’s say innovation and adaptation is just “part of my DNA” (see Cross Pollination, October 5). I recently investigated eScience Labs as an option for what I pictured as robust, professional lab activities. I found, however that many of the exercises were too complex, or repeated labs I had written and was happy with, or contained vocabulary inconsistent with the textbook I like to use. I may reconsider at some point, but at this point, I am staying with my own ideas. Here is a sample of what I do—an invasive species field trip. In conjunction with our chapter on changes in ecosystem populations, my students work outside on an invasive species lab. For inspiration (I like to think it works this way), students watch a National Park Service video entitled Little Things Big Problems. Students are to take a walk in a favorite area outside. It does not need to be “natural.” A park, garden, agricultural field, edge of a corral or parking lot, or a natural area is fine. Now the student thinks about what grows in this area and if it is invasive or not. With help from links I supply from US Fish and Wildlife Service and UDSA Plants (out of area students find resources with specifics for their area), the student identifies three nonnative invasiveplant or animal species in the chosen area or nearby. Animals may be identified by “evidence” like droppings, feathers, carapaces, bones, gnawing, etc. Next the student takes photos of these species, writes the common and scientific names (properly formatted), describes their appearance (six characteristics), and identifies and describes three structures or behaviors for each species that obviously allows it to be successful. Then the student states the explanation for the arrival of this species, and describes five ways non-native invasive species can alter ecosystems. Sources must be properly cited in MLA format. The report is posted to the student’s personal blog site on the blog roll on the class site Symbiosis. Finally the student visits the class blog roll and reads some Invasive Species lab reports finding someone who described a species of interest and writes a comment to this student discussing some aspect of their post they connected with. I can easily assist students with alternatives for the field trip by providing Internet resources and research suggestions. This is one way online science labs are effective and rewarding for students. Posted by Joanne Oellers at 01:23PM (-07:00) 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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Adaptability & A Theme Park Monday, October 20, 2014 Adaptability:

• (Latin: adaptō “fit to, adjust”) is a feature of a system or of a process. Adaptability in humans is a personality trait, and refers to how long it takes a person to adjust to change over time (as opposed to an initial reaction). Adaptation is about leaving – or being forced from – your comfort zone. Adaptability is about change. Every second of every day, we are adapting to change – and we must. As Henry Louis Menken … said “Change is not Progress”. You can change and still not adapt to differences to move forward. Adaptability is always values-based, and yet values can change throughout your life. When you meet a situation for the first time that requires you to adapt in some way, your “line in the sand” is always your values. So, what does this have to do with a Theme Park? Well, in my FYE 103 class, a lot. In discussing adaptability, I didn’t want to just show a movie or PowerPoint, so I used a “Theme Park” as a way to think about our values – our adapting to others’ views – our adapting to change, which is what college is all about (especially that first year). Here’s how it was laid out: The Park: Theme Park developers from New York want to construct a theme park on a particular large tract of land in your town, which is a natural habitat for an endangered species of wolf. This tract is also adjacent to other large tracts – one owned by a sustainable timber company, which offers both jobs and recreation for the town, and the other a long-time family farm. Your town has struggled to bounce back from the recession a few years ago, and some businesses have closed or cut back. The town’s population is approximately 10,000, but is on the outside edge of a large metropolitan ‘hub’ with a variety of big-box

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stores, small business, shopping, hotels, cinemas, and the like with a population of about 55, 000. The Community Council is meeting tonight. As you can imagine, there is a lot of debate, angst, and accusations in your community. There were basically four groups attending the Community Council to make a presentation on their view: 1. Three-generation family farm who own the land and are torn between cultivating it and selling to developers. One of you has a child who wants to attend college abroad; thus, there is pressure for immediate income. One of you has an elderly parent who needs income 2. Conservationist group who wish to preserve the land for endangered species 3. A Lumber company that sustainably harvests timber from the land, and has a current agreement for this property to harvest a portion of the timber 4. Townspeople who want the tourism revenue generated by either a natural preserve or amusement park

Process Groups were given a Flip chart. They had 20 minutes to determine their position/arguments and address following questions to present to the town council: • What would your group like to happen to the land? • How does your decision affect the others in the scenario (i.e., people)? • How does this affect the environment in the short- and long-term? What are your interests and priorities? Each group presented to the town council (the class). A panel of ‘expert evaluators’ critiqued positions by asking questions of each group. Group #1 A co-op of Family Commercial Farmers who own the land and are torn between cultivating it and selling to developers. One has a child who wants to attend college out-of-state; thus, there is pressure for immediate income. One has an elderly parent who needs income. One is aging yourself and could use the money for your retirement funds. Presented information on: • Statistics on farm-to-market increased sales • Statistics of people who want fresh, organic produce – to buy and at restaurants • Farming areas that are changing in the news – stories of developers changing the landscape, but keeping local flavor Group #2 A group of local conservationists who wish to preserve the land for endangered species and recreational activities, such as bird watching, hiking, etc. This land was given to the City by a founding family who wish it preserved for all wildlife, but did not state thus in the will. This time it’s wolves but your group has won cases before on other endangered animals as well. One is the one spearheading this organization, is the former landowner’s great grandson. One is the Club President; most of you are wealthy, powerful members. One is a hired lobbyist for this group. Most other members are also members of the Sierra Club and

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other conservationist organizations. Presented information on: • Statistics on conserved land given by individuals; surrounding land of the Nature Conservancy; Sierra Club; Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation • Statistics on other conserved land developed in a good way – one that conserves land as well as developing for business • Stories of land that has been preserved and why; or land that is shared and why Group #3 A Lumber Company that wants to harvest timber from the land Your company harvests the timber sustainably, and currently have harvesting rights with the landowners on the same property as the one wishing to be developed. One is the company’s right-of-way representative, and believe the developers are encroaching on neighboring land for which harvesting rights have been in place for a 100 years. One is a landowner on whose property the Company harvests timber. One is the spouse of a nearby lumber-mill employee whose mill has seen decreasing timber in an increasing population. Information presented: • Company reputation for sustainable timber harvest; you even give away Christmas trees to the local population • Growth of population in the area; lack of available housing • Cost of construction materials; lack of building materials nearby, thus making new construction and remodeling expensive • Statistics/articles on timber companies sharing resources with landowners, developers, and conservative groups • Loss of job in the area with loss of timber jobs Group #4 – A group of townspeople who want the Theme Park and tourism revenue generated by it. One is the Mayor of the town; under pressure to lower taxes and increase tourism or business. One is a small business owner who would like to see increased business diversity and revenue One is the Chamber One is an unemployed lumber worker laid off because of dwindling timber supply Information presented: • Stats on revenue being generated by tourism development and theme parks • Articles on theme parks and types of businesses added because of it Areas like Disneyland and Disney World; 6 Flags, and the surrounding areas • Increased jobs from tourism and / or theme parks • International tourism We had “Experts” in our audience who asked questions of the 4 groups: Expert #1 A representative from the Family Farmer Co-op member who owns land in the next county, but on the opposite side of land to be developed. They have been approached by these developers as well; they are torn between keeping and cultivating your land, or 184

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selling. He/she chose to keep your farm because of the resurgence of the farm-to-table movement in recent years, and you have seen a marked increase in sales to local grocers and restaurants. They know that several farmers sell overseas, and it’s been a real boon to the co-op too. Membership has increased to include both grocers and restaurant owners in your area, and you are getting pressure from them to leave it as it is – great farmland. They also have Co-op members who have given up farming – their kids don’t want to take it over – some went to work in town to send their kids away to college; some have aging parents; some are aging themselves and could use the money. Expert #2 A local Chamber of Commerce Director who would like to see the land preserved, but who also has seen increased tourism revenue generated by either both natural preserves and amusement parks. This type of development could be a real boon to the area, but would like to see it scaled back a little, and understand the mixture of feelings from the townspeople. He/she has Chamber members and friends who own small businesses or manage some of the big box stores – and some involved with the entertainment industry who have put some pressure on you to increase traffic and revenue in the area. This person is considering running for Mayor next term, so you want to maintain good relationships with whoever ‘wins’ this debate. Expert # 3 A retired Lumber Company Executive who understands the needs of population boom in the immediate and surrounding areas and the lack of affordable housing. He/she has seen timber prices increase substantially, but they are also an avid outdoors person who understands that conservation and conservative timber harvest can and do work. This person has stayed in the area, but have seen taxes increased because of the lack of new business and jobs available, and have considered moving. This person has friends still working at the Lumber Company. He/she knows the Mayor and the Chamber Director. So, what happened? Part I: Group discussion and presentation. OK – now the fun begins. WOW! The discussions were incredible. Without being told to, they came up with various slogans: “Adapt or Die”; who needs Timber anyway? Jobs-Jobs-Jobs! Say No to Development! Remember, your house is built from our land! Save the wolves – and their friends! What kind of business do you want here? How to have fun with your kids. Progress is coming! 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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They had some groups members on the computer looking up statistics and articles on their behalf.Right away, two of the groups talked about how they could work with other groups to provide “development with a heart”, and would share the property. Anyway, Part II will explain who adapted to whom and what, and what finally occurred during the Council Meeting…stayed tuned! Posted by Chris Heyer at 03:22PM (-07:00)

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To Allow Resubmissions or Not to Allow Resubmissions—THAT is the Qu... Monday, October 20, 2014 Going to class, studying, reading--TO LEARN. Not just for a grade, but to actually acquire knowledge and/or skills. How do I, as an instructor, make that happen? I’ve been asking that question for almost 30 years of full-time college teaching. I’ve yet to come up with a fail-safe, satisfactory answer. Obviously, “giving As” to motivate intrinsic learning is not likely to work. (See last week’s blog for my experiment with that strategy.) Still, I never cease struggling with that question. If I really don’t want my students to learn, why am I doing this anyway? (Please don’t evoke the “big paycheck” or “easy job” argument—that will only instigate more inflammatory blogs.) Obviously we do (I hope) want students to learn, or we wouldn’t still be here. I have come up with a few conclusions to the dilemma of student learning (some of which are still tentative). I’ll offer up this one, for what it's worth. Q: How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?A: Only one. But the bulb has really got to WANT to change! Students are like these metaphorical light bulbs. They have to WANT to learn. But I can’t “make” learning happen. No teacher can. Learning is truly an “inside” job. I’m not sure I can even “facilitate learning” (although I REALLY like that idea!). Perhaps it’s safe to say I may be able to “facilitate learning” for those who really want to learn. I can’t change anyone, nor can I make anyone learn. So my cynical self says, “Why bother?” My idealist self responds, “Because it makes a difference to some!” One of the challenges of teaching at a Community College (or, in my experience, at any undergraduate institution) is that there is a wide array of motivations as to why students attend. There are a number of teaching [entertainment] strategies to engage students—for those who really don’t want to be here. Many of these are excellent. If students don’t have the internal, intrinsic motivation to learn, by all means let’s do what we can to “engage” them! But what I want to address here is the “learning” part. Many students “don’t get it” the first time around. We provide reading assignments, lectures, videos and feedback on assignments, but it’s still clear that the lesson we’re attempting to teach, the learning we wish would occur, is not happening. We assign a grade to that student’s attempt, and that’s the end of the issue. (“See ya next semester!”) I've come to conclude that—often—I've been guilty of quitting too early. Our “traditional” grading system assumes that if they can’t do the paper right, can’t complete the quiz or exam, can’t conduct the experiment correctly the first time, they aren't learning (or don’t want to, or can’t). [An exception to this is often writing instructors who not only permit, but require, revisions and rewrites. Why do we promote this for English and not for all the other subjects?] We've bought into a mindset that learning is a PRODUCT, not a PROCESS. And we evaluate students based on that belief. Often this frustrates the students (especially those with “mixed motives” about attending college, but also those who really want to learn). An alternative is for me to be a PART OF THAT PROCESS. What this means is not just giving students feedback, but giving those who really want to learn and improve (for

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whatever reason) the opportunity to do so. So for the past few years I've given my students the option of redoing almost ANY assignment (within a reasonable time frame—usually a week from when I return it) with no penalty. I ask them to submit the original, graded assignment with their re-submission (so I can see if the changes were merely cosmetic or substantive). I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE them to “think deeper” in their re-do. This is a totally optional activity. And I’m very clear to my students this is NOT primarily about the grade FOR ME, but about their learning. I tell them I’m much more interested in the expansion of their knowledge and skills than I am giving them a bad grade. Amazingly, not a lot of students take me up on this. That’s their choice. But the option is there, on almost every assignment. In most cases, if students are motivated, I will allow unlimited rewrites until THEY are satisfied with their work. There is a definite downside to this. More grading. UGH. I LOVE most aspects of teaching, but grading is without a doubt the worst part of my job. However, more times than not I find that grading re-submissions is quite rewarding. Like the metaphorical bulb, it’s definitely FUN to see the light go on. Posted by Mark Shelley at 04:04PM (-07:00)

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How to Start a SMART Workout Monday, October 20, 2014 Original post is here. How to Start a SMART Workout The acronym SMART is a behavioral strategy for goal setting. It stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Based, and I will also add the component of Forgiving. To show how to use the SMART behavioral strategy, I will give an example of how to create a SMART workout. Initial Non-SMART Goal “I’m going to start jogging for exercise.” SMART Specific: Your goal must be specific and clearly defined. For example, “I’m going to start jogging for exercise” is neither specific nor clearly defined. Rather for a SMART goal, you could state, “From November 3, 2104 to November 28, 2014; I will jog 20 minutes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday starting at 6pm.” Measurable: Your goal must be measurable to determine accomplishment. For example, “By the end of November 28, 2014; I’ll have jogged 20 minutes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday starting at 6pm.” Attainable: Your goal must be attainable to be achievable. For example, you should determine if the goal of jogging the chosen 3 days a week for the month of November is achievable. Maybe after thinking about it, you determine that starting your jog at 6pm is too close to the time of your family’s dinner time, and you will feel rushed. So you determine to start it at 7:30pm, after dinner. Now, your SMART goal is “From November 3, 2104 to November 28, 2014; I will jog 20 minutes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday starting at 7:30pm.” Relevant: Your goal must be relevant to you. For example, maybe the goal of jogging the chosen 3 days a week for the month of November is not something you feel like you can do right now because you know you can’t even walk the 3 flights of stairs at your job without getting exhausted. So maybe after thinking about it you modify the goal from a jog to a walk: “From November 3, 2104 to November 28, 2014; I will walk 20 minutes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday starting at 7:30pm.” Time Based: Your goal must have a time frame. For example, from November 3, 2104 to November 28, 2014 is your goal’s time frame. Forgiving: Your goal must be forgiving. In other words, your goal should be allowed for the unforeseen situations that may occur. For example, if your child is sick on Wednesday, you either walk Thursday, which is your day off from the routine, or you just continue back on your schedule on Friday. Finalized SMART Goal

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;From November 3, 2104 to November 28, 2014; I will walk 20 minutes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday starting at 7:30pm.â&#x20AC;? Posted by Charles Lohman at 04:07PM (-07:00)

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My Reading Life: Or, When I Forget that I Love Reading Monday, October 20, 2014 One of the things about teaching, is that it can occasionally turn something that I lovereading and writing- into something that becomes about procedures and rules: comma placement, topic sentences, MLA citations. This can be particularly pronounced online, when I don’t have the opportunity to talk to anyone in real time about the stories and essays that we are reading in class. Sometimes I worry that my students don’t know that I love the things that I’m teaching them. Maybe they don’t know that I think reading makes us better people, or that knowing how to write helps us become better communicators and more insightful in all areas of our lives. So, in honor of proclaiming my love for the written word, here is a post originally published on my book blog, The Scarlet Letter, and which is inspired by the “Our Reading Lives” series at Book Riot:

My Reading Life: The Mirror in the Book In an essay called “Good Readers and Good Writers,” Vladimir Nabokov, somewhat pompously, claims that “the worst thing a reader can do” is “identify himself with a character in [a] book. This is not the kind of imagination that I would like readers to use.” While I love Nabokov, and even the rest of this particular essay, I can’t imagine that I would have become the reader that I am today without identifying with so many characters in so many books. In fact, these characters are such a part of me, that I find myself in a bit of a chicken/egg situation. Which came first: who I was, or the characters that I became? First it was Harriet the Spy and Matilda, quiet, bookish types like me that ended up going on great adventures or having magnificent abilities. How many young introverts carried notebooks and collected observations, attempting to solve mysteries just like Harriet? And for how many of us were those the sparks of our future careers as writers and readers- professional collectors of details and solvers of problems? Then there were the Boxcar children, that rag tag group of self-sufficient orphans who inspired me on many a night to pack a couple of shirts in a handkerchief tied to a walking stick, and to “run away” to the woods behind my house for several hours. And I’ll never forget the way that I saw every closet differently after reading The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe, or the way that I saw the whole world differently after my first forays into science fiction with Madeline L’Engle. But those adventurous new worlds couldn’t replace the pleasure of recognition that I found amongst the girls in the Babysitter’s Clubperhaps my longest love affair- who each had a different characteristic that I wanted for my own: Kristy’s spunk, Claudia’s artistic skills and Stacey’s fashion sense. But mostly there was Mary Anne, who was so much like me, I felt like I was looking at myself, finally, in the mirror on the pages of those stories that I loved. Then in my teenage years I looked to the manic pixie dream girls in Francesca Lia Block’s early YA novels to see the self that I had become. I was the girl that didn’t quite fit in on purpose; I was a little chubby, wore blue lipstick, cut my hair short and dyed it with Manic Panic. But in those books, I saw people like me, who also wouldn’t have fit in walking the hallways of my small town high school.

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There are so many other specific moments growing up and into adulthood when I found myself in books, and when identifying with characters made me feel less alone. There are even books, like the Great Gatsby, that only get better and better as I understand more fully what their characters are experiencing –the ennui of the time that stretches between youth and adulthood –and I see my emotions, if not my life, in Nick Carraway’s. When I went to graduate school, I started to see the writer that I wanted to be in the theorists and novelists that I was reading. But I never would have gotten there if I hadn’t started by wanting to become, or by already being, those bookish types in the books from my childhood. As a teacher, I see students who don’t know yet exactly where they are going or who they want to be, and I am grateful that I always had books to show me the way, to show me who I was and who I wanted to become. My greatest wish is that some of my students will see themselves in the books that I assign, so that reading might become meaningful, and might open up other worlds and possibilities. So, to come back to where I began, with Vladimir Nabokov, maybe it is a bad reader who reads only for the pleasures of identification, but perhaps the good reader starts from there, and then she builds her own future. Posted by Laura Cline at 08:46PM (-07:00)

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Top Ten Reasons for Going to Conferences Tuesday, October 21, 2014 This blog is a little late, but thanks to Todd's coupon, I still was eligible for the lovely house plant. I send thanks to the horticulture students here at Yavapai College! So here is my excuse . . . no, the dog didn't eat my blog. I went to a conference, and I have been playing catch up ever since, but when I post this blog, I think I will have done so . . . caught up, that is. So why would an English teacher go to TYCA-West in Mesa, Arizona, right in the middle of October when so much work needs to be done on campus? Well, here are the top ten reasons for attending professional conferences that I could come up with after attending this one. 1) Promoting growth in our profession is a must, and what better way to gather than at a conference where we can bring our best ideas and present them to others, gather feedback, and polish them. 2) It is essential to protect the integrity of our profession from state and federal lawmakers who want to regulate and make laws to serve taxpayers and voters. Often these lawmakers do so without understanding the potential impact or the implications of these regulations and laws, and it is our responsibility to stand in the gap for our students. 3) Keeping abreast of new research and development in our profession is another great benefit we receive from keynote speakers and other sessions. Also, at conferences, we gain insight into professional journals and articles that will help us keep up with the latest. 4) Networking with fellow faculty helps us to sharpen one another. 5) Sharing tips on how to engage students in the classroom is another benefit. Breakout sessions and meal time give us opportunity to do so. 6) Discovering new ways to teach curriculum is always a blessing. No one faculty member, nor no single college has ALL of the good ideas. 7) Meeting lifetime friends with fellow faculty members who have similar interests is so likely. 8) Textbook publishers bring textbooks, catalogs, software demonstrations, and offer suggestions to help bridge areas missing in curriculum. 9) Other vendors bring free book samples, guides, pens, and more. 10) The conference itself usually gives you a cool bag to carry all of your handouts, flyers, and the guide to sessions. Okay, besides all of these reasons for attending conferences, one must agree that a change of place, good food, a nice room, and a little out of town shopping is good for the soul. So I mentioned keynote speakers can be a bonus. At this particular conference, the speaker took me back to college days. He got up and read a report on Paulo Freire, banking vs. praxis, and a lot of other professional jargon not spoken in the community college classroom, but indeed practiced on a regular basis. So, he reminded us, is the teacher a sage on the stage? Or a guide on the side? According to Strauss, we should always assume there is one silent student in the classroom who is smarter than we are. For me personally, believing this student is there 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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helps me to keep myself sharp and prepared for class. Believing this student is there helps me to call upon students in the classroom with expectation that they will have something essential to share, and often they do, and then we learn from more than Mrs. Luffman. We learn from the best ideas we have in common as a classroom, and that is what education is all about. Maybe I am overstating slightly, but not by much. Then the keynote speaker encouraged us to check out They Say, I Say, a book that presents templates to help students write various types of prose for different purposes. Students gain help discovering how to write cognitive or narrative, investigative or reflective. And then students insert self into these templates to create meaning inside correct format. Okay, so that last part is all my own interpretation of what was being said on stage. By the way, did I mention that at this conference the sage on the stage was actually reading his paper. Yikes, I would never do that in the classroom, but apparently this gentleman felt the precision of his prose was worth the risk of losing the audience. Apparently he didn't lose me since I did take voracious notes just in case I could write something about it in my blog. Anyway, if anyone out there actually reads this blog, please consider going to a professional conference, participating, even presenting. It goes a long way in developing who we are and preserving our profession for posterity. Sincerely submitted. Tina Luffman Posted by Tina Luffman at 08:52PM (-07:00)

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The Lead Wednesday, October 22, 2014 The conversations were generally cordial and engaging. I was traveling around the county meeting each of the public school superintendents – just an introductory meeting so that as a newcomer to the community I might learn how the school districts viewed Yavapai College and what we might do going forward for work for the common goal of educating the people of our county. Most of the ideas were fairly generic – largely focused on our dual enrollment program. To be sure, there are few partnerships between the college and the high schools so significant as dual enrollment. The conversation on that topic centered on staying the course. There was general satisfaction with our arrangement. When I arrived in Seligman, however, the school district’s leaders wanted to talk about something else. Seligman has a population of 572 – that’s smaller than the neighboring town of Ash Fork, although since the population of the larger community is 573, a single person moving from Ash Fork to Seligman would, in fact, change that. Each of these towns have what can only be described as tiny graduating classes. I learned that Seligman had graduated ten students a few days before my visit. Kristen Rex and Diane Pritchett met with me together. Dr. Rex was in her final days with the district, leaving for a leadership role in the county’s Accommodations School District in Prescott. Her successor, Ms. Pritchett, was promoted from within the district and so had the advantage of working alongside the outgoing superintendent for some time. They were clear about what Yavapai College could do for their students. “We want them on your campus, literally ten days after graduation,” Dr. Rex told me. The story was not unique to Seligman – it was confirmed by many Superintendents around the county – perhaps more often in the rural districts than the more populace ones. Students arrive at graduation with plans to go to college in the fall, but when fall arrives, life has intervened and after their educational inertia winds down, well, objects at rest stay at rest. So now we seek to keep these students in motion. I developed a concept for a summer bridge program that would start June 1 – literally ten days after the last graduation ceremonies in the county and lead them from high school to college without distraction. The Lead, as I’ve named the program, seeks to remove the barriers and create the environment that leads to a successful start in college. The students we will bring to the program have no close family members with college experience. These will be students who probably lack the network of friends who expect them to go to college. These are people who may be under the impression that college isn’t for them or that it is too expensive – we’ve all heard how expensive college is. Our goal is to disrupt those barriers — to act while the influence of advocates at the high school still resonates with the students. We seek to move these students into college before they encounter the distractions that so often reduce their resolve. The Yavapai College Foundation is all-in. They stand ready to find the funds to make this possible. With the Lead, I hope to give these students the lever, the fulcrum and a place 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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to stand â&#x20AC;Ś and they will move the world. http://www.city-data.com/county/Yavapai_County-AZ.html

Posted by Stuart Blacklaw at 03:03PM (07:00)

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Portfolio Creation Wednesday, October 22, 2014 I started teaching an Employment Strategies class in 2001. Our technically trained students were well equipped to do the job they were trained for in their programs, but they were falling short when it came to promote themselves to employers and thus get hired. The division chair for technical programs and I put together a class to give them the tools and the confidence in selling themselves to employers. One of the tools was having the students complete a portfolio as a final project. The portfolio has been used in art and graphic design classes to “show” the skills of an individual. We used it to “show” the skills of our technical students. The portfolio consists of three major areas; employment information, employment artifacts, and educational artifacts. These usually cover all of the information an individual would need to make their case to the employer. The employment information section has some of the traditional documents; resume cover letter, references, and thank you letter, application information, learning styles, left/right brain assessment, and questions to ask an employer. In addition they also include in this area their; • Kuder assessments for interest, skills, and values • Myers-Briggs preferences results • National Career Readiness Certificate (ACT WorkKeys – Applied Math, Reading for Information, and Locating Information) and scores • Skills USA Employability Skills assessment (industry specific) scores The employer artifacts section consists of any recommendation letters from previous employers, awards and company certificates, and volunteer recognitions. The educational artifacts section consists of their program of study, curriculum outline, examples of work, cumulative GPA, any educational institution awards or recognitions and their degree. Once the students have acquired all of the copies of their data and credentials for the portfolio, they package it in a folder or binder. I recommend that they take the portfolio with them on interviews to use as a show and tell. As they talk about their KSA’s (knowledge, skills, and abilities) of their career filed, they can also show the employer, in a very visual way, some of their work. I had a female student that had been in the remodeling business and was changing careers. She had a before and after picture of a kitchen that had caught on fire (the before) and a picture of the kitchen after the remodel. Just by showing her future employer those two pictures side-by-side, she was able to talk about her skills in the areas of construction, quality, customer service, design, attention to detail, etc. The portfolio also helps fill any gaps since you can cover the major learning styles – audio, visual, and kinetic. Having the portfolio with her during the interview gave her the reference talking points she needed to cover in the interview and secure her new position. I have had students use this portfolio project to help them focus their summary of qualifications and help them develop their supporting material in their career quest. The use of the portfolio in classes other than technical has also been of value. Students have developed their portfolio of their work in communication, leadership, customer service, and career & personal development classes. Once the stress of compiling the initial material for the portfolio is complete, maintaining and updating the contents becomes second nature. It can serve as documentation for promotions or help in making a move outside of an organization. It also serves as a reflection of one’s accomplishments in their career field. Posted by James Voska at 03:49PM (-07:00)

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New Developmental Education White Paper Coming Soon Wednesday, October 22, 2014 The TYCA (Two-Year College English Association) conference brought to my attention a new Developmental Education white paper that is coming out soon. I will devote this blog to information about that document. Be watching for it in the TETYC or other NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) journals. The first topic broached in this session was that the national completion agenda "rests on good intentions but flawed assumptions." Reform is imposed, under resourced, and hasty. Such institutional and disciplinary divisions often lead to disarray and difficulty. A Case Study: Florida SB1720 is one such hastily drawn piece of legislation set into effect in 2013. This law imposes the following, according to the white paper:

• exempts recent high school graduates and others from being required to take developmental education courses and from mandatory placement testing • forbids standard semester format for developmental courses • impacts curriculum, advising, workload, departmental structures, college-level instruction. Colleges were forced to hire more advisers and left no funding to hire more faculty. Other Program Responses to Legislative Interventions • Some California admissions departments have turned developmental students away. • Placement has been impacted. • Program design has been impacted: • mainstreaming with accelerated learning • module courses developed • studio courses developed • stretch courses developed • compression of programs Recommendations for Institutional Administration and Educators 1. Include developmental instructors in designing reform. 2. Initiate improvement to developmental education programs and course through research-based pilots. 3. Prioritize evidence from local assessments and research on student success. (What works in Kansas may not work in Arizona.) 4. Assess students' needs for developmental education and readiness for creditbearing courses based on multiple pieces of evidence including student writing. 5. Eliminate multiple-choice exit tests. 6. Fund and develop strong developmental education departments. 7. Support professional development for developmental educators. 8. More ideas were offered, but I didn't capture them all. Please eagerly await the real completed report for full and accurate information.

