{"id":6613,"date":"2017-04-19T03:00:03","date_gmt":"2017-04-19T03:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/fctl\/?p=6613"},"modified":"2019-06-05T20:03:50","modified_gmt":"2019-06-05T20:03:50","slug":"community-is-the-longest-part-of-our-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/2017\/04\/19\/community-is-the-longest-part-of-our-name\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cCOMMUNITY\u201d is the Longest Part of our Name"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Cheryl Thompson Price<\/strong><\/p>\n

I participated in the Computerside Chat on Fostering Motivation \/ Knowledge, Skills, Recall, & Understanding \/ Self-Awareness as Learners. I didn\u2019t \u201cchat-in\u201d each time I had a comment because I didn\u2019t want to hog up the queue; nonetheless, I\u2019ve been encouraged to share: \u201cThe best part of these sessions is when passionate instructors share how they help our students\u2026and the best way to learn to innovate as educators is when we hear the innovations of other faculty.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the Fostering Motivation discussion, the physical condition of students (sleeping in class, lacking focus, etc.) was raised. My approach: I begin with the understanding that most of our students are working\u2026some have multiple jobs; many are parenting or care-taking; a lot are experiencing poverty; and others are juggling more than one \u201chigh\u201d priority. Thus, I conduct myself as an ACC representative remembering that \u201cCOMMUNITY\u201d is the longest part of our name. Meaning, I recognize them as humans, first \u2013 then, as students who may need an extension of compassion to persist, persevere, and to ultimately achieve academic success.<\/p>\n

Self-Awareness as Learners & Learner Autonomy: One technique that has worked well for me has been allowing students to choose the medium to present their final project\/assignment. They\u2019ve presented PowerPoints and videos, they\u2019ve written poems and short stories, and even illustrated cartoons. I’ve used a posted rubric to evaluate their presentation; therefore, everyone understood the point system beforehand. I find students are empowered knowing their largest assignment would be \u201con their turf\u201d and I believe this advantage encourages their commitment throughout the semester.<\/p>\n

Encouraging Student Attendance and Participation: At the beginning of the semester, I reinforce the classroom as a \u201clearning laboratory.\u201d I emphasize their participation and highlight that we ALL – me included – will be learning in \u201cthis laboratory\u201d \u2026and that learning occurs through the \u201cexperiment\u201d of our unique interaction (like mixing chemicals in a science lab). Students quickly discover that their participation is risk-free and necessary to \u201cdrive\u201d the lesson.<\/p>\n

Like other faculty, I often use student questions and\/or their experiences to reinforce the learning objective or to segue into a related objective. But, I especially like to use \u201cless-than-correct\u201d answers in this manner \u2013 that way the students realize their incorrect answers have value and contribute to the lesson, as well. I thank them for their contribution\u2026they become less concerned about their comments being \u201ccorrect\u201d and more willing to participate in class discussions.<\/p>\n

I don’t criticize students\u2026I encourage them to think about their options \u2013 including seeking support and using available resources (or not) \u2013 then we\u2019ll engage in a discussion to determine if their \u201cchoice\u201d was the best choice…not necessarily the \u201cright\u201d choice\u2026but the best choice. It\u2019s their call (either way). I tell them they\u2019re the CEO of their own academic progress and I\u2019m like their Advisory Board of Directors (I’m here to provide information and lend support). They usually smile at the CEO reference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Cheryl Thompson Price<\/strong>
\n
\nI participated in the Computerside Chat on Fostering Motivation \/ Knowledge, Skills, Recall, & Understanding \/ Self-Awareness as Learners. I didn\u2019t \u201cchat-in\u201d each time I had a comment because I didn\u2019t want to hog up the queue; nonetheless, I\u2019ve been encouraged to share: \u201cThe best part of these sessions is when passionate instructors share…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":6612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[146],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-written-by-faculty"],"acf":{"carousel_content":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}