Figure 3-5: Percentage of student metaphors for classes, exams, graduation, family, work,
Pessimism
Table 3-9
Teacher Behaviors Associated with Optimism and Pessimism
Optimism
• Does not give reasons for criticism • Does not appear to know if class is
understanding material
• Not skillful at observing student reactions to material
• Assignments difficult to complete • Fails to present material in an
interesting manner
• Does not encourage classroom discussion
• Does not explain material clearly • Displays lack of genuine interest
in student
• Does not respect students • Is not well-prepared for class • Shows a genuine interest in students
• Knows if students are understanding the material presented
• Skillful in observing student reactions • Displays an enjoyment of teaching • Stimulates intellectual curiosity • Presents material in an interesting
manner
• Encourages classroom discussions • Invites criticism of instructor's ideas • Displays self-confidence
• Consider creating a NEST. In our research program, we often ask students what metaphors would describe a class if changes were made and they visited the class at a future date. We also ask them to specify what classroom processes would be associated with this new metaphor. [cf., Grasha, 1990a; Grasha, 1990c; Grasha, 1993]. When a thematic analysis of their responses is performed, the metaphor of a NEST emerges as shown in Table 3-10. • Obtain information from your students on the metaphors they use
to describe your class. Table 3-11 describes a processes for
obtaining information about your students’ metaphors. In my experience this process yields a number of fascinating insights into how students perceive our teaching. Sharing a summary of the responses to the WIF process with the class, what you learned and what you plan to do based upon this information demonstrates that you took the activity seriously.
• Develop a personal model for teaching that integrates or bridges
your metaphors of teaching and learning with those of your students. Table 3-7 illustrated how such bridging metaphors can
be developed. Reducing such discrepancies and then acting upon the insights provided helps to creates less tension in the classroom.
Table 3-10
Creating a NEST in the Classroom
Nurture
Students want to feel that teachers care about them. Little things like learning their names, taking the extra time to explain things, and making attempts to interact with them inside and outside of class on course- related issues. Being available to meet with students who need help and making suggestions for how they can do better are appreciated. Students tell us such things convey to them that the “teacher really cares about me.”
Empower
Students report they want to feel as if they have some input and choice in how a class is run and the assignments that they do. Allowing choices for selecting class projects, who they will work with on course- related activities, flexibility in meeting deadlines, and asking them for ideas for how to improve the learning experience are viewed as empowering. Structure
Included here are such things as: teachers giving a detailed syllabus; clear instructions for what is expected on assignments and exams; clear evaluation processes; and class sessions that are well-organized and focused on topics.
Teamwork
Students tell us they want to feel “a part of something.” They do not want to be an anonymous face in the crowd. Courses should emphasize people working together on common projects, small group activities and discussions, and other things that bring students and faculty together. Metaphors such as an “archeological dig,” “baseball, basketball, soccer teams,” and a “happy family” describe the nature and quality of the teamwork they desire.
• Ask students to respond in writing to the question, “What are
2-3 aspects of this class that interfere with your developing a positive outlook on the course?” Responses to this question often
yield useful information. Contrary to what some faculty think, students are often very insightful about classroom processes they like and dislike. Their perceptions should not be used to think of ideas to enhance the quality of the experience for teachers and students.
WIF Process [Words-Images-Feelings]: Think about this course for a moment. In the space provided below, list several words, images, and feelings that you would use to describe this course. Be as honest and objective as you can.
Words: (e.g., traditional, cutting edge, pedestrian, innovative, etc.)
Images: (e.g., carnival, funeral, peaceful glen, inattentive audience, etc.)
Feelings: (e.g., anxious, happy, excited, frustrated, etc.)
1.] Summarize what you have written above into a guiding metaphor. That is, an integrated/summary metaphor that includes many of the themes inherent in the words, images, and feelings that you have about the course. For example, this class was like parents taking actions to insure that their children have what they need to get ahead in life, working a difficult puzzle and not being able to find a solution, or a ship visiting different ports of call where everyone on board gains from the experience. List your guiding metaphor in the space provided below.
2.] What are the teaching techniques that support your guiding metaphor? For example, “the difficult puzzle” metaphor reflects the difficult assignments the teacher gives us and how impatient he gets when we can’t get the answer. List the elements of the class that support your guiding metaphor in the space below.
Table 3-11
The WIF Process for Students to Generate Guiding Metaphors
Table 3-11 [ Continued ]
3.] If you were to make adjustments in this class, what words, images, and feelings that you listed on the last page would you like to see deleted from those that currently describe this class?
Deleted Words: Deleted Images: Deleted Feelings:
4.] What additional words, images, and feelings would you like to use to describe this course in the future? Use your hopes, dreams, and desires for your classes to respond to this question.
Additional Words: Additional Images:
Additional Feelings:
5.] How would the deletions and additions you made modify and/or change your guiding metaphor? What would it now become?
6.] What are the implications for how the instructor should teach and the role of the student in class in the modifications and changes you made to your guiding metaphor?
4.
Before adopting any approach to modifying or enhancing our teaching, it is important that we come to some decisions about “Who I am as a teacher” and “What do I want to become?” In the first three chapters, I argued that to deal with such issues we must first engage in processes of self-reflection. The goals of such analyses include: defining our current styles as teachers, examining their strengths and weaknesses; identifying the role our personal values play in teaching; and understanding factors that facilitate and hinder personal change. I also argued that any variations in our teaching should be tied to an underlying conceptual base. Thus, our teaching, like our scholarship, is guided by philosophical issues, theories and models, conceptual concerns, the outcomes of the work of other scholars in the area, as well as our own interpretations of such things. When grounded in an underlying philosophy of
teaching, instructional processes are guided less by past habits, pressures to try the latest trends, or tendencies to conform to what everyone else is doing. The content of
the first three chapters explored ways that we could come to terms with such issues. In the remaining chapters of this book I will develop an integrated model for using information about teaching and learning styles. The model evolved from my work over the past two decades using the Grasha-Riechmann Student Learning Style Scales and more recent explorations on teaching style. As William Reinsmith noted in his model of archetypal forms in Chapter 1, teaching involves both presence and
encounter. The stylistic patterns in such transactions are critical not only to understand
what is happening in the classroom but to help us see what could be occurring. Information about the styles of teachers and learners must become an essential ingredient in our conceptual base for teaching.
In presenting my model, I am by no means trying to short-circuit the need for self- reflection, analysis, and exploring a conceptual base for one’s teaching. It would be tempting to say, look no further, all that you need is in this and the remaining chapters. After all, exploring the model will involve self-reflection and analysis and formal principles of teaching and learning that underlie it will be articulated. Furthermore, how to use those principles to select a variety of instructional processes will be presented. Learning about and using the integrated model includes all of the things that I have argued in the first three chapters that were important for teachers to do.
The key phrase here, however, is that the model outlines “one way to accomplish such goals, but it is not the only way.”
In seeking knowledge, the first step is silence, the second listening, the third remembering, the fourth practicing, and the fifth--teaching others.
- Ibn Gabirol