Socializing Students into Your Discipline

Socializing Students into

Your DisciplineDr Shaun Longstreet

Teaching Learning & Technology Center

1Friday, February 8, 2008

Agenda

Introductions & socialization as a pedagogical toolCase Study: destabilizing and coaching - how to engage a spectrum of points of viewDecode your disciplineSyllabus as a foundation for modeling


What does it mean to

socialize our students?Write on your handout

&Share with a partner


Let’s Discuss


Case Study:

Religious Studies

@ Texas A&M


Student BodyPredominantly Christian (Southern Baptist, non-denominational evangelical)

72% White, 11 % Latina/o, 3% African-American, 4% Asian, 8% International.

Students self-identify politically as conservative or very conservative


Student Body

20% are Engineering majors, 20% are Agriculture and Veterinary majors and 14% are Liberal Arts majors.

86% of the students come from TX, 75% come from Dallas and Houston


So what?


Religious Studies

Introduction to Religions and Philosophies of South and East Asia

Introduction to Western Religious Traditions

The Hebrew Scriptures


Clearly identify class space as academic

Learning outcome was that students should be aware of the rhetoric of Religious Studies

What distinguishes the discipline?

Decoding the Discipline


Identified a broad range of approaches to the subject matter

between the devotional and the academic or the ‘insider’ vs ‘outsider’ perspectives.

Then we identified different tactics taken by the two poles of the spectrum.

Socialization


Students were encouraged to identify themselves on the spectrum and recognize that others can and would be at different points.

We highlighted contexts for different points on the spectrum.

Socializing Students


0

1.25

2.50

3.75

5.00

2002-03 2004 2005 2006-07

4.714.524.524.30

4.564.56 4.624.554.60

Western Religions Hebrew Scriptures Asian Religions


Explaining Why

and now....


Every discipline has a “rhetoric”

Each discipline aims to study a particular data set

Every field has a particular approach to data

It is important to highlight this to the students


Importance of explaining what we do

Students need to know relevance and purpose

If students are better socialized, classroom management is easier

discussions can be more meaningful


Another Activity


Identify a ‘polarity’ in a subject that you teach

How might you ‘socialize’ your course by identifying a framework? (content or process)

Where can you introduce a spectrum and/or point of instability?

How might you facilitate students’ acclimation to the discipline?


Framing what we do& promoting civility in the classroom while we

are at it...


Syllabus as a socialization tool

Clear, explicit syllabus is your front line for socializing students

Course outcomes are defined

Expectations are identified

Begin the modeling process


Setting guidelines:Classwork

What is appropriate? Why?

Context of classroom activities?

How is classwork going to model discipline-specific activities (e.g. professionalism, procedures, interactions)

What about beyond the classroom?


Setting guidelines:Discussions

What is appropriate? Why?

What is the purpose of the discussion(s)?

Context of the discussion?


Setting Guidelines:Discussion

Stress the third person

Raise awareness of pronouns (us, we, you, them)


Setting Guidelines:Homework

What is the purpose of homework?

How will it help the student both in the course and beyond the course?

Provide a rubric for grading

Tie homework to professionalism


Another Activity


Syllabus & BehaviorIdentify 3 behaviors that could/should be explained in your next syllabus.

This can address classwork, discussions and/or homework.


Questions?Thank you!


Socializing Students into Your Discipline

Technology

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