Diary of a Colloquium Instructor #2

Week 2 was fun. This is when we first start to get to know each other. I can attach names to faces, though I don't have them completely memorized yet. And my students start to get a feel for the kind of instructor I am. This is the first time I've taught this class when most of the students are younger than me. In other words, most of them are semi-typical college juniors and seniors. There is one woman, let's just call her D, who might be old enough to be my mom (maybe). There are a couple of thirty-somethings, and the rest are late teens, early twenties. It's a different feel than my last semester, which had just as many, maybe more adult students than "college kids."

Another significant difference is in my last section of this course, I had several students who were biology, environmental science, or engineering majors. Many of them were excited about being in nature and learning more about the local environment. This semester it's a mixed bag. I have some students who are crazy excited, like one who kayaks and camps regularly with her friends, and another who lives on the river and spends every morning sitting out on her dock observing and taking in her surroundings. I have a couple of natives, but mostly out of state students who are admittedly sick of the oppressive heat, and more concerned about the impending humidity and insects on the field trips than anything else.

The first reading for the class, due this week, was an excerpt from Richard Louv's national best-seller, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature Deficit Disorder.  It was an introductory chapter about the power of interacting with nature, and how today's youth is largely disconnected from the natural world. He suggest that this is contributing to societal problems like childhood obesity, attention deficit disorder, and depression. If you're interested, I highly recommend you check out Louv's work. The class activity required the students in small groups to read one of six scenarios I gave them in which they were asked to be part of a task force in varying fields of work (businesses, schools, nursing homes, etc.). The scenarios asked them to apply the concepts they learned about in the Louv reading, and make suggestions for the project in question. For example, here is one of the scenarios:

The CEO of a large and highly successful company is concerned about the longevity of the company’s success and the potential for burn-out and employee turnover. The executive team has voted on extending the workday by 60 minutes, but mandating two flexible 30- minute break periods in the day. As an employee in the company, you have been asked to participate on a task force to provide input about how best to utilize the breaks and create a space on the property for employee “down time.”

Based on the Louv reading, what recommendations might you offer the design team for this new space, and the executive team for the break time? How will you explain to others, the benefits of utilizing this time and space during the workday? What do you see as the long-term benefits of the project?

As I walked about the room, listening to the conversations and reflections on the reading, a few things struck me. First, I could immediately tell who had done the reading and who was dependent on the book (I allowed them to use it) and the group. The second, was the instant camaraderie in the classroom, which come to find out was not based on previous relationships. Unless my adult students- and they are all adults, even the youngest ones- show me they can't handle it, I always let them choose their own partners and groups. Finally, I was able to get a feel for who the quick-fix-let's-get-this-over-with students were and which ones were there to interact and learn as much as they could.

I noticed one group had gotten done very early. They were positioned right in the middle of the room, four 18-20ish-year-old guys. Two of them had the affect they were doing me a favor by being there. They told me they were done, and then one of them stopped me. Longish hair and a beard, but still obviously young, he had a bit of a chip on his shoulder.  "I just don't agree with the idea that video games and TV cause ADD." Okay, I was thinking curiously. 

"I'm not certain that's what the author thinks either," I replied to him as the others watched our interaction. "I believe Louv was simply saying that this is an area of great interest in the research community." Louv did refer to some studies in the book. But this wasn't about the book. This was clearly a young boy making it clear to me that he likes video games and TV and no one is going to tell him it's bad for him. He came off as immature. I continued, "And for the record, I don't believe  those things either. I believe it has more to with the behaviors and parenting associated with those activities than the activities themselves." He backed down and nodded, as though he approved of my retort. I think he was impressed. I was not.

The task force reports shared out at the end of class were okay, some better than others. I was able to ascertain right away which ones included information from the reading, and ideas supported by the reading, as opposed to those which simply stated opinions. I did this activity last time I taught the class, almost exactly the same way, and the results were more impressive then. I do recall it was a little further in the semester, so I'm not losing hope. By the end of the class I knew most everyone's name and planned to test myself when I saw them all that Saturday on our first field trip. Still feeling great about the start of the semester.