Engaging Shy Students & Reflections on the First Day

Hey all,

By now, everyone's probably taught their first lesson! I just wrapped up mine about an hour ago. I love that shift from nervousness to positive adrenaline that happens on the first day; something about meeting your students in person and putting names with faces can really ease the stress of having to teach.

Reflections:

First of all, on a positive note, I felt like the whole time was used productively. I moved through the syllabus and other obligatory first-day business fast enough to prompt some preliminary discussions of content and get students oriented to the class and what I find important. The tone of the class felt positive.

One particular exchange was lovely: after I played the clip of Malalai Joya at the Loya Jirga, one student commented that she did not know or understand her audience (who would oppress her or systematically isolate her). I posed the broader question to the class: Does this mean she should not have spoken? Another student hit on the interesting point that she's trying to raise dissent or incite the room; which is perhaps a goal itself.* I raised the question: Notice that we're watching this on YouTube--was her audience limited to just that room? And a variety of students hit on interesting responses dealing with how she's trying to impress people in other countries, heighten exposure to her plight, and so on.

The ensuing group conversations about the value of our ability to speak and communicate freely were solid; students definitely seized on important issues of the value of being able to express your passions in America. The segue into the syllabus review (I am passionate about this so that's why I'm strict about some of these items) felt right.


* One thing I should've raised here was: Notice that a great many people in that room were clapping at what she said--albeit nervously, fretful about demonstrating too much support. What does that teach us about her audience?


One other thing that went well: I borrowed a page from our graduate director and told students how I can tell when they haven't read. Having been "that guy" in undergraduate (the one who didn't read, but definitely pieced together what four other people said to construct a rough response), I definitely was able to communicate to them how I'll know when they've skipped the reading.

A few considerations moving forward:

• Students were a bit inactive, given the 8:00 AM time--but that's no excuse. I told them to drink coffee if they need it in future classes.
  
• The fist-to-five: A decent ice-breaker; with the large group it got a bit repetitive. I might reconsider it for next semester. 25 students is a lot for that.
  
• Getting to know their names will be tricky! I will emphasize this at the beginning of next class. It's important to me that I can identify them by name so I can call on them and share their ideas. It's probably a five minute time sacrifice during the next class that will make everything else run more smoothly in the long run.
  
• I felt this weird impulse today to make strange and random connections to stuff I find interesting, but that students probably found tangential (Katie had a similar issue yesterday). I don't know why--as a high school teacher I never did that without it being really relevant. Something about being back on a college campus and prepping for graduate seminars makes me want to sound smart. I'll keep that in check next time and focus in on concrete examples that I think about in advance to make sure they actually fit the debate.
  
• A lot of expectations will need to be recapped at various points in the semester. Something I'll stress to new TAs is to roughly plot this out in advance. As you introduce new assignments, consider where you'll need to reinforce expectations for APA citations, reading, attendance, and deadlines.
  
• I need to spend more time discussing the Oral Communication Center, how to access it, and the benefits of going there! I told them about extra credit, but as verbal assignments arise I need to spend time on this.
  
• I definitely had a few particularly shy students. I'm going to write a few strategies I'll use to deal with that below.

Engaging Shy Students

Not all shy students are created equal. Some are shy because they are anxious about talking. Some are shy because they are disengaged or bored. Some are shy because they are acclimating to a new culture. It's important not to make assumptions one way or the other as I approach this. I think we often associate with apathy things that are really a simple lack of clear expectations on our part about who is supposed to participate, what they're supposed to do, and how they're supposed to do it.

To this end, I am going to take the following measures to engage my quieter students next class period:

1) The desk situation. The desk layout in the room today was a hot mess. I arrived to class ten minutes early to move the desks such that they'd be in neater rows and less crammed together in the back of the room. But my student almost all arrived to class fifteen minutes early, so I didn't get to do this! I guess I need to arrive twenty minutes early next Tuesday? Either way, I need to move the desks around to better facilitate breaking into pairs and groups, to create clearer rows, and to better involve everyone in activities.

2) The first activity. Jessica just shared with me a very engaging activity regarding the Communication Model. I think our discussion today re: students designing their own communication models was a good start to this dialogue, but students need a hands-on demonstration of how these different models look, and I'm going to launch next class with it (even if that means truncating other aspects of my existing lesson plan). 

Basically, Jessica's activity involves students instructing one another in how to draw while facing in various directions or communicating in different ways depending on the model under discussion. [She promised to post it on the ELMS site later--check it out!] I will use this to engage shyer students by causing them to interact in various ways (verbal, nonverbal, kinesthetic/illustrative) without requiring them to do anything full class. And since the activity relies on partners, there's no way students can "duck out" of having to participate because they're in a group of 3.

3) Circulating the room. Another reason I need to get the desks uncramped! It's important to me to travel around the room and listen to different groups of students as they work on their discussions. This will allow me to hear the thoughts of shyer students in more intimate settings--and I can then ask them to share out their ideas (which I've now validated as good ones) with the full group with some advance warning, so students don't feel put on-the-spot.

4) Email communication. I won't do this for next class period, but as we move into future classes I will anticipate potential questions or discussion points and involve shyer students by asking them to come to class with some thoughts ready-to-go on those topics. Again, this gets them into the dialogue without forcing them to think up a response and deal with potential performance anxiety at the same time during class.

Any other thoughts on engaging quieter students, or first-day reflections? Please share in the comments below!

Have a great first day!

I'm jealous of everyone who is getting to teach for the first time tomorrow!
I'll be "in the trenches" come Thursday.

Post your reflections here on how it goes!

The Teacher as Learner

During our orientation, we heard at least a dozen times that we are (graduate students/teaching assistants) first, and (graduate students/teaching assistants) second. We heard it both ways, depending on who was talking. The people giving us this advice had a heartfelt purpose in mind: As we get overwhelmed with the rigors of graduate work, the day-in-day-out of planning, grading, reading, writing, publishing, submitting to conferences, dealing with student complaints, producing our own student complaints, etc. etc.--we need a basic hierarchy in our head, a way to prioritize our responsibilities.

