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Summer School is a Waste of Time and Money

12 May

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Registration.  I absolutely hate it.  If I could give away part of my job to somebody else, it would be mass registration days.  The days when hundreds of new students arrive on campus needing to enroll in a course, “fix” their financial aid, buy overpriced books ($165 for a basic math book is ridiculous #imjustsayin), etc.  Some of them bring their children, parents, baby carriages, and significant others with them to share in this important moment in their lives.  While I appreciate the sentiment, deep down I wish they’d all just stayed home as extra people only adds to the chaos.  Everyone asks the same questions — OVER, AND OVER, AND OVER AGAIN.  Our office is generally business casual.  Today we traded in our cute heels for sneakers and flip flops so we can make our way through crowds of frustrated students who have been in one line at least two hours, only to be told to go to another line to wait for another 3 hours.  It’s not unusual to have a student or two in desperate need of some home training who cusses out the entire staff just because she’s tired of waiting so long (and it usually is the females — when did young women get so aggressive?).  At least this go-round, I was able to sneak away for 22 glorious minutes of peace during my lunch break.  The first 8 minutes were stolen by a woman who cornered me in the kitchen asking questions about her courses.  I obliged, knowing that she was just nervous about everything school related and just wanted to make sure she was doing the right thing.

All of which leads me to wonder why people enroll in summer school anyway.  Most of the students I saw today are first time college students who are all gung-ho about school and want to do it — all or nothing.  I explain to the student that summer school is only 6 weeks, as opposed to the normal 15 weeks.  There is no time or space for “course shopping” or getting used to the whole pace of college.  If a person has waited so long to finally “do school,” why not wait a few more weeks and start in the fall?  What is it about American culture that makes people think they are “behind schedule” and that they must make up for their lack of a degree by putting themselves through summer school hell?  I’ve taken a few summer courses myself thinking I was keeping myself “on schedule.”  To be honest, I don’t even remember those courses as I was barely keeping up.  I could maybe understand if a student is close to graduation and needed just a few more credits so they could finally “just be done with it” as folks often say.  But is it wise to allow new students who had never been to college before and mostly deficient in basic skills?  School should be enjoyed.  Exercising your brain cells should be fun.  It shouldn’t be plowed through like a chore.

What’s Good Advising Anyway?

26 Jan

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Why is it that my students don’t think I actually studied education?  They’re all shocked and surprised when I tell them that, yes, I actually have a master’s in education and took some doctoral level credits — also in education.  Is it because I’m too personable?  They take my attempts at harmless hallway chatter and questions about their family members as simple niceties.  As a demonstration of appreciation, they bring me lots of hugs and food when they have something they know I would like — and I will often do the same for them.  I consider this a big part of my job as an advisor.  My students trust me and my advice because we have a relationship.

Unfortunately, many of my students’ experience with the US education system has often been a hands-off relationship.  Over-crowded classrooms in-part have made it challenging for teachers to get to know their students.  To some advisors, and faculty who also advise students, the job of advising is simply to run down a list of classes, checking off what has been completed.  However good advising should inspire a student to actively participate in the creation of their own professional and personal lives.  And the only way to do that is to learn a little more about the student than just what major they chose.  So when students meet an advisor like me who gets on them for not doing their homework, or takes notice when I don’t see them in the hallways as I often did earlier in the semester, students are honestly shocked. After being shocked, they often come back to me and say, “Hey, Miss Halona, thank you!  You really made me rethink my decision to do XYZ…”   And after 8 to 10 hours of students constantly coming in and out of my office, just when I think I couldn’t crack one last smile without seeming fake, it’s those bright eyes and thank you’s that make me happy to be an advisor.

The Power of the Collective

28 Jun

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On June 19th I attended Blogging While Brown, a conference bringing together bloggers of color.  The conference highlight for me was Gina McCauley’s presentation as part of a panel called, “The Future of Blogging.”  Gina is the founder of Blogging While Brown and blogs at What About Our Daughters.  In short, Gina showed us through a YouTube clip how white Republicans utilize bloggers as a way to sway public opinion.  And it’s not only public opinion, but money and votes.  It demonstrated how blogging can be used to create social capital.  Gina then turned to the sea of brown bloggers in the room.  We represented a wealth of knowledge from every subject imaginable — natural hair, business ownership, STEM, money management, even politics.  But what were we doing COLLECTIVELY to create monetary and social capital?  The room fell quiet.

