I haven't been able to reread my favorite teaching/learning books this year. Someone who weighs about 13 lbs is taking up a disproportionate amount of my non-work time (and skimming my work time as well). Here they are:
Good
Influence: Teaching the Wisdom of Adulthood
By Daniel Heischman
By Daniel Heischman
While searching for a book to get my Lifespan II students
thinking about what defines adulthood and the transition into it, I came across
“Good Influence: Teaching the Wisdom of
Adulthood” by Daniel Heischman. Heischman is the Executive Director of the
National Association of Episcopal Schools, and he has lots of experience with high
school and college students and their families. This book helps reminds me why it is
important to keep your high standards amidst pressure to make things easier,
faster, and user-friendlier since capitulating to that pressure can undercut
important educational and life lessons. The author also covers people's spiritual
development. When I use this book in class some students love it for that reason and others are a bit allergic to for the same reason. Generally good conversation comes from reading this book. I wrote the author to let him know and to ask him if he would consider a similar book but for transitioning into another stage of life. We still need people around us to model how its done.
I found “Clueless in
Academe” the summer before I took my first full time job teaching.
I thought the title was fitting for me. Surely I’d be the clueless one… The title
of book is referring as much to the cluelessness of faculty as to the
cluelessness of the students. The author, Gerard Graff, contends that academia
itself is impenetrable for a variety of reasons (some of which we revel in),
and so college educators should expectstudents to have some trouble jumping in and engaging. (If you expect something
it makes it much less frustrating.) In addition to giving the
reader a way to reframe students’ apparent apathy, lack of
awareness/motivation/engagement in higher education, Graff suggests ways teachers can
invite students into the academic conversation so they can engage and make
it a meaningful experience. Help learning how to argue! Who knew anyone would need help with that...In some contexts it comes quite naturally.
“Never a Dull Moment:
Teaching and the Art of Performance” I found in a discount bin at a used bookstore in Northampton, MA. (Got to love used bookstores in the 5 College
area of Massachusetts.) The book is by Jyl Lynn Felman who is an assistant
professor of Women’s Studies at Brandeis. If feminism, post-modernism, and a social
justice and/or relational orientation rankle your sensibilities, consider this
book a form of intellectual and emotional stretching. Flexibility is good
right? If affect has no place in the classroom in your perspective this book
will be quite a challenge. Felman is playful, serious, and engaging, but given
the nature of her courses (i.e., Harmonies and Tensions: Blacks and Jews, Intro
to Women’s Studies, etc.) she may be a lot more accessible to (some of) the
humanities folks. I like her voice, her self reflection and her willingness to
grapple with teaching as a relationship. And I want to take her classes.
The rest of the title is: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How The Mind Works and
What It Means for Your Classroom. This book is by Daniel T. Willingham who
is a professor of Psychology from University of Virginia. This is for the
science-and-research nerds among us. The author is trying to cut through some
popular ideas about education by finding the cognitive principle that either
supports the idea, alters it, or refutes it. A few of the questions that the
book addresses are: “Why do student remember everything that is on television
and forget everything I say?” (Cognitive principle: ‘memory is the residue of
thought’), “Why is it so hard for students to understand abstract ideas?”
(Cognitive principle: ‘We understand new things in the context of things we already
know.’), and “Is drilling worth it?” (Cognitive principle: Proficiency requires
practice.) Willingham gives specific examples in each chapter for how the
principle can structure assignments or classroom expectations. I actually typed
up notes from the book on my ongoing quest to externalize my teaching decisions
for student. You know, homework is not just irritation. It’s meant to be practice.
[Anyone heard me say that? Now you know where I got it from. It makes sense doesn't it? Taking notes? Practice. Highlighting your book? Practice.]There is a context,
rationale, and meaning for much of what we do, even when it isn’t apparent generally apparent.
By the way, if you have any recommendations don't hold out on me. :)
By the way, if you have any recommendations don't hold out on me. :)
