“Exactly so! I am a humbug.”
Illustration by W.W. Denslow, as archived here. Full illustrated e-text of L. Frank Baum’s novel here.
Pay Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain
The following questionnaire (or one very much like it) is given to students at the start of their time in the Humanities makerspace:
This is the start of a feedback chain — a connection between the students and the various innovations of the course. The answers to these questions will help to build a better form of feedback.
Most of the time, I would stick to exactly that sort of self-effacing setup: a focus on the course, not the teacher; the use of the passive voice to the point where it’s a bit stilted; and substantial hyperlinks, like the ones in that last paragraph, that emphasize the course philosophy.
This self-effacing approach has led to testimonials that talk more often about the course and the students themselves than the teacher. Any adult can jump on a desk and poorly interpret Robert Frost; it always seemed more important to push against the myth that it’s all about the teacher. Students benefit more from approaches that instill autonomy and agency.
The pendulum swings, though, and it’s important to confront mistakes and misconceptions. I started out against technology, for instance. Things change.
Over the years, I’ve tried less self-effacement. First, it was subtle, like structuring instructional posts to include references to my family; by 2019, there was an actual “About Me” page, which is now part of the introductory texts for the makerspace.
The questionnaire is there to generate the right kind of focus and feedback, but it’s also a chance to connect. Below are my answers to the same questions asked of students.
What does your writing life look like?
My writing life consists, during the school year, almost entirely of writing for students. There’s a reason for that:
That is both an example of the kind of interstitial instruction I use and an explanation of it. It also tackles the subject of reading in a contemporary, non-academic sense.
I believe that students need the training outlined in that post, which is training in online discourse. It is a skill needed in almost every job and walk of life.
Most of what I write, however, isn’t in these posts; most of it is feedback in the form of direct comments on student work. This commentary is an overhaul of the traditional kind of feedback, which is why, as far back as 2017, I’ve had to gently rebuke rumors and ignorance about how it works. (The section on “The Hydra” addresses feedback in a makerspace.)
I also write and rewrite the foundational pieces of the course. That’s why the syllabus on the testimonial/showcase website is slightly different from this universal one, which is itself an update to the 2019 version. Grade abatement is updated whenever there is a need. There is an ongoing internal discussion of what works.
It’s an iterative process, but the basic innovations and shifts seem to be universal and adaptable. The updates to the course explained in 2016 still make sense years later.
One process note: To save time, I dictate most of this writing and feedback while commuting to and from work. It’s not as fun as listening to podcasts or music, but it became necessary when I had children of my own. Dictation is one way for you to deal with reluctance or difficulty in writing, too.
What else do you like to create?
I play and write music whenever I have time to do so. I’m teaching my own kids the basics of playing the piano and music theory.
I studied poetry and creative writing throughout college and grad school, too.
What does your reading life look like?
I read constantly. During the school year, I read student writing more than anything else; there are daily check-ins, feedback forms, full essays, smaller writing assignments, and more.
I read the news every morning and night, including as many longer non-fiction articles and essays as I can. To take breaks from all that, I read novels and other literature. In the last few years, I’ve expanded what I read to include atypical fiction, too — manga, comic books, light novels, that sort of thing.
I read along with my kids, even as they get older. We usually start and end the day by reading together.
What other media do you enjoy?
Like most parents of young kids, I know more than I ever expected to know about Paw Patrol. When I am able to put non-children’s programming on the TV, it tends to be background for school work or other responsibilities. I like horror movies quite a bit.
I value having a wide-ranging interest in almost all music and art. Here are a few I’d share with you randomly:
- Drunken Tiger
- Ennio Morricone (also, this cover of The Ecstasy of Gold with Yo Yo Ma)
- Wassily Kandinsky
- Brother Ali
What is the story, so far, of your educational experience?
I was at the top of my class in high school and went to UVA on a scholarship. I got another scholarship to study education at Wake Forest, and then I got certified to teach in New York. Fewer than five years into teaching, I was interviewed in Harper’s and then won the first Milken Award in New York .
It all sounds impressive, but it’s not really important. The important story, for me, is that I was a perfectionist who struggled mightily with the impact of that perfectionism (and a host of other issues) for a long, long time.
So the story I choose to tell is this: I overhauled my own teaching because the awards and accolades didn’t matter. Grade abatement, for instance, comes from my own relationship with grades, filtered through the experience of getting older and starting my own family.
The story, for me, is that education has to change, even if the change is disruptive to the status quo. We have to change for the individual student.
Where do you plan, hope, or expect to be next year?
I’d like to see a discussion that is critical and constructive about, as Ken Robinson puts it, the habitats and habits of educational institutions. During the COVID-19 crisis, we got a series of post-mortem analyses of America:
We’re now trying to go back to normal. Innovation is giving way to the status quo. But if we value education, we all need to find our critical voices. There is such a thing as toxic positivity.
What else, if anything, would you like to write here?
I’ll embed an essay that is a useful way of conceptualizing this makerspace and its underlying shifts: