I read "Our Practice, Our Selves" earlier today. I find P. L. Thomas's ideas about cell phone and computer policies, late work, and developing relationships with students resonating with me as a fellow college instructor. Finding that balance between demanding rigor and realizing that life sometimes interferes with our best intentions (as teachers and as students) is difficult and demanding and sometimes nerve-wracking. Thinking about Pierre Bourdieu's ideas of habitus, I wonder if my time as a junior high teacher has been so embedded in me that it is hard for me to trust myself with a looser classroom structure. At the same time, I have complete confidence that the adult learners are fully capable of handling that looseness if I could just turn the reins over to them more.
Thomas's post is especially timely as I am also reading Maryellen Weimer's book Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. I want to teach differently and reach my students differently, but I struggle to figure out how to make what I do more accessible to students. The first couple of weeks are the worst as we are figuring each other out--students are trying to figure out what I want, and I'm trying to figure out what they can realistically handle, how hard and fast can I push them to try new ways of thinking and writing. This first month has a steep learning curve for all of us. At the same time, these weeks are the best because they are so full of promise. We haven't had enough assignments for students or me to create preconceptions about what specific students can or can't do yet.
Thomas's ideas are ones that I would like to discuss with my students. The first week of class would be most ideal for those discussions. Is it a stereotype of classrooms, though, to think that we can only have those discussions about what it means to learn, how to handle distractions, and what late work means to me and to students at the beginning of the semester? In some ways, shouldn't we have a discussion about those once we all have figured out what this class could be?
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Observation #3: Should the Minimum Wage Be Indexed?
I was listening to the Doug Wright show on my way into work this morning (Thursday, September 4, 2014). He was talking with Melba Sign of the Utah Restaurant Association about a potential increase in the federal minimum wage, particularly as a response to protests that were happening around the country (sit-ins in quick-serve/fast-food restaurants, for instance). Doug implied that minimum wage will increase this year or next, and he was concerned that because it had been so long since the previous minimum wage increase, that the jump would be quite large (between $1-2/hour). He wondered, since because a minimum wage increase tends to happen periodically anyway, if it would be prudent to tie (index) minimum wage increases to some standard. He didn't mention a specific index, but something like the Consumer Price Index could be an example of an index. Not surprisingly, Melba did not seem very fond of any minimum wage increase, but she did say something interesting in response to Doug's idea of indexing--would tying minimum wage to an index allow the minimum wage to go down during recessions? She mentioned that many people not making minimum wage had their wages cut during the recession as businesses tried to re-group.
The discussion about the minimum wage raises a lot of questions for me. I am interested in the idea of indexing the minimum wage. I wonder, as Doug, does whether indexing minimum wage increases would make them less painful when they do go up. Is a 25-cent increase once a year better or worse than a $1.00 increase in four years--the net effect would be similar in some ways, perhaps?
Doug and Melba also discussed the difference between the minimum wage and a living wage. I often hear the two discussed together, but Doug and Melba agreed that they are different. In fact, they tended to use "minimum wage" as a synonym for "entry-level wage." This made me wonder why the terms "minimum wage" and "living wage" often appear together, how they are different, and when they might apply to the same person and when not.
I also wonder how the minimum wage affects workers and businesses, both in general and when it increases. While the perception is that it tends to positively affect workers and negatively affect businesses, I wonder if that is true more generally. What about specifically? Are some specific types of workers worse off when a minimum wage increase occurs? Are some types of businesses better off when the minimum wage increases? Again, it seems like the details could provide more richness for discussion than general trends.
Doug mentioned that the whole minimum wage issue is complex, and I definitely agree. I wonder what others think about the idea of a minimum wage. What would wages for food-industry workers be without a minimum wage? Would the market dictate a rate that is similar to the minimum wage now? What models could predict the impact of an economic system with or without a minimum wage?
I also wonder if the economic system is the kind of chaotic system that Stellan Ohlsson talks about in his book Deep Learning: How the Mind Overrides Experience. He says that it is difficult-to-impossible to make predictions about chaotic systems. (A river is a natural phenomenon that is chaotic because the way it develops over time is unpredictable.) He says that change is inevitable in chaotic systems and that the change is irreversible. So even though I am asking about a system without the minimum wage, I don't think our society could actually implement that because the system has been built with that as a core component of the system. In other words, it seems like the system would not react in the same way if the minimum wage were to be taken away as it would react had the minimum wage never been in place.
The discussion about the minimum wage raises a lot of questions for me. I am interested in the idea of indexing the minimum wage. I wonder, as Doug, does whether indexing minimum wage increases would make them less painful when they do go up. Is a 25-cent increase once a year better or worse than a $1.00 increase in four years--the net effect would be similar in some ways, perhaps?
Doug and Melba also discussed the difference between the minimum wage and a living wage. I often hear the two discussed together, but Doug and Melba agreed that they are different. In fact, they tended to use "minimum wage" as a synonym for "entry-level wage." This made me wonder why the terms "minimum wage" and "living wage" often appear together, how they are different, and when they might apply to the same person and when not.