But I also think they fundamentally get something about this work wrong. The two roles coexist in a symbiotic relationship--and I do not care how specialized your research is, or what you intend to study. I don't just mean this in the sense that a PhD is, ostensibly, a glorified teaching certification (although it sort of is). I mean by this what Paulo Freire meant when he said, "Whoever teaches learns in the act of teaching, and whoever learns teaches in the act of learning." Anyone who teaches communication, literacy (spoken or written), or other forms of rhetoric walks not into a classroom, but a microcosm of the very subjects he or she hopes to study.

A few years ago, I judged a high school speech tournament where I saw possibly the silliest impromptu speech of all time. A girl received a quotation about social progress, and proceeded to tell us the history of race relations in the United States. Her three points were:

1) Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves.
2) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream.
3) Barack Obama was elected President.

Obviously, this oversimplified (and over-hopeful) history of race relations cut out quite a bit of tragedy and trauma. My ballot to her probably said as much, and I don't recall giving her a very good rank in the round. But there are a few things about this that, in reflection, I missed; and that, as a scholar, I can pose questions about.

1) The student had put herself in a social setting and competitive environment in which she courageously spoke her ideas--however limited, however simplified--to an audience of critics and peers who would provide her open and direct thoughts on her work. Undoubtedly, she probably reflected on her naive history of race in America after losing this round; even if she didn't go out and read books about it, she certainly understood why her perspective was limited.

2) The student told a narrative that actually exists in American public consciousness. That is to say: for a great many Americans, the three-point story of racial progress might actually be the way they consciously understand race in America. And this would, of course, be a direct byproduct of how our education systems teach people to think, or how our media environment discusses these issues, or whatever sphere of influence you hope to consider. And so: this simplistic speech should give us pause and cause to reflect.

So often we hear students say things and think, "That's so dumb, I can't believe she thought that!" We return to our offices or go to the bar and share stories of misconceptions students had in class, laughing about the decline of intelligence in America. But we can learn from this. Because our students come from a society and a culture; they come from a media environment we seek to study, a political milieu we hope to transcend, and a nation with values and stories and myths we hope to tap into as authors ourselves. To listen to students talk about history, about politics, about education--even in an uninformed way--can still teach us something about ourselves and the culture we inhabit.

My favorite philosopher, Wittgenstein, decided he solved the problems of philosophy and took off to take on various odd jobs as a gardener, a schoolteacher, and an architect. It astonishes me as I read his work how much the act of teaching youngsters shaped his philosophy just as much as the work of master logicians at Cambridge. By suspending judgment and paying attention to our students with a more comic frame, rather than an admonishing one, we can supplement our studies with the glow of lived experience.

3) As educators, we proactively then can battle the very misconceptions we find ourselves combating in the classroom. We are here to challenge students to think more critically; that is our purpose. We write papers about democracy, about the dismal state of public discourse, about the collapse of the modern education system, about this and that. But we so often forget that the classroom is our vehicle to respond to these very issues; it is the direct application of our studies, a venue for critical thought and the opening of minds.

As you consider your role as a graduate student, then, I beg of you: do not see your roles as of differing levels of importance. Do not even see them as coexistent but equal. Rather, see them as an ongoing cycle of application and reflection; a laboratory for your ideas.

You teach in order to learn, and you learn in order to teach.

How to Plan a Lesson

If you're new to teaching, I hope this blog post is practical for you.

Many of you are beginning your first foray into teaching students this week. You're likely feeling a bit nervous and have a million questions buzzing around your head. What if it isn't engaging? What if you get blank stares? What if students disrespect you or argue with you? What if students haven't done the reading? What if you forget to say a really important due date or expectation and you have to make crazy revisions to the schedule? What if, in the middle of lecturing, a pelican flies into the room and drops a fish on your head?

Here's the funny (and meta) thing about it: this is all very similar to the anxieties your students feel about entering an oral communication class in which they will be required to deliver presentations to your classmates. Based on my experience with that, I can tell you two lessons:

1) You're in no worse a position than your students; and
2) Those butterflies never go away--they just, in the words of my speech mentor Judy Santacaterina, "learn to fly in formation." The adrenaline remains, but it becomes more of a rush: the way riding a roller coaster goes from being terrifying the first time to being something fun you want to keep doing.

As for your students' speeches, the difference between a trainwreck hot mess of a first lesson and an engaging rumination on the power of communication in our daily lives lies in preparation. Below is a tutorial on how I approach planning, although I'll stress that everybody handles it differently!

Begin with the End in Mind

That's some K-12 jargon I learned right there, but it's as useful in thinking about a college classroom as it is in high school. Before you start planning, you need to ask yourself: What exactly do students need to get out of this lesson? Where are there gaps in their thinking I need to help them overcome? What skills should we practice and in this class period?

In response to these questions, I will begin by writing objectives. Let me be clear, though: I don't mean objectives in the K-12 sense of "Students will know this on the test." Yea, I want students to do well on the test, but in a course as subjective and complex as the study of human communication, I'm thinking way bigger than that. Unlike secondary education, where the goal is often to make sure students "get" some specific piece of information down, in a communication course the goal should often be quite the opposite: to help students see the ambiguity or complexity of a topic; to reframe their taken-for-granted assumptions in a new light. And I'm also a big proponent of the thinking that a great discussion is an outcome we should always strive for, no matter the goals of that particular class.

A lot of the objectives already provided in our instructor's manual focus on simple comprehension (what students need to get out of their own independent reading). The class period needs to be dedicated to bigger-picture objectives like these.

As I consider my objectives for Chapter 2: Foundations of Verbal Language, I'm asking myself the following questions:

1) What particular concepts might need extra remediation?
2) What communication concepts can we demonstrate through classroom interaction?
3) What assumptions about communication might students need to abandon or let go?
4) Where are matters more complicated than they appear at first glance?
5) What skills on upcoming assessments might students need to practice?

And, as I navigate the chapter, I'm prioritizing the following concepts:

1) The subjectivity of language: Several concepts in the chapter deal with this theme, from the discussion about inferences we often unwittingly make about words to the difference between denotative and connotative meanings. Also present is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis about how a person's language shapes a person's way of comprehending the world around them. Note that I'm not interested in defining these words for students and making them think up examples--that'd be a boring lesson and a waste of their time. I'm interested in the deeper issue--

Objective 1: Helping students recognize, in the day-to-day words they use, the way subjective interpretations, inferences, cultural differences, and connotative meanings influence (and distort) the way language is perceived.