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Anyone interested in the NCTE's Policy Analysis Initiative can follow this Web site for further information. Also, the CCCC (Conference on College Composition and Communication) has a statement on preparing teachers of college writing. They ask, "How do we teach full-time and adjunct faculty how to teach for our institution?" The CCCC recommend that colleges offer training to show all English faculty how our institution approaches writing. As a college, English teachers here can read the list and see areas of strength and places for continued growth opportunity at Yavapai College. Personally, I feel we are doing better than many colleges, and am grateful for thse potential of hiring a Developmental Education administrator in the near future. Colleges need to ask, "What issues are most pressing here?" One state represented at the conference, Texas, said they have Reverse Transfer Agreements in their state (RMAs). When I asked for clarification on what an RMA is, I was told that their college tracks down students who transfer to another institution before they graduate from the university. The college gives credit for classes taken at the university toward completing a community college degree. They transfer back, and in so doing, students earn associates degrees, and the community college gets credit for completion. Do we have a system like this in Arizona? If not, perhaps this is an idea that Arizona colleges can seek to get instituted into our system. Posted by Tina Luffman at 07:41PM (-07:00)

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Week Whatever Thursday, October 23, 2014 Yes. Thought it would never happen “BUT” I have BURNOUT! It stems from too many pots in the fire. It sucks really. I enjoy everything I do. It’s just that too many things have been placed upon my plate. Yes. I keep a calendar and follow pretty closely with what can be done and when. It just sometimes does not work out as it should. I think I just need another vacation to rest from the last vacation and then I’ll be on top of everything. As many of you know, or maybe not, I am in the process of building two online classes for the Spring Semester. I actually LOVE doing this. The process of Story-boarding, Writing Syllabus, Calendars and Lectures stimulates my poor, feeble brain. It’s almost like a high for me. Am I a Geek or What?! For the Storyboard aspect of design, I have chosen to pay a small monthly fee and utilize the great SpiderScribe (http://www.spiderscribe.net/). I really like how you can add to this with click and drag style. This can also be used to share with students and create group projects. I know some of your eyes glaze over at the mention of technology and have some have even expressed this to me vehemently. I am told you do not need or would not use technology and you are tired of hearing about it. I think the words were, “Another post on technology. I can do without that. Give me something real to read”. If you are one of these persons, stop reading my posts now. My hopes are to continually add technology “stuff” in shape or form, somehow, some way, and for some use. So let’s go back to the SpiderScribe (http://www.spiderscribe.net/). Even the name sounds cool. This site could be used to add text, files, images, maps, and calendars. It really has some great qualities. For myself, as I have stated, I pay a small $5.00 a month fee to create maps on courses I work with. These keep me on target and I can show anyone at any time where I am in the process. This can be done by sharing or saving an image as I have here.

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So now I have been distracted for a brief moment on my BURNOUT. This is probably best as I reflect on this feeling. Maybe I not really at that point. Maybe I just needed to write a little. For this feeling of calmness I am grateful. I thank you all for listening. Posted by Ruth Alsobrook at 04:15PM (-07:00)

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What Does “A Culture of Learning” Look Like? Friday, October 24, 2014 I want you to describe for me the elements that are active in a college where there is a clear “culture of learning” among faculty. Ok, go ahead.

(time passes and you think about the question above and even have some answers) What are the expectations of the faculty about their role in learning about teaching and learning? How would faculty respond to, “Tell me what you do to improve your skills as an educator?” I imagine many would say I attend workshops. I imagine many would say I talk to my colleagues. I imagine some would say I attend conferences about teaching. I imagine a few might say I read books about teaching and learning. How does the institution support the professional growth of the faculty? Well, we have workshops, day long workshops, we bring in some guest speakers. We have monies available to send faculty to conferences. We have yearly evaluations that include professional growth activities. How to deans support the faculty when it comes to developing a group of faculty who are literate in current educational practices and skills. Do they share books about the profession with them? Do they recommend conferences to attend? Do they send them off to confer with colleagues at other institutions to share best practices with? Do they sit in front of each faculty member and ask, “What can I do to help you?” Finally, what is the role of each faculty member in this culture of learning? How do they share the valuable things they discover as educators? What venues are available to them to share the ideas and what opportunities might they create to share them? Are they visibly supported to be innovative and experimental in their approach to the work they do? What can we do for ourselves as professionals in the field of learning? • Attend a conference that is about teaching, not a particular subject. • Read a book about teaching and learning. • Watch a movie about teaching and learning. • Have a conversation longer than a few minutes about specific practices in the classroom or online. • Take a faculty member you admire out to lunch and ask them 100 questions about how and why they do what they do. • Call a faculty member from another college in the state and ask them about how they teach and what works for them. • And most importantly, share what you read or discovered with your colleagues. • Go visit a local college and just see who is there and what they think about teaching and learning. There are lots of faculty sitting in offices. Some busy, some not so. • Take an entire class period to ask students what they need and want when it comes to learning stuff. And make sure to ask them how they know those things are actually true. • Pick a portion of a book or a favorite quote about teaching and put it on your office wall. Make sure everyone who comes into your office reads it and shares their thoughts about it with you. No matter what. Here is mine. Now, I ask you if your classes have all these same elements? They 202

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should because they also should be surrounded by a culture of learning. Posted by Todd Conaway at 10:37AM (-07:00)

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Pushing a big, giant boulder up hill! Friday, October 24, 2014

Two issues have collided as of late! At first glance, they may seem unrelated, but the more these events percolated in my thoughts, the more the connection became clear. First, I had one of those ‘accidental’ teaching moments that became a very powerful moment. A few weeks back, I was holding a ‘quiz review’ session for a class. I had previously given out a study guide for the students to complete to help them prepare. (Yes, they did ask if I would simply provide them with a guide, with answers and concepts included…NOT!!!!…but that’s a different topic) A few days later, we met for a quiz review session. Being ‘early childhood me’, I had chosen to utilize a game setting for the review. Digging back into my elementary teaching days, I pulled out the old ‘baseball game’. I had prepared questions that were worth a single, double or triple. Students divided up in teams, scorekeepers were chosen to sit at the white board. Then, me, the umpire, set the rules….After going over the time allowed to answer and make clear that” the other team can’t steal,” I said that there was really only one other rule. “While we play, you can sit anywhere in the room, except in a chair”. This ‘rule’ was met with enthusiasm for sure. The students rearranged themselves, and we were off and playing. After several minutes of playing (aka reviewing), students realized that they hadn’t scored too many points. The ‘triple question’ was harder to achieve than they thought. It was then, after an especially tough question was asked, I saw a student trying to ‘sneak’ some notes or words from their study guide to the ‘up to bat’ student…..and then things got hilarious! With a collective guilty look, I saw my students look over at me. Then someone sheepishly asked, “Wait-can we look at our notes?”, I responded by simply saying, “We have one rule: While we play, you can sit anywhere in the room except in a chair”. Bedlam followed, the notes came out, the study guides (some complete and some not) came out. From that point on, the game took on new life. Actually reviewing the material became the focus. Students helped each other, clarifications and new explanations were asked for and shared. The results of the quiz were decent, but that wasn’t my ah-ha. It was the process that had me thinking. We talk a lot about critical thinking skills. This unexpected critical thinking lesson reminded me of how often we like to think that we’ve taught them how to do it….however,

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it’s the application that is so often missing! The unrelated event had to do with a conversation I had with some colleagues in the field of early childhood. These goodhearted, hard-working folks oversee several early childhood programs that serve children daily. They are committed to increasing the quality of their programs. They support their teachers in the pursuit of certificates and degrees in ECE through scholarships and are receiving ‘coaching’ from a separate agency to improve daily practice to prepare for a quality assessment. What troubled me was hearing that a blanket statement had been made in regards to ‘not being allowed’ to use Berenstein Bears or Dr. Seuss books in their preschools. Now, I am not arguing that there aren’t thousands of quality and appropriate children’s books to use with children. I’m not even defending Dr. Seuss! (Some of his books are LONG and beyond a whole group of 16 -3 year olds to sit through during a circle time). But…..there are wonderful pages full of rhymes, nonsense, creativity and biblio-theraputic possibilities with the Berenstein Bears. What bothered me the most was that those teachers and caregivers were just ‘told’. These professionals were not valued enough to talk about how to be discriminating when choosing children’s books. They weren’t exposed to a criteria for selecting appropriate children’s books for THEIR children, children they work with each and every day. No, they were simply told a rule. No questioning assumptions, no problem-solving….. no opportunity to draw their own conclusions. What scares me the most? If there is an expectation for educators to promote critical thinking in even our youngest children, then why can’t we model that with those that are working with them? Yes, I have a plan to bring this up to those that can help resolve, or at least reflect on it. Another reminder of our need to constantly collaborate. Let me tell you, I love my job…but sometimes I feel like I’m pushing a big, giant boulder up hill! Posted by Leanne Lawhead at 01:09PM (07:00)

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I wish I’d known then what I know now! Friday, October 24, 2014 First, information for you: I talked to a friend who is a psychologist, and she says that the name of the disorder that I described in my 10/14/14 post is borderline personality disorder. There are no meds for this disorder, but with cognitive behavior therapy, people can have better relationships. This brings me to my next post: graduate programs need to include information not only about content areas, but about teaching strategies and psychology (or social work) as well. As with any job, there’s a lot of on-the-job learning that comes with being a community college instructor. Sure, I’d spent a lot of time in classrooms, observing instructors, getting to know what I liked and disliked, but I never took courses that taught me how to prepare a balanced, semester-long course. I never took a course that brought up issues like classroom civility. And I don’t think it’s just me: when I presented on the topic of classroom civility at a Winter Institute, I had a full house of instructors who were grappling with the same issue. I feel pretty embarrassed about the classes I taught during my first few years. There was so much trial and error, and I’m afraid students got shortchanged as I learned to do my job.. Reading articles from journals like The Teaching Professor is helpful. Talking with colleagues and sharing solutions is helpful. But I think a class about 21st century classroom realities and fundamentals should be required for most graduate programs. I’d like to teach that class. I’d like to talk about Planning a semester and planning one class. Dealing with student issues: motivation, discipline, crises. Avoiding burnout Even with this class, there would still be plenty of on-the-job learning: times change, and this profession changes. But a solid foundation would be a great help for both instructors and students. (As an aside, I think that our new faculty orientation covers this material, and I think that it’s a good thing. I wish that our adjunct received the same information.) I guess that’s all for now. Have a great week. Posted by Mary Verbout at 04:22PM (07:00)

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When Did You First Want to Become a Teacher? Friday, October 24, 2014 Earlier in the week, I asked my First Year Experience students, “When did you first want to become a _________ (their career choice)?” The responses proved wonderfully diverse. One student said “since I was like two or four,” and another called out an answer akin to “since last week.” The other answers fell somewhere in between. When did you first want to become a teacher? The answer to this question matters. I’m not sure that someone who has possessed this dream since childhood is necessarily a better teacher than someone who didn’t decide until, say, graduate school. But the depth of the roots of self-identification do seem do appear to be significant. Deep roots uphold tall trees. Some of you may have come to education later in your life, and that, of course, is perfectly acceptable. It just may have taken you a while to realize where you wanted to be in the world. It really is more a matter of intensity than time. I’ve wanted to be a teacher since 4th grade, so that would have been about age nine. I didn’t share this dream with any of my peers at the time. Oh, no. Teachers were the enemy. It was way too uncool to want to be a teacher to tell anybody about it. I kept quiet, until, at least, high school. 4th grade really did change my life and set me on the path on which I still walk. And Mrs. Lynda Juencke (pronounced Yankee) was my first guide. She made learning fun. She made learning important. She made learning a source of personal pride. She taught me my multiplication tables, the wonders of geography (including how to memorize the capital of Iceland), and all of the presidents in order (up through Jimmy Carter, the prez at the time). This love of learning has never left me, and today, my successful days as an instructor are counted by those in which I manage to pass on this love to my students. My personal (and, by extension, professional) Pedagogical Hall of Fame has many entries. Three more are worth mentioning here. Professor Alan Bernstein taught me how to think like a scholar, and, even more importantly, he was the one who finally convinced me that I was smart. This was no small undertaking, and I now strive to do the same with my students, for a strong sense of intelligence leads to a powerful self-efficacy. Professor Donald Worster showed me that one can be a teacher and still change the world. Education is a powerful weapon in the fight against the many injustices of this world. And, lastly, the character Robin Williams plays in Dead Poet’s Society inspired me to inspire others. Every once in a while, a teacher can brighten our souls. And every time I see this movie, or even a clip from it, I remember why I do what I do. When did you first want to become a teacher? How deep are your roots? I know some of you are mighty oaks in the forest of education. Who planted your acorn, and who nourished your growth? Posted by Mark Frederick at 05:38PM (-07:00)

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Dual Enrollment or AP English? Sunday, October 26, 2014 I have been pondering the impact of dual enrollment for years and have heard all of the arguments for and against. I know the dividing line. It seems that those who express concern or suggest alternatives are not heard over the roar of the dual enrollment train as it speeds ahead at breakneck speed. Many see it as the only train on the only track available for linking lower and higher educational systems. The Department of Education declared in its report "Other attempts to help students enter and succeed in college are based on a body of research demonstrating that postsecondary success is predicated on both rigorous academic preparation and a clear understanding of the expectations in college (cf. Venezia, Kirst, and Antonio, 2003). This approach suggests that high schools and colleges should work together, and that blurring the distinction between the two education sectors may help students to be more successful. As such, policymakers should seek to promote programs and policies that help link secondary and postsecondary education. Dual enrollment is one type of program that does just this, and which appears to have grown rapidly at the program level." ("State Dual Enrollment Policies: Addressing Access and Quality," 2004) (italics added for emphasis) Here at Yavapai College, it is full speed ahead with our dual enrollment classes, with more and more disciplines being asked, or forced, to get on board. Our website says that dual enrollment allows "college ready students to participate in accelerated college level coursework." But is that true? Are our offerings on high school campuses truly "accelerated"? Our website says we offer the "same challenging college curriculum." What I see in ENG 101 and ENG 102 offerings is more of what the Department of Education calls "blurring the distinction between the two education sectors," rather than promoting "a clear understanding of the expectations of college." I am not opposed to allowing high school students to attempt college credit courses, but is that what we are offering? I did some basic math. The students on our college campus receive 37.5 hours of seat time in ENG 101 classes to achieve our learning outcomes. Students on the high school campuses are receiving more like 72 hours of seat time (18 weeks x 4 hours/week, plus or minus), nearly double the amount of time to achieve the same outcomes. Yes, these high school students assess at the same level as on-campus students. Of course they do! They have twice the amount of time to learn what they need to learn. Would those students be as successful in 15 weeks on our campus? I wonder. Would our on-campus students be more successful with twice the amount of class time? Surely they would. Are we are giving these high school students "college experience" in the true sense of the word? No. We need to be honest about what we are doing: we are giving them an AP writing course that receives college credit. Even the atmosphere speaks to a high school class. The students are sitting in high school rooms, with high school instructors, taking ENG 101 during regular high school hours. And ENG 101 is linked to senior English. If the students don't pass ENG 101, they have lost high school credit as well. How much pressure does this put on those high school English instructors? Are they able to maintain the rigor, or do they find themselves trying to help students pass at all cost in order to meet graduation requirements?

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How many high school seniors are actually ready for college? According to my estimates based upon the numbers of seniors in our high schools and the number of ENG 101 sections we are offering (18 throughout the county), about 1/4 of our high school seniors are ready to take college-level writing classes. That is 25% of all the students who have completed their junior year. Perhaps, if so many are ready for college courses, we should let them graduate after their junior year and come on over to Yavapai. This would be the "accelerated" approach we promise on our website. As the Department of Education says, "Dual enrollment, particularly when it is located at the high school, is often criticized for not offering students a true postsecondary experience. Policymakers must find ways to address this criticism and ensure that dual enrollment courses are more than watered-down college courses. Although some states seek to do this by regulating course offerings, requiring dual enrollment teachers to undergo professional development or by requiring that high school students attend class with matriculated college students, such regulations are not common. Ensuring the quality of studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; dual enrollment experiences is important not only for the students themselves, but because it serves to maintain the integrity of postsecondary education throughout the state system. Dilution of quality may reflect poorly on postsecondary credit generally." (italics added for emphasis) This is our dilemma here at Yavapai College. If the high school students have twice the time to achieve the same outcomes, is that not "watered down"? Is that truly as rigorous as a regular college class? We seem to be promoting the old "Yavapai High" reputation in these classes. One of the past arguments for promoting dual enrollment was that our college needed to offer this valuable service to our taxpayers. I never sensed an angry mob outside our doors demanding dual enrollment, but somehow the state legislature decided that the outcry was so strong it mandated it. Even so, every college gets to decide what will be offered and how, and yet, the college faculty concerns go unheard or ignored. For example, we in the English department have argued for having the high school students who take ENG 101 on their own campus come to our campuses to take ENG 102 to ensure a real college experience. This has been met with resistance year after year as being inconvenient for the students. What is a little inconvenience in comparison with maintaining the "integrity of postsecondary education"? This argument borders on a entitlement mentality. They want it their way, so we have to accommodate, even at the risk of our own reputation. And we have lost a valuable opportunity to "link secondary and postsecondary education" in a way that students get accustomed to the "rigors" of higher education. We were also told in the beginning that dual enrollment would encourage more students to continue their education at Yavapai College. The Verde Independent reporter Yvonne Gonzalez reported, "The college donates more than $100,000 yearly in foregone tuition to dual enrollment high school students,...Dual enrollment on both the east and west sides of the county have increased by 40 and 27 percent respectively, according to Hughes' numbers." (7/1/2014) This must be a huge benefit to our taxpayers but at what cost to us and to our reputation? Will these students continue their education at Yavapai College? The article went on to say, "Hughes said these kids are 'a little more likely,' by about a handful of percentage points, to attend Yavapai College as students....'There are probably greater numbers from those schools too that are going on and choosing other institutions.'" Basically, we are offering tuition-free courses to students who are already planning to go to college and who will most likely choose a four-year institution. Isn't this like giving tax advantages to the rich? We have not furthered the cause of higher 210

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education; we have not encouraged the underprivileged to experience college. Instead, we have subsidized students who are already planning to go to college. And if this is truly a service to our taxpayers, then shouldn't we be offering free tuition to all local high school graduates who pass the Compass test? That would be true equality of access. While we focus all these resources on high school students who are already planning to go to college, who is focusing on the lower 25% of Arizona high school students, the ones who drop out? Yes, we are offering the top 25% of the senior class free tuition while the lower 25% are shuffled out the back door. Wouldn't our resources go a lot further in helping these students to obtain a better education leading to better careers? That was the original vision for community colleges.

Posted by Nancy Schafer at 10:57AM (-07:00)

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What If Sunday, October 26, 2014 You’re into an explanation or demonstration. I mean deep. Students appear interested a dialog has developed, you are mixing with the group. There is interaction. Then you see it, a student unabashedly swiping and typing on a tablet. You assume all should be transfixed on what you think is the most important part of the moment: the discussion. “Please not here,” you say or more strongly “Put that away.” Then the reply, “I was just looking up the definition of a word.” Wow, isn’t that what we want students to do, find answers, be proactive, enhance their learning experience, use resources?

Doodles by Samantha Wilson of Southborough, Mass. Samantha Wilson Since the day that happened to me, I wanted to develop something more democratic. But what is it? Asking students what they want? Hmmm…I am not sure that is the answer. I think many students are what could be called “old fashioned” meaning they do not understand or want to understand and use electronics in an educational setting. The experience of the serious learners can and is certainly enhanced with resources literally at their fingertips. These questions arise in my mind and are followed by my opinion concerning them. 1. Is the use of electronic devices by some students detrimentally distracting to other students? 2. Does the use of electronic devices in class enhance the learning of students and influence high achievement? 3. Does the use of electronic devices divert students from focusing on class activities and influence low achievement? 4. Is manipulation of devices in class (in some cases) the same as doodling? Is doodling beneficial to learning? 5. Should I attempt to control this? First, yes, the use of electronic devices by some students can be distracting to other students. Tapping pencils, fidgeting in chairs, noises outside the classroom, and funny smells in lab, in my experience, can have the same effect.

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Second, certainly access to internet is amazingly beneficial. I use it all the time spontaneously and as a result, model this to my students. I really do see this as particular “regulars” enhance our discussion with details on a topic. I consider the willingness for on the spot research a component of success. Third, students who use technology in class for “outside” material (games, social media, etc.) can be and are diverted from focusing on course content. I can see what I consider correlations with low lab and exam scores. Forth, I think device usage can be compared (in some cases) to doodling. I think it is an outlet that can keep students focused rather like listening to music or doing homework in a public place can be to some. You can see a discussion on the benefits of doodling (focus, memory) in the Wall Street Journal. Fifth, I really dislike policing the use of electronic devices. It goes against my philosophy of encouraging critical thinking and independence in my students. My wish it that the natural consequence of misusing the privilege could be instantaneously apparent, for instance if I could administer an on-the-spot quiz over what we were just discussing. Worth it? What if this was just not an issue? If the “war” stopped, would instructors fear losing control of the class because something inside says, “This cannot be allowed. It is bad.” Or could we all just relax…. My strategy for now? Let ‘em out, give ‘em plenty reason to use, and keep ‘em busy. Posted by Joanne Oellers at 12:01PM (-07:00)

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HOW DO WE DO OUR ONLINE PROFESSORING WORK? (PART 1) Sunday, October 26, 2014

This first perspective is for part-time online educating, perhaps for more than one institution at a time. There are a number of individual reasons why a professor may be in this life situation. I am in one such as an Army retiree, a bit disabled, and living at home, happily enough, as a rule with no structured employment as yet. This is about to change, as I received good news that one university has decided to hire me full-time, and the paperwork is enroute. From my discussion with the Dean, this means lots of computer time to mentor and grade, to the tune of 600 students a year, to earn that salary so it is worthwhile to the school. A description of that experience will have to wait until I live it, though I have been severely backed up on tests or papers to grade before. To focus, then – how do we do part-time professoring work? A previous blog described investing some time to design your course and make it a good experience for the enrolled students – certainly no one strives for purposely dry and dull. So let us say that is done, as is also attending your local college’s gatherings and department meetings. I recommend investing this time as well, to stay connected with the others in the faculty and staff, even if you are not full-time as they are. In our local Yavapai College, we have adjunct professor gatherings as well, often with cafe coupons for a meal, or a catered meal in the meeting classroom. I considered how they do this, and realized I was happy whether paid or fed, and if the College offers either in a mix over time, it is still good enough for me. Of course, the remark I made about visiting the campus is feasible especially if the campus is local to you – but if you can travel to it, even once in a great while, I believe the effort to be worthwhile. If you follow this practice, then, some of the Mondays-through-Fridays of your week will be blocked off to “come in” to the institution. If you volunteer or have other activities (or work), there may be a number of other periods “blocked off” in your week. In between these travel/attend times, we have our online classrooms to open and work on! So, some time budgeting is obviously required. I take the approach that some items – hard-to-get health appointments, much-anticipated repair block times for plumbing and heating/cooling – are priorities and not to be missed or changed, and other things have to be performed around them. Even so, I also have a mental category of “things I am paid to do” and I put a primary importance on doing these with quality. So, I open class sites frequently and work to keep current. As a consequence, some activities – house repair or cleaning, writing – wait and may get 214

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pushed to the next day – maybe several times. I do note I am writing this on a Sunday, as I have on the last day of submission for at least three weeks. For this blog, we have established that a conscientious professor who wants to do well in online classes for the ethics of their own sake, and to build a professional reputation of reliability and industry, will need to find time here and there throughout the day to open his/her courses and post, adjust, communicate, and grade-grade-grade, all to keep pace with the courses’ progress. These courses do seem to end suddenly! And it doesn’t help if students are allowed to, and do, submit the entire course requirements right at the end. But this topic, and the description of the details on how to do all this, are in the next blog! Posted by David Alegre at 01:42PM (07:00)

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The Road Most Traveled: Kleinman/Shelley Prescott Valley to Phoenix... Sunday, October 26, 2014 18 Miles Out of PV, Curtis broke a spoke For the third year in a row, Professor Kleinman and I execute our own "Fall Classic." Two years ago we rode from Prescott to Phoenix via Wickenburg (113 miles). Last year we inaugurated the "Tour de YC," cycling to all of YC's campuses: Chino Valley to CTEC to Prescott to Prescott Valley to Verde Valley to Sedona in one day (85 miles, over Mingus M o u n t a i n ) . ( S e e http://theachingthoughts.blogspot.com/2013 /10/the-tour-de-yc-over-mountain-and.html.) This year, Curtis suggested we ride from his home in Prescott Valley to Phoenix to tour the new Mormon Temple on Happy Valley Road. I was honored that he invited me on the tour, and suggested we make it a two day affair, overnighting in Arcosanti. Curtis is a Prescott native and I've been in Arizona since 2000, but neither us had been to Paolo Soleri's "urban experiment" just north of Cordes Junction. We left Curtis' house at 1:45 PM, and were cruising strong until about 18 miles out, when Curtis's "classic" (ancient?) Specialized bike evoked a rubbing noise. On closer inspection,we discovered a brokeb spoke on his rear wheel, which bent the rim. We tried straightening it, but it only ended up worse. Curtis's faithful wife and three sons came to the rescue. We popped the wheels off our frames and loaded all into the minivan and headed back to the Kleinman home. It was pushing 5:00, and we needed to make it to the bike shop by 5:30. We transferred our gear into my truck, and made it to High Gear just before closing. They found us a stronger wheel that would work, Curtis purchased a couple of tires that fit, and we were set. After stopping by my house, we headed out--bikes in tow--to Arcosanti to spend the night. Professor Kleinman suggested we grab the new Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger at Wendy's; probably the best decision of the day!

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We arrived at Arcosanti; it was pitch dark with millions of stars flooding the desert sky. Few lights were on at the comples, but we managed to find our key and received directions to our Guest Room. We were glad we were in a truck and not on bikes! The road to Arcosanti is not paved and has been an obvious victim of the torrential rains of late. Room D was spartan--basically a concrete cube with two twin beds and a shower that sprayed on a tile floor next to the toilet (sans shower doors). After rinsing off the sweat and grime, we talked about school, the trip, family and life until the late hours. It was sweet fellowship. Curtis enjoying his breakfast before our tour and ride to Phoenix. The next morning we enjoyed a continental breakfast at the cafe, then took a one hour tour of the "arcology" (architecture + ecology). EVERY STRUCTURE, down to the minutest detail, is designed to be functional. There is no heating or air conditioning in the entire village, but the temperature remained comfortable due to "passive solar heating and cooling." This is truly a visionary place. When (if) the entire complex is completed, it will be a selfsustaining city of 5,000 people. Currently about 100 people live and work in Arcosanti. [One of the great take-aways from this trip is the real possibility of incorporating a tour of Arcosanti into one or more of my sociology classes.] Among other things, we were able to witness the pouring of bronze into compacted sand molds to fashion bells, for which this place is famous. Evidently, Arcosanti's founder and architect, Paolo Soleri (who also apprenticed under Frank Lloyd Wright) was able to make enough money from the crafting of these bells to finance the initial construction of his habitat. Pouring of the bronze for the casting of the bells in Arcosanti. After the tour, we drove to Cordes Junction, parked the car, and commenced our 53 mile ride to Phoenix. More than half our ride would be on the shoulder of I-17--the only paved route to our destination. The shoulder was wide and fairly safe, except it was littered with all kinds of "treasures"--and "alligators" (the name given to those pieces of steel tire belts shed from semi trucks). There was no way to miss all of these (especially going downhill at 40 mph!), and these items would be the cause of some consternation. I experienced the first flat just as we pulled off I-17 at Black Canyon City. I thought I had located the culprit, but several miles later my rear tire went flat yet again. I located the offending wire fragment (from an alligator), and with a pair of vice grips and Curtis' help was able to extract the pointy thing from my tire casing. About 10 miles down the road, Curtis was struck with the same curse. He fixed the flat and we moved on. At New River we were running low on fuel (meaning we needed nourishment), so we stopped at "El Pizzaria" (which Curtis quickly pointed out was grammatically incorrect--it should have been named "La Pizzaria") for several tall glasses of ice water (it was now in the mid 90s), a cheese quesadilla and breadsticks. Sufficiently stoked with carbs, we were now off the freeway and raced our last 18 miles to where Courtney and the boys were once again waiting for us. We ducked into Circle K's restroom and transformed ourselves from sweaty cyclists to civil citizens (but probably still a bit smelly). After parking at Wet 'n Wild's lot, we were shuttled on a tour bus to the Temple a mile away. The tour was definitely a treat--a reward for the hard work we'd put in. It was easy for me to appreciate the architecture, art and symbolism of this religious sanctuary. And it was great to have an expert (Curtis) with me, to explain the "ins and outs" of the massive structure.

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Three tours--Arcosanti, a bike tour, and the Temple--in one day! I think it's safe to say we were 'toured out." So what does this have to do with teaching and learning? EVERYTHING! This was real life. This is where learning counts. I learned about architecture, religion and mechanics on this day. And I was able to do so with a close friend and colleague. Mark and Curtis and the Mormon Temple i Phoenix Posted by Mark Shelley at 09:45PM (-07:00)

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Sharing – The Google Way Monday, October 27, 2014

The Google belt. Setting up collaborative teams and putting a project in place that encourages collaboration is just the start. The pressures of work, schedules, and family commitments conspire to draw student into a silent shell. They only care about getting homework assignments and papers done…collaborating is the furthest thing from their mind. In the middle of a stressful semester, returning emails from fellow teammates are not the highest priority. Trying to collaborate on a document via email is even more challenging. If several students are working on the same document simultaneously and making changes, it is a nightmare to keep track of the changes. This is where a shared document can help. On the first project my student complete in College Algebra, they complete several assignments on a shared spreadsheet. I start by creating the shared spreadsheet in Google Sheets. It contains a sheet with each group members name and email. It also contains my name and email. A second sheet within the shared spreadsheet is the beginning of a team log where each team member documents what changes they have made and on what date. When I am satisfied with this document, I name it with a name unique to the team like “p2_team1″. Now I need to share the spreadsheet with the team members. In the upper right corner of the browser window of any Google tools is a button that says “Share”.

Selecting this button opens a window that allows you to specify who will have access to the document.

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Enter the email addresses of each team member. I also like to limit who they can share the document with. To do this, select “Advanced” in the lower right corner.

Above and to the right of the Done button, select “Change”.

Choose “Only the owner can change permissions” followed by Save. Since I am the owner of the document, I am now the only one who can share the document. This help to make sure no team member is sharing the document outside the team. It also limits the number of names that appear in the edit…they must use the Google account corresponding to their YC email account. Once you have entered the email addresses, you also have the option to add a note to the email sent out to each student. It is a good idea to let them know what you are sharing, how it is to be used, and the assignments they will use it for.

