As classes start here at Rutgers-Camden, I’ve been putting together my classes. That process naturally requires thinking about what I find important in the classroom. Two themes have emerged that have led to the creation of this blog:
The first theme is that I’ve always believed in prioritizing excitement over teaching from canon – in other words, I think that it is more important to engage students on their turf and given their interests than to focus on a set of “canon” that they “need to know.” That comes from my own personal experience, the freedom allotted to me both in my early education as a homeschooler, and my graduate education at Oxford where I was given reading lists every week, not assigned reading. At Oxford, instructors give you a wide variety of materials to choose from, then leave it up to individuals to cull important information. It’s a system I love and that I still use in my classes.
But my suspicion of “canon” also comes from a place of pedagogical humility.
It has never been the case in my own education that I have learned the “right” things. I would never assume to know the most important things that my students will take from my classes. That humility means giving them the freedom to pursue what they find important. I chose this profession because it allowed me to do that, I want to afford my students that same chance.
The second big theme is deeply rooted in the work of one of my colleagues and classmates, Steve Silvius. Steve is the co-founder of an education tech company, Three Ring, that focuses on archiving student work as an alternative to evaluating students based upon tests.
It’s tough to know Steve and not be convinced by his case for student work. It’s simple: let’s focus on what students are doing, rather than other things we think are measuring what they’re doing. It’s compelling exactly because it’s so simple; let’s go back to the source.
As I prepared my classes, I realized I had my own pedagogical thoughts on the importance of student work. Once I accepted Steve’s premise that student work is central to education, I started thinking a lot about how to improve student work. Freedom and creativity help, so I try to let students pick assignments, readings and paper topics.
But why students are writing also matters. That’s why I focus on what I call Thought Leadership. Rather than confining student work to the classroom, I want to introduce them to participating in the public intellectual debate that goes on across platforms. So I’ve incorporated twitter into my classes. I’m having them write a blog post, which they will push to various local blogs and papers. If they succeed in getting it published, they get a perfect grade; half the assignment is the pushing of the paper.
My hope is that by introducing students to these public debates, they’ll be as excited by them as I am. That they will take pride in their work, focus on what they believe, and that this excitement will drive improvement in their academic work.
That is, in part, the genesis behind this blog. One of the running themes of this blog is that I will be highlighting my students’ ideas (with permission). I’ll be sharing their blog posts, their tweets and their ideas.
That’s a political statement as much as a pedagogical one. I’m proud of my students’ work. When people think of my work, I want them to also think of the work my students are doing. It is a part of my professional portfolio and persona.
So I’ll be running a series of student posts on my blog. I’ll be asking them to contribute (and occasionally requiring it). And most of all, I’ll be highlighting my students’ ideas in a way that encourages them to think of their writing as something beyond the classroom.
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