2) The variety present within a single language: Spinning off of the previous concept, students need to grasp the complexity of the English language itself. There are a few sub-components of this area students need to understand: the differences between standard and non-standard English (and the excellent arguments to be had about when it's okay to violate the "rules" of a language!); the way we comprehend people (and are comprehended) based on regional dialect differences; and the way language evolves as an organic organism, spinning off into slang, office speak, text message speak, and the little interpersonal languages between friends.

Objective 2: Students will deliberate about the origins, evolution, and "binding rules" of the English language, leaving the discussion with a more intricate understanding of how these concepts have influenced their own language usage.

Incidentally, building class around these two objectives allows us to go from the micro level (individual words and symbols) to the macro level (the evolution of language).

Now I know what I want students to learn, which will both guide me in deciding on activities as well as in designing discussion questions.

Non-Objectives

I only have an hour and fifteen minutes. There are a few things I have chosen to exclude (you may decide differently! That's fine--as long as you have rationale!). Here are some of those things, and why I am not dwelling on them:

Learning Symbols: When I consider the two theories of language formation in the book and what I want students to do with them, I honestly feel like the most important thing they need to get is the ability to apply and explain these concepts on their own. Don't get me wrong: There could be an entire class on how human beings "get" language, and there are plenty of potential discussions here--but I don't think it's the most vital avenue today. Rather than spend class time on these, I will simply remind students that this content is important, and possibly quiz them in a later class on the concepts.

The Origins of Language: I think the chapter does a perfectly reasonable job of giving a brief overview of this idea. No need to dwell further--as much as I'd love to talk about a zillion theories. They call it "cutting" things from the lesson because it hurts to do so.

The Cybernetic Process: Again, the chapter does this justice. It provides practical, concrete examples. Students may simply be tested over this as a labeling exercise--it is up to me to reinforce the expectation that they know this!

Lesson Structure

Just as we provide students with a format to follow in their Informative Briefing and Persuasive Speech, an easy way to wrap your head around teaching is to give yourself a basic format to follow. One of the most challenging things about teaching is that overwhelming feeling of figure out how 75 minutes will pass--that sounds like an immense length of time!

You will need to find your own structure or outline, but to share with you, I will be (loosely) following this structure every class period:

I) Opening prompt
As I take roll, students will react to a brief prompt, question, or quotation on the PowerPoint.

II) Announcements/collect assignments
Class will begin with a few quick housekeeping announcements.

III) Discussion questions
I will lead a quick discussion around the prompt on the board, leading into the lesson.

IV) Brief lecture
I will briefly lecture to address a relatively complex concept that won't be addressed in any activities.
This addresses one of the minor/less important objectives decided on for the day.

V) Activity: Directions & Resources
I will give directions for a first activity; we will then work through it together.
This addresses one of the major objectives decided on for the day.

VI) Discussion questions
We will debrief/discuss the first activity, weaving in concepts from the chapter.

VII) Activity: Directions & Resources
I will give directions for a second activity; we will, again, work through it together.
This addresses one of the major objectives decided on for the day.

VIII) Discussion questions
We will debrief/discuss the second activity, weaving in concepts from the chapter

IX) Announcements/assignments/reminders
I will close the lesson with reminders, assignments, and announcements

Once I have this structure or template laid out in front of me, planning becomes a very simple manner of figuring out what to plug in where. This outline tells me what I need to create or find. Time can vary based on the complexity of what I'm teaching. And of course, I can always subtract the lecture or add more activities depending on what I want to cover. The lesson below, for instance, will contain more small activities.

My Lesson Plan for Chapter 2: Foundations of Verbal Language


I) Opening prompt

Based on your reading, how would you define language? Feel free to use a metaphor or analogy, or come up with a dictionary-style definition. You can work with a partner.

II) Announcements/collect assignments
1) Remind students of the need to come to class prepared: reading completed!
2) Reinforce: Mid-term covers concepts covered in class and concepts in the reading!

III) Discussion questions
Beginning question: What is language? How would we define it?
What would our thought look like without language?
Why do you think people started using language?
React to this quotation:
Ludwig Wittgenstein: Our language can be seen as an ancient city: a maze of little streets and squares, of old and new houses, and of houses with additions from various periods; and this surrounded by a multitude of new boroughs with straight regular streets and uniform houses. 
In what ways is our language like the city Wittgenstein describes?
Segue: Contextualize this in the discussion of verbal language that is to come today: language controls our lives; we interact with the world through symbols; vital to begin our study of communication through this lens

IV) Brief lecture/application of ideas from chapter
Reminder: Students need to study sections on cybernetic process; theories of language formation

As a lecturer, I want to get students applying concepts to situations. So, I've provided two quick applications here.

1) Two-valued orientation: Definition; Where do we see two-valued orientations at play in this election?

Deeper discussion (I'm still kicking around whether I'll actually do this or not; it might be a bit too advanced for the students. I'll get a read on them the first day): Where do our two-valued orientations come from? Students will receive the following excerpt from C. Jan Swearingen's Rhetoric & Irony: Western Literacy and Western Lies (p. 21):

Students will discuss with their partners: Why do we teach children this way? How does this shape the way they learn language? Is this to blame for our two-valued orientations toward politics, toward culture? Why or why not?

2) Cybernetic process: Quick walk-through; Verbal quiz: I show you an object; walk me through the process your head goes through.

V) Activities: Semantics and Perception
This section is broken into two small activities [Both available in the Instructor's Manual]:
1) Tear a piece of paper into three pieces. On the first, draw a gross bug; on the second, a food you hate; on the third, write the name of your mother. I'll instruct students to stamp on one, then the other, then the other.  We'll use this to have a quick discussion about how words evoke meaning.

2) Write down: random word association. What do you think of when you hear...
Pink
Grass
M&M
Love
Nickelback
Strange
Mitt Romney
Freedom

Partner discussion: What different connotations arose with each word? What in your personal history led you to think of the association you did?