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In my College Algebra course, each student uses this shared spreadsheet to graph a data set of college costs and graph the equation of the line passing through a pair of points. Each team member can see the work of the other team members. And the changes occur as they are made. As long as they are not made in offline mode, they made be viewed by other team members almost instantly. If something does not look right, they are quick to ask questions of me or the other team members. In my next post, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll describe how they can use the Note and Comment feature in Google Sheets to communicate with me and other group members. Posted by Dave Graser at 06:11AM (-07:00)

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Keeping It Relevant Monday, October 27, 2014 How do we know that the online student is really grasping the subject matter, I mean really grasping it? We can assess and grade the assignments submitted in Blackboard, or monitor the quiz results. This gives us a sense of their understanding of the material, but how about that investment in the learning or that enthusiasm in participating in the class. At the end of each semester, I send out class evaluations to my online students. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m curious about their online class experience and ask questions that focus more on their sense of connection to the class. I ask students to rate their answers from 1 (very poor) to 5 (Excellent). A few examples are; How would you rate your feeling of being connected to the class? Did you feel safe in expressing your views in the discussion board? Did you feel the subject material presented was relevant and interesting? Rate your overall online class experience. At the end of the survey, I ask students to make any comments they would like to make regarding their personal online experience. Comments have varied; a few comments seem common with students such as; Discussions that are relevant to the student in their everyday lives are really appreciated by the students. Keeping the discussions open ended so students can keep discussions ongoing an allow students to not only explore the topic, but learn other opinions and attitudes of others students. Making students feel safe in the online environment. Maintaining an open honest environment. So I have maintained a format for all my online classes. All discussion board post as well as any written assignments should relate more to the personal experiences and attitudes of the student. Discussions are not based on the textbook, but rather personal life experiences related to the questions that are up for discussion. This does require monitoring and setting the tone from the beginning of the class. This can be done by setting the example of how we respond and perhaps challenge our students in the way we ask additional questions. The quickest way to shut down a discussion is to make a student fell put down our feel attacked. Students need to feel safe in any online discussion.

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All questions should be presented in such a way that each student should be able to relate to each question and how it may relate to their current lives or how they would see it relating to their future lives. What makes a question interesting is relevancy. If I can relate to it, then I have something to say about it. Personalizing the online experience in the discussion board seems to allow the students investment in the class and brings the students closer to each other. I tell students from the beginning of class that there is no right or wrong answer in these online discussions, but students always need to explain their thinking in justifying their opinions and comments. So what have I learned about online discussions, especially in keeping the online class energized and engaged? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Create a safe environment Make your topic relevant to the student Keep the questions open-ended to encourage a more open dialogue Make expectations clear to students from the beginning Make you presence known to students by posting announcements, reminders, and providing feedback to comments and assignments. The best way in learning what is working in your class and whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not working is to ask your students for feedback. I sometimes ask students questions about the questions I present in the discussion board. Did they feel it helped in their understanding of the chapter that is being reviewed that week? Asking students for feedback could be the best possible way of better understanding the question we always ask ourselves; are my students understanding the information as well as having a positive online experience? Posted by Salvatore Buffo at 06:48AM (07:00)

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Two Reasons SmartMat’s Second Promotional Video Ain’t Too Smart Monday, October 27, 2014 After watching SmartMat’s first promotional video, as a Yoga instructor, the first thing I felt was “WOW!” SmartMat’s First Promotional Video on Youtube Then all my thoughts got jumbled in my head as I tried to make sense of what I just watched. So, like any ‘SmartPerson,’ I went to SmartMat’s website, googled around, and looked on Youtube, and then, I saw SmartMat’s second promotional video. SmartMat’s Second Promotional Video on Youtube Honestly, SmartMat’s second promotional video just ‘ain’t too smart,’ and it probably hurts their promotion more than helps. The video shows people putting down in-class Yoga instructors. I get it. It’s a business, and as a business, they think they know their competition, but they don’t, and they think it’s a smart business tactic, but it’s not. Here are two simple reasons why: Reason 1: Technological modes of how to do Yoga from a VHS Yoga tape to Yoga on the Wii Fit have never been in direct competition with in-class Yoga Instructors. The reason is simple. People who want an in-class Yoga class, take an in-class Yoga class. The people who don’t, guess what, they don’t. Rather, they do Yoga by watching an old VHS Yoga tape they may have, a Yoga DVD they just got on Christmas, an Online Yoga video they saw on Youtube, Yoga on Netflix or Wii Fit, and so on. These technological modes of how to do Yoga is SmartMat’s direct competition, not the in-class Yoga instructor. Reason 2: The world of in-class Yoga instructors is huge and extremely influential in promoting any Yoga product. So, as a business, SmartMat should want the in-class Yoga instructors on their side. SmartMat needs to be smart, creative and get these instructors on their side. For example, for me, when I get my SmartMat, I may include the SmartMat into my college Yoga courses, allowing my online Yoga students to use it, encouraging my onsite Yoga students to use it, and who knows, I may even end up teaching a SmartMat Yoga college course all online or all onsite. Now, I know the crowdfunding for the SmartMat is just awesome, raising double the amount asked, $110,000 to $233,646, as I write this. So, yes, people have faith in the product. But the Yoga industry is a billion dollar business, and I mean, billions, with millions of people who practice Yoga, and I mean millions. So why not simply make more money by knowing who’s who in the World of Yoga, and by simply enlisting the 70+ thousand Yoga instructors and not rejecting them. The crowdfunding for the SmartMat – Indiegogo, Inc. Posted by Charles Lohman at 08:33AM (-07:00)

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Giving Away our Pizza for . . . Wait for It . . . Partnership!?! – ... Monday, October 27, 2014 “What do you want Barry?" Tony asked brusquely. Barry just stared back at Tony with his impish little grin which often meant that he was about to ask for something he shouldn’t. This time, Tony was more than prepared to take a hard line against Barry and his ludicrous demands. “You know what I want Tony" Barry said imperiously. “I want your recipe. I want to sell your pizza, right here in my shop, and I want you to give it to me for free."

Fat chance of that, Tony thought. Even if the little wimp had my recipe, he couldn’t deliver my service, my quality and he can’t even get his hands on my ingredients. I’ve worked with these suppliers for years, getting the best ingredients at the best prices and it’s been a win-win for everybody, now he wants in on the action, just like that, in the name of “partnership". I don’t think so. Not to mention, his under-qualified staff could never pull-off our product. Tony forced a smile. Got to keep it civil though, Corporate wants things civil between us, although I don’t know why. “I don’t know Barry, that’s a tall order. Let me check with corporate and see if there is anything that I can do for you." Tony’s astonishment at Barry’s nervy request betrayed itself in his stammering gait as he exited Barry’s dinky little Prescott Pizzeria with its dingy paint job and dilapidated eighties-something dining room, complete with chipped Formica tables and hideous orange indoor/outdoor carpeting. “Can you believe the nerve of that guy?" Tony muttered to himself as he stopped by Yavapai Pizzeria, ‘Prescott’s pizza exploration station—pizza explored’, to pick up the daily sales report. Corporate is never going to go for it. Prescott Pizzeria, how ridiculous. They don’t even have a sales slogan. “Pizza explored," now that’s going to sell some pizzas. .... “Well, if we don’t partner with Barry, someone else will. So, I think we should just give him what he wants." It was Don Andersen, corporate lackey, on the other end of the Skype conference. “Let him partner with someone else! We have the best pizza in town, for the best prices. The mark-up on another partnership will push his prices too high and none of his clients will want to pay it, especially when they could get the quality of Yavapai Pizza from us, for much less. Besides, I’ve ran the numbers. If we give him our recipe, we’ll lose money on each and every pizza he sells. How is that good for US; a partnership is supposed to benefit both parties, not just bonehead Barry!" “Let’s just give it a try Tony. All the other big pizza joints are partnering with the public pizza joints like Barry’s Prescott Pizzeria. There might be future clients in it for us one day".

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“So let me get this straight, we’re going to give Barry our recipe for free, to start making our pizzas with unqualified chefs and low quality ingredients, then he’s going to slap Yavapai’s label on the box and sell it out of his shop. And to top it all off, each time Barry sells a pizza, we lose money?" “Yes, and don’t forget that we’ll be paying Barry to make our pizza, so he’ll be taking home a little extra in his paycheck each month, not to mention the fact that he will also see a stark increase in his clientele, because word will spread quickly that Prescott Pizzeria is going to be making our pizza now, and giving it to the public for free." “Wait, wait, wait; he’s going to be giving our pizza away for free?" Tony asked as he tried to pick his jaw up off the floor. “Yep. But don’t worry; his target market is just high schoolers. You know, the annoying little adolescent types. His clientele isn’t as refined as ours. His increased revenue shouldn’t short change us . . . much anyway." “How is that fair to our clients who pay good money for our pizza. If he gives it away for free, what’s in it for him?" “He markets that he sells Yavapai Pizza and his clientele instantly shoots up for all his other products." “No offense sir, but it might be slightly difficult to compete with someone who gives our pizza away for free, even if he doesn’t get the recipe perfect, like we do here at Yavapai Pizzeria. Close enough is good enough when you are getting a version of our product for free. How in the world will we recover our losses?" “Well, when they get a taste for our pizza through Barry, they’ll be hooked and have to come to us." “What if they get their fill of pizza and want to move right into the higher priced restaurants, like Northern Arizona Stake House, in Flagstaff? Do we have any proof that they’ll come to our pizzeria after Barry?" Tony wanted to know. “Well no, we don’t actually have any proof of that." “So, wait, one more time. We are going to give our pizza to Prescott for free. Barry, who will earn a stipend, paid by us, for his efforts, will use underqualified staff and cheap ingredients to produce a counterfeit version of our pizza which he will slap in a box with a Yavapai label on it, and in turn, give away to his customers for free; we’ll lose money on all of his pizzas, and to top it all off, we have no way of knowing if we will ever pick-up some of his clientele, due to our new found ‘partnership’?" “Yep, that about sums it up. We’ll also keep our losses low by not paying you anything extra for going out to train Barry and his staff to make our pizzas" Don said, with an upbeat tone. “Oh, well that’s reassuring. So, other than the fact that we lose money and likely lose clientele, what’s in it for us again?" Tony asked. “Partnership, Tony! Aren’t you looking forward to working with Barry? Spending all your 226

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extra time coming up with common final recipes, training his staff and overseeing his production? What a great bonding exercise." “To be honest, we had a pretty good partnership prior, but now Barry’s developed the most annoyingly smug laugh and he’s a nightmare to be around. Plus, he’s cancelled all of the monthly workshops we used to do with the other little pizza shops in the area because he’s afraid they’ll get wind of our partnership and want to partner with us too. To be honest, I’ve never felt more distant from Barry. So besides partnership, is there anything else?" “Well, we also have the peace of mind that we’re doing what all the other county pizzerias are doing." “You mean, the ones that are teetering on the verge of bankruptcy and the ones who have slashed their pizza making departments?" “Yep, those ones. They’re all doing it, so maybe we should too." “Don, did your mother ever ask you a question about what everyone else was doing and a bridge?" “What are you talking about Tony?" “Never mind, Yavapai Pizzeria, over and out". .... In the coming months, Tony spent most of his free time with Barry who was becoming richer and richer with the increased clientele, and of course, he was becoming subsequently more and more smug. “Hey Tony, is that your Vespa in the parking lot? I think that I accidently ran over it with my new Hummer. Don’t worry, I’m sure my platinum-level insurance will cover it! Danny’s going to hold down the fort for me again today. I’m headed to Cancun with my new girlfriend, her purse dog and her new surgically enhanced body! Call me if you have any trouble babe!" then he formed his right thumb and forefinger into a gun, clicked his tongue as he pulled the trigger and winked at Tony over the top of his brand-new Ray Ban aviators. “Gosh that guy is getting on my nerves" Tony said. Danny, Barry’s protégé, just shrugged his shoulders and went back to grating the mozzarella. Tony had to admit though, Barry was doing a fair job with his pizza. Despite his annoying demeanor, Barry had done some culinary studies and his pizza was improving, with painstaking efforts by Tony. The problem was Danny. Danny was a good guy and he meant well, but he was left making the pizza more and more often and Danny, well, Danny was horrible. When Danny was left alone, the pizza looked and tasted bad, nevertheless, he’d shove it in the Yavapai box and some people thought it was Tony’s pizza. Tony and Yavapai Pizzeria were starting to get a bad reputation, mostly because of poor Danny. “He means well, he’s just never made pizza before and he’s only had the most basic 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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culinary training. There’s not a lot that I can do with him. He just doesn’t have the skills" Tony complained to Don Andersen via Skype. “What can I do? His pizza is horrible and he’s making us look bad." “Just be patient with him. You’ll have to. I just got a Tweet from Barry. He’s not coming back from Cancun. He’s started working for Amway in Mexico. Apparently, they haven’t heard much about multi-level marketing down there and the Poblanos are buying into it, hook, line and sinker. Barry’s making money hand-over-fist down there. He’s going to be bigger than the cartels, lucky son-of-a-buck! He’s making Danny the new store manager." “Danny! He’s not even qualified to make our pizza." “According to Barry he is and that’s good enough for us. We really don’t have a say in the matter." “Why not?!! It’s our pizza, isn’t it?" Tony was furious. “Don’t we have a say in who makes it. We’d never hire the likes of Danny to make our pizza here at Yavapai, yet he’s at Barry’s making horrid pizza and putting our name on it. What is Norther Arizona Stake House hears about this? They’ll never consider my application!" Tony was shouting now and that little vein was coming out on his forheas that looked like the Flux Capacitor from Back to the Future. “Calm down Tony! You’re a great chef and trainer. I’m sure you’ll make it all alright. How’s that pay increase treating you? Three percent this year, not bad, right?" .... But things didn’t turn out alright. Danny continued to pump out horrible Yavapai pizza at the Prescott shop. He continued catering to adolescents, but most of them already had eaten all of their required pizza by the time they wanted to come see Tony and if by some miracle they weren’t ruined for pizza consumption by Danny, most would-be customers figured that they’d already had Tony’s pizza, because “it’s all Yavapai Pizza anyway, right?" Eventually there weren’t enough clients for Tony and Danny to both stay open, so Yavapai Pizza closed down. Danny still pumped out his version of Yavapai Pizza, but community members were locked out entirely because they didn’t feel comfortable picking through the hormones and SnapChat messages in order to actually pick-up Yavapai Pizza at Danny’s shop. So, Tony packed up his “Top Cheff" and “Cheff of the Year" medallions and trophies and loaded them onto his beat-up Vespa and turned the lights off on his beloved little pizza shop for the last time. As legend has it, he carved out a pint-sized life teaching Italian at a quaint little community college in Arizona somewhere. Those culinary trips abroad finally paid off for something, but unfortunately for Tony, it wasn’t for really great pizza at an affordable price. It’s a shame too, Italian professors are a dime a dozen, what the world needs more than anything though, is a really great pizza chef. Posted by Curtis Kleinman at 09:13AM (-07:00)

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Adaptability & A Theme Park – Part 2 Monday, October 27, 2014 In last week’s post I told you about my FYE103 Class and the “Adaptability” exercise involving a Theme Park presentation at a City Council Meeting and the groups involved in the discussion and decision. Groups were given a Flip chart. They had 20 minutes to determine their position/arguments and address following questions to present to the town council: • What would your group like to happen to the land? • How does your decision affect the others in the scenario (i.e., people)? • How does this affect the environment in the short- and long-term? What are your interests and priorities? Each group presented to the town council (the class). A panel of ‘expert evaluators’ critiqued positions by asking questions of each group. They had 20 minutes to determine their position/arguments and address following questions to present to the town council: • What would your group like to happen to the land? • How does your decision affect the others in the scenario (i.e., people)? • How does this affect the environment in the short- and long-term? What are your interests and priorities? Group #1 - A co-op of Family Commercial Farmers who own the land and are torn between cultivating it and selling to developers. Group #2 – A group of local conservationists who wish to preserve the land for endangered species and recreational activities, such as bird watching, hiking, etc. This land was given to the City by a founding family who wish it preserved for all wildlife, but did not state thus in the will. Group #3 - A Lumber Company that wants to harvest timber from the land. This company harvests the timber sustainably, and currently has harvesting rights with the landowners on the same property as the one wishing to be developed. Group #4 – A group of townspeople who want the Theme Park and tourism revenue generated by it. One is the Mayor of the town; under pressure to lower taxes and increase tourism or business. One is a small business owner who would like to see increased business diversity and revenue. One is the Chamber, one is an unemployed lumber worker laid off because of dwindling timber supply. So, what happened?! In Part I – Group discussion and presentations were WOW! The discussions were incredible. Without being told to, they came up with various slogans: “Adapt or Die”; who needs Timber anyway? Jobs-Jobs-Jobs! Say No to Development! Remember, your house is built from our land! Save the wolves – and their friends! What kind of business do you want here? How to have fun with your kids. Progress is coming! They had some group members on the computer looking up statistics and articles on their behalf.Right away, two of the groups talked about how they could work with other groups to provide “development with a heart”, and would share the property.

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In Part II – Each group was given 5 minutes to not only rebut any negative statements, but to find a way to work with at least ONE other group on this project. Well, not only did they do this, but they ALL came up with ways to work with ALL groups! Here’s how: • Group #1 Co-op Farmers would grow and harvest crops for the food service in the Theme Park in exchange for a large enough area to do this (5 acres); they would work with Group #2 to have them help with growing and taking care of the land and its animals; they would work with Group #3 to buy the timber to both build raised beds in the gardening area, but also a planting shed, and fence between them and the Theme park; they would work with Group #4 to have a pick-your-own area for locals, and locals get special prices into the Theme park and its restaurants. • Group #2 Conservationists would provide personnel in particular Eco-areas of the Theme Park, as well as guided tours in exchange for 20 acres and the park being open from 9 am – 6 pm daily, and not at night so as to not be light-polluting to birds and other wildlife; they would allow Group 1 to grow and harvest crops for local eateries; they would allow the Timber Company to not only harvest usable timber, but also build benches and other structures for birdwatching and other wildlife viewing. They would also provide activities and classes for the Theme park on endangered species. • Group #3 Lumber Company would work with Group #4 to provide ‘green’ buildings and work to leave as many trees as possible on the land; they would work with Group 1 to only clear what was on their 5 acres; build their raised beds, and also provide mulch for crops and walkways; they would work with Group 2 to provide mulch for walkways and structures for animal watching. • Group #4 Theme park developer decided to work with the town to use sustainably harvested timber on their buildings, but also crops from the Farmers Co-op in any eatery or food service on the park grounds. It would also provide an eco-themed activity for Group #1 and #2 for all patrons into the park. They would also give local residents a discount, and only be open daylight hours. I was impressed by the way they discussed and analyzed this information, but especially impressed by the way all groups wanted to work with others – not because I told them to do so. Posted by Chris Heyer at 09:23AM (-07:00)

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there’s a class for this? Tuesday, October 28, 2014 I teach Stretch and Flex. COURSE DESCRIPTION: PHE 110A. Stretch and Flex (1). Flexibility and stretching exercises to improve posture, increase joint flexibility, and reduce stress reactions.

Oh the joy of teaching this class! We warm up with about 12 minutes of cardio. This all important step will gently increase our heart rate to get more blood flow to the muscles, tendons & ligaments and prepare our body for what’s to come. We sometimes giggle, sing, and shout out happy birthdays… We get comfy and back into our bodies after being out of the classroom for a few days. Then I bring our heart rate back down with some dynamic stretching. Dynamic / moving stretches activate our muscles while improving range of motion and body awareness. The energy in the classroom comes down and goes within. We get out of our happy, cardio head and begin feeling the body. I’ll incorporate balance & slow strength during this segment which can sometimes be as sweaty as our warm-up because we are so focused. Some days we use weights. Hand weights. We ‘throw’ these around to enhance our muscular control and endurance. Some days we use the big fitness balls. These are great for accentuating our entire core. Ever try a push up or plank on the fitness ball? It’s a great workout :) I really like to sense the energy of each class and go from there. So much of our life is full throttle so the simplicity of rediscovering our parasympathetic nervous system is a real treat. Taking the time to deeply relax and go within can add years to our life. After integrating a relaxing experience, the students will look around with a softened gaze. They feel soooo relaxed. “This is good”, I tell them. “Take the time to enjoy this. ahhh”~

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When was the last time you felt amazingly relaxed?

Posted by Roxanne Wessel at 10:59AM (07:00)

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Playing with Clay in College Tuesday, October 28, 2014 Studying anatomy can be pretty straight forward when you have a list of things you must know and identify. Physiology starts to warp their minds when they have to figure out how things work. Anatomy can be difficult when all the things look the same and are the same shade of tan or grey. I am talking about a brain. A preserved sheep brain, specifically. It looks like a squiggly blob and then they get a list of things they have to identify and know what it does. So we are actually talking about ‘brain surgery’ here. Where can you cut or if you cut what will you affect? To get my students to really figure out the brain in a 3D way I have them play with clay. During my brain lab, I begin with asking students to build a brain. They are using clay and have to build a three dimensional brain including all the features they have to know about. My online students have to do the same thing. All my students build a brain. When they are done, they have to tell their classmates about it. In class, each student group (they sit at round-ish tables) will have one representative that ‘presents’ their brain. Then the class votes for the best one. Online students do this individually. They have to make a brain with clay and post a video to their blog pointing out each of the features Fellow students then comment on their colleague’s brain.

Students laugh when I first present this assignment, but then are excited to get to work. Some of them are fantastic and very detailed. The activity forces every student to do something and get involved in the learning as they each have to make different parts of the brain, even if there is one person putting it together. It is very much a collaborative project. After students complete their clay brain and have presented it to the class (or video) then they "get to dissect" a preserved sheep brain. Students then show me the same features from their list that they had to know and make for their clay brain. I have found that students do so much better on learning the brain features and functions when they do the clay brain activity first. I noticed a significant improvement in brain identification and regional understanding when the clay brain project was incorporated compared to previous semesters when I was not using the clay activity. The purchase of clay is included in my syllabus class requirements now and I have expanded it to also make a clay model of any eye before dissecting a cow eye. 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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Posted by Ellen Savoini at 08:31PM (-07:00)

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Being Good Citizens and Digital Citizenshttps Wednesday, October 29, 2014 Monday afternoon I read a Blog from Edutopia on what students really need to know about digital citizenship in a Blog by Vicki Davis. Edutopia, founded by the Hollywood guy, George Lucas (Star Wars fame) says it’s a K-12 site, but I’ve gleaned many a suggestion off this site for many a thing. Vicki’s Blog really hit home with some really good advice because we had a conversation in class regarding digital bullying and privacy protections. Digital communications today is everywhere and in everything. If you don’t participate or include it, you won’t be successful. I just assumed that most – if not all – of my traditional age students would be savvy to digital anything. But to have a student share in this day and age that they don’t understand how someone used their information and pictures in a very wrong way is surprising. I guess I just thought they understood digital citizenship, how to protect your information, copyright, and professionalism. Don’t students understand that the professionalism of academics vs. how they interact in social situations is different? I assumed they would. Don’t they understand that unintentional statements or actions in our global business and social environment can have some really bad unintended consequences? I assumed they would. Evidently, they don’t have the skills to work out problems either. Do we have to remind them to be intentional on what they share? Evidently so. Ms. Davis’s blog was about students being good digital citizens and how it impacts all learning and communication. She talks about the “9 Key Ps” of digital citizenship and communication: Passwords, Privacy, Personal Information, Photographs, Property, Permission, Protection, Professionalism, and Personal Branding, and how to use these keys. So, in today’s class after Sheila Jarrell talked about student records, transcripts, the importance and responsibility to ensure that information is correct, we talked about “digital citizenship” and what that means to them. We were all over the place! Even at week 11 in the semester, most did not really understand copyright, or rights of themselves and others who create intellectual property, or the importance of citation. They did not seem to get why they can’t use an image from Google and not go to the actual source to see if there is permission needed (oh, and then cite it). I asked them what they have posted of Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn right now – lots of sharing. Some had cell phone numbers and PO Boxes; even birthdays and addresses. Then I asked if they would share this with a co-worker. “Probably.” Would you share it with your supervisor? “Maybe Not.” Would you share it with the world? “No.” I asked why. Responses were “Only my ‘friends’ will see it” – to “It doesn’t matter” – to “My privacy settings are good.” Really?!! Oh my goodness! 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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OK, so then we talked about information they saw or read on their media – what do they do with it? Well, they share it – they forward it – they respond to it – they slam it – whatever you can imagine, it’s done. Being a good digital citizen also means not using others’ information or property as well. Yep, that was confusing too. Frankly, I’m shocked. I will say, they did have a lot of knowledge on viruses and malware, but several of them had been hacked. Don’t ask me about their passwords (!!). The last part of class was that I could find them with little or no information. How surprised they were when I found them, their families, their addresses, and even their cell phones in a matter of minutes. So, if I can do this, what about a potential college, or an employer? We talked about what that employer might see and read. Some were deleting information immediately. (The conversation about where it goes will have to wait!) Citizenship – digital citizenship – are abilities and awareness that students need to navigate the world, including communication in forms that have not even been created. Citizenship is what we do to fulfill our role as an inhabitant of the earth. Yes, I guess I expected these skills when they came to college and I, for one, was surprised that they didn’t have them. I wonder what experiences your students have had in your classes about citizenship . Posted by Chris Heyer at 01:51PM (-07:00)

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STUDENT SUCCESS Wednesday, October 29, 2014 There are many items that contribute and determine a student’s success, but I’m only going to touch a few that can help further define a success. Just to be clear, there are many and diverse items that help determine a student’s success. These are just a chosen few. Scholarship being defined as a fund of knowledge and learning is a key with regards to a student’s success in life and career. When an individual comes into the classroom, their focus should be directed to the learning process and how that learning can be benefiting them in their career and life. One of the exercises in my career and personal development class is designed to help them consider what their values are and how they match the various roles they have in their life. From that they need to sort them in a quadrant of roles that are required or self-directed and fulfilling or unfulfilling. In some cases, I find that students have placed items in the self-directed and unfulfilling quadrant. I have to ask the question why? I have found that some students do understand how the acquiring knowledge and learning can serve them well and help them succeed. Talent is a special ability to something well. We have all seen students that have “talent.” We have also seen students that have talent and never seem to fulfill their talent. As a teacher, we need to encourage students to stretch themselves and use their talent for success. We also need to remember that as a teacher, we also have talent that we need to exercise and stretch and grow. Never become complacent. Understanding is the power to make an experience intelligible by applying concepts and categories. Teaching is helping students not only understand, but also helping them understand on how to apply their knowledge and learning. This could be the greatest challenge, but also the most important. Determination is a quality that makes an individual continue trying to or achieve something that is difficult. As a teacher, we are also cheerleaders, provocateurs, and drivers for students. We have to engage and challenge them in the learning process. Help create their determination to succeed, not only in the course they are taking, but also in their personal life. Employment can be defined as the occupation by which a person earns a living; work; or business. From my perspective as a career coach over the last 20-years, employment is the success individuals usually use as a measure of their success. When we meet someone for the first time, the first question typically is what do you do for a living? Or what’s your sign? Students are taking classes to better themselves and increase their standard of living. Hopefully, they are taking classes that help them grow in their career. Our curriculum should be aimed at helping them reach their goal of why they are taking classes. Nurturing is as simple as supporting and encouraging students during their period of training and development. I feel that all students need support and encouragement – both in the classroom and, at times, with their personal choices. We should be in a position to direct them to the help they need when they are in need. We need to be aware of what services are available to help students so they can succeed. Transitioning is moving from one state or form to another. We need to be aware of our student’s individual needs 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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when they transition into the classroom environment and be prepared to help them as they transition into the next phase of their life. In some cases, remaining a mentor, in other cases, helping them manage their new career outside of the safety of the classroom. In rare cases, helping them survive their own success.

