Señora Cummins' Reflections

Change.  Boo.  Thumbs down. This semester I'm not doing anything "new." I'm not launching a new curriculum like I did last spring. I'm not teaching an Honors section for the first time like I did last fall. Everything I'm doing this semester I've done before.  However, there are tweaks: In 2311: *All students are online. *I have more students enrolled in this class than I ever have before. *They are using Day One Access to purchase the curriculum.  If all goes well it should be cheaper and easier for students.  Fingers crossed that all goes well... In 1411: *I'm making attendance required in F2F again.  I stopped this after COVID but a student last semester asked me to add it back.  She said it helps her be motivated to attend class. *I'm giving grades during my F2F classes again.  I used to give a general "participation" grade in each class but I dropped it because it wasn't really working.  This semester I'll give specific parti

I launched my SPAN 1412 with OER materials this past semester.  Whew.  It was an adventure. I knew launching the course with these materials would be a challenge.  I wasn't sure if the students would learn the information needed to go on with SPAN 2311 with me or at another institution. I was nervous--we went over challenging material that they needed to master. The good news is that it was a success.  I learned a few lessons: *I'm a great teacher face to face.  I saw that my face to face section did better on concepts on quizzes than my online section.   While celebrating that face to face was going well I had to figure out how to make my online course better. *I added grades for watching select lecture videos.   A dual credit student last spring told me if I expect students to watch a video a grade has to be tied to it.  Yuck.  I resist that but I accept it.   I created concept review videos (less than 4 minutes) that students had to watch and answer one question that chat gp

I don't love the internet.  I'm 44, so I went all the way through high school without using the internet much.  I remember using email for the first time my freshman year in college. I have a Spanish verb conjugation book from grad school that I much prefer to using anything online.  I actually purchased the updated digital version but it's clunky to navigate on my Kindle.  I much prefer the paper version.  I don't trust the internet.  My parents are very cautious with anything online.  They don't use social media at all. I use Facebook for connecting with friends and family.  I use Twitter for professional development and entertainment if I'm honest. Twitter is useful for reaching out to other Spanish instructors.  I also find good authentic Spanish resources on Twitter.   I'm very careful online.  I don't post anything I don't want on the 6PM news.  I don't want to embarrass my parents--many of their friends are friends of mine online. I much p

I am reading Thrive Online by Riggs.  As I'm reading I'm using this as a platform to process through my thoughts. Question:  what do I want to know about regarding online teaching: Organization.  My classes make sense to me but could they be better organized for students to navigate them more easily? Active learning.  Is there enough of this? Ed tech.  Could I be using more?  Could I be using ed tech better?  

This semester I'm launching new material for my second semester Spanish class--1412.   In first semester, 1411, students learn present tense.  In second semester we add past tense.  Both are beginning classes but the 1412 class is more challenging.  There is more memorization required for verb conjugations.  Concepts are more complex. When I began as an adjunct I used the text that was given to me by the full-time instructor.  I figured out how to pace the classes but I didn't love the complexity and cost of the textbook. So, I made the jump to using OER materials. I really like the freedom involved with OER materials.  I can modify and adjust easily.  However, everything is new.  New is tricky.  So far it's going well.  Let's celebrate this moment :)

On Twitter I followed a thread regarding if professors make their slide decks available for students. I like higher ed Twitter because I get to see what others in my profession are thinking and doing. This semester I'm teaching 3 classes:  my SPAN 2312 is online with 2 sections, my SPAN 1412 has an online section and a face to face section and my SPAN 1411 has 2 face to face sections.  It's a lot of prep. I've taught the 2312 online previously.  It's asynchronous but we have Zoom study sessions students can choose to participate in.  I have lecture videos that they can watch.  I'm at peace with that. My 1412 is redesigned.  Last semester I completed redid it using OER materials.  The online section is complete but I'm working class by class to build the slide decks for the face to face classes. I like the challenge of it, but it's an awkward process.  Pacing is tricky because I don't know how long each activity will take.   My face to face sections are i