Alternately: I may structure this as the PEP speeches Dr. W discussed at orientation, to give students some impromptu speaking practice.

VI) Activities: Cultural Dimensions of Language

1) What is your dialect? I had students access a massive dialect map at the end of last class period. They were to look up their regional dialect and consider the way that they speak, where that language came from, and how it differs from their peers. I will begin by explaining my dialect: Mid-western; I say the word "warsh," I get y'all from my time in Southern Illinois; I can't say the word "wolf" to save my life, I pronounce "war" as "wahrr" instead of "wore." We'll share a few of these, then move into a more pressing question: What does all of this mean?

How have differences in language affected you in your interactions with others, or in your professional environments?

Stephen Colbert on speaking with a southern accent: “At a very young age, I decided I was not gonna have a southern accent. Because people, when I was a kid watching TV, if you wanted to use a shorthand that someone was stupid, you gave the character a southern accent.”

Should we make judgments about people based on how they use language and its formality?
Looking at the textbook: Is it fair that users of "standard English" win out in job interviews?

Dave Chappelle interview clip: "Every African American knows two languages: Street... and job interview."
Should people need to "code switch?"

Do you agree with Strunk and White, of The Elements of Style, who argue that there are "principal requirements of plain English style?" Or does it matter if you play by the rules if you are understood?

A brief debate may be held if the class is evenly split on this topic.

3) Sapir-Whorf: The way a culture thinks is structured by the language they use. Here's a concrete example of this. I will share with students the various usages of time highlighted by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in their book Metaphors We Live By:


"You're wasting my time.
This gadget will save you hours.
I don't have the time to give you.
How do you spend your time these days?
That flat tire cost me an hour.
I've invested a lot of time in her.
I don't have enough time to spare for that.
You're running out of time.
You need to budget your time.
Put aside some time for ping pong.
Is that worth your while?
Do you have much time left?
He's living on borrowed time.
You don't use your time profitably.
I lost a lot of time when I got sick.
Thank you for your time."

Full group debrief: What are the effects of the way our culture talks about time? How does the "money" metaphor influence our way of thinking about the time we have?
Partner discussion: Imagine how a culture would be different that used the following metaphors for time:
- Time is cooking
- Time is traveling
- Time is storage containers
- Time is writing
- Time is conversation


VII) Closing discussion
Ludwig Wittgenstein: "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world."
How would we think if we did not have language? What would thought look like? How would we interact with the world?

VIII) Announcements/assignments/reminders
Before next class....
1) Know your group members for your group presentation assignment (groups of four!)
2) Read Chapter 3 in Berko, et. al.
3) Watch the Paul Ekman video on YouTube that I shared on ELMS (the science of lie detection) to supplement the nonverbal unit

In Conclusion...

Lesson planning doesn't need to be a headache. You just need to go about it with a clear structure and approach that works for you and that strategically hits the major ideas that need to be discussed in that day's lesson.

Leading a Discussion

Hey all,

Today, the discussion about discussion was cut a bit short, so I thought I'd give a bit more information here (and share the documents from earlier in an online location). I will hit a few of the major points from earlier and sum up some of what I didn't address.

Reflection on a Discussion

To begin, let's go meta. Starting from the premise that our discussions today about COMM 107 were fruitful (if they weren't, let me know so we can make them better), how did that conversation unfold?

1) I posed the prompt to consider what you wanted from the OCP this semester.
2) In person-person dialogues, everyone generated their own list of ideas based on personal experiences, areas of concern, and needs. Then the group was reconvened using an attention-getting signal (clap! clap!).
3) A follow-up share-out question was posed to the entire room.
4) Random responders interacted. Conscientious of others' ideas, many prefaced their responses by segueing from what another person said. Interaction did not always need to be prompted--people either patiently jumped in during a lull or raised their hand to indicate an upcoming idea.
5) The conversation took twists and turns, with sidebar conversations emerging. These sidebars, of course, were important side-issues that merited conversation.
6) Redirects--e.g., Dr. W admitting he took the conversation off-course--allowed us to return to big-picture questions; the cycle repeated.

What went well?

- We arrived at clear outcomes and ideas for the future of the course. Through conversation, people were able to build relationships from idea to idea, allowing the OCP to better see where there are common areas of need across the course.

- The partner/small group dialogue allowed for even the shyer viewpoints to be involved in the discussion--even if broadcast through the more extroverted voices in the room.

- People interacted amicably and respectfully--unless you didn't feel that way, in which case... tell me!


What was still a bit off that I should be mindful of before I facilitate another discussion?

- I noticed that some people talked directly to myself, Steven, and Dr. Wolvin, instead of looking at the group--why was that? Did the format of the conversation truly facilitate interaction among the group members? How could we have better set that expectation for everyone?

- A few people raised their hands a bit timidly and ultimately never got to share because while the facilitators may have noticed, others in the room did not and jumped in over the interlocutors. Those ideas were not shared, and could've possibly been fruitful to the discussion. How might I reinforce hand-raising expectations in the classroom to ensure that views are all equally represented?


Hypothetical what-ifs (from a less pedagogically effective alternate universe):

- What if we hadn't given the brief opportunity for person/person collaboration before we reconvened full group? We would have probably gotten some good ideas, but certainly the potentials for generating discussion were limited. Most likely, the more talkative folks in the group would've comfortably shared responses, but a great any ideas from folks less-inclined to share (for whatever reason) would not have ever seen the light of day.

- What if a bunch of blank stares had been the reaction to my share-out question? What types of probative, follow-up questions might I have asked to get people engaged? Obviously, in this situation everyone's got something to share (because you're all proactive and want help!), but in the classroom that won't always be the case!

- What if someone in the room kept jumping in when it wasn't their turn, or somehow dominated the discussion? How might I reduce that person's influence on the overall course of the conversation without upsetting that person or devaluing their eagerness to participate?


- Let's say a sidebar conversation wasn't productive. How might I have veered it back without rudely cutting someone off? Let's say you're a self-conscious freshman in college and I cut you off to keep the conversation on track--how might I make sure I do this without making your views feel invalidated?


It's these hypotheticals that I want to concentrate on for the remainder of the post.