Posted by James Voska at 04:13PM (-07:00)

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Encouraging Every Student to Talk Thursday, October 30, 2014 I have a very quiet ENG 99 class this semester. Even still at week three or four, they were very reluctant to speak up in front of the whole class or even in small groups. So I decided to try something that I had learned at a Reading Apprenticeship workshop several of us attended in May. I couldn’t remember what they called the activity, but I called it “Hold the Floor.” I put students into groups of four. Each student had a minute or two to review the writing they had done for homework and then starting with the person with the longest commute in the group, each student had to speak about what they had written for homework for two minutes. Before they began, I explained that, for those two minutes, only the speaker can speak–the listeners cannot ask questions, add ideas or give examples. Additionally, the speaker must speak for the entire two minutes. I also suggested the types of things they might want to talk about and explained what good listening looked like. I used my phone to time the two minutes exactly. It was fascinating to watch. Many got off to a slow start but once they realized that no one was going to jump in and save them or interrupt them, they actually picked up some momentum. It turned out to be the best activity we had done thus far, and we have done it several times since. I think it also was a sort of break-out moment for some of the students. Looking back now from here in week nine, I can see there are a number of quieter, more introverted students in the class who at the time were definitely not used to speaking so long–or ever–in class about their own ideas. Rather than being mortified by it, however, I think they felt honored to be listened to. Posted by Kristen Salathiel at 07:24AM (-07:00)

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How Much is That Worth? Thursday, October 30, 2014 This is a phrase that makes chills go down my spine. Typically it means to an instructor that if you don’t assign points to an assignment, then the student will not see value in it. Many pieces of research have shown that if you are motivated externally (i.e. money or grades), you just won’t do as well at a given task (or persist). If you are motivated internally (I want to learn), then you will persist even in the face of resistance, for instance a poor score. What does this mean? To me, it means we have to shift the focus on grades to a focus on learning. Maybe students will persist in our classes longer if we don’t over-emphasize grades. If we place emphasis on good grades, rather than good learning, then a poor score can become devastating. How can we shift the focus? I’m not saying grades are bad, but maybe we can help deempasize them in our students’ minds to help them focus on what is important – learning. We could try to collect some assignments as Formative Assessment. We can give students feedback as to how they did, but don’t assign a grade. “What’s the purpose of that?” a student may ask. What formative assessment allows you to do as an instructor is to gauge how the student is doing and correct them, without penalty. And, you are preparing them for the high-stakes Summative Assessment to come. Allow the students to practice in a safe environment without penalty. Give them feedback as to how to create better answers. Then, test them after they have had that time to practice. You may have to explain to students what you are trying to accomplish, but I would bet that as long as you have a good reason, students will appreciate the opportunity to practice. Posted by Nick Roster at 10:27AM (-07:00)

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Podcast Junkie – Is This Working? Thursday, October 30, 2014 I admit it, I am a podcast junkie. In particular I am obsessed with “This American Life” which comes out every Monday morning. For me, it makes Monday my favorite day of the week! Last Monday’s episode was particularly gripping for me as it was about all the different types of discipline used in the K-12 schools. It brought me back to the very issue I struggle with most as an instructor. Where do you draw the line with students? As a social worker, I suppose it’s more of a grey area than it is for most. We all struggle with students that come in late for class, excuses as to why work is late, needing to make up exams, etc. I am not talking about the students that this is a common practice, but the outliers that have things happening in their lives that they share with you either because they trust you or they are forced to share. Recently I have had students bring in documents to prove why they were not in class or needed extra time for test taking. These ranged from needing to appear in court to another that was hospitalized for anxiety to another student gave me a letter from her doctor that she had had a miscarriage. These horrified me but because these students said they, “had to have proof as to why they were not in class.” I wondered howit would feel to have to share something in our own lives with others that may be something so personal, so embarrassing and maybe shameful. Are we adding a level of hurt or shame that isn’t necessary? Am I too ‘soft’ and not holding students accountable enough? It’s an issue that I struggle with every semester and probably will throughout my life. I was hoping to find a concrete answer in This American Life episode, “Is This Working?” but no such luck. In the end, none of the teachers or the students that were interviewed provided any definite answers as to the best approach of discipline in the classroom. I suppose it’s as unique as our students and the all the baggage that we bring to the table as well. Posted by Lisa Blackford at 11:07AM (-07:00)

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Go Find Me a Poem Sunday, November 02, 2014 So the theme for last Tuesday’s First Year Experience course was resilience and decision making. I had a lesson on hand, including a Power Point presentation. But, by the time I got to the classroom, I had changed my mind. Have you ever done that before? Did it go well? Sometimes it does, sometimes . . . well . . . not so much. Last Tuesday went fairly well. After handing out graded papers and dealing with other logistical issues, I turned to the class and said, “Go find me a poem, and print it out, and bring it back by 1:30.” Except for letting them know that I had WEPA card available for their use, so they wouldn’t have to pay for the printing (and only two students used it), I gave them no further instructions. Much to my pride, most of them got up and disappeared, heading off for the Learning Center or the Library. I remember only one student asking a question, which I didn’t answer because it would have damaged the lesson. They came back one by one, dropped their poems on the table next to me, and waited for everyone to return. I must confess that some of my students have excellent taste in poetry. Others . . . well . . . not so much. Seriously, though, every one of them found and printed out a poem. In the discussion that followed, I explained the activity. I wanted them to practice using the WEPA printers in a crunch, in case they someday needed to print out a paper for another class at the last minute (we’ve all been in similar situations). I wanted them to keep trying, or ask for help, if the printing (or anything else) was confusing. I wanted them to know the resilience and decision-making skills (and skills using campus resources) that they already possessed. None of them confessed to having had any problems with the assignment. This may have been the case, but I doubt it. Still, on reflection, I’m pleased by their work. Yet, if I were to do this again, I would do it earlier in the semester. A few years ago, in one of my G.E.D. classes, I tossed aside my planned lesson and had my students watch Sir Ken Robinson’s (now classic) T.E.D. video, “How Schools Kill C r e a t i v i t y ” (http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en). My goal here was to show my high-school drop-outs that just because they failed to finish school doesn’t mean that they are failures. Sometimes (arguably, often) the problem is with the schools. It ain’t that easy to fit square pegs into round holes. After discussing the video and having some of the students share their experiences, I broke them into small groups. Each group had to design their own school (elementary, high school, college, whatever), including its curriculum. They then had to present their educational inventions to the rest of the class, which then commented on the ideas presented. This went extremely well. Nearly every student dived into the activity (not all that common 242

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in any class, especially G.E.D. classes). Since many of them are also parents, this gave them a chance to ponder and discuss the education of their children. And, we spent the time talking about learning. Meta-learning is a powerful skill for all students. The “poem lesson” and the “school-design lesson” are only two examples of when I periodically dump my plans for something different. It’s as if some sort of intuitive light flashes in my mind encouraging me to try an off-the-cuff activity. When has this worked for you? When has it not worked? I’m very interested in learning about your experiences in similar situations. Posted by Mark Frederick at 04:56PM (07:00)

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ITV: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Sunday, November 02, 2014 If you never taught an ITV (Instructional Television) class, imagine teaching a face to face class, long distance, teaching from one location, to students who are in the same room as you and to students who are in an ITV classroom at another location. Barring any technical hiccups, it actually goes pretty well and has its advantages such as; students are able to take classes without having to commute long distances, the classroom media control uses high quality audio and video make adding to presentations much easier, and classes can be easily recorded, archived and accessed online later for students to review or for students who missed the class. But it also has it challenges, even for the experienced instructor teaching in the ITV format. Yet, here are some common challenges I found using this classroom approach: 1. Students at the remote sites may feel disconnected form the instructor and the students at the host classroom. 2. It becomes much harder for students to remain focused when watching a class over a TV monitor. 3. It difficult for instructors and students to see the faces of other students and become more aware of the non-verbal expressions at other sites. 4. Technical difficulties at one site usually leaves the other site somewhat â&#x20AC;&#x153;strandedâ&#x20AC;? until the problem is solved. 5. Instructors canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t circulate around the class and intermingle in class discussions (movement is extremely limited due to camera location in class). 6. Usually the larger screens are located in the front of the classroom and the smaller screens are in the back of the classroom. This usually poises a problem for the instructor since it becomes more difficult to see the students in the distant classroom depending on the depth of the classroom and the eyesight of the instructor. Since I have taught classes in the ITV format and I found some things helpful in preparing my approach to this format. It is very important to spend time at the start of any ITV class to teach students how to participate in the class in hopes of creating a consensus in how the class operates. For example, having students identify themselves if contributing to a discussion or just asking a question. While most ITV classes run well technically, there are on occasions problems throughout 244

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the year, stuff does happen, so always have a backup plan. If there is a technical glitch, students should know how long to wait in the classroom and any information pertinent to that days lecture should be available for students on the Blackboard class site. All assignments would be submitted in the site as well. Don’t forget to switch presentation modes during class. Changing up the students’ field of vision helps them stay focused. For example, if your using a PowerPoint presentation, you may become some disembodied voice if you don’t switch back to the instructor mode occasionally, to reassure your students your there in real time and not just a recorded lecturer, a voice without a face. I usually try to cut back to my face every three to five slides and ask questions for feedback before continuing back to the PowerPoint presentation. And if possible, switch campuses when teaching from different locations. I teach an ITV class which meets twice a week, so on Monday I teach in my host campus and my Wednesday class I teach my ITV class on my sister campus. Students seem to really appreciate meeting you face to face and making the effort in alternating classrooms. All of the above suggestions I found extremely important in my approach to ITV teaching, but depending on individualistic styles, approaches will vary. Challenges in the ITV classroom not only are faced by the instructor, but with the students as well, but keeping a honest discussion with your students regarding their needs as well as their frustrations in this format can be most useful in developing an effective ITV classroom experience.

Posted by Salvatore Buffo at 06:29PM (07:00)

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Don’t Do Cookie Cutter Monday, November 03, 2014 I have spent all my years working on my online courses working hard NOT to fall into the ‘cookie cutter’ mode. What I mean is I work to avoid, at all costs, posting publisher-provided power point lectures, followed by publisher-provided handouts, culminating in publisher-provided assessments. Blah! Yuck! Spew! If an instructor was going to do that, then why don’t we just hire more ITS guys to post this stuff for us and then the instructor would really not have to do anything, heck maybe we don’t even need that instructor. (Note, this is not a bash on ITS guys since they are the BEST and we would be pretty much a body full of ideas and no one to help us get the ideas into reality… it is about instructors just being ‘up loaders’ and not ‘instructors’). So, what I am saying is I try to ‘teach’ and ‘create’ from scratch, every idea I want to get across. I have a textbook I recommend student use to follow along (of course they don’t need the high dollar newest version since I teach anatomy and no one has spouted new arms lately so it does not change much). But I make my videos, supplemental material and exams based on the learning outcomes and the content I put together. But has it worked out? I spent years avoiding the ‘plug-and-play’ from the publisher-provided content and web sites. Buuuuut…. this semester, I decided to play with fire. Can I play with the ‘publisher gadgets’ and still be original. Can I be authentic? So here is what I did. I had my students pay for access to a publisher provided online virtual cadaver program ($35.00). I was thinking, that just giving them the ‘goodie bag’ of sheep brains and eyeballs may not be enough. The online images I have are not that great and the publisher lured me in with great imagery and content…. but don’t they all? I was looking for a program or book or CD or app that my students could use that would show them cadaver images (quality images not gross ones, if there is such a thing for cadavers). This was important to me because a few years ago (when I last dabbled in this and used a program from another publisher) one of the comments on my student evaluation was about the images they had to view “looked like a coyote got to it before the photographer did”. After that I had sworn off this type of content and doubled my efforts to make ALL of my own content without ANY help from the publisher. However, the program I found, I have to say has the best images I have seen. I am pretty excited that it even lets you use a slider bar to look deeper into the body so you can see the relationship of one feature to the next. In addition, with just the click of a button, you 246

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can have all the instructor-designated features shown so students know what they are supposed to be looking for (the program has a list that an instructor chooses their features from so there are no items labeled that they don’t need to know). That was exactly what I was looking for. Then the bonus, it included microscope slides and radiologic images (x-ray, MRI, PET scans). But how do I use it and still make my class, my class? Well the answer is I don’t know, but I like the program and I am working to integrate it into the class like a lab that they can do from home. In fact the cadaver images and slides are better than what they would see if they were in the classroom. The bottom line is that I have my standards and I can evolve and incorporate or throw out things as I go along. And just because I used the ‘coyote-ate’ images years ago, I was not so scarred to not give it another try. That is a day in the life of an online instructor that just can’t leave well enough alone and just do the same thing over again. Never stagnate, keep changing and mostly keep evolving. Posted by Ellen Savoini at 12:51PM (-07:00)

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Honor after Heartbreak, Soccer Style Tuesday, November 04, 2014

I am going to break from our educational thread in this post. My blog has to do with the kind of education that does not necessarily take place within the walls of an institution. I am talking about the education that builds character. Our soccer team just experienced a surprisingly harsh loss in the Regionals that stopped its progress toward Nationals. Every player faced the defeat in a different way. I want to acknowledge one response in particular. The Yavapai soccer team came on the home turf last Thursday night full of the confidence expected from the nationally ranked #1 team. The Phoenix team entered the stadium knowing this was their last shot at gaining a place in the Regional standings and a shot at the National Finals to be held here this month. The battle was on from the first kick with the two opposing teams going after the ball with the same goal, the National Finals. Both teams scrambled with Yavapai out-shooting the Bears, but the Bears gained the first goal early in the first half. Our team rallied and fought hard to get the tying goal at the end of the second half. Sudden Death--just one goal away from the win for either team. Both teams amassed down at the Yavapai goal, and in the chaos one shot found its mark. Phoenix won with a final score of 2-1. What a heart-wrenching loss for us! In that split second of recognizing what had happened, some of our players fanned out on the field; some headed back to our bench. One player was kneeling with his head on the ground; another was laid out flat on the turf. Others were standing alone contemplating the significance of this loss. Meanwhile the Phoenix team ran together, creating a screaming mob of victors that roiled closer and closer to the bleachers filled with the Yavapai fans standing shocked that we had come so close to winning, as we always have, but lost. None of us could process the final moments. As I stood among those muted fans, an unusual movement caught my eye. One of our players was heading toward the winning team. Into the mass of black- and yellow-clad victorious players jumping up and down, moved one seemingly out of place in his whites-Scott Nixon, one of our young men from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Slowly and quietly, he moved from player to player giving each one a congratulatory handshake and a hug. No 248

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words needed to be exchanged. And as he moved among them, he clapped for their hard-won victory. In the midst of his own team's devastating loss, he took the time to acknowledge the winners. We don't teach that kind of sportsmanship in our classes at the college. Scott obviously came to us already knowing how to handle defeat. He showed respect and honor to this opposing team and its players. I would love to know who taught him this valuable trait. His parents? His prior coaches? All I can say is I am greatly impressed by this humble acknowledgement of the victors in the face of his own lost opportunity to play in the Finals. Scott epitomizes the kind of character every good athlete should exhibit. As one of Yavapai College's soccer fans, I couldn't have been more proud of him in that moment. Posted by Nancy Schafer at 08:55AM (-07:00)

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Friendships Beyond the Classroom Tuesday, November 04, 2014 I have been a fitness instructor for 10 years. I have lots of regulars who attend my classes. They sign up semester after semester and joke that they are still trying to pass. They usually arrive plenty early and set up ‘their spot’. Each new semester we do ice breakers so that they can all get to know a little bit about who we’re sweating and stretching with. It’s always interesting to watch their response to class newbies. My regulars still sometimes stay within their little circle until the newbies prove themselves. Are they going to attend regularly? Where is their spot? Will they come early and chit chat too? Ultimately by the end of the semester we are all new friends after sharing this experience together. What I have noticed most in students during this 10 year fun, is the lasting friendships that form. One of the known health benefits of friendship is shared intimacy: the sharing of feelings, joys, sorrow, goals, accomplishments, dreams… It usually begins with an after class coffee. They go from talking about how fun or hard or effective that class was to talking about their partners, kids, jobs, etc. The coffee dates become more frequent, the group grows, and pretty soon we are getting together for lunch, as couples, dinner parties. Then there are celebrations, weddings, holiday activities, hospital visits, & funerals .

Fitness is a fantastic venue for bringing all walks of life together. Especially, here, in our temperate environment where we have new people moving in all the time who leave behind friends and families. I have seen retirees find a whole new passion incorporated around working out and taking classes. We are a gregarious society and seek like minded people. In an exercise class there are no boundaries and we are all aiming 250

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towards an active lifestyle. If you find your friendship scale a little pale, I encourage you to sign up for an exercise class and stay for the after class chit chat. You could be benefiting a whole lot more than your heart rate.

Have you ever thought about friendship as a health-enhancing practice? Posted by Roxanne Wessel at 01:32PM (07:00)

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Two questions to ponder Tuesday, November 04, 2014 November 4, 2014 I’m excited to be heading out to a conference with my colleague Nancy Schafer. It’s the College Reading and Learning Association, and the focus is on developmental education and student success. I need to get recharged for this last month of the year. 1. Since mid-term, attendance has been plunging. OK, I’m exaggerating. Here’s the reality: Class 1 is down two students, Class 2 is down three students, Class 3 is down seven students! What happens to the students? I’ve tried to structure assignments so that the students can’t get behind, can’t procrastinate, but they manage to anyway. What’s a reasonable attrition rate? If I do the math, 60 students to start with less 12 who’ve dropped or disappeared, that’s 5%. Is that all right? What about the class that has lost 7 of 20, that’s 35%, that’s pretty bad. What’s a reasonable drop rate? What part do we have control over in the retention of students. 1. I have a student in two classes, so I see him Monday through Thursday at 9:30. One or two days a week, he has alcohol on his breath. He’s in his late 40’s, so it’s not illegal. About the third week of the semester, I told him he shouldn’t drink before classes. He nodded his head, but didn’t say anything. However, I continue to smell alcohol. He’s not disruptive in class, but he’s also not getting much out of class either: he seems confused a lot of the time. I sent in an incident report to Shar Jennings, Director of Campus Life, but she’s at a loss of what to do as well. That’s what’s on my mind regarding teaching and learning this week. I’m off to St. Paul; my first time in Minnesota! Maybe I’ll find the answers to all our questions. OK, maybe one or two. Posted by Mary Verbout at 03:07PM (07:00)

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Critical Thinking Tuesday, November 04, 2014 I’ve been working in education for the last eighteen-years, the majority of the time with technical programs. My job required me to interact with companies that hired our students for very specific, high paying positions. Making mistakes was costly. In some fields, even deadly. Working with students throughout their program, they needed to develop their critical thinking skills to avoid negative consequences of not assessing their job correctly. First, they needed to ask the right questions in gathering information to better understand the job before taking action. Companies were looking for individuals that could make a good decision before taking action. They needed to get it right or it could cost their company major amounts of lost revenue and good will with customers. They also needed to understand the information they gathered to make sure that they had the right facts to get the job completed. One major area that students and new entry-level individuals tend to do is fall into analysis paralysis in the process. I found that there was a correlation between students that were more left brain in their thinking in falling into this paralysis. They would start asking the questions, analyzing the information, ask more questions, re-analyze the information, and on it would go. One way to stop this cycle was to give them a time line on when the project needed to be completed. The time line seemed to help them make a good decision in a timely manner. The right brain individuals seemed to be more of a risk taking group that did not ask all of the questions they should been asking before making a decision. They had a tendency to only look at the big picture and the details fell to the wayside. They made a rush to judgment. At times, there was a cost to be paid. This is one advantage of working in teams that are comprised of left and right brain thinkers, which get the answers to the correct questions. The Myers-Briggs Type preference also has correlation to the critical thinking process. One characteristic of critical thinkers is that they tend to stay well-informed. They understand what life-long learning means and they also practice that meaning. The majority are flexible in their ideas and their thought processes. They stay open minded in their approach to problems and can explain their process on their conclusion. I find that most have developed into confident individuals that can take action based on their analysis and keep asking questions to verify that their conclusion was accurate. I think that individuals that develop into critical thinkers (does not happen overnight) because at an early age, they started to ask the “why” question of their parents and relatives and teachers. They never stopped asking “why.” Posted by James Voska at 08:53PM (-07:00)

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Café scientifique Wednesday, November 05, 2014 Week 2: Research shows that science scores in the US are low and a personal relationship to nature is lacking. When improperly used, technology can replace experiences in nature, and a litigious society keeps our young people from having frequent experiences in the out-of doors. This impacts health and wellness and one’s ability to engage in nature. Yet, it is our duty to vote on such matters; funding for water treatment, protection of green spaces, etc. Café Scientifique was formulated in the UK in 1998 to remedy a lack of experience with and information about science for the non-science general public. It involves scientists who present current information in laymen’s terms and encourage discussion about issues that impact policy-making. Cafe Scientifique is now taking place monthly in bars and coffee shops around the world, and is attended by the general public to empower non-scientists to access and discuss scientific and often controversial issues. Students in my biology class are expected to research current issues and lead Café Scientifique discussions. In this way, they gain valuable skills in discussion, research and justification. They are empowered to choose their own topic and as their instructor, I stay abreast of current issues by participating in their discussions. Please feel free to join us! We meet on Thursday, 11/ 13 in West Hall from 11:20-12:50 and also at Jolly Pumpkin on Tuesday 11/18 from 7- 8:30 pm. Posted by Tammy Coleman at 07:53AM (-07:00)

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Online PE: Answering The Two Hows Wednesday, November 05, 2014 In 2002, I felt pretty alone when thinking about online physical education. And, even at the thought, there were plenty of naysayers. Then, in 2006, when I developed and started teaching a college online Yoga course for Tidewater Community College, the naysayers seemed to increase with the question of “how?” How can someone do a physical activity class online? For my online Yoga course, the question was, “How can someone do Yoga online?” And, basically, I would give the same answer: “The students do a Yoga routine 3 times a week. Then, they post 3 messages about their 3 routines. Then, I reply to their messages with feedback that helps them with their next week’s Yoga routines or other students give feedback with reply messages, helping.” Now, a decade later or so, I’m not feeling so alone. Just watch online PE teacher, James Roach, for the Internet Academy, answer basically the same question with basically my same answer. As seen, it’s the same basic question, “What is online PE?,” and he gives the same basic answer: “You go out, and you actually exercise, and then you fill out a fitness log for each day, and then you submit it on a weekly basis. After you submit it, I give you feedback that helps you design your program and take you to the next level so you can improve.” How do you know if they are actually doing it? After answering, “How can someone do a physical activity class online?,” the next question asked, usually by fellow faculty, is “How do you know if they are actually doing it?” And each time, I give basically the same answer, “It’s not my job to make sure students don’t cheat.” I mean, that’s the real question, right? — “How do you know your students are not cheating?” See, in my opinion, and I know it’s not a popular opinion among some faculty, it’s only my job to develop and teach a quality class, and if the students finish my class successfully, without cheating, then the students successfully received a quality education from my class. Now, the above is for college courses, and how I manage my college courses. But for grades K-12, there does seem to be requirements that could answer the question, “How do you know if they are doing it.” And maybe there’s something here I can learn myself and possibly add into my college courses. Here are two examples. Example one: A rate monitor can be used. As seen, the students are “equipped with heart monitors that send information to teachers.” Katie Carone, CEO and Creator of Carone Fitness (cFitness Academy) explains it as follows, “So they do a manual log and then they upload their heart rate data. So their manual information will overlay with their heart data.” Example two: The student’s parent has to verify the student did the exercise program. 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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As seen, “it has to be verified by a parent,” and it’s usually by a signature as stated in the article, How Students Take Physical Education Online, which states, “Parents need to sign the chart to confirm their children did all the required exercises.” Now, I’m not a K-12 grade teacher or an expert in K-12 grade teaching. So, maybe making sure cheating does not happen is a standard that must be in place for each K-12 class. I don’t know. But I am an expert in college teaching, where the students, who are mostly adults, are responsible for their own learning and education, and who must uphold any college’s Academic Integrity policy. And these are the two answers to the two hows of Online PE. Posted by Charles Lohman at 08:39AM (-07:00)

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Pharmacology Scavenger Hunt Assignment Wednesday, November 05, 2014 Teaching fundamentals of nursing, I seldom get the “aha” moment. When I taught the second semester students, I would see the “aha” moment when students were in clinical and what they learned in lecture finally made sense. Instead of just memorizing information, the students were able to apply the information. One of the questions Laura Schmidt, the director of nursing program, keeps asking is, “We need to test using analysis type questions, but how are the nursing faculty teaching the students to think in those terms?” Since I started incorporating simulation into the fundamentals of nursing class, the nursing students are able to get the “aha” moment during the first semester of the nursing program. During the first semester, I have three simulation cases. The first is to perform a head to toe assessment on the patient, the second is the room of errors, and the third is to care for a diabetic patient. The students problem solve as they work through the case study, and demonstrate higher levels of reasoning, such as application and analysis, instead of just “remembering”. My next step, was to figure out how to get the “aha” moment for the online students. This semester I tried a new assignment for the online pharmacology students to get the “aha” moment and for them to think at a higher level. It wasn’t practical to have the student come to main campus and do simulation because it would not be an “online” class. After taking the Teaching Solutions Class this summer I decided to have the students do a scavenger hunt with medications. The students needed to learn the difference between a brand name drug and a generic drug, how the different routes of medication affected the drugs’ availability, and how many over-the-counter medications contained acetaminophen (Tylenol) or diphenhydramine (Benadryl). The students’ assignment was to go to a store that sold drugs (grocery store, pharmacy…) and compared the cost of generic and brand names of drugs. They then looked at the active ingredients, and the dosing. They compared adult drug doses to a pediatric dose. When the student actually discovered the information, they learned it better, and their test scores were higher than in previous semester. One of the students commented that she had been paying $10 more for prettier packaging because the brand name and generic ingredients were identical. The face-to-face were more engaged in class because they were able to discuss what they learned during their scavenger hunt. Posted by Linda Walter at 10:24AM (-07:00)

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All Bells & Whistles and No Place to Go Wednesday, November 05, 2014 A while back I was invited to talk with the Maricopa Community College faculty at their “Canvas Conversations” daylong conference. It would be similar to Yavapai having a Blackboard Conversations day where faculty would share the good things they do in Blackboard. Sadly, after two successful years of the “Canvas Conversations,” this year the enrollment was so low they cancelled the event just a couple weeks before the event was to take place. I am sad I do not get to share my ideas with the folks there, but I can and will share a brief text version here. And I am doing a session at the Winter Institute. I was pretty sad to hear the news as I had already purchased some fancy bells and whistles. Oh boy! I have my bells and whistles for my upcoming presentation about bells and whistles. pic.twitter.com/x8c4Rf1fFU — Todd Conaway (@Todd_Conaway) October 28, 2014 I titled the session “Them Bells and Whistles.” In conversations with the Maricopa hosts of the event we decided that a look at some of the tools used in online learning that a few years back were seen as unnecessary or gimmicky are now essential elements in online courses. Further, what are some of the tools today that are seen as “bells and whistles” and may well prove to be essential to successful online experiences for students in the future? Well that is what the presentation was supposed to be about. Here is the handout for the presentation. I am going to share two ideas that sort of surround the notion of these tools and the implications they have for schooling in the future. I had to be careful not to do too much LMS bashing as the day was devoted to the LMS they use. The best things in the classroom are not in the classroom I attended Prescott College and my best memories and places where I feel I learned about stuff did not happen in actual “classrooms.” The most amazing and instructional events I learned from usually happened somewhere other than a classroom on the Prescott College campus. As a student I studied how people learn and the many ways that can be choreographed by a learner or “teacher.” I went to ASU, NAU, and the UofA to spy on ed methods and curriculum design courses and see what they were DOING in their classes. I co-taught a three week class at a college in Kansas on higher education methods of teaching. We were all over the middle school classrooms in the town of Prescott. We went to Mexico multiple times and talked with faculty about how they teach classes and why. Those trips, and many more are the places and events I recall learning from. In the online world we use “Learning Management Systems.” In effect, these are our classrooms. They exist on a place called the Internet and are surrounded by the internet as we know it. Essentially, they are much like a brick and mortar classroom that is 258

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surrounded by a community with people and places to go and the whole “the rest of the world.” How we choose to use the opportunities that the rest of the world presents us with is part of how our pedagogy is made visible. If we only use the textbook and the classroom (Learning Management System) we are choosing to not make use of the many opportunities that exist in the world around us. I do not think that is a good thing. Evading the problems of the “default” (with thanks to Lisa Lane’s Insidious Pedagogy) Imagine yourself on that amazing day when someone said, “…and this is your classroom.” You were a new teacher and you have just been given your first teaching assignment! What I know is that if the room contained lots of orderly rows of desks with chairs all facing the whiteboard and a lectern in the front, you will spend most of your teaching time talking to students from the “front” of the classroom. After all, that is why it is called a lecture and a lectern. In the online world, when you get that first course and you are given a Blackboard shell I can also tell you how most teachers will teach using it. You see, much like a classroom it comes with some “default” stuff. These default tools have a huge impact on what we see as our options. Especially new teachers. And many never move beyond those default options. Just like that classroom with the rows of tables, the online class has certain build in pedagogies that it allows for. Not the least insidious is that of enabling students passively “watch” content. Being aware of how the default is constructed and why will help us move past the passive classrooms full of lectures and PowerPoints into more active learning environments. There is, after all, the whole internet out there to be a part of. By limiting our students to some very manageable activities boxed into a Blackboard course we are robbing them of the world that surrounds them. Keeping an open mind on opportunities that tools present and understand them before we judge them is just like keeping an eye open for opportunities in the community we live in to bring our course content to life. You know, that ever present “real world” we keep hearing about. Posted by Todd Conaway at 11:08AM (-07:00)

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Yavapai vs. Harvard?–Riders Win! Thursday, November 06, 2014 Sometimes, as I teach students in my First Year Experience course (a course for first semester college students, designed to give them an inroad into college culture), I’ll hear students say, “I really wanted to go to a good school, but my senior year I goofed off, my grades fell and I ended up here at Yavapai High". Or, “I never got my athletic scholarship because of an injury my senior year, and here I am at YC". Am I the only one who takes offense to this? I feel like telling them, YC is a “really good school". I have been a student in higher education at many different institutions, four plus, and YC measures up, and why? Because we have great faculty! And, in all truth, because other places have mediocre/poor faculty. In graduate school, I once enrolled in a fully online class, which was rare for my program. The instructor was so poor that we didn’t hear from her for two weeks after the course began. We logged into the LMS, wandered around looking for assignments, or at least a syllabus, and found nothing. All we found online was an outdated course schedule with some readings from two years prior. Attempts to reach the instructor were met with NO success. She simply didn’t answer her email or any other form of communication. For two weeks we, the students, sent emails to one another and tried to complete readings from the outdated course plan. Needless to say, when she finally did arrive on the scene, things weren’t much better or much more organized. She was horrid, yet, she was a tenured professor in a well-respected program at a top tier university. Why? Why do people like this slip through the cracks? Well, I think we have all had a few instructors like this throughout our travails in higher Ed. We’ve all had the researcher who does amazing research, and publishes articles, and wins the university hefty grants, but who, at the same time, couldn’t teach a worm to burrow, and is about as organized as a monkey planning a wedding. I think YC has very few teachers like this and so, our instruction, at least in our 100 and 200 level courses, is likely just as good as the instruction doled out at the universities. From a statistical standpoint, it would be foolish to assume that at least a few our professors at YC are not every bit as good or better than at least some university professors. Just like, from a statistical standpoint, there are many published authors who are much more horrible writers than many of the faculty engaged in the 9X9X25 challenge. Anyone who has read the Twilight series has to concede me at least that one point, if nothing else. Another reason that YC can outpace the universities lies with our experienced professoriate. We charge just a fraction of the tuition that the in-state schools charge and all of our courses are taught by experienced professionals. I remember standing in front of my very first class when I was a graduate student at NAU and I felt like a fraud. I was teaching Spanish 101 for the very first time to students who had paid four times what they pay at Yavapai College where Serge Ainsa and Karina Collentine were teaching the same course with more than 30 years combined experience under their belts. “These people are paying good money for me?" I thought to myself. As I think I mentioned in earlier posts, I teach a lot of dual enrollment students, high school students, for the most part. Their parents often come to me and want to know where their kids should go to school. I tell them that the school doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter where they go, especially if their mom is the one asking me. If their mom is asking 260