So Gina hit us over the head with why Blogging While Brown is necessary.  It is not about brown folks getting together once a year for a party.  It’s about making connections that can possibly change the course of the world’s history.  So Gina, I heard you girl!  I am toiling away on blog post ideas, thinking about how my blog will not just benefit me, but others too.  I look forward to Blogging While Brown 2011 in Los Angeles.

Why You Should Join the Council for the Study of Community Colleges

21 Apr

In my last post I talked about my attendance at the 2010 conference for the Council for the Study of Community Colleges in Seattle.  I had a much better time than expected and wondered why I did not see more of my community college colleagues there.  The organization is designed to be a place for folks who do research about any aspect taking place within the community college.  So this can include those doing scholarship of teaching and learning projects as well as those interested in administration, fundraising, etc.  I thought it might be helpful to do a quick post on why anyone interested in community colleges should attend this conference:

  • It’s small! At only 150+ registrants, I have to say that this conference was manageable.  I’ve never been to an AERA conference, but I can imagine how overwhelming it can be.  I have been a member off and on for a few years and my hands cramp up scrolling through their list of SIGs.
  • Grad student friendly! If you are a grad student with a full time job and have attended other education related conferences, perhaps you can relate to what I am going to say.  Many grad schools of education require their students to be full time students so that you can fully engage yourself in research, coursework, a teaching assistantship or two…  As a working adult with a job outside academe, it can be difficult to relate to these students.  I was relieved to find that most, if not all students at the conference had full time jobs while attending class part time (in addition to raising families, for many).
  • Lots of retired faculty who could have easily been someplace warm and sunny! Anyone who chooses to stay connected to a career they have been in for most of their working life after retirement is clearly dedicated to the advancement of their profession.  As a grad student/practitioner this presents a tremendous opportunity to learn from their wisdom.  A special thank you to Dr. Janice Sandiford, a retired faculty from the higher ed department at Florida International University for being my conference mentor!
  • It’s a wonderful community! I felt like all the faculty/researchers were there to support the interests of not only their own students, but others who came from all over the country to attend.  There are plenty of opportunities to become engaged in the organization over the course of the year so that you can get to know people.
  • Community colleges have no stigma at CSCC! As an adult ed instructor who strongly identifies with the community college mission, I have to say that to be around colleagues who get it was refreshing.  These are folks who truly believe in the power of community colleges to offer a real opportunity for success to anyone who wants it.

So, yeah, I plan to be at the 2011 conference in New Orleans.  I am running through a few ideas on what to present — perhaps GED to college, or something analyzing writing center participants.  Do you have any knowledge of CSCC and want to share?  Do you have any ideas for developing a presentation for next year’s conference, please write me!

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Are Community Colleges Truly Teaching Colleges?

18 Apr

I am writing this post from my hotel room after a long day of sightseeing in Seattle.  I’ve been here since Thursday evening participating in the 2010 Annual Conference of the Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC).  I am organizing a post about my overall impressions of the conference that will be put up soon.  However, I had to put this initial thought out there before I leave Seattle.

So what is a community college?  To be brief, community colleges are 2-year colleges that are supposed to focus on teaching and learning.  This is a stark difference from many 4-year colleges and universities where faculty focus on research first, and teaching (among other activities) last.  There are several other differences, but I won’t go into too much detail here.  However, after attending this conference I wonder if this difference is really valid anymore.

The first session I attended at the conference was a roundtable on learning assessment and instructional leadership.  I thought that this would be a popular topic as assessment of learning is particularly popular in the age of standardized testing.  However once I got to the table, my first thought was — why am I the youngest person at this table?  Sure, there were other roundtables going on, but why aren’t young researchers (or at least researchers who are NOT RETIRED) interested in what I thought was the foundation of the community college?

There are plenty of reasons for young researchers to care about learning assessment.  Related to the topic is the increased use (or misuse?) of adjunct professors; some researchers question whether academic rigor is compromised when tenured, full time faculty ranks dwindle.  At the same time, others are concerned that workforce development is taking precedence over liberal arts instruction.  A few posts ago I wrote about my own experience visiting a VERY poorly funded writing center in a Maryland community college.  Many of the community college’s resources dedicated to student learning are having the most difficulty keeping the minimal number of staff and technology needed to keep up with the increased demand for its services.  So can the community college still hold on to the distinction of being a teaching institution when so few seem to be concerned about the state of assessment and instructional leadership?