Planning Ahead for Discussion

Great discussions don't just happen. It is important to consider, in advance, the possible avenues a discussion could take and the outcomes the instructor wants from it. Planning needs to begin from an understanding of how a strong discussion unfolds. Using a bunch of flowchart features in Word, I did my best to capture this structure below:

This roughly maps the conversation I outlined above. (Blue arrows = facilitator; black arrows = participants).  The major areas of planning for a discussion include:

• Anticipating potential student misunderstandings or reactions
• Plotting out the structure of the discussion (when will we split people into groups or partners to generate ideas for full discussion?)
• Considering potential probing questions that can drive the question ahead
• Setting some loose "boundaries" for the discussion: At what point will we say we've veered too far off-topic and redirect everyone?
• Considering outcomes: What student responses are we "looking for" (but don't be too specific on this because the last thing we want is to play a game of "guess what the teacher's thinking")
• Applications and examples: Where should we incorporate ethical conundrums or hypothetical "case studies" to get students to apply ideas under discussion?

Let's get Concrete:

Consider how I'm teaching the complexity of communication on Day I. [I wanted to talk about this in the teaching meeting, but I'll address it here instead.]

As noted in the previous post, I will prompt the discussion by showing an over-simplified communication model and asking what's wrong with it. Right off the bat, I set the stage for a provocative discussion by asking students to think critically about something in front of them (teenagers love saying what's wrong with things). 

If students don't react the way I want them to right away, I'll get more specific. "Look at this chart. Is this how you consume information? If I turn on a TV and you sit there, are you just absorbing everything that comes at you? As I talk to you right now, are you just uncritically absorbing everything I say without questioning me? Are you giving me your fullest attention and can you repeat everything I'm saying back to you later? No? Okay--then what do we need to add to the chart?" This is key when there's a moment of silence--reframe the question such that students can more concretely understand what you're after.

Once reframed in this way, I'll be listening for students to provide answers dealing with context, noise, listener perception, the channel of communication, the expectations we have for that medium. Based on these, I can drive deeper with questions that...

Recontextualize: How does this apply in a conversation, on the Internet, etc.?

Push thinking: What is affecting your ability to listen right now?

Foster discussion:  He says he'd add something going on with the speaker to the board. What do you think we should call that?

Yadda yadda. We don't know what students will actually say--that's what's great about discussion. But I do know that I ultimately want to drive them to understand that communication is contextual, that it is process-oriented, that the "medium is the message" (channel influences communication), that noise is ubiquitous, that communication cannot be reversed. From this, I can craft questions; and the mere act of writing some questions down mentally prepares me to lead a discussion whether I end up asking those exact questions or not.

What about during the discussion?

Other questions become relevant while the discussion is actually underway:

• How much participation from one student is too much? When do we need to touch base with another student to ensure a broader sampling of students is "getting it?"
• How can we shift course (or know to abandon ship) when we've lost momentum?
• How do we draw students into the discussion without embarrassing them (as we discussed earlier)?
• How can we pit one or more students against each other to create debate and complicate issues? (Generating argument was definitely not a goal of our OCP discussion earlier--but it often will be during class time when you want to challenge student thinking. How will you do that?)

I actually can't answer these for you, since they're so case-dependent. But they're questions to be considering. As a graduate student or instructor, you're likely so familiar with discussions at this point that you have an intuitive feeling for when a discussion has veered from where you want it to go. So, the only thing you need to think about now is: What might you say in these situations?

What do you think?

I am blabbing too much. Here's what I want in the comments:

- Any veterans have tips on how to better foster discussion in class that involves every student?

- Any incoming TAs have specific questions on how to better cultivate discussion?

Lets' get some discussion going below!

Excellent orientation today, folks!

Michael

Planning the First Day of Class

How do we begin?

On the first day of class, students will likely walk in with several assumptions about what they expect from the course. A few possible misconceptions include:

- Thinking the class is frivolous because it's communication and they do that all the time

- Viewing the class as a public speaking-exclusive class, instead of a hybrid course

- This class will be the death of them because public speaking is scarier than sharks and ghosts combined

On day one, our job is to walk them through the basics of what the course will cover in order to head off these perceptions. We must also set clear academic and professional expectations, introduce students to the concept of communication (on a Tuesday/Thursday schedule), and create a .

In this blog post, I will walk through the following parts of my first day lesson...

- Introducing the course

- Getting to know one another

- Setting clear expectations

- Teaching the Communication Process

While I will typically post my lesson plans in an outline format, I will here walk through the first day--as I envision it--in a narrative format. Text highlighted in yellow indicates information printed on the PowerPoint slide; portions highlighted in blue reflect hand outs or other materials that I will provide.

When I provide a resource or a walk through like this, it is meant only as a guide -- not as something that you need to follow verbatim. Pick and choose what you like, scrap what you don't, and feel free to comment and tell me if you think something I'm doing won't actually work.

Introducing the Course (10 minutes)

• Students will enter the room. As they enter, their attention will be directed to a prompt on the PowerPoint:

Based on your life experiences, write a definition for the word communication. Be prepared to explain and justify your definition to the class.

• Once the class is settled in and I have taken roll, worked out inevitable scheduling discrepancies, etc., I will proceed to initiate a discussion around this prompt. As they give their definitions, I will pose probing questions to "dig in" to their responses. For example:

If their explanation of the definition is lacking:

- Where in your life has this definition been applicable? 

- Can you give me a scenario where this would apply?

If their definition is limiting:

- But doesn't ____ also count as communication? Why don't you include that in your definition?

If their response shows a lot of thought and imagination:

- Okay: So, if you were going to take a class on that, what would you expect to cover?

We will spend a few minutes on this discussion, depending on how well they're getting it. It has no clear terminus; what I am looking for is a logical segue into a discussion of what the class is. Why am I employing the Socratic method on students before I even introduce myself? For three reasons:

1) I like to keep students guessing. I want to make them wonder a bit, "Who is this guy?" before I up and tell them.

2) The study of communication is, to some extent, intuitive (in that we communicate all the time). Therefore, letting students start with a question-based dialogue can raise important ideas I can then "hook back" into later on in class.

