Aracelie_Reflecting on Reflections_23 Mar
In our 16 Mar class, Darren gave us handouts containing general guidelines for writing reflection papers. Although we have been doing these writings for the entire course, this was our first exposure [in this class] to examples of what a reflection might look like to be most beneficial for our practice. Our task for this week was to look back at our previous contributions and using some or all of the given guidelines, critique our method of reflection used so far this semester.
I feel like I have done an okay job on my posts, but not stellar. Looking back at my entries, I recognize a few things. When posting, I did try to follow questions similar to that of the Rough Guide – What happened? What was important about it? What do you do with it? Each time, I would start writing, I had no problem summarizing events. Figuring out something significant was slightly harder to do. Determining what to do next was the most difficult piece every time. I don’t practice teaching, so it was almost as if I would have to translate most of what we are doing into something related to my job before I could come up with the “now what?”
Additionally, I noticed that I prefer to do my reflections in stages. First, I take some notes in class that I think of as little sparks. Almost immediately after class, I phrase a few initial sentences. Finally, I let it stew for a few days, before putting it all together in prose format. The more time I have to reflect, the better the reflection seems to be. My most recent posts are shorter than my first two because I had the time to focus on the former and complete the stages I just mentioned.
I also realize I feel more comfortable than I did my first few weeks. I was a little afraid to post things on the blog because I did not have an example to follow. Plus, I had entered a brand new field that I felt I knew very little about. Not a very good feeling when you are used to knowing what you are talking about. Luckily, I also feel that I have enough learned material in class to where I do not have as many “definition/meaning” questions.
Now that I have been through the entire process several times, I find it is much better to put yourself “out there” (professionally speaking, of course) when it comes to reflection. That seems to be beneficial in generating more questions for the blog entries and the classroom discussions. I also know that the “Now what?” will always be the hard part because we don’t always know what else is out there. As it has been said before, “You don’t know what you don’t know.”
Jason’s reflection on class reflections
After reviewing the chart handed out in class entitled The rough guide to reflection. I can see that in my previous posts I have been leaving out the NOW WHAT portion. I have outlined WHAT HAPPENED and discussed the SO WHAT but I have failed to fully outline the NOW WHAT. So I want to attempt to fulfill all three general “columns” as applied to last class meetings discussion.
We were discussing classroom environments and successful strategies to encourage courage. How can we get students to try new things? A great example was given of a student writing a play for the first time even though her strength was in other forms of writing. This was viewed as courage in the classroom by a student, and it was an example of just that.
I couldn’t help but feel very saddened by this discussion. It is really upsetting to me that most classrooms are environments that require individual acts of courage from students to try something new or to, god forbid, fail at something new. This is exactly the opposite from how I want my students to feel in my classroom. I caught myself thinking back to a classroom incident from that week in one of my intro classes. We were discussing beauty norms and I asked the question “what are the societal beliefs and meanings attached to obesity?” and secondly “Do we as a society discriminate against obese individuals”. I had a number of students that wanted to frame the discussion as a “health” (how much it costs society in terms of health care etc.) issue and I asked “so the four year old that teases the other four year old for being “fat” is concerned with the burdens obesity places on our health care system?
After this questions a female student that had been teased throughout life about her weight “courageously” jumped into the discussion and told numerous stories of how she had been teased and treated unequally because of her weight. The fact that this took “courage” on her part I see as mostly my fault. Somewhere along the way I let the classroom culture shift to one of judgment of individuals instead of judgment of ideas. Yes she still spoke her mind but it was in a confrontational environment instead of an open learning environment.
This illustrates that I still have trouble creating an open classroom culture in my larger classes. For example my summer classes are usually under 20 students (and meet for 3 hours twice a week), in those classes I have found it easier to get across the message that learning is a process, trying out new writing styles, looking at things from new perspectives, and openly displaying life experiences that frame our way of interpreting the world should not be considered risky behavior. I think my difficulty creating this kind of environment in my online classes and my larger classes is a great opportunity for SoTL research.
Aracelie_Reflection_23 Feb
Our latest class continued with the Believer/Doubter exercise. The other members of the class had the opportunity to present their questions to the group. As with many things, we discovered there are two sides to every coin. For every positive we came up with, we were able to see the same point as a negative. The game is a great technique for flushing out details of the question and for allowing other perspectives to shine. It also requires the originator of the question to reevaluate is purpose in pursuing that question. Depending on how much and what one really wants to accomplish will determine which factors are truly positive or negative.
Additionally, I noticed how, depending on how one looks at it, “well-trained” or “well-programmed” I really am. Each time my mind started to form a comment it turned into a question. ‘Have you considered this? Did you think about that? Why not try this? How did you decide that?’ I had a difficult time just making a statement using what I already know. Granted my knowledge of music and sociology is limited, but I have spent so many years asking for more details and more information that it was very difficult to try and work with what I had already been given and already knew. I realize being able to ask questions is not a bad skill to have, but I have to remember I do not always have to approach everything in that fashion.
Aracelie_Reflection_2 Mar
Elluminate! It’s like Harry Potter, only not. When I walked into the classroom, I remembered being glad we did not attempt to use it for class when it snowed. Those were a lot of scary and confusing icons on the screen. However, after watching Darren go through the sound checks, it did not seem as bad. Having the opportunity to let Dr. Barkley guide us through her most recent course portfolio was great. I thoroughly enjoyed the set up of the portfolio. Travel is something near and dear to my heart, as well, so every click of the mouse had me anticipating the next video clip or soundbite. To see something so well-thought out and evident of time and effort was inspiring. Not only did it make me want to take her class, it made me want to teach a class so that I could emulate her portfolio. She also mentioned that there was an incident (I cannot remember the specifics,but something related to cheating, I think) that was extremely difficult for her to deal with, yet she chose to post it on her site anyway. That example seems to take a lot of courage. I don’t know that as a new, non-tenured faculty member, I would have the self-confidence to make something like that so very public. I wondered later after we left class, whether there were any ramifications from her institution and if so, what degree of severity they held. Perhaps her class is so well-liked that the institution applauded her actions. Or perhaps she has been so open with the rest of her work that posting the negatives and the positives is now expected in her work. In other words, she has set the standard for herself and others are well-aware of them.
March 2nd Class reflection from Carrie Ann
First, let me say that I hope everyone had a wonderful spring break and you all are enjoying the beautiful spring weather that we are having. I look forward to seeing you all next week during class. The March 2nd class session for me was very rewarding on so many educational levels. This was the first time I have seen the Elluminate Live! Software used and being able to talk to another professor seeing/discussing the same images on the computer screen that we were was amazing. The real time interaction of the program was wonderful and I hope to use this software more in the future. Dr. Elizabeth Barkley was very open with her portfolio putting both the “good” and the “bad” out there for all to see, and that is a bold move as an educator. I really enjoyed seeing another music educator’s work with the same subject matter that I teach, and I came out of class with some new ideas for my teaching. While looking at Dr. Barkley’s portfolio one quote hit a mark with me so much that I had to write it down. Eric Hoffer states: “In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” We in the SoTL must move forward and keep learning new things every day, if we don’t we will be stagnant and the world will just keep moving forward.
We also had the opportunity this class to hear our colleagues’ thoughts and responses to the “How People Learn” text. It was nice to hear about all the chapters that came before the two chapters that I had assigned to me, and now I see a logical and linear train of thought of how the whole text progressed. I hope in the future to sit down and read the whole text, and make new connections with the materials presented within.