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me where their child should go, it speaks volumes about the child. It means that the child will likely not truly excel at anything he or she chooses and so it really doesn’t matter where he or she goes. If the child himself were coming to me, with fire in his eyes and desire to go after a certain subject matter with all of his capacity, strength and sagacity, well, that would be a different matter. In that case, I don’t think I would say, “It really doesn’t matter where you go!" I think I’d have to choose my words more carefully. Let me explain what I mean. One of my favorite authors is a guy named Malcom Gladwell. He’s kind of like a sociologist, but he’s mostly just really good at seeing patterns and explaining them. As you read his books you get this weird sense that you have already written this book to yourself in your mind on your commute home from work, as you have often thought the same things that he so eloquently articulates on the page and explains in a way that you’ve been groping to find for some time now. In his latest book, David and Goliath, he explains a concept that I believe he calls, the theory of relative satisfaction, or relative achievement or something, I can’t remember now, but here’s the idea. There are more suicides in countries ranked higher on the “happiness index" than in countries ranked lower on the happiness index. At first that seems counter-intuitive. Shouldn’t countries in which the habitants are miserable commit more suicides? Well, no, because everyone is miserable together. You are much more likely to kill yourself if you are living in a miserable state-of-mind, in a country where everyone around you is as happy as a tornado in a trailer park than if everyone around you is as miserable as you are. If you live in a country where everyone is miserable, well, you might seem to yourself and those around you, relatively happy and so, you start to, in actuality, become happier. These feelings of relative satisfaction apply to schools. Everyone in Harvard is a genius, right? More or less. But even among the most high-achieving groups, every group has highest and lowest achievers. Harvard is no different. Even though everyone at Harvard has an SAT score twice as high, say, as a YC student, there are still as many “low achievers" at Harvard, as there are at YC, speaking in percentiles of course. The question is, what does that do to one’s confidence, drive and determination, to be low achieving when you are used to always being first in your class? Let’s look at it this way. Gladwell mentions that many students, regardless of the university, drop out of math and science programs because these programs are hard. The strange thing is, students that go to Harvard have, say, 4 times the SAT scores in math and science as the YC student also enrolled in math and science programs, but, here’s the weird thing, they both have, on average, about the same amount of students who drop out of these programs, roughly, according to Gladwell, about 50%. So here’s what we’re saying. Even the worst Harvard math student is much better than even the best YC math student, maybe even four times better, yet 50% of Harvard math geniuses drop out because they feel stupid beside their super-genius classmates in the top 50%. YC students in the lower 50% also drop out because they feels stupid next to their classmates in the upper 50%, but these upper 50% at YC look like first graders compared to the Harvard dropouts. Yet, the YC students go on to become chemists and mathematicians whereas their Harvard contemporaries drop-out even though they are four times better than the YCers who actually become chemists. Relative achievement. We don’t pursue what we feel we don’t do well at! If the lower 50 at Harvard were anywhere else, they’d feel like math geniuses and go on to sterling careers based in mathematics, but they chose Harvard because it was a “good school", and Harvard lowered their self-concept so much, that they eventually gave up on their dream to become mathematicians and ended up practicing tax law. They are small fish in 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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Harvard’s big pond and they get lost. I’m sure that I’m messing up these numbers a little bit, but you get the idea. The question is then, what happens to the upper 50 at Harvard and at YC who become chemists? Does it matter for them which school they attend? The answer is, yes and no. Let’s take chemists for example. Of the top 50% at Harvard who finish the program, the top-most students go on to publish a little over one article per year, on average, in respected chemistry journals, more than the top YCers, far more, and that is to be expected. The Harvard top 5% are the best students in the country at chemistry, the biggest fish in the biggest pond of all, and they are expected to surpass all others and they do, but what about the students at Harvard who are just good students? Maybe, those in the top 80th percentile, how do they fair against top YC students in chemistry as far as publications go? Well, according to Gladwell, these two groups fair about the same, with a slight edge going to the YC student, publishing under one article per year in the top journals during their first five years as academics. This means that the best YC student who scores much lower on the SAT than the good Harvard student does just about as well or better than the Harvard student in their chosen field, after graduation. Gladwell’s point is this, it’s much better to be a big fish in a small pond at YC, than a small fish in a big pond at Harvard. Even after graduation, big fish at little schools do better than small fish at Harvard. I’ve seen friends of mine bend over backwards to provide their son or daughter with every advantage that time and money can buy. They pour over elementary school gifted and foreign language program curricula, they visit pre-schools, and interview science teachers, all in the name of giving their child the best possible start in life. The fact of the matter is, none of that really matters. If they are a small fish in a big pond, their selfefficacy will fall, they will have little confidence in their ability to achieve and they will emerge from their educational experience, gasp, only about average, or slightly above. In fact, Gladwell points out, that for most of the highest achieving innovators, more often than not, childhood disadvantages , not advantages, are the greatest indicators of success later in life. Gladwell mentions many examples of this, but let me point out just two: he mentions a study that took ten years to complete in which researchers investigated the lives of the highest achievers listed in two encyclopedias. Of these, over 40% (I don’t remember the exact numbers) lost at least one parent before they had reached the age of twenty. Not only does it not help for parents to hover like a helicopter over their children, providing every FEC advantage they can think of, the very highest achievers do best when they don’t have parents at all. How can this be? An orphan child must learn self-reliance, resiliency, stamina and grit. Of course, many of these kids fail to make anything of their lives and they lead a sad existence, but of those who do learn to achieve, they achieve greatly, because they learned early on how to deal with sadness, failure and devastation, and to move on and still achieve. The second example that Gladwell mentions is that there are a disproportionately large amount of CEO’s who have or once had learning disabilities early in life. In particular he mentions dyslexia. Dyslexic students are often not diagnosed for three years, so, a student who, in kindergarten, was labelled as “bright", or a “leader" and who ruled the playground as “Mr. Cool", is suddenly labelled as “stupid" and written off for three straight years as the rest of the class masters reading and moves on to greater things. A dyslexic student has to grapple with those feelings of failure and rejection. The highest achievers learn to deal with dyslexia on their own, even before being diagnosed. Their dyslexia pushes them to think outside the box and to tackle challenges in different and innovative ways in order to survive and keep pace with their peers. These innovative ways of 262

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thinking are not an advantage in our behavioristic-cattle-herding model of schooling that currently holds sway in our elementary schools, but they serve a young man or woman well when they take the helm of a large company. CEO’s with dyslexia are taught early on in life how to meet challenges and overcome them and they carry those lessons with them into the cutthroat culture of the corporate business world. Do these CEO dyslexics graduate from the best schools? NO! They often don’t even graduate, but do they know their jobs and how to succeed; you bet they do. Gladwell mentions that the leading innovators the world over have always produced three key aspects of the six major personality traits when they are administered main-stream personality batteries (and subsequently few of them graduate from the best universities). For some reason the highest achieving innovators seem to need three things to succeed, even if they have other key elements, they always at least have these three, namely, openness, conscientiousness, and disagreeableness. Openness refers to one’s ability to be open minded, to be creative and see solutions outside of the box, where others are blinded by tradition. Conscientiousness refers to one’s motivation and drive to succeed. Self-discipline and grit fall into this category. A creative person without conscientiousness and work ethic is nothing but a dreamer. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the most innovative among us are always disagreeable. This means that they are willing to buck convention, take risks, and overcome critics and scoffers in a relentless pursuit of their own path. This is often the make-it-or-break-it trait. Many of us are creative, and nearly as many are creative and hard-working, but few of us are willing to be disagreeable enough, in order to see our dreams come true. That’s why when the mom comes to me and asks where her fishy should swim, I usually say that it doesn’t matter, any small in-state pond will do, because if they don’t have the drive, the gumption, and most importantly, the disagreeableness to come and talk to me in person, it probably doesn’t matter where they go. They’re not disagreeable enough for it to really matter. Mediocrity awaits. They’ll never reach the apogee of innovation in their field. But, when that special student comes to me him/herself, after a long day of disagreeably pushing his Internet start-up business all over the Internet and in the local community, and he wants to inquire about his future school choice, well then, I put what I’m reading down, turn to my computer and see if I can’t find a good pond for my precious big fish to swim in. Fish this size are rare in today’s world, as you might have guessed. And who knows, even Mark Zuckerberg remembered some of his influential teachers with gifts of Facebook stock, maybe this young buck with burning eyes will remember me one day, after conquering the world. We all know that the retirement package could stand for a little cushioning. Posted by Curtis Kleinman at 02:26AM (-07:00)

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Lady in the Classroom? Thursday, November 06, 2014 I have grown to become a great fan of a wonderful movie by M. Night Shyamalan entitled “Lady in the Water.” Bizarre. Different. Odd. Unique. These were my first impressions; kind of other worldly if you will. But upon reflection, and given time, I found myself wanting to return to this little gem. There was something drawing me to take a second look. A third watch. A fourth study. This is a film and message which needs more. Deliberateness. Wonder. Revelation. Effort. Among other things, it is a beautiful picture of “community” done both wrongly and rightly. When “wrong” community is life taking. Death hovers over the human condition, the human potential like a thick London fog. In contrast, when “right” community is life giving and life sustaining. Like a flower growing in a richly fertilized, natural soil compost, it is able to become all the flower it was meant to be. “Lady in the Water” is a mythical tale about an eclectic group of apartment dwellers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are divinely drawn together in this place of proximity to both fulfill a purpose much greater than any of them could imagine, and to discover the unique role which each of them plays. Each is necessary. Confusion is a central part of the process. The cause is eternal in nature. As already noted, it depicts community run amuck as well as community well oiled. What does any of this have to do with teaching and learning? A great question. But first you might want to grab a bowl of popcorn and watch this movie with that question in mind. I am amazed at the number of students who want to know what their role is in the story of life. They know there is something more, something bigger going on and believe in their heart that they are supposed to have and are designed for a certain role, a place and purpose in this larger story. This is a human quest at its very core. It did not come with the internet. And there is no www which provides a satisfactory answer. The mysteries of the soul simply do not respond well when the offering is only “more information.” But community? And community with a life giving perspective? Students are not alone in this quest. Hopefully we all are. I know I am. And that is the first thing I share with students who have the courage to take the first step, who ask the question, who think the thought, who decide to inquire and pursue. I see my classroom as an eclectic group of city dwellers, not Philadelphia, but perhaps Traverse? We are all needed. We are all odd, especially me. But there is a higher purpose. There is something to which all of us are called to be a part. Something which “needs” the us rather than the I. Destinies are at stake. Words which are both spoken and left unspoken matter. 264

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It’s a place of discovery. It’s a place which when “done well” has the potential to launch people into a calling, a vocation. It really can be life changing. That’s the weightiness of this sacred trust. Education, understood classically, is a calling out. A calling out of something which is already present within a person. A discovering. A naming. A claiming. An owning, at least for those who are up to the task. Education can be an unveiling. It takes a “we.” I am one who both loves and marvels at the potential of this “we.” If you have two minutes and 1 second, a click on the accompanying YouTube video might whet your appetite to take your own plunge. Posted by Steve Rice at 01:01PM (-07:00)

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A deep breath before the longest mile Friday, November 07, 2014 Halloween has been pulled into the ‘holiday season’ along with the November and December celebrations that have traditionally defined the season. The images and memories that this time of year brings to mind wash over most of us with warmth. For a fair number of us, the holidays also bring quite a bit of stress. The grander the celebration, as a rule, the greater the pressure. By chance it is amid this broad cultural phenomenon that our students come to realize that those assignments on which they have fallen behind are coming due. Those major papers need serious work. And finals … well, we all remember finals. Lesser known is the impact on the college faculty and staff. They, too, have assignments and projects piling up which are due by the end of the semester. Add to that the pressure that students apply on these people – mostly from committed learners who simply need clarification and a bit of support in their continued efforts to succeed. More taxing are those students who have made little effort and then expect that they can accomplish three months of work in six of the most stressful weeks of the year – and it, of course, requires the faculty member to re-teach most everything the student missed. Most faculty and staff at colleges are hopeless saps for needy students – and so we engage in the dance, seeking those steps that may lead to the best possible outcomes for everyone. Many will take on the extra work. Others will decline to engage in the doomed enterprise, but they usually take the circumstance more personally and with greater pain than does the student him-or-herself. With stress levels at DEFCON One, they go home and face the prospect of untangling Christmas lights. The season, for most, is quite welcome. For most, it is also unavoidable, as is the stress that comes with it. And so I ask just one more thing: Breathe. Use each instance of stress as a reminder of the pressures your students and colleagues are feeling. Find ways to support each other, to care for and about each other. Offer a moment of praise, a gesture of thanksgiving, or simply a bit more tolerance for a grumpy mood. I wish you peace and I hope you dance.

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Posted by Stuart Blacklaw at 10:05AM (07:00)

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Serendipityâ&#x20AC;Ś Friday, November 07, 2014 I admit, I was annoyed. Tired. Irritated that, despite a fairly "strict" cell phone policy for my classes and my feeble attempts to enforce it, several of my students check their cell phones more often than they take a breath. So today, mostly out of a sense of frustration, but with the ever-professional tone of a seasoned instructor, I admonished: "Ok. Every pull their cell phones out." (And literally EVERYONE did. It's rare to find a student without one these days.) "Hold it up high over your heads." (They were mildly amused by this. My hidden motive was to check their compliance with my instructions.) "Turn it on silent--not vibrate or cutesy music or clever ring tones, but completely silent." (Their amusement was short-lived, but I sensed the instruction was not unanticipated.) "Now, set your phone in front of you, face down, as far to the front of the table as you can." (They did, with no protest.) The lesson today in this First Year Experience class was, coincidentally, on focus. So I quickly wove that theme into my instructions, making it appear that this action was purposeful and premeditated (which it was, but not for the reasons I stated--a "test" to see if they could maintain focus for the remainder of the class.) For the first time in weeks, Every student (except one) was locked in to the lesson instead of staring down at their crotch, fiddling in their pocket or trying to discretely rifle through their backpack. At the end of the class, I asked how many of them had be tempted to reach for their phones. No one said they were, and by their relaxed body language and facial expressions, I believed them. Totally serendipitously, I had discovered something... something that I already knew in another context. When I facilitate growth groups, we talk about "keeping our 'shadow self'--the part of that we hide, ignore and deny--in front of us so we can be aware of it's influence on us. It can be illustrated like this: Have someone stand behind you, with their hands on your shoulder, and try to shake 268

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them off without putting your hands on them or facing them. It's virtually impossible, because for every move you make, they can make a counter move way before you are aware they are doing so. As long as you can't "see" your shadow, it can hang on to you and even control you. Now, have the individual stand in front of you, and move where you want to move. Unless the person is a 250 pound lineman for the NFL, even if you are not as strong, you can actually DIRECT THEM to where you want to go. Your forward leverage is more powerful than they are in this position. Having their phones in front of them seem to make the students feel they had more control. I would hypothesize that if their phones were even placed at their sides, the effect would not have been as great. By having their eyes on their devices in a setting in which they didn't need to use them gave them POWER over their technology. It was amazing. I wish I could say I had the genius to realize this before. I didn't. It was just a "defensive maneuver" born out of desperation. But it worked, and became an awesome teaching moment. Any time when students become empowered it is. Serendipity. Posted by Mark Shelley at 01:12PM (-07:00)

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It’s That Time Again… Friday, November 07, 2014 Here I am on Friday just starting this blog post. I can’t believe how quickly this week has gone by. It seems I am having problems getting all the work done I need to in order to keep my head above water. Sometimes, I find it amazing I even know what day it is. What I do know is that today, I went to a department meeting to find what TeLS can do to assist instructors and their students. This is something TeLS has chosen to do to better ourselves and the college. What came from this group, is that TeLS, as a whole, needs to be better at Customer Service. In fact, half the input was a negative. That’s 50% of bashing. It hurt. I can tell you I was very surprised about this. It was even stated that “it’s not my job” was heard from our area. This really does not sound like something TeLS would say. Maybe we have. Maybe we have not. Maybe this came from a call to the Helpdesk and the person thought they were speaking with TeLS. Who knows? Who really cares? I care. There have been times when I have heard some really bad things about TeLS in the Faculty Arena. Yes, we hear all. These words sometimes include lack of support; lack of communication. Instead of complaining, maybe come to TeLS and ask questions. We cannot help if we are unaware of your needs. What we do on the spur of the moment for Yavapai College, to assist EVERYONE (Faculty, students, and staff); ALL CAMPUSES; ALL DEPARTMENTS, would boggle some of your minds. That’s a lot for four people. Sometimes we can get very busy. This could cause fuses to be short. There are also times when a person asks about products or software we do not use, it’s a fine line between TeLS, ITS, and PTSS as to who should implement this. It’s another hoop to figure out who pays for said product. My hopes are that we can work closer with the department in question, ITS and PTSS to come into agreement on clarifying who does what, when, and pays. Give us a little break here. We are human. We all have bad moments. We learn from these. We are here for the same purpose people. If I have ever provided anyone with negative assistance, I apologize. Sometimes, I can be very short. This is something I have been working on in my personal life for a few years. It is a continual process. That’s my rant. Take it or leave it. Posted by Ruth Alsobrook at 03:40PM (-07:00) 270

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HOW DO WE DO OUR ONLINE PROFESSORING WORK? (PART 2) Friday, November 07, 2014

Last blog, the Part 1 to this entry, we established that an online professor keeping pace with assigned courses and doing honest work for the pay strives to stay connected with the educational institution (college, university) and checks in to his/her courses often – this means daily for me. Of three institutions I work for, I may miss signing into the course pages of one of them in a day, but this is not too often. I may have a few emails to answer, discussions to read, and perhaps 8-10 papers to grade. Perhaps, more seriously, a student asked me a question and is still awaiting an answer the next day. I try not to let this delay in answering happen, and it may be easier as I “clear the boards” of my own life from the moderate chaos that being recalled from military retirement for six years produced (mainly, a backlog of home repairs). But a professor may have any combination of personal reasons why “clearing the day” can be so hard. Bowing to the probability of this existence, we still have the course to lead, until the day comes we need to seek a leave of absence (some schools offer that routinely to adjunct professors). So how do I do the work of my profession? Some good old-fashioned military-spawned discipline may be helping me here. In the morning, I bid the jealous wife goodbye as she motors off to teach for the day. But I retired from the military, so I don’t blush – many is the morning I sipped coffee watching the sun come up, and that’s if I got lucky and got coffee somehow. Now, I can get up and get breakfast – I like early mornings, and that serves me well enough in online professoring. There are household chores to do – this is a mammoth house and one acre of land – but these tasks I intersperse as breaks from my desktop computer work. I check email and Facebook, but with a purpose – mainly, a purpose not to dawdle and suddenly realize it is noon when I started looking at personal stuff and friends’ posts at 7:30 am. I use a technique I learned in a military staff school. Then, it was: pick up a piece of paper with work on it once; don’t put it back, because it will dwell with you forever, but pick up the phone and work it, or delegate it if you can and should. So it is with email and our college/university emails with work on them or questions from students – we get them done, well and quickly, or they will pile up. Now, you say, after that I must be signing onto my course pages as professor, and you

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are right. I open the school email and the course page list of courses, in two tabs. After checking the email for issues, I grade assignments and post those cool professor posts in Discussion Boards, looking for certain key things in each category from the students. For Discussion Boards, I try to think – does my prepared post make sense for the dialogue going on? Professors’ posts are so insightful and impressive, with citations and everything – unless they don’t fit, and then students catch wise that you must have a script of stuff to paste and you just pasted one and moved on. So – we have to slow down and read their writing, and think. As for grading essay answers, short answers, papers of all kinds – there is a skill set to managing these as well. Often, the school has given us a rubric, so we must use them to award points within a certain band of points representing a range of attributes, in categories – accomplished the assignment, critical thinking, support from sources, citations/reference lists to format. We strive to be consistent, and we can, if we look for frequent or common approaches to completing assignments. Professors just have to allocate time to grade assignments, one after the other, reading them all, giving each sufficient attention to grade authoritatively – and we will get tired. So what can go wrong? We will explore this – in Part 3! Posted by David Alegre at 08:43PM (07:00)

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Collaboration in Your Writing Classroom: Team Projects Saturday, November 08, 2014

At the recent TYCA West Conference in Mesa Arizona, October 2014, Levi Martin from the University of Texas at El Paso presented on â&#x20AC;&#x153;Creating Collaborative Spaces that Empower Students in Collaborative Writing Practices.â&#x20AC;? His presentation was lively and enjoyable. To set the stage for this instructor, he is a doctoral candidate who primarily teaches Technical Writing, Professional Writing, and occasional composition courses for the university. Martin creates short lessons and places students into small teams to apply the lesson. He first defines collaboration as joint writing to help students understand what the term means in this situation. Then he has students write a team paper on Success Strategies.

Factors to consider when creating these collaborative projects are motivation, time with the team, having the right tools, developing team contracts, and having multiple conferences with the instructor, both team and individual. Martin bases his team projects on Achievement Goal Theory, Walters, 2004, 236. He believes that higher motivation equals higher achievement. Once students graduate from college, their future professional needs will require collaborative skills in the workplace. Therefore, team work has high applicability and relevance to students.

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Martin also states that he doesn’t call collaborative writing “group work.” He calls it “teamwork,” which has a better connotation. Other ideas for names to call this type of collaboration are agencies, partners, think tank. I mentioned that the term “partners” has not always met with a positive connotation in my classroom, and the others seemed to agree.

When creating a writing center for students, he named the tutors “writing consultants.” This term similarly gave students more of a desire to go see someone for assistance. Martin favors increased student involvement. When students have a voice in creating the assignments, this practice creates a deeper understanding of the work and greater sense of ownership. Discussion on the goals of the assignment also opens the conversation to discuss the assignment and its purpose in a more directed, useful environment. Time with team members is essential. Martin claims that after the initial honeymoon, students need time to work with and get to know one another in non-threatening context, the opportunity to learn strengths and weaknesses of the members, and time for peer review. The instructor is the catalyst. Martin grades the comments peers make on paper, not the draft itself. He gives 20% of the final grade to the comments made on other students drafts and 80% to the student’s own final version.

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This instructor also uses tools. Martin uses “the Google.” • Google Drive and Google Docs provide (a)synchronous platforms Instructor can join the conversation in a non-threatening way • Students can compose, edit, revise collaboratively without being in the same place • All changes and comments are recorded for both students and instructor • He also uses color-coded writing. Each student is assigned a different color for text. • Presence is key. No matter the software used, the instructor needs to be present. Students need to know the instructor is aware and active in development of the work. • Instructor presence develops accountability and builds motivation. Students develop the contracts for team projects. • In conjunction with developing guidelines, students have ownership of the process they use to complete the work. • Students develop their own responsibilities, dates, and repercussions. • All team members write the contract, which gives exposure to a new genre of writing. • Writing the contract increases student awareness of the process and responsibilities. Both group and individual student conferences are vital to team project development and success. Class time works well for group conferences, according to Martin. He uses office hours for individual one-on-one conferences. The instructor needs to be aware of up-to-date progress on the project. Open communication is also vital. Students need to be able to contact the instructor with any issues, questions, and concerns regarding the class.Limit rules to correspondence within reason. Work to get students talking to you. The more comfortable they are, the better questions students ask. Martin created a Twitter account for his students so they could ask him short questions for quick answers. This type of easy access keeps the instructor from giving out personal contact information. If you are interested in developing team projects with your class, I hope you will read through Martin’s ideas here and take what works for you. It is my personal opinion that these ideas would work best for second year college students, but team

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projects can also be used for first year and even developmental classes. I wish you all the best as you challenge yourself to try these team projects with your students. Data shows that classrooms doing project learning activities have higher retention as students get involved with one another and develop accountability. Posted by Tina Luffman at 06:55AM (-07:00)

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On Being Shy: Teaching Introverts and the Online Environment Sunday, November 09, 2014 My name is Laura Cline, and I’m an introvert. In fact, I’m not just introverted; I might be one of the shyest people you’ve ever met. If we are friends, or colleagues, you probably already know that. If you are my student, you might know that (at least the first part), and it might be because I talk about introversion a lot in the classroom. When I started graduate school, I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to stand up in front of a class and talk for an hour, not just once, but three days a week, for an entire semester, and then for the rest of my career. I had never given a class presentation without breaking out in a nervous sweat, talking way too fast, and feeling like I was going to pass out. And the great surprise of teaching for the first time, was that I was nervous, but it was my choice whether or not to do my job, which was acting like a professional while I presented my information to the class. I could choose to go up and talk about a subject that I knew without letting my introversion dominate. I could also use humor to make my shyness relatable to my students. I had heard and internalized that introverts wouldn’t make good teachers, but I chose not to believe it. Being introverted has also made me sympathetic to the difficulties that many introverts face in the F2F classroom. As a student, I needed longer to process my ideas before I was willing to share them with the class. I wanted to be able to use writing to collect my thoughts, so that when I shared them, they were exactly as I wanted to say them. Because of this, by the time I was ready to talk during class discussion, we had often already moved past the topic. Also, I was unwilling to interject, and relied strongly on my teachers to call on students raising their hands. It is easy as a teacher (and I am also guilty of this) to think that a class discussion is running well, while failing to recognize that there are potentially valuable contributors who are uncomfortable putting their ideas out there in a conversation that is moving at too fast a pace and without the kind of structure that makes them comfortable. I rarely spoke in class until later in my college career, although I was always an active participant mentally during class discussion, processing ideas and furiously scribbling notes. I was always waiting to write the paper or take the test so that the teacher would know that I had been paying attention. Now, I try to address these challenges for introverts by having students freewrite to gather ideas before a discussion, or allowing some small group discussions in place of the whole class. I’ve learned to accommodate students like me in these settings, because of my own experience, and also because of the mentoring of many amazing teachers of my own. Now, that I teach almost entirely online though, I wonder how I’m continuing to address the challenges of my own preferences and the preferences of my students. In many ways, the online classroom is a paradise for introverts. The pace of discussion is not quick, and there is always plenty of time to present a well-thought response. However, like I talked about in an earlier post, something is lost without the spontaneity of a classroom discussion. Ideas aren’t shared in the same way and students don’t get to know one another unless they allow themselves to come out from behind the keyboard at some point during the class. I often ask my students to make introductory videos or video/audio responses for online classes, and this is a major challenge for introverted students. I have been using

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YouTube videos since I started teaching online, and it has been a major challenge for me as well. In fact, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really watch my own videos (except for the first few minutes to make sure that they work). And yet, I know that by making them, I am making important personal contact with my students, and so it is important for me to make them, despite doing so defying my preference for written communication. However, I forget sometimes in the online classroom that I am asking students to defy those preferences as well. I think what is important, and what finally allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and a learner and a teacher, is continuing to emphasize that these characteristics (introversion, extroversion), no matter how set in stone they may feel, are in fact, preferences. We make choices about doing things that make us uncomfortable, and that is why I have found using personality testing and learning style assessments to be useful in the classroom. When students realize that they have a preference for one type of thinking or behavior, then they can give themselves the challenge to step out of that box. And I, as an instructor, will continue to commit to acknowledging that each of my assignments presents a challenge to one of those preferences. Here is a fun personality indicator online if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to take one. Posted by Laura Cline at 11:20AM (-07:00)

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The Best Teaching Weeks Sunday, November 09, 2014 Here we are starting Week 13 (Yikes!). For the last several semesters, in my opinion, these last two weeks are the best teaching weeks ever. Why? Because students do the teaching. By the end of Week 12 or 13, depending on the class, we are done with exams. What a relief! But there are usually two or three chapters that need to be addressed to meet the course outcomes. My solution is to ask students to choose topics in those last chapters and present posters. By the end of the semester, they have a substantial toolbox of knowledge and have been prompted to write record topics of interest to them (they add their topic to the Class Wiki to avoid duplication). In addition, students have become familiar with each other to a certain extent through other assignments, and with hope, are at ease speaking in a friendly environment. To see how this works, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s look at the assignment in my online Environmental Biology class. Remaining Chapters 9 and 10 address sustaining biodiversity both terrestrial and aquatic. I ask students to choose any topic related to these chapters. Here are some of the guidelines. 1. Students must present solo. 2. Topic must be appropriately limited in scope to be presented effectively in no more than eight minutes (time management is part of rubric). For example, I say, instead of choosing rhinos or rain forests, try the war against poaching in Kenya, or a specialist species of tree in the Amazon Rainforest. 3. Posters should be informative, not cluttered, displayed on onlyone slide, page, or screen. This is the toughest part, since students want to put everything on the poster and then read it for the presentation part. I encourage students to keep the poster clean and simple and elaborate in their words. 4. Students must include a description of the value of your subject matter or value of the experience to humans, the 1) world community, 2) ecosystems, and 3) biosphere. All three. This one takes some explanation from me, but might be where students learn the most about what they know. 5. At least three scientifically based sources must be used and cited in MLA format. Sound research should be evident, not opinions. 6. Posters are presented as a VoiceThread project. The media for the poster can be in the form of a PowerPoint slide, a Word document, or digital poster creation using special software. 7. Students add their project link to the Class Wiki, and I embed them on the class Web site, Symbiosis. 8. They then comment on othersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; posters and submit written summaries. I get excited about seeing these teaching sessions, and students seem to like doing them. Finished product: Posted by Joanne Oellers at 06:31PM (-07:00)

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Some Tips on Collaborating in Google Sunday, November 09, 2014 In earlier post, I described how I set up teams in my College Algebra class and utilize Google shared documents to work through projects. In this post, I want to demonstrate how students can communicate with each other through notes and comments in these shared documents. Most of the student teams in my face-toface classes utilize in person meetings along with collaborations through comments. My online students do not usually meet in person so online comments and email (and some phone calls) are their primary means of collaboration. Google Sheets and other Google applications contain many features designed to make collaboration easy. Two of the most useful are notes and comments. Notes are useful to document work in a worksheet so that other readers understand where the calculation came from. Notes are a part of the sheet and are viewable when looking at the worksheet. A comment is designed to pose questions and input to the rest of the team. Generally, when a comment is made an email is sent to each team member. Then other team members can reply to the comment. If one of the team member notices a mistake in one of the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sheets or needs to ask a question about something in a sheet, a comment is the way to go. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s look at how these are created in a Google Sheet. Suppose you are working in a Google Sheet like the one below.

