[A new semester
is upon us, and with it comes a new Spring Preview series. Leading up to a
special weekend post on book updates, plans, and hopes!]
On the
possibility of flipping a classroom to address a problem (and a request for
input!).
I’ve taught
our English Studies Senior
Capstone course a number
of times, and always enjoy the chance to work with the students in that
distinct and particularly individualized setting. Through their work on their
senior portfolios I get the chance to read much more of each student’s writing
and work than I would in any other classroom contexts, and in so doing get a
great introduction to not only each individual, but also and especially the
breadth and depth of the work being produced by our talented English Studies
Majors. And through their work on the class’s pre-professional materials
(things like resumes/CVs, job cover letters/grad school personal statements, and
the like) I get a chance to talk with them a lot about their future goals and
plans, and hopefully to play a small role in helping them move into those next
steps as successfully as possible. It’s just different from any other class I get
to teach (other than the parallel Interdisciplinary
Studies Capstone, which I’ve only taught once), and I greatly enjoy it
every time I do.
The last time I
taught it, in
Spring 2018, I enjoyed all those aspects just as much, but found that
things didn’t work quite as well with the third element: the shared
conversations, in which we move through units on each concentration in our
English Studies program (Professional Writing, Literature, Secondary Education,
and Theater) with focal texts to help drive our conversations. To be honest, I
think the students didn’t quite see the value in those readings and
conversations, at least not compared to the graduation requirement that is the
senior portfolio and the clear practicality and productivity of the
pre-professional materials; and I’ll admit that I didn’t identify this problem
nearly soon enough to do a good job framing why this third element was also
important and central to the Capstone work. They were English Studies Majors
and strong students and voices to boot, so we had some good moments and
discussions across those texts and units, but nonetheless this element of the
class was definitely the least engaged and strong of the three, and honestly
the least engaged and strong of any time I’ve taught Capstone.
So as I get
ready for my next section of Capstone, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to
address that particular element and potential problem. Part of it, as usual, is
just identifying the issue and being more forthright (with myself, with y’all
here, and with the students in the class especially) about both it and the
reasons for this element of the class. But I wonder if part of it might not be
trying to figure out a way to flip the classroom
when it comes to those conversations—to have them driven much more fully by the
students and their interests and needs than by anything I might bring to the
mix. Truth be told, though, I’m not at all sure about flipping, either in terms
of how to do it or in terms of whether it’s a good thing to do. So I’m gonna
stop this preview here and say that I’d love to hear any thoughts or takes on
flipped classrooms, here in comments or by email or any other way! Thanks
in advance!
Special post
this weekend,
Ben
PS. Spring previews
of your own to share? I’d love to hear them!
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