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Don’t All Teachers Respect Their Students?

15 Apr

I defend my students’ intelligence, and I do so with love and conviction. Returning to the classroom as an ABE instructor was exactly what I needed to reinvigorate my spirit. If I could, I would be teaching at least 50% of the time. Many of the people I know who teach on a regular basis — no matter the subject or the student’s age — can relate to my first sentence. However, the other night when listening to my adult learners thoughts on what they enjoy most and least about my class, one of the things I heard repeatedly was that they feel respected in my class. And it’s not so much that they said it — it was HOW they said it. It was like they have never been in a classroom where they felt their ideas were respected. This is not the first time I have heard that comment from any of my students in past classes I’ve taught.

I have heard many of my students say that they don’t feel that many of their teachers in other classes, past and present, respect them the way I do. They feel the work I give them, for the most part, is challenging and I give them the tools to be able to meet the challenges. In all honesty, all I do is tell them they are capable and intelligent. I try my best to connect learning to the real world, or at least motivate them by talking about how far they’ve come and they’re that much closer to getting the GED. I don’t really think that what I do is any special secret. So when students tell me they feel respected, I have to wonder what is it that teachers are doing to make students feel like anything less than intelligent.

Some may take my comments to mean that perhaps my classes are EASY and they don’t have to do much to do well. I beg to differ. I make my students work. I tell them that anything less than your best is not acceptable.  In fact, many take that statement to heart and are embarrassed to come to class NOT having done the homework. However, I don’t beat them over the head for choosing not to do the work (and it IS a choice…). When they don’t do their homework, I don’t make a class spectacle out of them. They feel embarrassed because they know I am disappointed.

I think what many people forget is that adult students in ABE and GED classes are learning how to be good learners while juggling the pressures of work and family life. Many others who went to school the traditional route had the freedom to be children for at least 18 years while learning to be good students.  This does not excuse adult learners from doing their class work, it just means that teachers need to be cognizant of the fact that behavior change for adults takes time.

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Like Squeezing Blood Out of a Turnip…

30 Mar

I recently decided to increase my knowledge and skills in developmental education, teaching composition, and English as a Second Language.  What better place to be immersed in all of that than a community college writing center!  So, a couple of days ago, I visited the Writing Center at Montgomery College in Takoma Park/Silver Spring, MD.  Writing centers are generally available in both 4-year colleges, community colleges , and high schools (which was new to me…).  There are tutors and other support staff available to assist students with papers they write for ALL subjects — not just English.  The tutors are often other students who have been trained to be tutors, but they can also be other faculty, volunteers, and interns.

What I found at the Montgomery College Writing Center was actually exciting, yet horribly troublesome at the same time.  Peg, a staff person who was gracious enough to give me a brief tour, explained that the center mostly serves students from African and South American countries.  There is always a waiting list of students who want to see a tutor, but never enough tutors to fill the need.  There were at least 2 rooms available for group study — both of which were actively being used by groups of 5 or more.  One of the rooms was supposed to be a high tech learning lab with about 30+ computer stations, however budget cuts made it impossible to purchase them.  Even though there is a high demand for services, they had to cut one staff position in order to maintain basic services.  I briefly met with a gentleman on staff who was trying to tally up student information — using MS OFFICE ’93!!!  That is an absolute tragedy (I am actually hoping they meant to refer to MS Office 2003, not 1993 , but I think they know the difference between ’93 and 2003).

With all of this talk about increasing the number of people that achieve at least one year of postsecondary education, why aren’t crucial services like writing centers and other academic support services better funded?  As a GED instructor, I foolishly assumed that the few that go on to community college would get the quality services they needed to achieve at that level.  I know that without those services, most of them would NOT be successful at completing college.

Do you work in some kind of academic support services position at a community college or 4-year college/university?  Do you find you are having to do more with less?  Let me know about it!

I Got a Mention in the DC Learns Blog!

27 Jan

DC Learns, the adult literacy coalition for Washington, DC, cross-posted one of my blog posts on the use of social media in the field.  A reader comments on the use of social media as part of a larger marketing strategy.  Read it here.

I’m Teaching at a Community College!

