thank you so much, everyone, for being willing to share your insights and experiences! they are so helpful;
please keep 'em coming! no individual anecdote or piece of advice is too small. the greater the diversity of feedback, the better
please forgive the long post as I respond to each of you and, hopefully, keep this conversation going.
thank you,
Maelstrom ! this is great advice. i've learned a lot about different learning styles over the past few years, but it's helpful to hear that I need to account for these differences when it comes to even the syllabus, course documents, rubrics, etc... and, in explaining them! your advice about noise levels is also particularly important, because comm classes often get loud and rambunctious! I'll try to make sure to keep things under control and consciously offer breaks for quieter debriefing. can i ask, did you ever seek out your professors to talk to them about your struggles in the classroom? if so, what did the professors do that made you feel comfortable doing so? if not, what made you feel uncomfortable approaching them with your needs?
this is certainly relevant,
Epicurean Pariah . I'm so sorry to hear that your amazing cultural experiences/knowledge were dismissed as "retarded." That is unacceptable. I actually have a lot of international students in my classes, and they have often expressed severe anxiety about speaking in English. They often ask me to help them get rid of their accents, too!! I find this so upsetting, because that sort of cultural richness should never be actively eradicated, in my opinion. Funnily enough, it's usually my international students that end up blowing everyone else out of the water by the end of the semester! Perhaps because they are working twice as hard, while others simply take their skills for granted/assume that they must be naturally amazing at communicating just because they grew up in the States.
I like to think that I am a compassionate teacher, and since I am so young, many of my students feel comfortable opening up to me. It can be a bit of a double-edged sword, because some students mistake my openness for weakness and try to take advantage of me. A lot of my colleagues stress a very authoritarian model of teaching, and that has never been my style, so I'm glad to hear this feedback. Is there anything specifically that I might be able to do to reinforce my willingness to work with my students, regarding their individual needs? I find that I often invite my students to come to me with their concerns (during open office hours, via email, after class, etc.), but many of them simply don't. Especially for those students who are shy or have been "burned" by previous professors, is there a way to make it clear to them that I welcome their honesty?
Thank you for this,
zurb ! It's becoming so clear to me that, for all of our emphasis on cultural differences--racial, religious, gender, regional, national, etc.--we have generally overlooked the differences that are less physically apparent! I am going to try very hard to demonstrate how neurological differences are just as important to recognize and navigate in everyday interactions. I have generally taught that nonverbal rules are never normative, but are subject to individual communicators and contexts... but I could do better to emphasize how communicators and contexts often differ even when they don't physically appear to.
As for the group assignments, there IS a group assignment required during the semester (and when I say "required," I mean: by the powers-that-be, my bosses and the university, that have deemed this course a general education requirement and therefore have done their best to make this course as consistent and uniform as possible. It's a nightmare for us teachers, of course. I've often contemplated throwing the group assignment out entirely, since it doesn't really achieve what it aims to achieve--a thorough exposure to and understanding of how groups form and function together. I personally hate group projects also, but I'm wondering how I can alter this assignment to make it more effective but also more enjoyable for my students? Currently, it's basically just a group presentation that they work on for a few weeks, and then "reflect" on in peer reviews. Any thoughts you might have would be great! And if one of my students were particularly adverse to the group project, do you think there is a big risk in letting him or her do an alternative assignment, i.e. would it make him/her feel even more self-conscious if the rest of the class can clearly see that they are not participating in it?
thank you,
qwerty ! I really appreciate the encouragement. I will try my best, with all of your generous help! I just wish I had known better, sooner.
oh
AsheSkyler, this post hits home, particularly because you mention comm and ethics classes in conjunction with business. When they made our intro comm course a general education requirement, the focus shifted from "being competent and capable communicators" to "how to succeed in business." As such, there's been a lot of pressure on us to make everything business-focused: how to give a good pitch, how to conduct yourself in meetings, how to succeed during an interview, even how to dress professionally, etc. It's not that these aren't important skills, but they are just such a small part of communication and its necessity to everyday interaction.
My experience suggests that your perspective on public speaking is right on. Public speaking can be a heinously traumatic experience, and I am sorry to hear that it has been a nightmare for you. Even I did not lose all my discomfort/fears until I was up there, teaching every single day. As I mentioned in my reply to Zurb, there are certain requirements for the course, including four speech assignments and, often, some impromptu speaking. I can't get rid of them entirely without getting fired, but I have been considering an alternative for my students who are particularly anxious about them. What would you think about this: instead of giving speeches in front of the whole class, what if a student could deliver their speech to me and a small group, like 4 or 5 people, at a time and in a place of their choosing? The student could choose the members of their small audience; ideally, they would be friends that the student feels comfortable around/has practiced in front of multiple times. Then, they might progressively become more comfortable speaking in front of small groups, then maybe one day, bigger ones? Do you think this alternative would be helpful? I have also contemplated letting a student deliver a speech only to me, but without an audience, it's not really public speaking, is it?
hi
Progster, thanks for this suggestion! I use a bit of media and we watch a few movies to illustrate some content, but I can definitely ramp it up some more. And I can definitely do better when it comes to debriefing more extensively; sometimes, we simply run out of time but I can certainly try to plan better. One follow-up question: do you perceive any risk/danger in using media, insofar as it might suggest certain normative rules or understanding of communication? As I mentioned above, I often stress the variability of communication in different contexts/among different communicators, and I worry about reifying "accurate" communication.