3) I always hated it in college when instructors started class by handing out the syllabus and dryly reading through it right away. As a general rule of thumb, I don't want to imitate the instructors I didn't enjoy.

• We will then transition into a discussion of what COMM 107 is and is not. The bullets below reflect the bullet points on the PowerPoint; the un-highlighted part afterward is the points I will hit aloud.

107 IS: 

- A hybrid course --> Interpersonal, intrapersonal, media, interviewing, rhetoric, listening, group, and yes, public speaking;

- A professional course --> In this course you will learn skills and attitudes that will enable you to excel in your future career and your classes regardless of your major

- A civic course --> You will learn to advocate, to express yourself, to wield your first amendment rights!

- A cultural course --> You will reflect on how different societies have different expectations, and how to navigate those expectations in your day-to-day life;

- An identity-forming course --> You will learn who you are. Samuel Butler once said that life is like learning to play the violin on a public street-corner and picking up the instrument as one goes on. Nowhere is this more true than in a speech class, where your ideas will play out in interactions in front of others. You will learn a lot about yourself in this class.

107 IS NOT:

- Your grandpa's speech class --> We live in the 21st century. I'm not going to just teach you to organize a basic three-point persuasive speech. We'll learn that, too, but we also have to engage as communicators in many ways!

- Easy --> You must complete the readings, you must practice your speeches outside of class, you must engage and participate in class.

- Memorization and regurgitation --> I am not a baby bird. My intellectual digestion is fine. Do not regurgitate concepts at me. There are concepts to learn--but the class is called Principles AND Practices. We will do both!

Getting to Know One Another (20 minutes)

If I were on a MWF schedule, the entire first day could be dedicated to icebreakers and getting to know each other. However, since I teach T/Th, I need to cover the entire Communication Process chapter today--so I don't have as much time to dedicate to icebreaker activities. I also won't lie--I don't really like icebreakers and find them a little awkward. (I'll make up for this by having a lot of activities up front that reveal student personalities in line with the content.) 

• Fortunately, I've got a delightfully simple, quick icebreaker in my repertoire called Fist to Five. It goes like this:

i. Fist: Who are you?

ii. Thumb: Something you like (thumbs up)

iii. Pointer finger: Where you’re going (Why UMD? What major?)

iv. Middle finger: Something you hate, hate, hate

v. Ring finger: Your passion in life (Something you deeply care about)

vi. Pinky: Fun little random fact about you

Each student will stand at their desk, facing the room, and deliver their fist-to-five. I want to reinforce standing up right away (students will protest or start talking without standing; I'll simply react in my booming Teacher Voice: Marshall, stand up!), but I won't ask students to move to the front of the room for the sake of time. I'll begin with my own fist-to-five to model how fast it should move; I'll also use this as an opportunity to express my passion for this course and what it hopes to achieve.

Setting Clear Expectations (20 minutes)

• Make it matter. (First seven minutes)

It's important that students understand how deeply sacred, meaningful, and crucial this course is in your heart. I know that sounds sappy, but it's vital to the life of your class. Nothing is more powerful than showing students that this content has deep, crucial meaning to you. Starting with this gives you rationale for having high expectations later: you're hard on them because you care. Here's how I plan to set the tone:

First, I will play the video of Malalai Joya, a woman who stood before the Loya Jirga in Afghanistan and risked persecution by speaking against her own government. She risked her life in a nation where the fredom of speech has been systematically limited. Her speech, in its entirety, can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLC1KBrwbck *

On the PowerPoint, I will then show the following:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

I will then have students turn to their neighbors and answer the following questions with them:

- What would it be like to live in a country where protest speech like Ms. Joya's is limited?

- Why did our government see fit to lay down this right before all others?

- How has your ability to freely express yourself benefited you in your own life?

After a brief discussion of interesting points raised in his conversation, I will conclude by stressing the fundamental point: That in America, we have been blessed with the right to communicate; and it is a travesty if we walk through our lives without taking advantage of the full power afforded by that right in all situations. And that is why this class matters, deeply, to me--and to all of you.

• What I expect. (Last thirteen minutes)

Syllabi will be handed out. One trick I learned in high school: don't do menial things like hand out papers on your own. Make a student do that. 

Just as we have all experienced "Information Overload" these last few days, our students will be too. Their eyes will glaze over as you go over the syllabus. I am not going to waste time on these and I will move through them deliberately and firmly. I'll also reiterate before and after that they need to review the syllabus themselves and will be held to the requirements listed on the document. Students will be asked to hold all questions until the end of my explanation. I'll hit these major points:

Every day expectations

- Participation --> Ten out of 200 points; you must be engaged in class; buy coffee if necessary, but you will be alert, enthusiastic, and I will be cheerfully in-your-face if you are not!

- Discussion --> Socrates once said, "I refused to address you in the way which would bring you the most pleasure." I hope to capture the same in here. I employ cold calling and other techniques to involve everyone in discussion. It's easier, though, if everyone just eagerly volunteers. So, do that.

- Cell phones/PDAs/laptops --> Turn them off. Especially during a presentation. Because that would make me angry--and you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

- No gum chewing/food --> These are beautiful facilities and I want to keep them that way. Water and coffee (with a secure lid) are permissible.

Absences/tardies

--> First of all, really, really hit how incredibly important it is that students attend class every day.

- Two free absences --> After the second, you will lose two points off of your P&E grade for each meeting you miss.

- Excused absences --> You will need an excuse note from your doctor or club/activity or whatever legitimate reason you missed. Written notification is required one week before an absence, unless the student is ill--then I will need documented proof of illness on the day you return to class.

- DO NOT MISS SPEECH/EXAM DAYS --> I recommend that every instructor reinforce the heck out of this point. Just because it isn't "your day" to perform doesn't mean that it isn't an obligation to come provide an audience for classmates. Students must attend every speech day. No makeups will be provided for presentations or exams unless you were absent for an excused reason. 

- Tardy policy --> Get here on time. If you arrive late twice, you will accrue an unexcused absence. There is an insane amount of material to cover in this class and we cannot sacrifice a second. 8:00 AM means 8:00 AM. 