23 Jan

I am very excited!  I just got word yesterday that I have been accepted to be a basic reading and math instructor at Montgomery College in MD.  The adult basic education (ABE) department is housed within their workforce development office.  I interviewed for the position late last summer and was actually offered the position then.  But I was unable to take it because the class days and times clashed with my school schedule.

I have been trying to get my foot into the door at a local community college for a couple of years.  The problem was that I was never sure of where I fit into the community college mission.  I once had my hopes set on obtaining a part-time faculty position.  However, after looking at the various departments and types of classes offered, it was clear that I was not fit to teach much of anything other than basic education.  Don’t get me wrong, I am honored to teach basic education.  However, I taught it for several years at a community based organization in DC.  I thought that if I was going to move up to the community college, perhaps I can teach something different.  But hey, community colleges have all sorts of interesting programs that focus on transferring GED students to college.  Perhaps this teaching position will lead to other opportunities.

If I like this position this semester, I will teach again during the summer and use it as an internship.  I am a doctoral student at George Mason University’s Community College Education program.  What has been difficult for me is that most of my colleagues in the program currently work in or have significant experience in higher education.  Aside from that mess of a job I took living with 500+ drunk undergraduates at UMASS (NEVER AGAIN!!!), I really don’t have much positive experience working in higher education.  The past 10  years of my career have been in community based education and training programs.  So you can see why I am excited about this new adventure in community college education.  I hope to have plenty to talk about in the coming weeks about my students and Montgomery College.

Adult Ed Gets No Respect

7 Jan

I’ve been thinking about the presence of adult education in the news.  The Brookings Institute released a study in early December 2009 called, “Invisible: 1.4% Coverage for Education is Not Enough.”  1.4% is the percentage of news coverage focused on education from Jan – Sept ’09.  So how much of that educational coverage focused on adult education?  Of that tiny percentage, 2.9% of the education news focused on community colleges.  While community colleges do a lot to try to meet the needs of different types of adult learners, they do not meet the needs of all adult learners — particularly those that do not have the basic skills to enroll in college level courses.  What is unclear from the study is the amount of coverage focused on the hundreds of community based nonprofit organizations that offer basic literacy, GED, External Diplomas, and job training courses.  The Brookings study had passing mentions of alternative education programs which can fall under the realm of a formal state supported school, or a community based program — it’s just not clear.  So perhaps adult education is in need of a new identity.

Adult ed is in need of a new identity because of the many misconceptions people have about it.  For the most part, adult ed is still looked upon as education for people who couldn’t hack it the first time around.  Quite frankly, some of that blame lies on those of us who are part of the profession.  We do a terrible job of letting the world know the value of what our programs offer to adult learners who often do not have the resources to attend college or more expensive job training options.  I know of many colleagues who put their heart in their work as teachers and administrators because they believe that their students are worth the time and effort.  We, as an adult education community, get the importance of our work.  But the rest of the world just doesn’t get it.  So what can we do to make it better?

I think the adult ed community is only beginning to understand the importance of social media.  What will using social media to its fullest extent do for us?  Give us some respect! If we don’t let the world know about our work, who will?  Some of the reasons may include:

Not enough money and/or staff

Social media is free.  As long as you have internet access, you should have no problem accessing all types of social media.  Most adult ed organizations have volunteers and interns whom you trust to teach classes.  What’s the problem with getting a volunteer or intern to help you develop a social media presence?

Lack of computer skills amongst adult ed practitioners

In speaking with people who organize professional development for adult educators, there is often a problem with getting teachers to invest in long term computer skill training.  This problem is also pervasive amongst K-12 educators and higher education faculty as well.  If you have developed or have been a part of successful technology training program for educators at any level, please contact me and let me know all about it.

Students/clients don’t use computers and/or the internet

I am starting to find that this assumption is no longer valid — particularly with younger students in adult ed programs.  Some of my students have had Facebook and MySpace pages that they use to keep up with their friends.  It seems that just about every college and university is using blogs, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit students.  However marketing education programs can have multiple purposes — marketing to students is only one of them.  Education programs should also be marketing to attract volunteers, potential employees, funders, news media, etc.  Participating in social media allows you to participate in a much larger conversation about what you have to offer that extends beyond your students.

So here are some examples of DC’s social media presence:

If you are an adult ed organization anywhere on the planet who is using social media, let me know about it!  I plan to create a blog post in the near future about all the organizations doing interesting things with social media.

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