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and you want to make a note about something in cell B2. Move your insertion point to that cell and right mouse click on the cell. This will open a menu showing “Insert note”. Select “Insert note”. A box will open next to the cell allowing you to input text. Enter the text you want to link to that cell. Once you click outside the box, the note will disappear and be replaced by a small black triangle in the upper right corner of the cell. This indicates to you that there is a note 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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attached to that cell. If you click in the cell again, the note will be displayed. You can remove a note from a cell by right clicking on the cell and selecting “Clear notes”. To link a comment to a cell, you right click on the cell and select “Insert comment”. This opens a box showing your profile picture and space for text. After you type the text, click on the Comment button to attach the comment. As long as other team members are set to accept comments by email (they are by default), an email will be sent to them with the comment. Once you have inserted the comment, a small yellow triangle will appear in the upper right corner of the cell. Other team members can reply to the comment by clicking in the cell and typing a message. The message is posted once the Reply button is selected. Once the comment has been dealt with appropriately, you can resolve it by selecting the Resolve button. Comments can also be edited or deleted by clicking on the button with three dots on it. I ask students to refrain from deleting comments since they are evidence of collaboration in their group and I can use that info when grading your participation in the group.

You can view all of the comments by selecting the Comments button on the upper right hand corner of the Google Sheet. This is a convenient way to see all of the comments in a sheet in one place instead of having them attached to individual cells. The process for commenting on a Google Docs document is similar to the commenting described above. The video below describes the process in the context of the documentation my students turn in for their projects. http://www.whyseemath.com/vid/google_doc_01/google_doc_01.mp4 Posted by Dave Graser at 09:52PM (-07:00) 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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Meta-Learning Sunday, November 09, 2014 As teachers, we’ve given a lot of thought about learning. And, with years of college under our belts, we often have a solid sense of how we best learn. But, I’m not sure that’s true for most of our students. Indeed, I’ve heard complaints about how they don’t think about the own learning. They don’t see the big picture. They just keep moving forward, lesson after lesson, until they are done with the semester, the program, or the degree. I’m not sure this is entirely fair. I believe our students to be much more reflective than many instructors know. For example, some of them understand that sitting and listening to a lecture is not always the best way to learn. And, for most of our students, that would be true. But, let us assume that our students are not meta-learners, or at least to the extent to which we wish them to be. So, then, let’s teach them. For years, instructors and students alike have been complaining about the “pour-knowledge-into-their-heads” method of teaching. Yet, the vast majority of our teaching is just that. Nevertheless, one of the great things about Yavapai College is the willingness of instructors to experiment and expand upon the lecture model. Writing poetry in the sculpture garden (M. Carter), recreating Stonehenge with clay (B. Andres), and a host of other activities, including a plethora of field trips, such as seeing a Shakespearean play on stage (J. Fisher) have all been part of classes that I’ve taken here. While I understand that Gardner’s model of multiple intelligences is somewhat controversial, I still try look to it as a way to expand my teaching repertoire. Unfortunately, I don’t do enough. Many of our students appear to relate to learning through physical activity, at least as I’ve seen in the multiple intelligence survey given to them. So, what can we do to get our students to move and to learn? How can we help them understand how they learn best? Surveys are a good start. But, we, and the students, need to experiment. Will they find a way to learn math and science formulae by walking to a beat and reciting them? Will they better understand a story in English class by listening to it online with musical accompaniment? And we need to talk to our students about their learning. Sometimes, it seems that, as professional educators, we hold out on them. We devise a clever learning activity without adding a meta-learning dimension. Let’s discuss learning with our learners. Posted by Mark Frederick at 10:09PM (07:00)

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Tell Me a Story Monday, November 10, 2014

I love stories; stories about life, our personal experiences, the happy and the sad. Stories teach us about how the world sometimes works and how we relate to it. When I was young, I use to love to hear my parents talk about their experiences when they were young. Their stories gave me the opportunity to learn not only about their lives, but also gave me a better understanding of my culture, the traditions of my family and its history. In a sense, these stories gave me a better understanding of myself. Stories put into context information that would otherwise remain fragmented, pieces of this and that, thrown into a catchall closet in which items are tossed and usually hopelessly lost. Our students also love stories. They catch their attention and can set the mood for your class. We like stories because our brains operate in the same fashion. Stories allow our brain to use information in the most effective way. Our brains need the opportunity to classify and file information that is in relationship to each other. It doesn’t like that catchall closet of miscellaneous bits of information, it likes order and continuity. Stories not only allow the beginning and the end, but give us how we came to the end, what brought us there. I try to start each class with a story. It could be a personal experience, a myth, a historical event, anything that relates to that day’s lesson. Stories grab students’ attention. They become interested in not only what the story is about, but how the story relates to them. Stories in many ways touch the core of who we are, and that thing that makes us human. If you think back when you were a child and having a story read to you, didn’t you find yourself becoming that person or at least thinking how you would react if you were the character in the story? Philosopher James Stevens once wrote, “The head does not hear anything until the heart has listened. The heart knows today what the head will understand tomorrow.” The things that we learn and remember, usually stick with us because on some level we can relate to them personally. If we use stories in our teaching, it may give our students a better opportunity to connect to a more personal kind of learning. Stories affect he heart, we relate to them because we find bits of ourselves in every story that’s ever been told. Stories in the classroom can be the most fundamental way of making meaning and sense of your discussions. Interjecting that human component, that part of us that we can relate to and assimilating ideas based upon our own personal experiences, not only allow students to begin to connect all the dots, but may aid in making students feel more confident in their understanding of the subject matter. Author and scholar Kieren Egan wrote this about teaching and storytelling:

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“Thinking of teaching as storytelling…encourages us to think of curriculum as a collection of great stories of our culture. If we begin to think in these terms, instead of seeing the curriculum as a huge mass of material to be conveyed to students, we can begin to think of teachers in our society as an ancient and honored role. Teachers are the tellers of our cultures role.” It’s always interesting to me when at the beginning of class, I start with the words, “I’d like to share a story with you,“ how the attention in the class changes. Students seem to put their focus not only on you, but themselves as well. It’s almost magical in some way. It may be one of those few times where technology cannot replace the power of one person telling a story to another person. There is actual evidence that speaks to how we become almost in a trance when we become involved in listening to an interesting or powerful story. So in using this notion, stories in our classroom can have many advantages: 1. Getting the students attention, as well as, focusing on the lesson at hand. 2. Setting a platform for students to interact and comment on their thoughts about the story. 3. Providing a stronger connection in the classroom with you and your students. 4. Stories can bring out those students who normally do not participate in class, giving them the opportunity to share their own personal experiences in relation to the stories shared. Storytelling may be the oldest form of education. Stories throw that human component into the aspect of learning. If I can in some way relate to what is being taught to me, then my learning becomes more personal and becoming more personal, it has the opportunity to become a part of who I am. Our brains make sense of the world with its ability to arrange and re-arrange itself in story format. Our ability to retain information is affected by how our brains can make sense of the information in relationship to other information. So create a lesson in which a story is part of the lesson, give students the opportunity to become personally involved in the story and you may find your students discovering a different opinion of not only the subject matter, but the joy of learning itself. Posted by Salvatore Buffo at 08:32AM (07:00)

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$9.38, $53,000 & 36 million kids Monday, November 10, 2014

I recently received a message from a long time friend. Her question was not a new one; at least not one that I don’t contemplate in my own mind about 1,000 times a year. However, this time, it struck me with a fresh sting. She said, “Oh Le Anne, how can you work with pre-service teachers in this current climate? “ “With all that is going on in education today, locally and nationally, how can you encourage others to go into this field?” “Morale is so low, what a difficult time to be in considering a career in education!” These are $1,000,000 question(s) for sure. I do continually ask myself these questions. We live in a time full of contradictions. Science has concluded that the 90% of a child’s brain is developed before they walk into a kindergarten classroom. Research shows time and time again that a QUALITY preschool program, with highly educated teachers and caregivers in classrooms, makes a difference for a child’s long-term outcomes. We employ a workforce of over 1.3 million teachers and caregivers to serve those infants through pre-kindergartners. Did you know that in most states, those teachers and caregivers can go to work in a classroom with merely a high school diploma? Many states are working to require higher education. The stakes are high…..the responsibility is enormous to prepare children to be healthy and prepared to thrive in the k-12 world. Yet, did you know that the average wage for those teachers is $9.38 per hour? There are many of those employees that ARE in school learning the skills necessary to improve their daily service and interactions with young children. Earning certificates and degrees. For many, it is like jumping out of an airplane and THEN receiving instruction on how to deploy their parachute WHILE the are tumbling through the air. And yet, after years of working full-time, taking a class or two a semester, and YES!, finally, earning that Associate’s Degree, guess what? They now earn an average wage of $9.38 per hour! It is no wonder that the turn over rate for these employees is over 30% per year. These high turn over numbers are difficult to absorb. Think about the consequences of working to develop safe and trusting relationships between children, teachers and parents, and then having to repeat that over and over again. Let’s imagine that those preschool teachers go on to their bachelor’s degree. Two more years of education. They are hired as a public kindergarten teacher. They now make a national average of $53,000 per year. (note: that first year kindergarten teacher in many 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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regions may be closer to a $35,000 per year salary). The demands are great. The responsibilities are not completely unlike their preschool counterparts ( readiness to share, listen, learn in a group, work alone, work with others, be creative, innovative, curious, able to follow directions, be respectful, oh, yes and measurably show learning…..) The magnify glass now becomes stronger! This kindergarten teacher, usually alone in a room with 24-32 children, is expected to and usually guides their children through these tasks with amazing ability and grace! Those preschool teachers that worked so hard did their part to prepare them for these later school experiences. The foundation to learn was set and those 1.5 million elementary school teachers receive the baton and take their beloved classroom full of children as far as they can. If you do the math, there are over 36,000,000 children that are eager to step into a welcoming, organized and stimulating preschool classroom. Over 36,000,000 children how are hungry for a safe, trusting relationship and environment to learn to love and love to learn. Sadly, yes, the political and social climate for teachers to feel valued in their chosen profession is depressing. The expectations of them are tremendous, while they face so many uncertainties. Will their efforts prove their accomplishments through test scores? Will they successfully navigate the ever-changing evaluation process? Will their professionalism be respected by their community? Will their school close so the school board can address their budget deficit? It’s true, we are not in ideal times to recruit prospective students into the field of education. There are many difficult realities that teachers at every level face. But where does that leave those millions of children? Children still need a smiling face that cares about them. Someone that cares enough to plan and implement engaging and active learning opportunities. Someone that will be willing to lead, inspire and be part of the next generation of the most important job on the planet. TEACHERS! In the face of all of these uncertainties, we just can’t give up. It is more important than ever that we are recruiting amazing and capable people into this profession. Yes, there are a lot of broken pieces to the system. Come on people, let’s work to get this right….for the kids! Posted by Leanne Lawhead at 09:40AM (07:00)

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Rosetta Stone is a Scam and Treats You Like a Two-Year-Old Thursday, November 13, 2014 Often, in my classes, we discuss the ways we learn languages. As it turns out, you learn your first language(s) very differently from the ways in which you learn your second or third language, especially when these languages are learned later in life. A body of linguists now believe in what Noam Chomsky labeled as Universal Grammar (UG), especially for children. UG states that all languages universally have certain principles and parameters that are either switched “on" or “off" like a light switch. As infants, we come in contact with languages in our environment, usually from parents or other care givers and our brains automatically switch these principles and parameters on or off. For example, one universality in languages happens to be pronouns. All languages have them in one way or another, but some languages permit pronouns to be dropped completely and grammaticality is still maintained, like Spanish for example. However, some languages require that pronouns not be eliminated from sentences in order to form grammatical utterances, like English for example. So, when a baby hears a lot of Spanish in his home, the “pro-drop" parameter gets switched on. On the other hand, when a baby hears a lot of English in his home, the “pro-drop" parameter is switched off. In the English speaking home the brain starts to work within a “pro-drop off" paradigm and all linguistic decisions will be constrained by this linguistic framework. If a baby finds herself in an environment in which multiple languages are used, let’s say, in this case, English and Spanish, then the brain begins to work within a paradigm in which pronouns can be dropped or added. In early childhood, this can lead to some confused sentences and utterance formation, but as the child matures, usually six or seven years of age, the child is able to distinguish between all of the languages she speaks and bilingualism is assured. The child must be in constant contact with these languages, and if she is exposed to enough “input" (contact with the target language in day-to-day interactions) she will effortlessly master any number of languages. The ability to process and use languages seems hard wired biologically, but deeply influenced by our sociality. There seems to be virtually no limit to the number of languages small children can learn if exposed early enough, just as long as this exposure is significant enough and continues on through maturity. The learning is implicit and languages are learned effortlessly. This implicit learning model that works so seamlessly for children is, unfortunately, not the way in which we learn languages as adults (well, after puberty, most linguists believe). As adults we are trying to force our brain to accept new principles and parameters that have been switched off (or on, in some cases) for many many years. Unlike children, as adults we learn other languages by means of an explicit learning methodology. We pour over grammar books; we memorize vocabulary terms, morphological inflections, syntax and tenses. We fight against the solidified UG our brains have already developed. We have UG in place, in this case, for English and we think, by means of English, to make inroads into a new language. We compare and second guess the new language because we have our native language to fight through to get at it. As children, we don’t think through English to get to Spanish, we just think, often in images, and we choose English when talking to mommy from Ohio and in Spanish when talking to daddy from Torreón. This is good and bad. As adults, we can acquire the rudiments of a new language quickly. We know about nouns, and verbs and conjugation and a little bit about syntax. We can use these mental faculties to achieve an understanding of a new language

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quickly, but we make errors as we fight through all the things we already know and use automatically, in order to get at what we want to master. Children have no L1 (first language) in which to compare their L2, so errors are relatively few, or reside in overapplications of simple rules to a language’s irregularities, to which they’ve never been exposed. Adults who are super-motivated can become relatively fluent within just one year, sometimes six months when travelling abroad. That’s fast, considering it took you three years to form a complex sentence in English as a child. So adults can learn a new language faster, but, they’ll probably never learn it as well as a child who learns two or more languages natively. What’s all this mean? Well, many of my students say, “I wish I would have learned Spanish as a child. Why don’t we just teach Spanish in kindergarten?" My answer is, well, kindergarten is already too late. We need to teach them starting at birth. But “teaching" them is the wrong word, we need to “expose" them at a younger age. The fact is, we don’t know how to teach second languages to kindergartners very well. If you’ve taken a second language, you know why. It’s hard. You memorize verb conjugation charts and you learn 16 tenses and it’s a lot of memorization and most of all, it assumes literacy. All of these things, we cannot assume in kindergarten or even first grade. These students are grappling with learning their first language and literacy and now you want to hit them with a second language? Please! It’s not going to work. So, some advocate for an implicit learning model. Let’s teach these kindergartners to speak Spanish the way they learn their first language. So they bring a teacher in, one hour per day or a few hours per week and they sing songs, and they learn some colors, days of the week and they play some games and they think, “hey we’re learning here". Well, they’re not. Remember, you learned English after non-stop language immersion with English, usually from your mother and it took you three years, five to be fluent. They are not going to get the amount of input they need to learn a language implicitly from three hours per week when Señorita Rosita comes into their classroom. Sorry. Save those tuition dollars, and put them into piano lessons, because it’s not going to happen. You really want your young kids to learn Spanish? Hire Lordes from Guatemala to be your child’s primary care giver, especially before he goes into kindergarten, tell her nothing, just to treat the child like her own, and watch the bilingualism flow. Of course, along with language comes culture, so don’t be surprised at pleadings for Hugo’s on your nights out and a desire for a big quinceañera when the time comes. “What about Rosetta Stone? Does it work?" I get this question a lot. The answer is no. It uses an implicit learning model. So, in other words, Rosetta Stone wants you to learn a second language, as an adult, the way that children do. You are inundated with lots of input, but your adult mind doesn’t know how to order it all, especially with the massive elephant in the room, English, always getting in the way. You may learn a few key phrases, but your adult mind, at this point, asks questions and compares to your native English and it wants answers. Rosetta Stone gives no answers. It just gives input, but not nearly enough. If you are going to learn from input alone, prepare to make many errors, and prepare to be totally immersed, for at least a year. The best method and what your mind craves, after adulthood, is to understand the rules and to begin to apply them. This requires a systematic study of the language, with all its nuts and bolts and messy stem changing irregular preterite conjugations. This is hard, but it can be done with motivation and a willingness to expose yourself to a lot of the target language. It can and has been done and it can be done quite quickly. The best way is to take a class and systematically start up some intellectual heavy lifting! A few quick facts: After puberty, the vocal chords become somewhat fixed and you will 290

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likely never learn a foreign language without an accent. You will always be labelled a “gringo". You may master the grammar and lexicon, but this is a physiological issue. Your vocal chords are now solidified for English and not the second language. If you are very good at impressions and mimicking voices you can fool a few people, but native-like accent will likely always escape you. So, those crazy TV shows about CIA operatives who can pose as Russians, yeah, never going to happen. They’d laugh at your American accent while pouring borscht down your shirt. -Babies can make every human sound at birth. The vocal chords are not solidified at all yet and they can make all the sounds of every human language. If my baby was abducted from Prescott Valley and taken to China, it would look just like me (unfortunately, all of my kids are cursed with kleinman-like features) but speak Mandarin without any accent whatever. -Since bilingual/trilingual/polyglot children have multiple parameters at work, their brains have more linguistic tools at their fingertips and more flexibility. Some studies show that bilingual children are better problem solvers than monolinguals. So, what am I getting at? I’m trying to say, take a class. Take Spanish or American Sign Language, or one of our Community Ed classes in French or German or Italian. Expand your horizons and diversify your brain. Word is, it can ward-off Alzheimer’s. You’ll love it! Go back to kindergarten, but this time as an adult. We learn the ABC’s, colors, and days of the week during the first three class meetings! Posted by Curtis Kleinman at 12:34AM (-07:00)

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CRAZY Friday, November 14, 2014 It is one of those weeks here in my world. It seems no matter what is going on, life throws crazy all over the table. In fact, my table is full of crazy, nuts, screws, and just about any other eclectic metaphor you can think of. CRAZY. It’s all good. In fact, crazy is how I roll. I just hop aboard and ride the wave. If something doesn’t get done, there will be time later. CRAZY. I have completed one of the classes being designed this semester for Video Game Development. The second course is almost done. This latter one was a little harder as I needed to learn the software as I designed the course.

Winter Institute 2012 Image CRAZY. Winter Institute is coming together quite nicely. In fact, both days will end at 4:15 PM. LOVE THAT. I always hated driving home in the dark during Winter Institutes. A few corrections and switches were made here and there in the schedule. It should be finalized by next week so the training site can be updated to reflect sessions and times. After this…Registration is on. This process is time consuming. In fact, institutes can take up a HUGE portion of one’s time. CRAZY.

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Zumba® is probably the CRAZIEST of the group. This crazy is comforting. I love the students and feel good after a workout; can’t beat that with the crazy stick. You could beat it, but we would just groove to the tune of the beating.

CRAZY. Any whooooooooo CRAZY. That’s my rant for the week. Thanks for listening. CRAZY. Posted by Ruth Alsobrook at 10:38AM (-07:00)

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Perspectives Friday, November 14, 2014 The semester is winding down, and with only a few class sessions remaining, I find myself in a familiar funk. Perhaps it is simply a feeling of being worn out, perhaps it is the point of the semester when my reflection muscles get over used, or maybe it is simply the way our lives just roll. Worn out? Yep! Teaching a full load of classes, no two being the same prep has its own challenges. Add on the role of observing students in area classroom practicum placements, (anywhere between 12 and 30 classroom observations/visits per semester) complete with written evaluations and video feedback is valuable, yet time-consuming. Add on to that, a commitment to serve on a faculty committee, a peer review committee, 2 advisory boards, a community work group, managing two grants, advising an active student club and planning an annual conference…..no wonder fatigue sets in. I recently was ‘slapped’ into realizing the depth of my distracted brain when I managed to FORGET three things in three days! Oh man -how embarrassing to have to ask your supervisor to pick up, deliver and look for items left on another campus! YIKES! While all of these tasks are an integral part of maintaining and growing a program, not one of those tasks or roles should be more important than the time I spend preparing for classes and working with students in our courses. It is important to me to strive to model highly engaging learning experiences; that student’s experience a learning environment that ignites a passion for them to pass on to their future students. I want them to know what it feels like to be valued as a student, to not be allowed to be invisible in class, that each person is challenged to reach a new level of learning and gain perspective that will help them in their future- no matter what their end goal may be. Of course, with these ideals in mind; I often feel that I have fallen short. I am constantly reflecting on what worked, what didn’t and how I can tweak things for the next time around. We are very fortunate in our field that we have a clean slate to work from- 3 times per year! Whether or not we teach our courses fall, spring and summer- instructors have the opportunity to re think and re design our courses. I am grateful for this- I figure that when I don’t care about changing it up to improve a course, it must be time to retire. Someone once told me that teaching our classes should be like ‘doing the laundry’. She meant that our classes were the mundane ‘chore’, so that we could move on to other projects. I didn’t agree with that statement then, and I don’t agree now. If teaching becomes the ‘chore’ so I can get to other things…then I KNOW it must be time to retire. We are here to learn to teach and teach to learn. There are so many resources available to us to achieve this successfully. Whether it is a summer/winter institute, conferences, webinars, 57 second Blackboard Tips- AND of course, so many opportunities for our own disciplines. It can be overwhelming to sort through the options, to be clear on our own goal setting that will 294

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improve our teaching- figuring out what will raise student learning. As much as I think our egos might like to think that we can change a student’s life; it is not a one way street. Our students have a responsibility too. We can’t care about learning more than they do. We can create a safe, inspiring classroom. We can create high quality, well planned learning experiences. Ultimately, our students must meet us part way. They will get out of the courses what THEY put in. I’ll go miles to help a student succeed- but they have to show an interest, a desire- a spark! It is this time of year when reflecting on my work can be tricky. Figuring out how to prioritize, be effective and be moving a program in a positive direction is where my passion lies . Luckily, as the next weeks come and go- I’ll again have time to take a few steps back from the many tasks at hand. I’ll be able to perhaps look at this daily work from a new perspective. What matters, what doesn’t? How can I do better next time? This ability to stop, wait, think and be renewed is so important. …..and then we’ll do it again! Posted by Leanne Lawhead at 10:41AM (07:00)

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HOW DO WE DO OUR ONLINE PROFESSORING WORK? (PART 3) Friday, November 14, 2014 -ORHOW CAN WE PROCEED TO MAKE THIS AS STRAIGHTFORWARD AS PART 2 DESCRIBED IT TO BE? Life features much randomness. I may even get close to using up all the “internet letters” taking a stand on that, so perhaps instead we can just accept for now that our lives, friends, families, other work commitments, any commitments at all, financial management, the need for rest and leisure, can affect our well-meaning efforts to “keep up the fire” of consistency in our work as online professors. Sometimes, we may think, motoring off to work has its advantages. We physically leave our homes behind for the day, and whatever erupts has to wait until we return or reconnect. Even today, when we can log into our email and stay up to speed with that, old-fashioned mail and packages get delivered to our homes and must be opened later, say at day’s end. But, we are online professors, usually at home, and want to be; let us return to that world. Doing “things” in our class is a big part of our online format. Planning the structure – in short, the things students will see on the course page – involves writing; selecting sources, videos, and photos; and synchronizing these with the syllabus, especially if you didn’t design the syllabus yourself. So this preparatory work needs doing, and it is best when you can work, here and there, undisturbed until you have it all ready and posted, lesson by lesson. A decent YouTube video can take me three hours from setup start to final upload, including adding the titles and features I like and not having my voice crack up in a take. That’s just the sum of it – these “things” take pockets of preparatory time. When the course is underway, a big piece that commences is the professor’s need to grade. Of course, this is not just posting letters A through F. Much of our value is in our writing of feedback for coaching, encouraging, and communicating our best view of what we see being offered by the students as our assessment. Can we be perfectly neutral and evenhanded? We need to be, and yet we are human – it is left for us to figure out how to get as close as possible to true consistency for all classes of students, for years on end, until we retire from this profession. About consistency: I have learned never to grade when exhausted, angry, or after drinking. If I have had a plagiarism case, I will do the administrative work to notify my supervisor, plan with supervisors and the school the responsive actions, communicate with the student, but then I need to take a break before moving on to grade the next student’s work. A professor can get upset and disappointed at detecting plagiarism or other poor work, and it is all too easy to have emotions affecting our mental processes while grading more work after encountering such issues. There are times when we want to get more grading done, but it is really best for us to go to bed, or eat, or whatever fills a need. I believe our consistency over the long term is best when we make these decisions. About empathy: I believe professors need an extra dose of this attribute, and online professors need perhaps a double-dose, because our senses of sight and presence in

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the proximity of our students are not working in an online structure. Students will have things happen, or make decisions, that perhaps our strengths prevented in our own lives, and perhaps again, we were successful because we did not do similar things or have similar things happen to us. Nevertheless, we have just a few choices; mainly, invoke the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sanction or dismissal policies for one violation or another, or leverage the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s support offices and policies, and extend a hand ourselves to help students when they stumble. Students are mostly very grateful when we extend an effort of extra assistance, but does it work? Maybe extra accommodation, such as assessment extensions, end up working about half the time. My point is, the half continuing on toward success was worth it. I have journeyed a long way, but still know the value of sincerely trying. Posted by David Alegre at 11:52AM (07:00)

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Southgate Friday, November 14, 2014

Pfc. Donnell A. Hamilton, Jr. Spec. Brian K. Arsenault Staff Sgt. Octavio Herrera On November 10th, I read the names of fallen soldiers.

Pfc. Daniela Rojas Maj. Michael J. Donahue Sgt. Charles C. Strong Military personnel who lost their lives in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Boatswainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mate Seaman Yeshabel Villot-Carrasco Staff Sgt. Girard D. Gass, Jr. Sgt. Jacob M. Hess This was the National Roll Call â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a day of remembrance. My voice and that of the other readers throughout the day were played over loudspeakers. The names echoed across our campuses.

Staff Sgt. Andrew J. McCordy Pfc. Ryan R. Fox Sgt. Joseph D. Sewell The next day, on Veterans Day, I flew to Washington DC to attend a meeting of the Commission for Academic, Student and Community Development in Arlington. We gathered to seek ways to improve the work we do in higher education. In the morning I had a bit of time before my first meeting. I walked to Arlington National Cemetery, then along the fence toward the south gate. The entrance was closed. I hopped a low wall and began to walk amid the stones. 298

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George F. Sanderson, Pvt Burt H. Collins, Lt Col Crispin C Hernandez, Jr. MSG Hill after hill, filled with names. Soon I happened upon a service. The six-horse team stood before the caisson. The flagdraped casket sat high on the bed. A small group of mourners took part in their quiet ceremony and the military personnel performed their precise ritual. The sun shone. A sparkling mourning. I walked wide around the event. Another hill and I came upon another service. And then another. Another. In my short, 45 minute walk through this vast, still place I saw five interments. Each solemn. Each silently beautiful and moving. I passed through the open-air columbarium and now the names appeared every 12 inches. So powerful. And yet, it was the next field that moved me most. I emerged from the rows to see the Washington Monument on the horizon. Before me, a field of open grass. Flat, green and vast. It was room for expansion. I walked the solemn miles back to the conference center, resolved to make a difference. We teach with all our hearts because we have so very much to learn.

