Day 72, May 27, 2020

Delicious Hot Days

It is interesting to have completed my meditations on the 7 Deadly Sins, and yet I feel like I didn't really address them, at least not as deadly sins. Of course, there have been plenty of moments that have conspired against me in ways that I will probably shy away from in such a public forum, at least for now. I wonder if that makes me a dishonest writer, too scared or embarrassed, or not mature enough yet to examine some of those other things outside of fiction or poetry.

Night grilling.

It is easier to exist behind veils. When I was teaching, I often talked about my costume and teaching persona. I wore a tie because it helped me remember my role, that despite my friendliness with my students, the simpatico of a younger (at the time) faculty member, I still would remember there was a separation in our roles and my responsibility as a teacher. Similarly, I took on a gregarious extrovert persona at the front of the classroom that relished the exuberant energy of rushing around the classroom in the throes of a great discussion. That wasn't an act, I truly love that kind of energy, but it is not the same as knowing who I am as an individual. You can imagine you know an actor by the characters they play in the movies, but then you see them in an interview on late night tv, or maybe in a photograph in a tabloid in the grocery store and suddenly the actor takes on very human dimensions.

So, even this blog is only one facet. I purposely avoid certain things. This is both about the pandemic, and it is purposefully avoiding the pandemic. This is about retaining my sense of self outside of my work, and yet it is also decidedly not my whole self, or more accurately, it is a curated self. Who would hang one's dirty laundry for all to see? Ha.

But, perhaps there will be a time that I return to the Deadly Sins with a greater sense of earnestness.

For now, I look at the date and 72 days into the pandemic, by my count, feels like it has been a long time. Just the number feels like a long time, and it seems there is much more yet to come. I have been walking every day that I can, when I don't have to work through lunch, and just my two feet have shuffled a path through the undergrowth in the woods behind the house. My daily pulling of knotweed at the edge of the yard (I feed it to the chickens) is making an impact that I have not ever had the liberty to witness in the seven years I've lived in the house. I wonder what other things will become ritual or habit? At some point, things will shift from an emergency response and the frenetic pace of keeping above water will hopefully rise into a sustainable rhythm, a pattern of what is needed, what is important, and what gives us hope, what inspires us, what feeds our passion. Those are the days that I love my work. Perhaps that is soon to come, just around the corner, on the other side of these hot days. These delicious hot days.

Take care and stay safe,
Leo

From Our Friends:

From Jeanne Goodman:

I am a resident of Jamaica Plain Cohousing in Boston, MA. We're using Skype, Zoom, and Webex for some of our dinners together, but we also have created a ritual daily sing at 8:55AM and 6PM where we come out of our units and sing/dance together First Covid Day. 

From Teaching Tolerance:

Mental Health and Support Are Always Important

Throughout May, we’ve been sharing resources supporting educator and student mental health. Now, as Mental Health Awareness Month comes to a close, we hope you’ll commit to integrating mental health literacy into your curricula and normalizing discussions of mental health and wellness year round. These resources can help.

What White Colleagues Need to Understand

Antiracist educators often focus on the impact of white supremacy on students—but don’t spend enough time talking about its impact on educators. For our Spring issue, two Philadelphia teachers talked to educators of color across the U.S. about their experiences. Here are their recommendations for white educators who want to be better colleagues.

From The New York Times:

Opening Night

THURSDAY, 

JUNE 

11

Celebrate the Broadway season that was (and will be).

Join the stage’s biggest stars as they virtually gather to perform the songs, scenes and showstoppers that helped define a year like no other.

Watch Patti LuPone, Katrina Lenk and the cast of “Company” perform the opening number of the show. See Mary-Louise Parker perform a monologue from “The Sound Inside.” Hear from playwright Jeremy O. Harris, the creator of “Slave Play.”  Sing along with Elizabeth Stanley of “Jagged Little Pill.”

Today's Online Teaching Tips:

From ACPA:

1 June 2020 @ 2pm EDT
Teaching, Learning and Advising in A Virtual Environment with a DEI Lens
This conversation will focus on the importance of preparing virtual environments for greater inclusion. As an academic, student organization advisor, or classroom teacher, how will you prepare the space for student success?

From Cindy Snow and GCC's Peer Tutoring:

Here's a resource sheet of helpful tips (sorry the formatting got strange, email me if you want a PDF)!

Online Teaching and Learning
From Research by GCC Writing Tutors, May 2020
GCC Writing Tutors searched for information regarding online teaching, and they shared their own suggestions, based on their experiences in online courses, as well as the experiences of students they tutored. Below is a brief summary of their findings. See also “Online Learning: Tips for Students,” posted on the Peer Tutoring webpage.

From Chang:

• Include reflective activities; reflection enables metacognition, giving learners the opportunity to look at their process, understand what is and isn’t working for them, and do better in the future.
• Asking students to share their reflections can help overcome the challenge of building social connections in the classroom.
  
