{"id":8576,"date":"2018-03-19T10:00:12","date_gmt":"2018-03-19T14:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/faculty-engagement\/?p=8576"},"modified":"2019-02-17T12:33:49","modified_gmt":"2019-02-17T17:33:49","slug":"great-ideas-for-teaching-gift-volume-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/2018\/03\/8576\/","title":{"rendered":"G.I.F.T. ~ In Search of Attention Retention for Teaching the Arts of Explanation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Great Ideas for Teaching (G.I.F.T.)\u00a0<\/i>is an occasional series featuring\u00a0Stetson faculty. To submit your G.I.F.T., contact the center staff<\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

by Paul Croce<\/em><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Dear Stetson Faculty Colleagues,<\/p>\n

Students do not always share our enthusiasm for the subjects we teach.\u00a0 Many of us hope to foster greater student interest by providing more opportunities for their participation in their learning.\u00a0 This way, they will see the relevance of our subjects as material to use in practice rather than only as abstract concepts unconnected to life.<\/p>\n

Many students, however, resist these goals.\u00a0 Critical thinking and independence of mind call for some maturity of thought.\u00a0 Our students are still in development, and most are quite young\u2014through no fault of their own.\u00a0 In addition, much of their education has contributed to habits of rather aggressive passivity.<\/p>\n

For those used to education as the acquisition of information, calls for active learning can seem downright strange or even scary.\u00a0 Many students don\u2019t even see why such thinking would be worth it, which puts a damper on implementing teaching innovations.<\/p>\n

Breaking through the crust of prior expectation calls more than presenting opportunities for student development of higher-order cognitive skills.\u00a0 Professors need to show students why that kind of thinking would even be important.<\/p>\n

I try to avoid challenging student comfort zones directly, just as William James warns about \u201cappeals to voluntary attention of the coerced sort.\u201d\u00a0 So I treat the learning of facts as a first step on what I call The Learning Ladder, from information to explanations with thinking that involves interpretations and judgments.<\/p>\n

Then I ask students to summon up the meanings and interconnections of those facts: how did they happen, why, and with what implications?\u00a0 For extra motivation, I refer to future career prospects.\u00a0 We have computers that can supply information in abundance; an education that competes with them is a losing proposition.\u00a0 But an education that provides insights about those facts, understanding of their relations, and appreciations for their ethical implications can lead to a job that cannot be displaced by a machine.\u00a0 Also, from the first day in each course, I let my fellow inquirers know that the course will be devoted not only to the content of the course subject matter, but also to their assessment of ways to explain that information, and their discovery of their own perspectives about the material. \u00a0But student habits run deep and often in directions at odds with these educational goals.<\/p>\n

Class time can be devoted to practice with education in its many parts: reports of facts call for explanations; assertion of sharp points of view call for supporting facts; effective oral and written communication calls for integrating these parts with clarity and persuasive force.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Inciting smiles can be a step toward engaging student interest in active learning. Wearing these glasses serves as a way to seize student attention for analyzing popular culture. Paul seized these glasses again when running the Halloween 2013 5K dressed as a professor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These are worthy goals, but they may not sound very scintillating to the student cohort surrounding us.\u00a0 Since attention is the gatekeeper to learning, these tips for better learning need more than earnest suggestions to get the points across.\u00a0 I turn to a combination of the serious and the lighthearted.\u00a0 Grades loom for commanding student attention, but I also vary my messages with some tongue-in-cheek delivery of the very same suggestions.\u00a0 Smiles can open minds.\u00a0 In my classes, I present this little passage spiked with rhymes to awaken students to the significance of active learning:<\/p>\n

