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Hi Shaw,
I think it’s really fascinating that you brought up the idea that by being labelled as “college students” when we entered our tutoring classrooms, we represent the white middle class’s culture of power. In my own processing of how my class viewed me, I never even considered the fact that I was a representative of higher education, which is sort of another level to socioeconomic class diversity. It definitely makes me wonder if the students I worked with saw me differently than they would if I had been just a volunteer tutor who wasn’t associated with a college. Would they have interacted with me differently based on whether they planned on going to college or not? Does that fact that we are also Carleton (a relatively prestigious and expensive college) students also have an impact? This is definitely something that I too will have to think more about. I think your discussion of direct vs indirect language is also really interesting, since in my tutoring I found myself exclusively using indirect language as well, because I wasn’t sure of the power my role in the classroom was expected to have.
Hi Paul!
It makes complete sense that the dinosaur lesson doesn’t seem to have a concrete plan behind it with the objectives and specific structuring like we’ve talked about in class. Honestly, I think that’s where younger grades actually seem to have an advantage in student engagement over upper levels, because like you said they are focusing so much more on learning skills rather than discrete chunks of information. While many upper grade lessons have objectives like “students will be able to synthesize so and so”, the lessons tend so much more to focus on the actual information that students need to have learned to be able to come up with larger patterns and conclusions on their own instead of using things that interest them to teach them the larger skill of synthesis. Mrs. Ziemann definitely seems to have some freedom in how she gets to build certain skills with her students and it is super cool to hear how engaged the students are (for reference, I tutor high school students, for many of whom the actual lessons seem to definitely not interest, if only they could learn chemistry with the help of dinosaurs!).
I also completely understand being bummed about tutoring ending. Even though the students I work with don’t tend to talk to me about how much they love cats, their questions and conversations with me are definitely something I’ll really miss. I actually mentioned this casually to a St Olaf student who tutors on Thursday with me and she didn’t seem as bummed, which I think was because of exactly the reason you mentioned, she switches between a couple different classes and so I think the students didn’t connect with her as much. I’m really glad that you’re hoping to return! I’m sure the kids will absolutely love to see you again, especially since you’ve taken the time to connect with them, learn their interests, and help customize their learning. I hope you get a chance to go back!
Hi Isaac! I love that Michelle has her students do a compliment circle, since I feel like peers can just as easily be a role model as a teacher. The fact that the students also were sincere about it is so wonderful since it means they were really taking it seriously. It is super interesting that the students also sometimes scold each other even though it sounded like they were only encouraged to praise each other. I wonder if they subconsciously connect that since they praise each other like Michelle does that then they are also responsible for scolding as well. The point you brought up about students not having had opportunities for practicing manual dexterity during Covid is heartbreaking to realized that this dang pandemic is having such longer term effects for everyone, and not really in ways that we could have anticipated or might realize. I agree that behaviorism does feel pretty gross in the way it is explained and often applied, since children are not dogs. You raise a very good point about behaviorism as well, I totally hadn’t thought about how behaviorism doesn’t really make sense as a methodology for teaching since you can’t directly see thinking and thus can’t make sure you’re reinforcing what you’re hoping to.