- Make friends with a note-taker --> It is not my responsibility to tell you what you missed. You need to make friends with a responsible classmate who will fill you in on what you missed. You need to be here as well to receive updated information on deadlines, assignments, and so forth!

Assignment Guidelines

- Professional Attire on Speech Days --> You will be required to wear professional dress on speech days. This means the attire you would wear to a job interview. If you are not sure what to wear to a job interview, please look this up on Google with a search term like "what to wear to a job interview."

- Extra Credit --> Available by attending the Oral Communication Center (see last page of syllabus)

- Cite Sources in APA 

- Turn in hard & soft copy --> I expect both a physical hard-copy printout of written work as well as an emailed copy sent to my address: msteudem@umd.edu

- Begin ALL EMAIL SUBJECT HEADINGS with "COMM 107" --> so my Gmail filter knows to flag it as class-related!

- Plagiarism --> Taken very seriously, and I am very, very good at spotting it. Review, review, review the university's academic conduct regulations on this subject.

- Communication Research Studies --> Since UMD is a research institution, you must participation in at least one hour of comm. research this semester. Opportunities can be found by checking the URL on your syllabus. Do not wait until the end of the semester! First come/first serve.

Reading!

ALL reading must be completed before class --> I don't want to waste valuable classtime going over material you should have (and could have) learned on your own. We need to dedicate this time to analyzing and applying the concepts you have learned and to practicing the skills you need to excel in life. Come to class with the concepts in mind and the reading completed or you will feel overwhelmed.

Any questions? -- Questions that only apply to individual students will be asked to hold until the end of class, since we have content to get through!

The Communication Process (20 minutes)

Unlike my MWF colleagues, students will not have read yet during this class (since they're just beginning). As such, I cannot expect too much application here. It will be important that I reinforce how important it is that they read and review this chapter after-the-fact: I will remind them that they will be held accountable for knowing concepts from the chapter on their Mid-Term Exam.

Communication is Central (5 minutes)

Discussion: Going back to your definition at the start of class, in what ways has communication been central to your life? Tell your neighbor one situation in which your ability to (or failure to!) communicate has had a tremendous influence on your life.

Communication is Competency and Commitment (5 minutes)

I'll briefly hit bullet points regarding the attitudes/skills associated with communication; the ethical commitment one makes (I'll PowerPoint Quintilian's quotation regarding the "Good man speaking well"); and the conceptual understanding it takes to truly communicate effectively.

Communication is Complex (10 minutes)

I will introduce students to the top-down speaker/audience communication model on a PowerPoint. I will then pose a simple question: What is missing from this diagram?

Through discussion, I will guide students to consider the myriad aspects of communication they may not have considered before class began:

-- How does the context of the speaker influence the message?

-- Does the communication just stop when the speaker sits down?

-- Are listeners passive receivers of a message? 

-- Is this how a conversational exchange looks?

-- How about an email exchange? A phone call? A job interview?

-- What if the words the speaker uses are misunderstood? 

-- What might the listeners be dealing with that could affect their attention to the speaker's meaning? [I could pull up an example from teaching zany high school students here...]

-- What if the speaker and listeners are on a totally different page?

-- How might the listeners communicate their feelings back to the speaker?

-- What if a guy is standing outside jackhammering while the speaker tries to talk?

-- What rules do the people participating in the exchange have to follow, if any? Are there "unwritten rules" in our day-to-day conversations?

We won't actually get to all of this. But the point is to at least touch on some of the many ways in which communication is complex: process, symbolic, dynamic, continuous, irreversible, interactive/transactional, contextual, systemic.

We'll give a brief and specific nod to the idea that communication is irreversible by referencing Representative Todd Akin's moronic comments about rape, which is a topical and extremely solid example of how once words leave your mouth they can never come back. 

Reminders and Reinforcements (Five Minutes)

- Students will be reminded to read chapters 1 and 2 in Berko, et. al.

- I will remind them of the expectations stated earlier regarding reading!

It's also important to be thinking one lesson ahead and providing students with additional quick assignments that can help set the tone for the next class. I will give students the following assignment, and tell them to look on ELMS for the URL and further information:

You will locate your specific dialect on the American English dialect map (if you are an international student then consider how your native tongue influences your speaking of English). Consider how your region and community influenced your way of speaking: how you pronounce certain vowel sounds, the phrasing you use, terms you say that others don't, and so on:  http://aschmann.net/AmEng/#LargeMap

(This will begin setting students up for the class on Verbal Language!)

__________________________________________________________

Whew! There's an agenda for the first day. I probably can't actually hit all of that in the time I've allotted, but as long as I keep an eye on my watch I can keep moving. Typically, my lessons will have a bit less structure and will be more activity-centered--it's just hard on the first day when there as so many expectations to hit, so many introductions to make!

Please provide me feedback in the comments--let me know what is helpful and what is not. Also, write down (for the benefit of others) what other approaches you plan on using on Day 1 of class!

* Helpful resource: If you want to download a YouTube video in advance to avoid potential internet outages or problems, visit: http://www.keepvid.com

Introduction to the 107 Instructor Resource Blog

Hey there, fellow 107 instructors!

As part of my COMM 107 Assistantship, I will maintain a blog where I will share my ideas, approaches, and reflections on teaching. I encourage this to be a community where fellow instructors can share ideas in the comments and provide guest postings based on great ideas you develop along the way.

The purpose of the blog is to share:
- Lesson plans, activities, and strategies
- Observations and reflections on common problems affecting COMM 107 instructors
- Reflections on what works and what doesn't in my own room
- General approaches and perspectives on motivating students
- Problem-solving responses to questions that emerge for other instructors

...and whatever else this evolves into over the year!

This introductory post will orient you to who I am and what I hope to accomplish this semester. My typical posts will be more brief and to-the-point with reflections and resources. But if you want to know who I am better, please forge ahead!

Who Am I?

First of all, I want to introduce myself.


Quick facts:
Favorite Amendment - The first one
Favorite pastime - Going meta
Favorite instrument - The banjo
Favorite theorist - Kenneth Burke

At my heart is my experience as a speech and debate competitor, coach, and advocate. As a shy and depressive high schooler, involvement in speech competition saved me and provided me an outlet. To this day, I believe that engagement in communication activities and courses provides students the outlet they need to become passionate people capable of expressing what matters to them most. 