  From Dykman and Davis
  Standardization, Organization, Planning

• Plan every element of the course ahead of time (assignments, materials, schedule, online layout, course rules and guidelines, and learning objectives), in order to avoid confusion for students. Then, stick to that plan.
• Standardize visual presentation on the platform: assignments, drop boxes, reading materials, discussion forums, announcements, videos, course calendar, tests and quizzes, chat links, etc.
• Have workload at start (and end) of course lighter, allowing students to adjust to the course (and leave it) with minimal stress.
• Be consistent and clear, so student isn’t navigating a complex online system while also keeping up with rigorous coursework.
  
  Technological Fluency of Instructor
• Engage in training; get familiar with the technology and all its functions.

Communication: Clarity and Frequency

• Communicate clearly and frequently with students.
• Send a thorough and friendly introductory message to students; give them a sense of the
  tone and teaching style of the course.
• To foster a sense of community, have students post self-introductions on the forum.
• Strive for much interaction with students, via email, instant messaging, phone, or video.
• Keep in touch with students individually; if the student knows you are engaged in
  communication regularly, they are more likely to be engaged as well.
• Clearly state academic expectations, values, and learning goals.
• Articulate exactly what has to be done, in what manner, by whom, and when; provide a
  clear outline of grading criteria.
• Respond to student questions promptly and thoroughly.
• Share individual questions (anonymously) with the full class.

• Comment on forum posts.
• Determine if students should be able to see previous posts from students, before they post
  their own.
• Determine whether students should be required to respond to each other’s posts.
• Don’t assume that online courses are easier (or less time consuming) to manage!
• If a student “disappears” (stops responding to emails, stops turning in assignments and/or
  posting to forums), pursue them doggedly for a response.
  
  From Moore and Hodges:

• Create a class communication plan, so students know where to go and what to expect.
• For online, students require very clear instructions and prompt feedback, so make sure
  you provide students clarity on what to submit, how, and any associated handouts for an
  assignment.
• Create a page with a table on it that quickly summarizes for students each week—what
  they’ll need to have ready, any assignments due, any recorded lectures, and any live
  sessions, with links as necessary to these.
• Connect with support staff at your school to help you ensure your content is accessible.
  
  From McManus, Dryer, Henning (regarding working with students with mental health disabilities):

• They may have a harder time adjusting to new learning environments. Online, they can also engage in “negative self-talk,” which can drain their energy and self-confidence and can contribute “to greater difficulty in dealing with the uncertainty associated with learning new materials.”
• Fear can paralyze students; they may need extra time to complete tasks.
• Email messages can sometimes appear harsher than intended; the student might think an
  instructor is angry with them.
• If students don’t get prompt responses, their anxiety can increase.
• Students with mental health disabilities often rely more heavily on their relationships
  with their professors and peers in order to be successful in college, and the online learning environment does not always foster these connections—causing students to struggle to motivate themselves.
• If students have writing anxiety, participating in online forums or even writing an email can be extremely difficult for the student.
  
  From Simplicio:

• Establish and maintain personal connections (with the subject, instructors, peers, and academic support resources).
• Make sure students are ready for online classes. Ask students certain questions before they are allowed to enroll in online courses. Gauge the student’s skill and familiarity with both the subject and the technological proficiency required for online learning.
• Use initial assignments to set the tone for each student’s engagement in the course and their belief in their ability to be successful.

• Assign group work, providing the opportunity for students to “develop a teamwork mentality” and a sense of “peer support, emotional backup, and a better opportunity for academic success.”
• Schedule regular and fixed contact times, including one-on-one meetings between student and instructor.
• Use campus resources and support systems, and make these known to students.
  
  From Yeh:

• Construct a positive atmosphere.
• Provide options for group assignments.
• Provide reminders of assignment-related work.
• Foster interactivity between student and teacher, as well as between students.
• Incorporate online discussions and group projects.
• Encourage students to help each other.
• Create community.
  
  From Tutors:

• Have virtual video office hours, not only phone and email ones.
• Have a consistent format for titling, using identifying words, numbers, and abbreviations.
• Meet with students, one-on-one, each week over Zoom; even 10-20 minutes at a time.
• Organize assignments by deadline on Moodle.
• Make sure video and audio lectures are available in a universally accessible file format.
• Make sure videos have captions . . (make sure) important information covered during
  lectures is also available in some sort of written format.
• If possible, post the Zoom classroom link in a prominent spot on Moodle, rather than
  emailing a new link at the time of each session.
• Not all students have access to Word. Share assignment sheets as pdfs, or write them
  directly on Moodle.
• If possible, avoid assignments that need to be printed; printing can be expensive or
  difficult to access.
• To maintain consistency and predictability, try to stick to Moodle as much as possible,
  rather than email, for sharing documents.
• To help avoid instructor (and student) “burnout,” specify if some assignments can be
  done in list or bullet format, rather than prose.
• If there is variation in the weight of assignments, label these as such—which are optional,
  which are high priority or low priority, etc.
• In the syllabus, outline the pace and order of assignments, and use clear and consistent
  patterns (for example, there will be 3 short reflections, 1-2 pages each, 1 per week; then, 2 longer pieces of analysis on a topic of your choice, 3-5 pages each; and at the end of the term, 1 final research paper, 5-7 pages long).
• Have faculty already familiar with online learning assist those who aren’t; implement some sort of support system for faculty.
• Most common complaint from peers regarding online courses: lack of communication and clarity from professors.