The weather is definitely shifting, the leaves on the trees are changing shade, some turning gold, and I’m sure it won’t be long before I’m spending my weekends sweeping leaves. It’s cooler in the evenings, and last night I watched the sunset with friends, sharing a few beers, chatting to each other over the flickering light of a firepit. Honestly, I was so comfortable that I could feel myself dropping off, which was a sign to call it a night.
While we were sitting there we saw a series of satellites pass over, a string of them, perfectly spaced out, traveling across the night sky. This is the Starlink Satellite Train, launched by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, that provides communications coverage, the same system that Musk was accused of switching off during an assault by Ukrainian troops on Russia, but later retracted by the biographer who first reported this. I found it chilling, watching these lights go by, that all this machinery is up there, controlled by a company, part of the night sky. This is super-villain territory, it just doesn’t feel right at all.
It feels like there’s a rhythm to each week; the early part when I’m teaching, and attending various events, and the latter end of the week when I have more time to write and work on different projects. I still feel slightly overwhelmed, and I’m going to work this morning to catch up a little. I have a grant application to write, for an idea that isn’t quite shaped, and I’m hoping inspiration will hit me at some point in the day, maybe while I’m tidying the house, and finishing up a few chores.
I hope you’re doing well, I haven’t heard from a few of you lately, so drop me a line and let me know you’re okay.
Stephan
Teaching & Learning
We ran through ideas for opening projects, set up various experiments and games, and gave out various pieces of equipment so that students could get to work. It was clear from the presentations that we did on Wednesday that students are still figuring out the scope. I probably need to give more guidance here, some projects are slightly too ambitious, and others need something more. I am still trying to push more exploratory and open-ended outcomes. What I mean by that is that it would be nice to see some final pieces that were unexpected, that were the result of play and experimentation. It’s often the case that students have an outcome figured out (one that meets all the criteria) and will work back from there.
In any case, there are some really good ideas, and it is interesting to see how the materials in the opening few weeks are shaping up. I am feeling slightly frustrated by how quiet the group is. At the start of each lesson I usually ask what they’ve been playing and experiencing on their headsets, hoping to find out about a new app or film perhaps that I’ve not seen. I don’t usually get many answers. I’ll have to think about some new strategies, often I do think, pair, share, but I was looking around, and there are some fun alternatives, such as a “gallery walk” where students print out a page from their work and put it on the wall, and the class moves from station to station. I value classroom discussion highly, and I know enough to know that there are a myriad of reasons that students don’t like to speak up. Certainly, there are some cultural reasons, some who feel anxiety and unease, some who simply want to “…express their engagement in ways other than talking.”1 We can’t as instructors always know why students don’t want to speak, and we shouldn’t think negatively of them.
I’ll have a look at a few more strategies to get folks interacting and engaging with each other. There are other channels, and ways to check learning, so I’ll see what I can do.
Life Lessons
I spent a few hours chatting to students who were interested in studying abroad. I was very lucky while at University to spend my third year in Grenoble, in the French Alps, where I met my wife who was also spending her year abroad. It is such a valuable and wonderful experience, but I understand, especially for students in the states, that it can be expensive, and that it is hard to take a year, as we did, in another country. Students here tend to visit for a week, or travel during the summer months, sometimes on a program, or internship, or even on a self-organized itinerary.
A few years ago, I accompanied a group trip to Nantes, and I might have mentioned already that we’re looking to go back again, and spend longer than the week we had last time. In fact, we’re looking at six weeks, where students will learn French and embark on a series of creative projects, making site-specific immersive experiences that maybe we can share with our hosts.
We gave away some postcards, and directed students to a web page. We’re hoping that there’ll be lots of interest, from our french learners, but also from art and design students, or those with creative, technical interests.
Lost and Found
I’m watching the last season of Reservation Dogs. It is a brilliant show, a brutally funny, super smart depiction of native life in rural Oklahoma. It is a show about teenage life too, and how these characters are navigating the usual challenges of friendship, loneliness, boredom, with the extra burden of colonialism, racism, and inequality that hundreds of years of America have put on them. One of my favorite characters is Chester, or Cheese, who always introduced himself with his pronouns, and finds himself arrested and spending time in a group home. Here’s a clip - warning it is a bit sweary…
I’ve probably spoken about Pejk Malinovski before, he’s a Danish poet and radio producer who lives in New York, and has written books, translations, and beautiful award winning radio pieces. He’s probably best known for A Cow A Day and Everything, Nothing, Harvey Keitel, but I’d never heard his episode Poetry Texas created for Falling Tree Productions. These are atmospheric audio stories that are poetic, and engaging, that use sound to build narrative, where there are pauses, even silences that are incredibly powerful.
Thank you
Half the family have left for a soccer tournament in Columbus, Ohio for the next few days, so this Saturday morning I’m writing and getting a few things done.
Finally, very excited to receive a record in the post by a local Pittsburgh-based band called The Garment District, named after the New York neighborhood where its singer once resided. The new album Flowers Telegraphed to All Parts of the World is a lush, rich, psychedelic affair that is also cinematic, spacey, and happy. Go and have a listen.
Okay, time to get a few things done. See you next week. Hey, if you’re there, give us a like, it only takes a mouse click, and it’ll let me know you’re okay. Leave a message if you’d like, it’s always lovely to hear from you.
Medaille, Ann & Usinger, Janet. (2019). Engaging Quiet Students in the College Classroom. College Teaching. 67. 130-137. 10.1080/87567555.2019.1579701.
Reservation Dogs is so wonderful. I feel equally sad that it's ending and grateful that it has been executed so beautifully.
Autumnal here in UK too now, but one more week and I'll be flying south, to the warmth of Javea and - coughs - the arms of my wife. Had a nice couple of days with your Mum and Dad, who both seemed very well. Leicestershire won a trophy last week, my first in a decade of commentary! Everybody well (as far as I'm aware, the chaps are not great at being in regular touch). Are you able to watch any of the rugby World Cup? Love to all.