Posted by Stuart Blacklaw at 12:25PM (07:00)

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What Todd Learned in His Classroom Management Class Friday, November 14, 2014 Truth is, Todd never took a class called “Classroom Management.” He took a class called “Group Processes” that was all about how groups work and how we can make groups work better. For some reason, the state of Arizona allowed that class to replace the needed “Classroom Management” course required of K12 teachers for certification. The class I took was a three week “block class” at Prescott College. We spent a bit of the time in the classroom but most of it was hiking in the Sierra Anchas Wilderness Area and in Sedona. Things Todd Remembers about his Group Processes Course If I recall, we were introduced to Carl Rogers book Freedom to Learn in this class. And then, Freedom to Learn for the 80s. As Carl Rogers was known, his humanistic takes on schooling and learning fit well for our class and for me as a student. To this day, most of what I think about schooling and learning was written well before MRIs and computers. Of course I love the stuff from the late 60s. You can tell by my hairstyle. I remember thinking early on that educators really are just group therapists. I had wanted to be a family therapist like my mom before I went to Prescott College. I quickly found that in many ways teachers and therapists are the same. I was going to say “Especially in the early grades and high school.” But you know, that would be a lie. Twently year olds and 40 year old need all the same help children do. “The facilitator helps to elicit and clarify the purposes of the individuals in the class as well as the more general purposes of the group.” Carl Rogers Making Leaders out of the Sheep I remember on our days of hiking we had “leader for the day” and we would critique the job the student leaders did in the evening. In this day of “Student Engagement” there is no better way to get people engaged than to hold them to high standards that they have had some role in making. Just about the opposite of our “syllabus driven” mentality. When you demand that students create the parameters and the guidelines for the work they do it gives them a voice. Having a voice feels good. It makes you feel like you have some ownership of the mess you find yourself in. It makes you partly responsible for what the heck happens. It makes you part of the responsible party and not a spectator digging ditches. But all that takes precious time away from the “content” of the course. There is so much to cover in chapter three….

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“Learning is facilitated when the student participates responsibly in the learning process.” Carl Rogers The Portfolio and that Damn Graded Work Prescott College relied pretty heavily on student journals as documentation of a student’s learning. We were encouraged to use the journals in classes as tools to think in. Asking questions, drawing, charts, scribbles, poems, and anything that helped us wonder about our work was considered useful in the process of learning. We were encouraged to feel the work we did and in this class, our teacher was a psychologist and well versed in making a group go from a bunch of uninvolved individuals to a high functioning team of leaders. We did a 24 hour long session where we all sat in the same room and discussed everything from the most influential events in our lives to how to behave in a classroom and how to get others to participate at a meaningful level. People were crying and screaming. It was intense. “Self-initiated learning which involves the whole person of the learner – feelings as well as intellect – is the most lasting and pervasive.” Carl Rogers So what the heck did Todd learn in his Group Processes class? I suppose if I had to take it down to a sentence it might be something like, “Classroom management is best done by reducing the amount of management needed to be done by the designated leader and giving that responsibility to the larger group.” Or something like that…. I just made that up. And I think I learned some other things too. Posted by Todd Conaway at 04:06PM (-07:00)

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‘Final’ Projects & “I&rs... Friday, November 14, 2014 “Oh, and I need (deserve?) an A.” In most of my classes, I’ve learned the hard way to not give students too many points before they get to a final exam or final project. Yep, in one of my first semesters, I did just that. Students who turned in all the weekly assignments had enough points to get a B in the class. Yikes! Needless to say, most of the student taking the final exam were those who didn’t complete all the weekly assignments. So how do I get students to complete all the assignments and think ‘completion’? In the “Pathways to Prosperity” study by the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2011, it states that only 29 percent of those who start two-year degrees finish them within three years, and just 56 percent of college students complete four-year degrees within six years. The United States has the highest dropout rate in the industrialized world, according to a Harvard analysis of data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Oh, there are high-profile cases of dropouts-made-good like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, but the majority who don’t finish are not so fortunate. I’ve tried a lot of things- incentives, including food, prizes, free assignments…it seems if they aren’t going to finish, they aren’t going to finish. So, what to do? Here’s what I’ve tried this semester: • $1 Million Bill (fake) – for being engaged in class and contributing to the discussion (my call). If they get $10 Mil, they get a prize. The prize can be a drink at the snack bar, homemade cookies, YC logo cups – it can even be a kazoo. • Late assignment coupons (not new, but Mark Shelley is on the right path). I just want to see the assignments; even if they are late. Yep, some points may be taken off if they are really late, but I’m getting at least something. • Early Alert system – this has really helped for students who have seemed to fall of the surface of the earth. One student missed 2 weeks of class, did not respond to any of my emails, or calls. She just had some family stuff and ‘forgot’ to call or email me (!!) • Personal notes – One student was quite surprised that I mailed her a note that I was concerned about her. She said it was the first note ever from any teacher (!!). Yep, I felt good about that one. • Have fun in class! For one class we went outside. For another class we had it in the snack bar. For another class we took a short walk during class and had our discussions that way. I’m happy to say that out of 20 students, I’m finishing with 18, and they are all passing at this point. I’m going to stay positive and believe that they will all complete successfully. I can’t guarantee the “A”, but most will be pleased with their grade. Did what I do in class help? Perhaps. Posted by Chris Heyer at 04:43PM (-07:00)

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STUDENT RETENTION Friday, November 14, 2014 Week 8 9X9X25 Challenge Jim Voska Student Retention Having worked with a number of educational technical programs over the years, I have come to the conclusion that student retention should start in the middle school. It’s at that age that students are still open to exploration. Open to finding new ideas. Open to find their career path. Awhile back, I facilitated a career institute for high school sophomores. The vast majority of them came into programs with a set career plan. Some had no plan. The problem that I observed was the career choices that the students made were based on very little research and no career assessments. They did not do due diligence, had no understanding of what the career offers in pay, job opportunity, job growth, and etc. for their choice. Some did not have a complete understanding of the “job” responsibilities. The direction I’m advocating is to help students early in the process in giving them the resources to make informed decisions that could affect the rest of their lives and also the quality of their lives. I contend that a student that engages in exploration with career assessments early in the life (before high school) are more likely to choose a career field that better meets their interest, values, and skill sets. They are more likely to find their passion. They are more likely to enter into a program that meets their career goals. They are more likely to engage in the learning process and excel in their field. Career assessments management before high school provides the student with a direction or path to explore. The purpose is to explore and not pigeon hole a student in the process. If a student, finds his/her passion and follows his/her career path, student retention in programs should increase over the present state. Students can see their career choice in concrete terms. Career exploration helps students learn to research, provides learning opportunities in critical thinking skills, and provides the road map in their life. Helping students in their career management process at an earlier age can help them succeed later in life. With students identifying their passion and career path earlier, there are benefits that would become evident once they join the workforce. Career management professionals have always suggested that employees that have passion for their occupation are happier and more productive in the workplace. Companies could benefit with higher employee moral, less “mental health” days, and increase revenues. Targeting students earlier in the career process can increase retention in programs, aid students in their success, and develop a better skilled workforce. Posted by James Voska at 10:47PM (07:00)

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Changing Mindsets and Motivation for the Basic Writer Saturday, November 15, 2014 Christine Helfers from Mesa Community College presented on the mindset research of Carol Dweck and Patrick Sullivan concerning how it relates to the Basic Writer. Helfers asked, "What would improve student attitudes toward learning while providing interesting content for student reading and writing activities? She encouraged participants to read Carol Dweck's book, Mindset: The new Psychology of Success. She claims that Google Books contains most of the chapters for free for those who don't want to purchase a copy. For those who want to test your mindset, go to Carol Dweck's Web site. Teachers and students need to learn to hear the fixed and the growth mindset. Then we can recognize we have a choice. Just transforming thinking from "I can't do it," to "I can't do it yet," indicates I can do it. Students need to identify steps or actions toward the growth mindset. Here is the link to Dweck's TED talk titled The Power of Yet. Please view it to learn how the simple word "yet" reframes the situation for students who are still needing to work more to achieve a particular level of achievement. Students learn they are not failures, but that they have a choice to continue on to achieve. Now they can identify a step or action toward success. Helfers mentioned to us that Habits of Mind and Mindset are similar. After doing a little online research, I found Habits of Mind rubrics for K-12 school systems using Common Core. As a college instructor, please consider what relates to the college classroom and what does not. In addition to improving student mindset, building motivation for learners is essential. In Helfer's developmental writing classroom, she uses short writing activities and assignments. I believe these are beneficial because success in small assignments build student efficacy. Here are some she suggests:

• Freewriting • Interviews • Visual invention work such as creating posters on how to reach goals • Discussion questions from Mindset research • Chapter questions from reading materials A way to build even more motivation is in the larger writing projects. Helfers creates essay units developed on themes that encourage positive thinking in the minds of the students. Here are some topics she suggests; • Grit mini-essay based based on Angela Duckworth's research: TED Talk • Successful person they know after reading or listening to Dweck and doing an analysis paper • Career exploration possibilities to help students build toward an ultimate goal. • SMART goal setting essay

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â&#x20AC;˘ Character sketch of a person who positively influenced you. She suggests people like Malcom Gladwell. When we comment on student work, she encourages us to incorporate mindset principles into our response practices. Don't just say, "Good work." Be specific. Commend effort, but write what is effective to encourage students where they are doing well, and point out specific areas where improvement is needed. Later I spent some time meeting with Christine Helfers, I asked her what she uses for a developmental writing textbook. She does not. She uses free sites on the Internet for grammar support. The bulk of her class consists of students writing drafts, and then she edits the drafts and returns them to the students. Students learn best when seeing their own errors in writing and having them identified and having the opportunity to correct these errors. I was drawn to Helfers' ideas since these relate so well to what I was taught at Northern Arizona University in the Composition training I had in graduate school. We read chapters from Mina Shaugnessy's Errors and Expectations , Peter Elbow's Everyone Can Write , and many others. All in all, I found the presentation very stimulating to challenge me in the way I approach basic writing here at Yavapai College. I encourage you to do the same. Posted by Tina Luffman at 11:37AM (-07:00)

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Stress and Learning Saturday, November 15, 2014 I am a fan of offering students the opportunity to struggle with new concepts and grapple with making new connections between familiar ones. I know some students prefer to hide out in comfortable material in which a medium to high level of understanding can be demonstrated. Perhaps the subject includes preferred content that gives her confidence to complete the course successfully. Maybe he recognizes how stress affects his ability to learn. Let’s look at some science behind grappling with understanding. The Edutopia article “The Neuroscience Behind Stress and Learning” written by Judy Wills, M.D. discusses this in terms of brain-based learning. It begins with two points. 1. Neuroimaging research reveals that “learning circuits” and the release of neurotransmitters are disrupted in stressful learning environments. 1. Neuroscientific research about learning reveals that improvement of the brain circuitry involved in memory and decision-making accompany positive motivation and engagement. The idea is to reduce classroom anxiety and increase connection to lesson content. Neuroimaging as part of brain research shows when classroom experiences are relevant to students’ lives, interests, and experiences (and remain stimulating and challenging), learning objectives can be achieved very well. Stress, anxiety, and even boredom are reduced with carefully crafted and challenging lessons where students are “partners in education.” Positive emotions impact brain physiology, such as the processes of metabolism (getting energy molecules to the nerve cells in the brain) and nerve impulse transmission (moving nerve impulse along and to other neurons via neurotransmitters). Remember the idea that being tough will get students/children will get them ready for the “real world?” On the contrary, using stress-reducing strategies and confidence builders help students gain emotional resilience. Then they learn efficiently and at a higher level and better adapt to changes in their world. Teachers can help them do this. Here is something cool. The amygdala, part of the brain’s temporal lobe, responds to fear and anxiety. When over activated, as when faced with a threat, helplessness and anxiety arise blocking the passage of new sensory stimuli to other places in the brain where memory and association take place. What Stephen Krashen refers to as a sort of learning filter has actually been visualized by neuroscientists. Here is Alan Alda on how brain imaging works: Students cannot respond to or hold onto new information in certain mental states. Stressful situations produce one of these states. The information cannot get in. And as the Edutopia article states, providing the atmosphere conducive to learning is following the science, not coddling our students. Alienation from learning experiences leading to blockages to learning is revealed in neurotransmitters levels as well. Amounts of these chemicals show that a student’s comfort level and positive feelings impact learning and remembering. It follows then that learning depends on engagement, confidence, and yes, challenge but not to the amygdala. 306

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Posted by Joanne Oellers at 04:26PM (-07:00)

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We are Who We Think We are: or, Fake it ’till You Make It Sunday, November 16, 2014 At the end of every semester I host an open-ended Q&A with my English 101 students. At this time they can ask me any academic related question. Typically students attempt to push the boundaries here, dowsing for advantages and sniffing out my pet peeves, but such sallies are punctuated by solid queries –the exact kind my optimistic lesson plan predicted. Foremost among these is the following chicken soup for the troubled English professor’s soul: “How can I become a better writer?” Unfortunately, the answer is decidedly unsexy, consistently failing to offer the type of academic panacea the student is after: “Read more, write more,” I say with a veteran campaigner’s voice. If this sounds like more homework, that’s because it is (hence the often constipated look that comes over freshman faces when this advice is proffered.) The sad truth is, there’s no magic pen, ivory tower shortcut, or clever secret hidden in the teacher’s lounge. The wholly mundane and unexciting answer, as so often is the case, lies in hard work. However, buried within this journeyman approach, there may just be a bit of the sorcery students are looking for. Aristotle said that “we are what we repeatedly do.” This grind-it-out methodology –the “read more, write more” advice offered aboveresults, over time, in competency. Taken to its extreme (about 10,000 hours, or so) and it can even result in greatness. Thus, if you want to be a writer, write every day and this slow accumulation will eventually swell into the skill itself –you’ll be a writer. But this is modern America, the land of:

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And as much as the old and the wise maintain the contrary, it’s hard to knock instant gratification. So, it helps to offer students some form of incentive, a little pixie dust to speed them along their journey. It even comes in a pithy, rhyming quote: Fake it ‘till you make it. Imagine that you are a writer, an A student, a better person –whatever your goal is, and you’ll become one. You don’t even have to wait out Aristotle’s slow-build approach or Gladwell’s temporal equation. It can happen almost immediately. The key lies in how identity shapes our habits. Consider someone attempting to become a more sympathetic friend. Rather than asking himself, “how can I become more sympathetic?” he should assume that identity and then pose the less ambiguous question: “what would a sympathetic person do?” This provides a clearer roadmap and often suggests a plan of action. See the following syllogism: Bill is in the hospital. A sympathetic friend would go visit him. I’m a sympathetic friend, so I’ll go visit Bill. In this fashion, the change is nearly immediate, relying not on a long and proven track record but rather on a moment’s conceptualization. And the real beauty here is that while this immediate gratification is taking place, there is also a slow accretion happening. Take 3-4 identity-driven acts of sympathy and suddenly you have a bit of a habit. Engage in this habit for a while and you develop a reputation. Continue to build on this reputation and you arrive at Aristotle’s maxim –you’ve become what you’ve repeatedly done; in this case, a sympathetic friend. This plan of attack can easily be ported to school and supplied in addition to the longterm “read more, write more” advice. Encourage students to imagine themselves as writers and then apply this identity to their everyday lives. In so doing, once idle questions can become actionable practices: “What would a writer be doing right now?” “Would a writer ignore this mysterious word, or look it up?” “Does a writer revise and edit?” “How does a writer read?” By adopting the identify of a writer, even (or especially) if it’s initially a false identity, one can effect immediate life changes based on a sort of subconscious mimicry or roleplaying. Once again, thoughts become actions become habits become reality. Thus is a little magic offered to students, the light brightened and the tunnel shortened. Now, imagine yourself as a commentator, and provide some of your own thoughts and ideas below!

Posted by Jason Whitesitt at 11:01AM (-07:00)

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Reflections 2014 Sunday, November 16, 2014 Hi everyone, In this second year of participation, I found the entries were easier to write and that I developed more practice and comfort with adding graphics and links to the posts. Creating posts is an enriching experience because the practice forces me to stop and think for a few moments about what I do that is working, not working, and what I can share with others that may help them along their path to being a great instructor. This semester I began by writing about two tools that I enjoy using: the iPhone and the iPad. Then I wrote about one free program, Jing, that I use for Screencast videos for multiple purposes. In this post, I focused on how I use Jing to help English reading students to develop better pronunciation, fluency, and comprehension. Then I went to a conference. I had taken so many notes at TYCA-West in Mesa, Arizona that I felt compelled to pour back over my notes and share what I had learned. First I presented on the value of going to conferences period and highlighted a little of the keynote speaker's comments as well. Next I moved on to presenting three specific presentations that I felt were beneficial to my colleagues here at the college. Just so you know, I have material to write another entire 9x9x25 left in the notebook, so I may continue to write as I get time. Concerning the experience as a whole, the gifts are great, but they were less of the reason for writing this year as compared to last year. Yes, Todd did go the extra mile to get me sorbet since I am allergic to milk, and it was very good, and the house plant and books were awesome, and the chocolate cookies were delicious, but seriously, I just enjoy being a part of something bigger where I can share with colleagues and actually go through the process of reflecting upon my own teaching and learning process. Technically speaking, I really liked the opening page on the 9x9x25 blog where we could click on an individual's name and read just his/her posts. That way I could read all of my English teacher colleagues' posts at once, and then move on and read those from FYE classes, and more. The sad part about this year is that I didn't spend as much time commenting on people's posts or on receiving comments. I am not sure what the difference was, but I felt more like an island this time around. Still and all, it was a great experience, and I will certainly participate again next year. I wish you all the best as we head into the final weeks of the semester. I will miss you all Friday at the luncheon, but I will be with you in spirit. Have a blessed Thanksgiving, and I look forward to seeing you all at Winter Institute. Speaking of Winter Institute, I hope many of you will come and participate. I have heard there will be a session on December 8 for Quality Matters. There will be an opening panel 310

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discussing the new FYE103 class experience. I have also heard of an opportunity to come listen to people who have participated in the 9x9x25 experience, and that is just a taste of what is to come! Sincerely, Tina Luffman Posted by Tina Luffman at 11:27AM (-07:00)

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Overcoming Boredom with Teaching Sunday, November 16, 2014 During my junior year in college, I took a 300-level Shakespeare class. I was really anticipating this class--finally in the upper echelon and in the smaller, more intimate classes. It wasn't long before I caught on to just how close to retirement my professor was. Here was a man who truly had job security in tenure alone. Every class we students would arrive early, open our Norton Anthology of Shakespeare, get out our spiral notebooks and pens, and settle ourselves into those hard wooden desks for the torture of the next 90 minutes. The professor (I can't even remember his name), clad in his disheveled grey suit, would arrive right on time with his trusty brown briefcase. He never bothered to take attendance because he knew we had to be there. With the briefcase plopped down on the desk, he would pull out his hefty 3" 3-ring binder--you know the old kind with the blue cloth covering. Next he would pull out his wooden ruler and mechanical pencil. Carrying both to the podium, he would open the notebook to the page with his check mark from the previous class. Placing the ruler on the typed page under the correct line, he would proceed to read his notes for the rest of class, moving his ruler down the page and flipping to the next when appropriate. Needless to say, we students fell into our routine of trying to capture every word in our own notebooks in hopes of gleaning some incredible insight for the midterm. Every once in a while, as if on cue, he would even laugh at one of his own typed jokes, just to break up the monotony. For that class, our grade hinged on the midterm, the final, and a research paper. Shakespeare at its finest! I am so glad we have moved past those prior definitions of education as filling the empty buckets in students' heads with jewels of great knowledge. It must have been easy class preparation for those professors who had to research or publish in order to maintain tenure, but students certainly did not benefit. When I taught my first online course, I was highly alert to the tendency for online learning to take on the same characteristics for students--read a chapter and regurgitate the information on a quiz or exam. I wanted as much as possible to design a course that would be engaging and would create a similar sense of community as found in my faceto-face classes. Even so, I must confess though that after teaching the same class year after year I felt as though my teaching lost its luster. This is not what the students experienced, having never taken the class before, but I am ever alert to my own boredom. In other words, I get bored with myself and with my own classroom routines. Now I know my lesson plans are new to my students every semester; nevertheless, I don't want to sabotage my own effectiveness by getting into a set routine. This is one of the reasons I appreciate the opportunity to attend conferences through professional growth. Not only do I get re-energized, I also gather ideas for new classroom activities and more interesting assignments for my students. Having just returned from the annual Conference for College Reading and Learning Association a week ago, I am already 312

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envisioning how I will utilize new-found ideas within the remainder of this semester and as part of my classes for spring. This is also why I appreciate our own Winter and Summer Institutes. I enjoy hearing from fellow faculty about what they are doing in their classes and "borrowing" their ideas. I also like having the opportunity to discuss our common student and/or technology issues. We all need to have that change of pace from our routines and busyness. My own boredom is also one of the reasons I avoid using textbooks in my courses because I don't want to fall into the rut of skill and drill in my reading classes. I also avoid using the same books every semester by switching up my readers, novels, biographies, etc. Although this is more work for me, it gives me a fresh look at each class each semester. I know myself well enough to know I need to keep changing things to maintain my enthusiasm. What I am re-evaluating now is my overuse of small group discussions. I am not giving up on them; I just want to use them more effectively to get the most out of the time and to provide the best learning experience for my students. A work in progress to be continued next semester.... Even though I keep an electronic file of all my previous lesson plans, I hate going back to them unless there is some nugget of a great activity that I want to remember to utilize. When I start copying and pasting the same old stuff into the new semester, I lose the luster of working with a new class and a new challenge. I want always to enjoy teaching and interacting with my students in the present. I guess as I slide towards retirement, I could let the boredom take over to make my life a little easier. I certainly wouldn't have to put in as many hours toward preparation and giving good feedback on assignments. In good conscience, I just can't do that to my students, or to me. As instructors, we get to create our own classroom experience; we might as well make it the best experience possible for everyone, including ourselves. Posted by Nancy Schafer at 02:40PM (-07:00)

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Communitas Rather Than Merely Community Sunday, November 16, 2014 I had the chance to discuss the idea of community in the classroom with a couple people this week. As I’m sure you are aware, the studies show that, for many students, an educational community helps with retention and academic performance. I know this to be true from my own experience as a student and a teacher. We often thrive when supported, and held accountable, by our peers. So, I looked up the definition of community, and here are the top three (and most relevant definitions): Community: noun, plural communities. 1. a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage. 2. a locality inhabited by such a group. 3. a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists (usually preceded by the): the business community; the community of scholars. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/community Being something of a word geek, I went ahead and looked up the Latin root, which is communitas. Much to my surprise, the following appeared: Communitas: noun, Anthropology 1. the sense of sharing and intimacy that develops among persons who experience liminality as a group. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/communitas I had never seen this definition before. It was utterly new to me, and it immediately dawned on me (in my excitement) that THIS is exactly what I strive to create among my students. It is not enough that students simply gather in groups, inside and outside of the classroom, and learn and review knowledge. I want them to change, and I want them to change together. I want my classes to be liminal experiences—that state of existence between entering one person and coming out a different, better person. I want each class to be an intellectual (and, if possible, an emotional) rite of passage, where the students emerge with stronger minds and stronger hearts. This is my ideal, and the word communitas precisely defines what I desire for my students. I haven’t taken even an informal poll, but I suspect more than a few of you have had classes, or periods in your lives, when this has happened to you. I was fortunate enough to have experienced this “sense of sharing and intimacy that develops among persons who experience liminality as a group” a number of times in my life. In graduate school, both at the University of Arizona and the University of Kansas, communitas developed into academic cohorts with individuals who have become life-long friends. We transformed into better people, better scholars, and better educators together. 314

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Yes, I know there are a lot of factors involved in making this ideal a reality as teachers in our own classes. Once in a while, we get groups of students who, for whatever reason, have horrible group chemistry. In these cases, it seems that no human alive can raise the energy of the class to allow communitas to develop. But, in my years of teaching, I have found this particular dynamic to be fairly rare. And if you are one of the instructors who believe that it happens frequently, or it happens more frequently with â&#x20AC;&#x153;this generationâ&#x20AC;? of students, then I propose that you are not trying hard enough. So, here are a couple of questions for you all. How and when has communitas developed in your classes? Was it similar to a personal experience you underwent within the framework of your own education? And, lastly, in this digital age, we should ask: how do online classes change the potential for establishing communitas? Posted by Mark Frederick at 03:04PM (07:00)

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My Top Five Simple Tools and Resources for Teaching Online Sunday, November 16, 2014 I try to keep up with some of the new tricks and tools for online teaching. I like there to be some bells and whistles in my classes, and I believe in technology enhanced learning. However, it is easy to want to use everything, and not to be thinking specifically about what is suited the learning and content that I want to happen in my class. These five things, however, have proven their worth over many semesters of teaching online. They aren’t the fanciest or the flashiest, but they work: 1. YouTube Videos: I use YouTube videos mostly for weekly announcements and short lectures on “just in time” topics. For instance, if students are having trouble with an assignment, I will talk more specifically about that assignment and go through the type of illustrative lecture that I would if I were in class. This weekly announcement for my ENG 102 class this semester is a good example of that. I also am showing this one because I have recently begun to work on making my videos ADA compliant. I write a transcript and upload it for closed captioning. This has made the videos a little less spontaneous and relatable, but I have already had students tell me that having the subtitles and the transcripts is very helpful. Doing these videos at least every few weeks (ideally every week, but that doesn’t always happen) reminds students that I am moving though the class with them and that there is a face behind the screen. When I send out these videos in the middle of the week, students often respond by asking questions about the assignment that were prompted by watching the video and which they may not have asked otherwise. 2. Screen capture videos (I personally use JING): I had been teaching ENG 101 and 102 online for a while when I first started teaching ENG 100 online. In the other classes, I had established an introductory assignment that successfully stemmed the tide of technology and computer related questions after the first week. However, in ENG 100, I used a similar assignment and the questions just kept coming. Many weeks into the class, I still had students who were unsure about file formats and how to submit different types of assignments. I was still fielding tons of questions about basic navigation, and I realized that this group as a whole was much less familiar with the online learning environment. So, to make my life and theirs a whole lot easier, I decided to use Jing to record short videos, showing my students how to navigate each week’s assignments. My students know to watch the weekly video before contacting me with questions, and this has really decreased my email load. 3. A “Problems and Solutions” Discussion Board: This is maybe the simplest of all the suggestions on this list, but is another great tool for reducing email load. I simply always have a discussion board in every online class which is only for students to post questions and where I (or in some, rare, circumstances other students) can answer them so other students can see. Even if students don’t necessarily visit the board before sending me an email, it gives me a shorthand to tell them that the answer is posted there without having to repost complex instructions. I’ve also had students tell me here about broken links and other things that I’ve missed, which I

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appreciate. 4. Google Forms (a feature of Google Drive): Google forms are awesome and super simple to use. Google has many features that are useful in an educational setting, but this is the one I use every semester. It is easy to link or embed these forms in your class, have students fill them out (anonymously – unless you ask for their names as one of the questions), and all the data is collected in a handy spreadsheet. This semester, I have used them for pre and post course surveys, RSVPs for library instruction and RSVPs for PTK induction. Here in an example of a course presurvey from my summer ENG 100 class: 5. The YC library resources: I have to also take a moment to say that I couldn’t teach online research (I mean, I could, but it would be a whole lot more work, and the content would be much skimpier) without the awesome YC library staff. I set up in person library instructions for my online students every semester; they are optional, but allow my students to come and meet in person and familiarize themselves with the library and the staff. I also especially appreciate the subject guides and the plagiarism materials provided on the library website. Finally, I encourage students to use the “Ask the Librarian” feature, including the chat. It’s a good thing, and one that students will use throughout their time at YC and beyond Posted by Laura Cline at 04:58PM (-07:00)

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Engage Students By Making Them Board Monday, November 17, 2014 Back around 1980, I got my first computer. As I recall, it had the brand name Sinclair and it was connected to a little black and white TV we had in the basement. It had a minimal amount of memory, but I could save programs to a cassette tape connected to the IO port. That computer found its way to a landfill in Alaska a long time ago. It amazes me that almost every one of my students (as well as myself) carries a small computer in their pocket that is hundreds of times more powerful than that old Sinclair. Not only is it more powerful, but my smartphone fits in the palm of my hand. It also amazes me at the growing number of uses a smartphone has in the classroom. Over the past two years I have organized the students in my classes into teams. Over time, I have been more and more careful about how I assign students to teams. Random assignment of students is not nearly as effective as a systematic assignment based on a questions in a form. I administer the form as Google form and ask questions about leadership, technology, and their preexisting notions of team learning. One of the primary tasks I give the student teams is to work in class at the board on problems. Typically I introduce the topic in 10 minutes or less including one basic example. Then I send the students to the board (all at once) to solve pairs of problems as a team. The focus is on solving the problem and documenting the process so that the work on the board would be useful later. In effect, I want them to construct notes on the board using all the brains in the team.

As the teams work at the board, I circulate among the teams asking questions of the team members about the work they have created on the board. I use this opportunity to try to include team members who may be on edge of the group and not really contributing. I will ask them for details on the work and if it is not clear, what needs to be added? Often I will ask them to add to what is already there if something is not clear. Eventually, each team creates a correct version of the example.

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In my early attempts at this type of team work, students wanted to transcribe what they had created into their notes. This slowed down their progress on the problems and limited the number of problems we could get through during a class period. Also, have you ever looked at the notes students write down? You may think that your brilliant board work appears clearly in their notes, but they do not. Looking over the notes, I noticed that students often transcribe what is on the board poorly.

This is when I began to take pictures of their work and post it online. Not only did the boards appear exactly as they created in class, but it also freed up time in class and allowed the groups to cover more examples in class. Often the groups can cover almost as many examples as I can in class. But now the students are in control of doing the examples. They include the information that they think they will need to do the problem later. Taking pictures of the boards with my digital camera was tedious. Instead of taking pictures of every board, I rapidly realized that I would focus on the best examples to reduce the number of pictures I would need to take, download, modify, and then upload back to my class. Keeping up with capturing and posting 10 to 20 examples in each of my classes for each class meeting was tough. Most pictures require some correction to increase the brightness or crop out extraneous parts of the picture. I needed to streamline the process. For me, the answer was to utilize my Android smartphone and its camera. During the class, I continue to take pictures, but now I use the camera on the smartphone. At the end of class, I open the Gallery App and view the picture.

