Professor Sharon

100 Day Project – Day 4 – 9:36 a.m.

Yesterday’s teaching load was one that probably most wouldn’t choose!  I begin the day at 8 sitting in on half of a learning community that a colleague and I set up.  At 9:30, the class is mine to lead, in what is generally called Freshman Study Skills.  Although it is called College Success at our institution – I don’t love the title as it infers, to me, that the strategies learned are only applicable to making it through college.  I don’t consider time management skills so exclusive!  But that’s another line of thought.

At any rate, after those two classes, I teach two early education and care classes.  Somewhere in there I find time to walk between buildings for a little exercise and eat a pb&j.  On top of that, dash home, check in with the family, change clothes and walk several blocks to just catch the kick-off to the county’s agriculture parade, in which our college was walking.  One hour of marching (some uphill), and I arrive at the fair to enjoy a hot dog, watch teenagers scream on crazy rides and young children enjoy being up way past their bedtime.

But let me back up.  I ended the last class of the day early because one-quarter of the class was participating in the parade; and a fair share of the rest of them hoped to get home in time to give their children dinner in order to take them or join some family and friends to watch the parade.  I imagine it must happen somewhere else in America; but in this small town of 17,000 in a rural county, this parade and fair is one  – if not the – highlight of the year.

As I marched with colleagues, along the route, parade watchers shouted our names, clapped and waved at their community’s college!  Delightful.

This semester, that learning community I am trying out for the first time is grounded in research. There is “recognition that student engagement in educationally purposeful activities inside and outside of classroom is a precursor to high levels of student learning and personal development as well as an indicator of educational effectiveness (ACPA, 1994; Kuh, 1996, 2003; MacGregor, 1991; Study Group, 1984).” My fellow instructor and I are aware of this research through our own learning about learning.  Already after two class meetings, we can see a difference.  Students are  speaking aloud in class (all of them!), they are forming new friendships, and asking questions about the semester ahead.  And, although next week will really tell, no one has dropped as yet (to not have at least two students change their minds is unusual for both of us).  We know it has to do with learning in community.

Last night, during the parade, I experienced the palpable feeling of community.  So many of those marching and lining the route, have been, are, or will be learning somewhere — many in the halls of the community college I have the privilege to work.   And, these are folks, whose friends and family, if not themselves, have just lost homes, belongings, rich farmlands, crops, and roads to their homes to a Tropical Storm.   On Tuesday, in my classes, it will be important at the beginning of class to give students time to greet each other and talk about the hot dog, the crazy ride, the prize their animal won, or the friend they hung out with at the fair.  Not one or two students, but most will have been part of this community event and will need to share it with each other, before they sit down and know that they are learning amongst a collection of people they know care about them – care about their learning.

As teachers, we must not underestimate the connections and powerful effect that learning in community holds for our students and us.  Today, I am thinking about community!