This week is similar for English 110 and English 120. Both classes are using Monday (or Tuesday for my 8am English 110 students) to create a Large Project 2 draft that will get plopped into the Workshop spot for feedback the rest of the week into the beginning of next week.  We'll also use Monday/Tuesday in all classes to collaboratively review the Research chapters in the different textbooks. I do not see my Wednesday classes due to Advising Day, and I've canceled the 8am Thursday class to keep them on schedule with the Wednesday students; I also have a meeting that morning anyhow.

Earlier this week, I started to research the mode of teaching known as hyflex. I didn't research this topic thinking I'd eventually have a blog post about it, but here we are. There are some wild things I noticed, and some fairly solid conclusions I've come to. I didn't do a proper dig into Google; therefore, I ended up with hyflex articles from 2020 about synchronous hyflex models and the technology needs to run that sort of classroom properly. Without seeking out more current articles, I wondered if those faculty who had tried the synchronous methods like I had in 2020 realized that asynchronous online was the best option online for hyflex. Yes, in Fall of 2020 and Spring of 2021, I recorded almost every class session, with or without students attending virtually. It was EXHAUSTING. With that last nugget in mind, I knew that when I was planning to use hyflex in two courses this coming spring (2023), I would create an online course shell that could run like a typical a...

Yesterday, we watched two TED Talks about fatphobia; I think there was at least one - if not two - students who were watching other videos on their devices while my computer played the TED Talks... this felt disrespectful. I don't think they have done that during our other TED Talks, and so I took it slightly personal because I started off the topic discussion by mentioning that I am a fat woman.  Anyhow, I'm going to try not to let it bug me. It's difficult to know precisely why humans - especially students - do what they do.  Wednesday's class will be an optional in-class workday for Large Project 2 (we have a workshop next week) as well as Mini-Argument #2.

This week might be rather quiet; we're working on Large Project 2 (with a workshop on that project next week), and I don't plan to make a big deal out of introducing Group 3 since it follows the path of the previous two groups. I do plan to announce that they can use Youtube and TED.com to find experts for their LP2s. I also plan to ask them about how they feel about Blackboard and its usage... Yeah.

We watched two TED Talks related to the topic of Mental Health. Wednesday will be used as a workshop day for Mini-Argument #2 and Large Project 2. I might go around and have quick chats with everyone about what research question they might have for LP2, and if they don't have one, we'll brainstorm together. Ditto for the mini-argument. I think I might have a mini-argument in me about my uncle; that TED Talk on how what we know about addiction is wrong makes me think of him everytime. + We made mistakes with an addict; we didn't realize that the "opposite of addiction isn't sobriety; the opposite of addiction is connection" (Hari). As a family, we could've reached out more. We could've said, "It doesn't matter if you've been drinking today or if you are drunk right now; we are here for you. Please come over and watch the football game with us." Johann mentions not punishment for addicts, but rather helping them find a purpose, so why d...

We did some tweaking to the schedule, based on the fact that a few students need a work day this week to complete the Pitstop items - all absolutely due Friday. So, I demonstrated how to create a shorter version of the multi-genre medium project , and then gave them time to work. On Wednesday/Thursday, I'll conduct what I'm calling "mini-consultations" regarding what they are doing for Large Project 2, etc. We moved Group 2's deadline and Group 3's intro to next Monday; the schedule was updated to reflect all of this. AND since I'm a Google nut, I didn't have to log into Blackboard to do any of this, which is awesome because I was supposed to pick a new password, and I couldn't think of one on the spot! We talked about Skeletor memes today in the 11am class, so here's a lovely image of the guy as a baker of cookies:

Some snippets from this recent article out of The Chronicle of Higher Education : "In fact, research shows that test performance improves after students learn how famous scientists have struggled, either intellectually or personally, en route to their achievements. Students benefit when they hear that their professors have failed , too." - Recognize that you don’t have to teach the way you were taught. - Design a course that gives students room to stumble, and recover. - Think of students as people, rather than caricatures. "Treat your students the way you wish to be treated. Teach the kind of class you wish you would have taken, and be the kind of teacher that you wish you’d had — perhaps even the kind that your students who will become professors choose to emulate." 

Within this last week, students have shown me what they see on their end of the Blackboard Ultra gradebook. I'm so appreciative of this, and I hope they know that, even as I grunt witnessing the red text telling them their completed work is late (when it wasn’t). Instead of sulking and feeling frustrated, I decided to use the Student Preview this morning to look into that AND to see if incomplete work (some uploaded before a deadline and some after) would show up in any way on MY end in order for me to track those sorts of redos/revisions… Once again, I’m disappointed in what I discovered; here's a document showcasing the screenshots of what students see and what teachers see . I did sent these findings to people on campus who might be able to do anything about them. In the meantime, since I doubt Blackboard will suddenly change how certain activities in Ultra are assessed or what-have-you, I should rethink (for Spring, I guess) how to use that gradebook. I want it to be easy f...

We looked over the schedule; I had revised a few things. We'll dig into Large Project 2 Wednesday, and I'll try to bring paper copies of LP2 examples as well as paper copies of the midterm reflection. Before giving everyone some work time - to check their Pitstop items and whether they had completed declaration quizzes for Units 1 through 5 - we watched a TED Talk about a pianist who is blind and has autism . Fascinating! + p.s. Posting this little image of the mighty midwest in honor of the conference I was at last week:

We used the first class of the hybrid week - Monday/Tuesday - to debrief and recap and talk about all the things since I was gone last week for #TYCAMW.  And then students "voted" for a work day.  Today is the first strict deadline of the semester called the Pitstop, so that kind of makes this week Pitstop Week; we'll focus on things that should be completed up to this point - Group Zero, Group 1, and Large Project 1. I conducted a super brief overview of what  Group 2  contains, and we'll use some time in class Wed/Thurs to complete the Midterm Reflection (maybe I'll bring paper copies?). On Thursday or Friday of this week, I will go through the Gradebooks to see who hasn't quite completed ALL of the Pitstop items and email them to ask them to respond with a plan to catch up.