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At the top of the screen, you can see an icon for Google Drive. By selecting this icon, you can send the file to your Google account. I always make sure that I connect to a WiFi network since uploading all of the pictures can take a sizable bite out of meager data plan. Once the pictures reside in Google Drive, I can download and modify the pictures using whatever software I choose. I use Snagit by Techsmith to do this. Although Snagit is designed to do screen captures and make screen videos, it also includes a basic image editor that may be used to clean up images. Once the Snagit editor is open select File and choose Import from Google Drive.

This selection opens your Google Drive folder. Select the image file and choose OK. The image file will open in Snagit. Now you can annotate and correct the image using the Snagit tools under the Tools tab or Image tab. This process enables me to quickly download and process the images of the board.

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As you might expect, each teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s board work improves over the semester. Initially, their boardwork is monochromatic. They are simply interested in getting the correct answer, not understanding the problem.

Initially color may be an aesthetic choice or be used to separate the parts of a problem.

I emphasize the use of color and annotation in board work. Color has a purpose and it not to make the board pretty. Color helps to emphasize portions of the board: a value that needs to stand out or algebraic operations on an equation. Annotations help the student to remember their thinking when they were working the problem out. About half way through the semester, most teams turn the corner.

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I would have never dreamed that technology would evolve to such a level where the traditional idea of note taking could become obsolete. Now students can focus on paying attention to what is done in class and constructing knowledge by collaborating with their classmates and instructor. These are key ingredients to increasing the retention of that knowledge. Posted by Dave Graser at 06:12AM (-07:00)

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Shorten the Chain to Work out After Work Monday, November 17, 2014 Chaining is a behavioral strategy. It is based on the notion that for a behavior to occur a number of actions must take place. In regards to chaining, these actions are seen as links in a chain that lead to a desired action. The shorter the chain, less links/actions, the more likely the desired action will happen. The longer the chain, more links/actions, the more likely the desired action will not happen. In this writing, I will give one example of how the behavioral strategy of chaining works. The Desire Action to Work out After Work The Long Chain – What you usually do: It’s 5 o’clock pm on Monday. You leave work; you drive home (20 minutes); you get home; you look at the mail (5 minutes); you grab a snack (5 minutes); you get your gym clothes together (10 minutes); you drive to the gym (20 minutes); you work out (60 minutes); you drive back home (20 minutes); you take a shower and get dressed (10 minutes), and you begin to prepare dinner at 7:30 pm. The Short Chain – What you could do: It’s 5 o’clock pm on Monday. You leave work; you drive to the gym (10 minutes – because you choose a gym close to your work); you pull out your gym bag from the trunk that you packed the night before that even has a snack bar in it; you eat the snack bar while walking into the gym and to the locker room; you work out (60 minutes); you take a shower and get dressed at the gym (10 minutes); you drive home (10 minutes), and you begin to prepare dinner at 6:30 pm. As seen, the first chain is long, with more links/actions, thus, based on the behavior strategy of chaining; the desired action to work out is less likely to happen. The second chain is short, with less links/actions, thus, based on the behavior strategy of chaining; the desired action to work out is more likely to happen. On a Side Note It’s not just about having too many links/actions that may hinder you from working out, but it’s about the types of links/actions that may hinder you from working out. For example, the link/action of going home first could make it harder for you to leave the house, preventing you from working out. This link/action should not be the first link/action in the chain to work out, but it should be final link/action in the chain to work out. Another example with the link/action of going home first, it could accidently create more links/actions that were not part of the chain to work out like ‘getting stuck’ talking to your neighbor in your driveway for 15 minutes about the civic league meeting last night. So, make sure your chain to work out does not just have less links/actions, but it has ‘smart’ links/actions. Posted by Charles Lohman at 08:15AM (-07:00)

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My Dad and Albert Einstein Monday, November 17, 2014 Albert Einstein, while developing his theories of the universe and time, also gave much thought to the notion of education. He once wrote:

“The school has always been the most important means of transferring the wealth of tradition from one generation to the next. This applies today in an even higher degree than in former times, for through modern development of the economic life, the family as bearer of tradition and education has been weakened. The continuance and health of human society is therefore in a still higher degree dependent on the school than formerly. Sometimes one sees in the school simply the instrument for transferring a certain maximum quantity of knowledge to the growing generation. But that is not right. Knowledge is dead; the school however, serves the living. It should develop in the young individuals those qualities and capabilities which are of value for the welfare of the commonwealth. But that does not mean that individuality should be destroyed and the individual become a mere tool of the community, like a bee or an ant. For a community of standardized individuals without personal originality and personal aims would be a poor community without possibilities for development. On the contrary, the aim must be the training of independently acting and thinking individuals, who, however, see in the service of the community their highest life problem. To me the worst thing seems to be for a school principally to work with methods of fear, force and artificial authority. Such treatment destroys the sound sentiments, the sincerity, and the self-confidence of the pupil. It produces the submissive subject. It is no wonder that such schools are the rule in Germany and Russia. …the desire for the approval of one’s fellow-man certainly is one of the most important binding powers of society. In this complex of feelings, constructive and destructive forces lie closely together. Desire for approval and recognition is a healthy motive; but the desire to be acknowledged as better, stronger, or more intelligent than a fellow being or scholar easily leads to an excessively egoistic psychological adjustment, which may become injurious for the individual and for the community. Therefore the school and the teacher must guard against employing the easy method of creating individual ambition, in order to induce the pupils to diligent work”. (Einstein) My real education began for me at the age of 11 years old. It came unexpectedly and was delivered to our home in 2 large boxes filled with beautifully leather bound books. It was a complete set of the 1960 new edition of Compton’s Encyclopedia. My father had purchased the set, which was at the time a very expensive item, to add to the family room’s bookshelf. I spent many hours propped up with my legs hanging over one of the oversized worn chair in the family room, turning each page in every volume learning something that fed my curiosity about the world I lived in. I was an average student in school, did lots of daydreaming in the classroom and was 324

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more interested in cars and girls during this time than my studies. I found that many of the things taught in school didn’t spark any interest and was presented in such a way that daydreaming was a more productive way of spending time in the classroom. I would think about some of the things I learned reading the encyclopedia that was in our family room. It’s interesting now to think that my lazy afternoons or evenings spent going through random volumes of the encyclopedia gave me more pleasure in learning than sitting all day in a classroom, being told what to read and then quizzed on my ability to retain the information. My father was a self-taught man. He attended school up the age of 11 years, but then had to quit school to work to help support his family. He worked in a bakery and in addition to his meager pay was allowed to bring home each day a loaf of bread, which was needed for daily meals in his home. It’s interesting to think that the purchase of the encyclopedia occurred when I was 11, the same age my father had to quit school to help support his family. Perhaps it was his way of having some completion of his own education or provide some insurance to his family that learning will always be available no matter what. My father was a steelworker for 25 years and moved up the ranks as a metallurgist for the largest steel plant west of the Mississippi. Not bad for someone with only a 5th grade education. He would make jokes about how he was training new employees with college degrees how to do his job. Perhaps, Einstein was on to something when he wrote: “The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” The notion of learning should be seen from various perspectives, the ability to use critical thinking skills for determining a “truth” within ourselves as well as a responsibility of giving back what we learn in bettering the society in which we live. My father would frequently ask me two questions when he came home from work; what did you learn today and how are you going to use what you learned? Our teaching should incorporate these 2 questions. Information can be useless unless it’s applied to something. Perhaps this should be a given in making sure each course objective should always include the ability to apply what we learn and use it in bettering our lives as well as bettering the world we live in. Thanks Dad for providing me with that direction. Posted by Salvatore Buffo at 08:23AM (07:00)

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Two Years of 9x9x25 = 323 Posts Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Well, just by the number of participants this time around I vote we were successful and I have high hopes for next year. We changed things up a bit and I think that the commenting week went ok. I liked the posts from Northwestern Michigan College and I think our posts were read by the folks there. The gifts this time around were good. For me, it was best when it was, “One cookie for me, one cookie for a teacher.” I ate a lot of cookies. At 1, 261 views, the Webletter had more views in October than it has in the six years it has existed in its present form. That is good. I think that unless I am outvoted, we will return the Title Clicks to direct back to the author’s blog. That way the faculty will have more views on their sites. Not that views are everything, but it is an indication of interaction. I will be moving the Webletter from its current hosting service (Bluehost) to another service (Reclaimhosting). I have never done that before, but I am excited by the new service as it will allow me to add @discourse as a way for faculty to have conversations on the Webletter. The screenshot below is a forum from the connected courses class. (http://connectedcourses.net/ ) We will have the capability to have conversations on the Webletter using a really elegant and adaptable interface. I bring that up because the structure of the 9x9x25 is still overwhelming for a reader. I am not sure if that needs to be “fixed” because maybe when you have 23 awesome people writing at the same time you just end up with a lot to read. But, I am interested in making the whole thing more interactive. Be that with comments on posts or a discussion forum or just bringing in posts from other intuitions, I am interesting in trying to make it better. Of course, the real point of the whole thing is not so much the interaction, but teachers sitting quietly and reflecting on their practice in writing. I think. I am excited to see how our lunch goes. I have some questions for the group about next year and I am interested to see how they are taken. One is about actually charging faculty to participate in the Challenge. The other is to see if we can get some other gifts from the college students/faculty. I really thought the plants from the Horticulture program were great. I like that the college students were involved in growing them. There must be some other items like that that we can use as gifts. I hope I remember to get on the soapbox for a minute or two and talk about the challenge we face in creating sharable web presence as faculty. We have a few stellar examples of faculty using the web beyond adding content to a Blackboard shell. I think that the “digital literacy” that we need to role model for our students includes being capable of defining the purpose of, and creating and maintaining, a presence on the web. So I’ll say something like that. 326

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Reflection Thursday, November 20, 2014 For me, writing a blog post is a way to self-reflect. It is an opportunity to express feelings, ideas, and possibly vent. With several blogs going, this opportunity presents itself to me many times. When Todd came up with the idea two years ago, my first thought was on all the work to add ANOTHER blog to forefront. The second thought was faculty would not comply. The first thought has presented just another medium for use in getting information out. Another tech tool which could provide demonstrations on teaching tips. It is a tool which can be housed within the Yavapai College confounds and kept secure from public viewing. It has become a way to reach out and explore a different style of communication. The second thought has been shot down. Faculty have stepped up to the plate. Some are a little more “wordier” than others. There are a one or two I will begin to “follow” to read more of their wisdom. Maybe something will sink into this feeble brain of mine. The best part about the 9X9X25 is learning. Each post shared provides a hint of something new. This “something” can be an idea, a change, and even a simple disguise of a lesson. It is thoughtful, and at times soulful. It can place one into a reflective trance… Posted by Ruth Alsobrook at 09:25AM (-07:00)

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Mirror, Mirror- A reflection of the 9x9x25 experience Thursday, November 20, 2014

This experience began as a chance to put my money where my mouth is. After years of promoting (and yes, requiring) reflective practice with my own students, I figured it was time to practice what I preach. At first, it seemed challenging to know what to write. My mind swam with thoughts surrounding the justification of my discipline, which sadly is a cause to advocate. It was a valuable exercise to take the time to articulate those issues surrounding my field. When I was new to Early Childhood Education, my passion was exploding. I felt like it was necessary to climb mountain tops to promote the research that validated the need for MORE attention to be given to our youngest citizens of the world. Now, fifteen years into this part of my career twist, I sometimes forget that what I’m teaching, promoting, advocating for is new to my students. Regardless if I have shared the same information a hundred zillion times (I couldn’t resist, that is a ‘kid number’, right?), I have to remember that it may be their first experience with the material. Even IF students feel they ‘know it already’, it remains my responsibility to present it with fresh enthusiasm and passion. Upon reflecting on the last 9 weeks of writing, I did notice several things about my practice: *Yes, I like to write! I started out as a journalism major in college. A mentor suggested that rather than majoring in something about writing, perhaps majoring in something I was passionate about would provide me with a topic for writing. Yep! Those were wise words,and I’m grateful that my career took this turn. Writing this blog rekindled my love of writing and I hope to continue in some capacity. *I do love my job! Even though thoughts of being worn out, bogged down and over committed does seem to be a theme, coming eye to eye with my chosen profession has reignited a passion.The trick now is to really look at choice I may have to make the position more balanced, and less stretched. I cannot give my students my best if I am stretched too thin.

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*We’re surrounded by amazingly brilliant people! I have always known that we can learn so much from one another. As a matter of fact, our office neighbors, department mates and committee colleagues all have much to share. The nature of our work at the college level does feel isolating. (compared to working with teammates in the public school setting). It was common practice for my 17 years in the classroom to plan together, use everyone’s strengths to accomplish tasks and most importantly, laugh! Writing is powerful, but just hanging out with others in a culture that promotes conversation, community, support, humor and care is irreplaceable. This was a valuable experience for me. An opportunity to look in the mirror. If my work here is a reflection of me- then I have learned something. Learning- yep, that’s why we’re here. So Todd, I think you can say, “mission accomplished”. Thanks for driving this 9x9x25 bus along the way! Posted by Leanne Lawhead at 01:43PM (07:00)

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REFLECTIONS ON WRITING ABOUT TEACHING AND LEARNING FOR THE YAVAPAI ... Thursday, November 20, 2014

West Point cadets measuring radioactivity near the academic buildings. http://www.usma.edu, USMA PAO photo. First of all, a special thank-you to Todd Conaway and TeLS for continuing to lead exploration in learning expansion and improvement. The ideas surfaced among us who wrote, as when we attend our seasonal Yavapai College Institutes, are valuable and we grow when we share them. Most important of all, perhaps, is that by initiating such efforts and offerings, TeLS is moving us forward and away from stagnation – and that phenomena does strike communities; I am an eyewitness to this. But that description is for another time. We have it good here and now. Writing on the theme of the potential of teaching and learning takes more work, as we know, but it has provided a welcome forum for offering and sharing ideas. Personally, I have benefited from being able to articulate my framing of the vocation of online university/college professoring, and learning accomplished by both students and faculty alike. I learned some mechanical techniques as well, with TeLS staff prodding; in particular, finally blogging and also refining the integration of films, images, and videos into items I create for courses and presentation. I enjoyed reading the insights of others in the challenge; when doing so, you can see both good ideas shared and also reflections of the others as people and leaders. For myself, I was glad of the chance to record for public view what I believe I have experienced and learned. Turning our tables of thought, have we explored all of the phenomena of college/university learning, or have we explored “enough?” One question or the other may be a better fit in relation to our efforts. We will certainly not reach the end of knowledge of how to learn at this adult level, but at times, we may have been effective at learning just something new that brings us to a new level of effective facilitating of learning. Perhaps here I can recall my experiences as an undergraduate myself, as a cadet at West Point, and we can see if we are satisfied for the moment with how far we journeyed in learning. There are some good books, some entertaining, that you can peruse to get acquainted with the lot of a cadet or midshipman at our nation’s service academies; your taxes have been paying for them, so if you look at matters that way, you may as well! I can

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recommend the humorous Ducrot Pepys by Ronan C. Grady or To the Point, 1802-1902 by the late George S. Pappas. As Colonel Pappas died without finishing his next book covering the more recallable 1902 – 2002 period and his heirs turned down my offer to write it for now, we have to wait; meanwhile I can relate a few items about learning from a 20th century West Point cadet’s viewpoint. Cadets are admitted after a competitive application process culminating in a Congressman’s nomination and Academy acceptance, so they historically feel driven to preserve their standing and gain the big prize of graduation. But they rapidly find out they have a deluge of things to accomplish and limited time to do so. Even today, though less so than ever, certain courses are required – and freshman English can be scary when they too, flunk their first paper or two; or math or engineering, when they realize they really did not grasp the details that the exams ask to be demonstrated. Adding to this 147-credits-or-so academic load over 47 months is four-year physical development and military science and leadership programs, and a strict and traditional military lifestyle, and you have cadets who – well – prioritize their efforts and often dream of graduation, perhaps missing out on the richness of their present circumstance as our national-level cadets. The slight sadness of such an experience that most of us later shared as alumni was in our frequent feeling that we wasted some of our education, here and there, by not taking full advantage of the knowledge being offered. I used to be teased for having retained more of the aggregate content offered than most, and maybe that is why I am writing this now. Back then, most of us knew we had a chance to listen to the best national minds of the day (we frequently would get other university professors as guest lecturers) and read from unique American archives, and some of us felt the opportunity slipping away as we progressed to seniority. We had so little time available to do literally EVERYTHING well we were told we must; and even as we learned how to perfect the skills of time management, we all discovered the equation was an impossible one – certain items had to give. Often, this was coursework. Can this onerous cycle in higher learning ever be broken? Perhaps. None of us professors appreciate when students practice what we in the military call an “economy of force” tactic – when you’re the “economy” and your project was not submitted, or submitted well, so students’ better efforts could be applied elsewhere. Maybe our courses could all use a periodic, “strategic” review – and continue to ask ourselves the question as to whether or not students have a balanced load in the course that brings them where designers intended at course’s end, even if a few stumbles occur with certain assignments. Enlightened military officers figured this idea out, and altered their courses so there was less impersonal “machinery” to them and more personal sharing; we remember both them and their course contents to this day, even in a different world. Posted by David Alegre at 01:58PM (07:00)

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Butâ&#x20AC;Ś OK: Reflections on 2014 9x9x25 Challenge Thursday, November 20, 2014 I shouldn't. I'm spread so thin, but.. I can't. I don't have time, but... No good this year. I really don't have anything to say, but... Why? Does anyone really read those things? But... OK. There are a bazillion reasons why I shouldn't have participated in this year's 9x9x25 Challenge. The lines above are just the beginning of a very long list. But... I knew the benefits, from last year's challenge. I knew it would be good for me, my teaching, my students. Added stress? Yep. Frustrating? At times (not so much about the challenging, but just about another thing on my plate, my life). Here is my short list of why--when I probably shouldn't have--I decided to participate. And some suggestions for making the decision to participate again not so difficult (hopefully). Participating in this project causes me to think and reflect. Between classes, meetings, special projects, grading papers (not to mention a semblance of a life outside Yavapai College), often times I admit I kind of get in "auto-teach" mode. I really try to be conscientious, progressive, innovative, on the cutting edge, yada yada yada. But honestly, some weeks its just survival. Committing to writing about teaching each week forces me into self-evaluation mode. That's probably the biggest benefit. This challenge motivates me to try new things in the classroom. After all, who wants to read about the same old stuff, different day? (Not me!) Several ideas that had been percolating in my brain for some time (even years) get an excuse to come out and play. It's kind of exciting! And I've felt (justifiably so, I hope) that it is "safe" to share failures as well as successes. 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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I love pilfering others' ideas. Again this year I'm reminded of what creative, motivated and brilliant colleagues I work with. I've stolen several ideas that have been shared through these blogs (although I'm not saying what, for fear of retribution and to protect the innocent). My teaching is definitely better for it. The whole deal gives me a chance to write. I really love writing. Just seems I don't do enough of it (and it probably shows). But I get to set aside time to do what I'm passionate about--writing, and writing about teaching. Ok, I shouldn't need an excuse. But it helps to have a little "push" from Todd and the folks in TELS. Most of all, the Challenge inspires me. I've been doing the full-time teaching gig for almost 30 years. Seen a lot of things come and go. And as much as I would like to think I keep myself fired up each semester, the truth is I can use all the help that's out there. Getting to read the musing of others in the same boat really does fan the flame. (Although I'm not sure about my mixed metaphor here--fires in boats aren't usually a great combo!) What would I change? Not much, but here goes... * I'd make it shorter--not the length of the blogs but the number of weeks. It's probably just me, but I find myself losing steam after about six weeks. What about a 6x6x6 Challenge--xix weeks, six blogs, six paragraphs? So "666" may not be the best number to choose, but the product (216) isn't so bad, is it? *I might suggest that the format be simplified for those who want to read. I had several people who weren't writers come to me and say that they wanted to read more, but had a hard time finding their way around on our site. Too many clicks, too much scrolling, too confusing? What about a Table of Contents of some sort where readers could see the name of the articles (maybe a one sentence abstract) and the author, and just click on what or who they were interested in reading? *How about, instead of just "comments" on each blog something more interactive, along the lines of a discussion board, where readers could actually dialog with the authors? And maybe auto-reminders when someone made an entry on your article, so you could go look and respond? *Maybe don't do it in November. From a personal perspective, the Challenge competes with National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo), which challenges insane persons (present company included) to write 50,000 words in one month. (I did it last year, but am failing miserably this time around). I'd love to do both, but it's become a bit much. Besides, November starts getting crazy when it comes to classes, grading, etc. That's it. Should we do it again next year? ABSOLUTELY! I can't, I shouldn't, BUT... Posted by Mark Shelley at 02:03PM (-07:00)

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Reflections on the 9x9x25 Challenge Thursday, November 20, 2014 Among his many harangues, the Gadfly of Athens once cautioned: “Beware the bareness of a busy life.” We have our own gadfly on the Verde Campus, and he’s equally skeptical of “busy.” For example: “Do you want to do the 9x9x25 again this year, Jason?” “I’d better not. Erin’s in grad school, the kids are a handful, and I just took over the Honors College. I’m going to be too busy.” “Too busy. Bah! You can do it IF you want to.” One’s immediate reaction to this sort of retort is not positive. It feels invalidating and dismissive of the daily struggles of a demanding job and an active family. Indeed, one quickly gains sympathy for the Athenians that sought to exile the nettlesome Socrates. However, just as history has given us a better perspective on that famous philosopher, so too have Todd and the 9x9x25 Challenge given me a better perspective on “busy.” Teachers are rarely idle. Despite ludicrous claims to the contrary, we don’t knock off every day at three, spend our summers on the beach, and our weekends rolling in illgotten riches. The school year is a neverending cycle of prep, performance, evaluate, repeat. Compound this with increasing technological innovations, paperwork, and administrative demands and the typical teacher simply has to keep his head down to get his work done. This mandate leads to the seemingly counter-intuitive state in which teachers are “too busy” teaching to think about teaching. Of course, we do think about teaching –but not in the large sense, not in a philosophical fashion, not in such a way that promotes regular improvement. Innovation may occasionally occur, but this is usually in response to a given problem, the pedagogical equivalent of calling the plumber. To truly improve our craft we need to move past the problems of the present to think on the possibilities of the future. And 9x9x25 provides us with this opportunity. Yes, I have a stack of papers to my right that need grading. Yes, I have a committee meeting to prepare for. However, beyond these immediate drivers, I also have a responsibility, to my students and myself, to 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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become a better teacher. Writing for 9x9x25 forces me to engage this commitment, and, through my writing, and the writing of my colleagues, to invest in future dividends. As busy as I am, am thankful for this opportunity and even the not-so-gentle reminder that instigated it. Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s to the gadflies! Posted by Jason Whitesitt at 02:08PM (-07:00)

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Reflections on the Challenge, The Sequel Thursday, November 20, 2014 Accepting the 9x9x25 challenge for a second year was interesting. It was easier; it was harder; it revealed the same personal weaknesses; it highlighted some growing strengths. I found it easier to sit down to the computer to write. I felt much more confident in having a voice and having something worthwhile to share. I still faced the looming deadlines and found myself posting on Sunday mornings. Even though it was easier to start typing, I still needed plenty of time to mull, review, edit, revise, mull, sweat, polish. The germ of an idea might come the prior week, but my inspiration took a lot of molding and shaping. I kept scraps of paper in my car, on my desk, and on the bedside nightstand to record any shimmer of an ephemeral idea. (I always appear to be far more profound to myself at 3:00 in the morning. Be thankful that many of those little scraps found their way into the nearest garbage can!) Even though the ideas did eventually take root in my brain, I found that some of my driving passions carried over from last year. I caught myself repeating themes about students and reading. At times, I struggled to come up with a new topic that had nothing to do with reading or writing. Hence, I attacked dual enrollment one week and fear of my own teaching boredom another. The venture into voicing my views on dual enrollment proved rewarding because I could take the time to ponder my position on an ongoing issue we face in higher ed. It wasn't until I started to type that I could flesh out my concerns and add meat to my arguments. As was true last year, there is no good time for writing during the semester for me. I am thankful for the challenge, for the deadlines, and for the rewards (Kudos, Todd, for all the goodies!). And I appreciated the break from the routine post one week to spend time responding to others' posts. Even so, I really did try to read everyone's posts every week, and it was strange to think that I didn't know if anyone was reading my posts. I especially enjoyed examining how many of us repeaters grew in our writing abilities and skills. Enforced practice created greater fluency for us all. In the crunch for time this year, I had to focus more on writing and polishing the post than on finding sources for cool links and images. So, yeah, in desperation I resorted to copyand-pasting stock images--how dull! That was disappointing for me; so much for being flashy and innovative. 2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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Ah well, when in doubt, just "git 'er done!" and smile for the camera with thumbs up. Posted by Nancy Schafer at 02:19PM (-07:00)

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Reflection Thursday, November 20, 2014 My reflection. Well, I think I missed once week posting, so I feel a bit guilty. I liked the writing; I found it difficult and interesting and enlightening. I got a bit more empathy for the writing that I ask my students to do. This type of personal writing about teaching left me feeling exposed to my colleagues, and I realize how scary that it is to be honest about frustrations. I think I used my posts to kvetch about some of the annoyances and troubles and to look for a little compassion, comradery, and guidance. I think as an instructor, I want to appear in control and in charge at all times, and admitting that some things are difficult feels awkward and wrong. It was interesting reading what my colleagues wrote, but here’s where I have a suggestion. I’d like to write one week; then read and comment the next week. There was a lot to read, and I would find myself skimming when I really wanted to read, cogitate, and comment. I am amazed at the ingenuity and creativity of my colleagues. I was able to learn things in the posts that I could never learn in my brief interactions with colleagues. So enlightening. I liked to watch the thought processes of other people as they played out in the posts. David Graser’s posts were works of art with so much energy. I’ve learned a lot from reading Laura Cline’s posts, and we’re in the same department and our offices are just a few doors apart. The thing is, in our daily interactions we’re cordial, but her posts have given me great instruction and ideas that we don’t have the room for in real time. But this brings me back to my suggestion: let’s do one week writing, one week reading and commenting. I haven’t gotten through all the posts, and I want to. There’s gold in them thar posts! (<get it?) Posted by Mary Verbout at 02:44PM (07:00)

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My 2014’s 9x9x25 Challenge Reflection Thursday, November 20, 2014 The 3 Things I added to dotcomYOGA.com This year’s 9x9x25 Challenge motivated me to add 3 things to my website (dotcomYOGA.com) that I would have not added otherwise. Number 1: I added a ‘Wellness Articles’ Section During this Challenge, as I was writing about the behavior strategy SMART (How to Start a SMART Workout), I realized that some of the things I’m writing about for this Challenge are specific to wellness. So, I added a ‘Wellness Articles’ section. This section will be for my Personal Health & Wellness and Weight Management students at Yavapai College, for my Personal Wellness Concepts students at Tidewater Community College, and, of course, for anyone who can access the internet. Number 2: I added a ‘Yoga Articles’ Section During this Challenge, as I was writing about the new technological Yoga Smart Mat (Two Reasons SmartMat’s Second Promotional Video Ain’t Too Smart), I realized that I have a lot I want to say about Yoga specifically. So, I added a ‘Yoga Articles’ section. Now, before I added this section, I did a little research about the best length for online articles. And based on my research, and the type of website I have, I decided to have this section for Yoga articles that are only between 150 and 200 words in length. Number 3: I added a ‘Yoga Poses’ Section For years, I’ve wanted to add a ‘Yoga Poses’ section, especially for my online Yoga students. So, during this Winter Break, I will add a ‘Yoga Poses’ section that will have short videos of Yoga poses and modified Yoga poses. This section will be great for my online Yoga students who will be able to access these videos through their online Yoga course. In Addition In addition, I know this specific 9x9x25 writing is shorter than 25 sentences, but this is another thing that I want to mention in this Reflection. Sometimes a subject I’m writing about just doesn’t need 25 sentences. So, since this is my 9x9x25 Challenge Reflection, I will go ahead and make this point by stopping at 13 sentences. Posted by Charles Lohman at 02:56PM (-07:00)

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Until Next Time… Thursday, November 20, 2014 There are many things to say about the participating in the 9x9x25 challenges. This year, I found two strategies that worked for me to efficiently participate in the challenge. One was to just go with what happened to be on my mind at the time (usually late Sunday night) that needed to be expressed in order to keep a healthy mental balance. The second was using the blogging ideas directly in my class activities. They complemented each other. Of the two, the biggest benefit I see from participating in this year’s challenge is student response to my blogs. I wrote with my students in mind; choosing topics thinly veiled in academic importance but really making points I wanted them to read. It paid off. “Why Don’t Students Ask for Help” generated requests for help. The class and I expanded on the ideas of “Crosspollination” by relating what they are learning in biology to content in other courses. “How College is Different From High School” gave an opportunity to review the syllabus and course expectations. Stress and Learning opened the door for discussing that end of the semester crunch time and solutions to staying calm. So that is the selfserving aspect, perhaps benefitting students, too. But who knows the extent of the ripple effect, if any? I would have liked more discussion and commenting from online students. But the semester rolls on and we do have biology to “do.” My feeling is that students liked getting to know their instructor from another angle as I enjoyed learning about my fellow 9x9x25ers. The project is awesome, very satisfying, and running well. A few thoughts I can contribute are below. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Make a little shorter (5X5X20 or so). Provide some sort of indexing (key words?). Link to the original site. This would help us see our colleagues in their Give one week really off, if it remains 9 weeks in length. Create discussion threads. Wow, that might be really hard to manage. There is so much to read! Thank you, everybody! Posted by Joanne Oellers at 02:58PM (-07:00)

2014 9x9x25 Challenge

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