For Cultivation of Enhanced Education;
\nAKA, The Path to Grade Elevation<\/h6>\n
Welcome to Spring Semester 2.0!\u00a0 This time of year presents a chance to reinforce your current learning Elevations\u2014or to reverse any Deprivations. \r\n\r\nIn my continuing efforts to be unpopular, I add to my Midterm Evaluations (one could say grading, a brief Translation) still more words about this Education Station.\u00a0 In this course, I am acting on my three educational goals.\u00a0 Here are my Specifications for my teaching and your learning, namely, for: \r\n1. Information, \r\n2. The arts of Explanation, and \r\n3. Your points of view Cultivation. \r\n\r\nThis Recitation may not produce in you much current Elation, but since from this course Day One Initiation, you knew my methods, why in this course your Registration? \r\n\r\nNow that you have freely chosen this classroom Habitation, let\u2019s make the best of this Situation. And I hope this limerick-like form of Relation, fresh from my own mental Vibrations, will provide for you some further Motivation. \r\n\r\nWith half a semester still in Duration, I promise to provide themes and contexts in my daily class Preparation, including videos, music, or maps, for some added Decoration, along with ideas to support further research Investigation.\u00a0 The other half of this Equation, are the ideas you<\/em> bring without<\/em> Hesitation, complete with Quotation and specific Pagination\u2014surely you can achieve daily homework Cultivation without suffering Starvation, personal Agitation, or, well\u2026 Exhaustation!\u00a0 That<\/em> good work, my fellow inquirers, will give you practice in the arts of Explanation.\u00a0 This<\/em> task in oral Presentation, of relatively short Duration, will support your<\/em> Preparation for composing written words with fired Imagination.\u00a0 After all, writing with clarity, fairness to the material, and persuasion (http:\/\/www.stetson.edu\/artsci\/american-studies\/media\/Web5WritingGuidePostAUG17.pdf<\/a>) requires more than accurate Punctuation, but enlistment of your deliberate Cogitation. \r\n\r\nIn this course as in this democratic Nation, do not expect then a Coronation, but by semester\u2019s end, some ample Celebration\u2014and even, by Jove, your contribution to our Civilization, with steps toward your very own beloved Vocation. \r\n\r\nAnd if I can help your Lucubrations, show no Hesitation for office Consultations. Do good work, for your own sake now and for your future\u2014even if you in find me, compared to your prior Cogitations, something rather like an \u2026 Aberration.<\/pre>\n
So, dear colleagues, do good work with your students.\u00a0 Keep pushing back the frontiers of knowledge\u2014and what approaches can you<\/em> develop to encourage it to push right back!<\/p>\n
About the Author<\/h3>\n
\"\"Paul Croce<\/a> is Professor of History and Director of the American Studies Program.\u00a0 His focus on American history at Georgetown and Brown Universities included study of political theory, philosophy, religious studies, and history of science.\u00a0 This background prepared him for teaching courses on topics that mavens of manners often ask not to be brought up at the dinner table.\u00a0 In other words, his courses deal with major values issues, including environmental debates, legacies of the American Civil War, medical controversies, political ideologies and cultural commitments, media and the public sphere, race relations, science and religion, war and peace, and the 1950s and 1960s as the first years of our own time.<\/p>\n
His prime research focus has been on science, religion, and William James, the founder of American psychology and pragmatism.\u00a0 His first book, Eclipse of Certainty<\/u>, about the declining certainties in modern science and religion, provides contexts for his most recent book, Young William James Thinking<\/u><\/a>,\u00a0a coming-of-age story about the future celebrated intellectual between childhood and fame.\u00a0 Inspired by James\u2019s work as a public intellectual and spurred by the challenges of teaching, he created The Public Classroom<\/a>, a webpage with an archive of his essays,\u00a0which have appeared in diverse newspapers, magazines, and blogs.<\/p>\n
When not culture watching, Paul enjoys running, biking, and swimming in Florida\u2019s beautiful springs, spending time with friends and his two wonderful children,\u00a0Peter and Elizabeth, and working in his yard and at his 1909 house, which has been a perfect place to host Trick-or-Treaters every Halloween.\u00a0 His annual survey frequently appears in the DeLand Beacon<\/u>, and a recent account has been published in the German pedagogical journal Praxis Englisch<\/span>.\u00a0 Make your guesses about the most popular outfits among the 2000+ kids of all ages heading for MegaHalloween on Minnesota Avenue, and send your surmises to pcroce@stetson.edu<\/a>\u2014if you\u00a0 dare\u2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Great Ideas for Teaching (G.I.F.T.)\u00a0is an occasional series featuring\u00a0Stetson faculty. To submit your G.I.F.T., contact the center staff.\u00a0 by Paul Croce Dear Stetson Faculty Colleagues, Students do not always share our enthusiasm for the subjects we teach.\u00a0 Many of us hope to foster greater student interest by providing more opportunities for their participation in their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[199,230,146],"class_list":["post-8576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faculty-excellence","tag-great-ideas-for-teaching-g-i-f-t","tag-learning-teaching","tag-stetson-spotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8576"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8618,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8576\/revisions\/8618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}