I also wonder how the minimum wage affects workers and businesses, both in general and when it increases. While the perception is that it tends to positively affect workers and negatively affect businesses, I wonder if that is true more generally. What about specifically? Are some specific types of workers worse off when a minimum wage increase occurs? Are some types of businesses better off when the minimum wage increases? Again, it seems like the details could provide more richness for discussion than general trends.
Doug mentioned that the whole minimum wage issue is complex, and I definitely agree. I wonder what others think about the idea of a minimum wage. What would wages for food-industry workers be without a minimum wage? Would the market dictate a rate that is similar to the minimum wage now? What models could predict the impact of an economic system with or without a minimum wage?
I also wonder if the economic system is the kind of chaotic system that Stellan Ohlsson talks about in his book Deep Learning: How the Mind Overrides Experience. He says that it is difficult-to-impossible to make predictions about chaotic systems. (A river is a natural phenomenon that is chaotic because the way it develops over time is unpredictable.) He says that change is inevitable in chaotic systems and that the change is irreversible. So even though I am asking about a system without the minimum wage, I don't think our society could actually implement that because the system has been built with that as a core component of the system. In other words, it seems like the system would not react in the same way if the minimum wage were to be taken away as it would react had the minimum wage never been in place.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Observation #2: Considering Student Attendance Patterns
I have noticed that some students do not come to class during the first week of school. Some never show up while others begin coming after 5-6 class days have passed. I wonder why this occurs. In the case of students who never come, I wonder why they would sign up and pay for a class and not attend. It seems like a waste of money to me, but I wonder if something else is going on. Of course, students might be in the wrong class, but even then, I wonder
why the student and/or the teacher does not notice why the student is
not appearing on the roll. I have also heard that a student can still receive financial aid for failing a class. I wonder if sometimes people sign up for classes that they have no intention of taking so that they can have enough credits to qualify for financial aid. I have had other students tell me that they didn't think that they could attend class while they were waiting for their financial aid to come in. Unfortunately, by the time the financial aid does arrive in students' accounts, if those students have not been missing class, they have missed so much class that they are now so far behind that it seems overwhelming to try and catch up.
Other students begin coming and seem consistent for the first couple of days, but have sporadic attendance after the first week and then stop coming altogether by around midterm.This pattern is more troublesome for me as a teacher. In the first case (a student that never comes or displays a sporadic attendance pattern from the beginning), I can assume that I, as the teacher, am probably not the cause. However, in the case of a student who comes and then suddenly stops, it feels like there is likely a problem with the class--whether that is confusion on the subject matter, a conflict with the teacher, a conflict with another student in class--that is causing the changed attendance pattern. Of course, general stress from other sources could be equally to blame. I also wonder if some students are just not aware of how importance attendance in class can be.
I just wonder if there were a way to study student attendance patterns and determine from the patterns warning signs of impending problems. I also wonder if there is a way to teach students the importance of attendance in a way that doesn't feel like preaching (or preaching to the choir, since if anything is said in class about attendance, generally the people who need to hear it might be missing that day). And while I don't want to know students' financial history, I wonder if the financial aid office is aware that some students may think that they are not allowed to attend class while they are waiting for financial aid to fund.
My point in my observation is that it seems like if we understood more about why students do not come to class, we could provide information and/or interventions that would encourage more students to come to class, get them out of the wrong classes earlier (opening up space for waitlisted students), and recognize problems before students were so far behind that they couldn't catch up. I personally would rather work with students than see a faceless name on a roll for a semester.
Other students begin coming and seem consistent for the first couple of days, but have sporadic attendance after the first week and then stop coming altogether by around midterm.This pattern is more troublesome for me as a teacher. In the first case (a student that never comes or displays a sporadic attendance pattern from the beginning), I can assume that I, as the teacher, am probably not the cause. However, in the case of a student who comes and then suddenly stops, it feels like there is likely a problem with the class--whether that is confusion on the subject matter, a conflict with the teacher, a conflict with another student in class--that is causing the changed attendance pattern. Of course, general stress from other sources could be equally to blame. I also wonder if some students are just not aware of how importance attendance in class can be.
I just wonder if there were a way to study student attendance patterns and determine from the patterns warning signs of impending problems. I also wonder if there is a way to teach students the importance of attendance in a way that doesn't feel like preaching (or preaching to the choir, since if anything is said in class about attendance, generally the people who need to hear it might be missing that day). And while I don't want to know students' financial history, I wonder if the financial aid office is aware that some students may think that they are not allowed to attend class while they are waiting for financial aid to fund.
My point in my observation is that it seems like if we understood more about why students do not come to class, we could provide information and/or interventions that would encourage more students to come to class, get them out of the wrong classes earlier (opening up space for waitlisted students), and recognize problems before students were so far behind that they couldn't catch up. I personally would rather work with students than see a faceless name on a roll for a semester.
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