My experience led me to over a decade of involvement in speech and debate as a competitor and coach; two years of graduate instructing a public speaking class at Northern Illinois University; and finally, a two-year commitment with Teach For America. In this role, I taught dual-enrollment speech and debate courses, organized slam poetry competitions, coached American Legion Oratory Contest champions, and organized advocacy assignments in which students petitioned their own school board members for changed policies. 

More importantly, for the past two summers I have provided support for new teachers entering Teach For America. In my capacity as a Corps Member Advisor, I aided new teachers with little-to-no teaching experience as they strove through their five weeks of "teacher boot camp" in the Mississippi Delta. I reviewed dozens of lesson plans, coached Corps Members in-the-moment as they taught struggling readers, and helped them develop the organizational skills necessary to survive the day-to-day life of an educator.

What is My Role in Helping You Develop?

While college classrooms look notably different from secondary school, many of the challenges remain the same. What manifests as unruly behavior in high school looks more like apathy in a college room. Boring teacher-centered lessons as are unhelpful to a failing reader as they are to a college senior. High school teachers push students to think at a higher level than the rote memorization of facts; your lessons need to begin from the assumption that all college students can quite capably think on this level already.

My goal is to provide you the strategic supports you need to develop in your craft, reflect systematically on your work, and grow at an accelerated rate--all in preparation for a life in education.

My role includes the following supports:

Observations and lesson debriefs: I consider this the core of my position. I will schedule (in advance--don't worry!) observations of your lessons in which I will record details on how you and your students interact, the course of your discussions, the classroom culture, and other details. I will follow this up with a debrief conversation in which we will address your goals for the class, your students' progress, and what specific steps you should take to improve your practice most meaningfully.

Maintaining this blog: I am both helping you grow as a teacher and striving to grow myself. On this blog, I will consistently post resources, reflect on my own successes and shortcomings, spread word of brilliant instructor ideas from around the department, and foster a community of 107 educators committed to helping one another grow.

Lesson plan and assessment review: Just as a strong speech requires a knowledge of the desired effect on the listener, a strong lesson must begin with the end in mind: that is, the instructor needs to have a deep understanding of what he or she desires students to accomplish by course's end. Likewise, an effective speech requires advance invention, outlining, and careful attention to structure; so, too, must a lesson. I will strive to provide assistance in both of these areas.

Other roles include: 
- Assisting in the implementation of a mentorship program
- Conducting research on the growing program
- Helping to design training sessions for 107 meetings
- Whatever else we need to develop 107 into a thriving program other schools look to as a model.

I accept this role with great humility. My own development as an educator (which, like anyone's, is a perpetual work-in-progress) could not have occurred without mentors watching me, conversing with me, and helping me develop the means to focus on what mattered, when it mattered. My goal is to provide that same caliber of support for my colleagues in this department to ensure they feel prepared to tackle this course.

How Do I See COMM 107?

As a well-rounded course that branches across every aspect of our discipline, COMM 107 can provide precisely the venue for student identity-formation at the moment in their lives when they absolutely need it. After all, a college freshman is:

- Away from home, meeting new people, interacting with new ideas, and assimilating into a new culture;
- Confronting the decision-making process of how to spend their own lives;
- Beginning to become more autonomous in preparation for future careers and relationships.

I cannot think of a more meaningful experience at this stage in a person's life than taking time to reflect on how we interact with one another, explain (and misunderstand) one another, and cultivate skills in listening, speaking, and thinking critically about messages. 

The beautiful thing about the course is that the concepts are so universally applicable that no matter your field of communication, you will have a repertoire of examples and experiences that help you explicate concepts--and so will your students. The class, taught well, can allow students to see these concepts at play everywhere--and to wield them in their own efforts to communicate.

How Am I Structuring My Own Course?

As I construct lesson plans for my first weeks of instruction, I will provide them here. Before I do that, I want to give some of my philosophy on how I will set up the class.

Most educators work with some form of Bloom's Taxonomy:

Synthesizing

Evaluating

Analyzing

Applying

Understanding

Remembering

On the most basic level, students simply remember and understand. As they move up the ladder, students apply the concepts they have learned in new contexts, reinforcing their depth of comprehension. At the higher levels of understanding, students critically evaluate this information, pick it apart via analysis, and synthesize concepts learned across multiple units, courses, or areas of their lives.

In my high school classroom, I needed to cover all of this every day. And to some extent, we will do that as college instructors, too. But our situation is a bit different. We do not meet with students every day; and as college students, they are capable of performing much of the learning on their own.

The hierarchy, as I see it:

Remembering and Understanding

Students are responsible for this component of the learning on their own, outside of class. They can arrive at this understanding entirely through their textbook and supplemental materials we provide--with minor remediation of difficult concepts during class lectures. It is up to the instructor to reinforce the expectation to read so that students come to class prepared to apply, analyze, evaluate, and synthesize ideas.

Applying

This can occur both outside of class (instructing students to watch YouTube videos or read supplemental material). Students apply new concepts and ideas in different circumstances to better understand how they function. In communication, this often manifests as simple connections between the concept and their own lives--or any of the other gazillion domains where communication occurs.

Evaluating and Analyzing

We do not want students to accept the concepts in their textbooks at face-value. Nor do we want them to engage with the communication around them passively. This level of learning is what the majority of class should be dedicated to. Students should be confronted with new texts, ideas, and hypothetical situations where these concepts apply, and then stretch their thinking. They should be expected to make judgment calls about ethics, efficacy, and merit of messages. Moreover, they should analyze the implications of the theories themselves. On their written tests, this is the level at which students need to demonstrate competency.

Synthesis

At this level, students should "tie it all together." This is the level of efficacy I will push students toward in their assignments. Not only will they need to meet the expectations outlined in their rubrics, but they will need to demonstrate through effective oral performance, listening, and reflection that they have internalized the concepts of the course and applied them to their own abilities to speak, listen, and critique.

As I begin constructing assessments and outlines for student lessons, I will keep in mind this chart to remind myself what I should be dedicate class time toward--as well as what students should be doing on their own.