Brain Rule #4 : We don't pay attention to boring things

I'm in the middle of listening to the audio book Brain Rules by John Medina. Medina is a developmental molecular biologist focused on the genes involved in human brain development. His book discussed what he calls the "brain rules" that need to be followed in order to have a better brain, to be a better teacher and a better boss. His book is based on peer-reviewed neuroscience, mostly from the Journal of Applied Neuroscience. It's very accessible and is as entertaining as it is informative.

Rule #4 is: We don't pay attention to boring things. At the end of the chapter about this rule, he gave his formula for getting the brain's attention and keeping it during a standard lecture. Because of this formula, he was named the Hirsch Marion (sp?) Teacher of the Year. I thought it was worth sharing.

The basic principle behind his formula is that, based on proven research, the brain cannot pay attention to something "boring" for more than 10 minutes. Most students tune out of a lecture after that space of time. With that in mind, Medina divides his lectures into discrete 10 minute segments (so a typical college lecture would have 5 segments).

Each segment covers one concept. The concept has to be large, general, and significant. It must be easily explained in 1 minute. The other 9 minutes are used to provide a detailed description of that concept, complete with lots of examples. You need to make sure you explicitly explain how the detail connects to the general concept.

At the end of the 10 minutes, you need to "buy" yourself another 10 by using what he calls a "hook" or an ECS (emotionally competent stimuli). The hook should trigger an emotion of some sort: fear, laughter, happiness, nostalgia, incredulity, etc. Narratives can be especially apropos.

The hook must also be relevant and it needs transition in between the two modules. It can either relate to the previous concept that you just finished explaining or introduce the next concept that you will discuss. You can't just throw in something random or else the audience will begin to distrust your motives (e.g. that you're just trying to entertain them, not inform them) or feel patronized.

He says that he has found it to be wonderfully successful in his own lectures. After a while, he can skip the 4th and 5th hook because the students are still engaged and retain the information much better.

He also mentions that you should explain the lecture plan at the beginning of the class and regularly point out where you are in that plan throughout the lecture. That way the brain doesn't have to "multi-task" (which isn't effective) and try to figure out all the concepts relate to each other while you are speaking.

It's an interesting idea. I think I might try to incorporate the 10 minute principle in my upcoming classes. I would also add that giving the class time to discuss a concept with each other can help to give the brain a rest too.

If you want to know more about the science behind his formula (e.g. why it works), feel free to check out the Brain Rules book. I'm a little more than halfway through and I'd say it's been very worthwhile so far.

A World Without Teacher-Assigned Grades

I'm going to be taking on a heavier course load this Fall and I've been brainstorming possible changes I might make to my course as a result. Up to this point, I've been able to give my students a lot of individual feedback by meeting with them individually to discuss their rough drafts for every major paper. However, I'm not sure whether I will be able to keep up with this intense schedule in the Fall when I take on an extra class.

Another thing that continues to haunt me is Katherine Cowley's idea that the classroom should ideally function as a "proto-public space" in which students become each other's audience (see my earlier blog entry about this subject for more details). This is especially apropos in a writing class. I see a tremendous amount of value in getting students to actively read, respond and engage with the ideas written by the other students. In the real world, writing is motivated by the need to express an idea and the merits of an essay is entirely judged by your peers---not by some arbitrary rubric created by a supervisor.

That's why I was kind of turned on by an article entitled No Grading, More Learning in which a professor at Duke University tested out a system she calls "crowdsourcing" in which all grades were determined purely by the fellow students in the class. The way it worked is the students were required to complete weekly writing assignments and post it to a class blog. The fellow students then "graded" the assignment by determining whether they thought it was satisfactory or not. Basically they gave it a thumbs up or a thumbs down. If the student received a thumbs-down they had an opportunity to rewrite the essay in order to get a thumbs-up from their fellow students. Meanwhile, as the instructor, she made a point to comment on every students' essay and monitor the blog.

Here's what I like about the system:

• Getting students to honestly evaluate each other's work and respond to each other's ideas.


• By having to write for a "jury of their peers," they might be more likely to work harder. I like that it kind of gives the peer-review process some teeth, if you will.

Here's some reservations I have about the system:

• The logistics are difficult. With a larger class of 24 students, they probably aren't going to have time to read every single essay written by their fellow students. Plus, if we're doing longer essays such as the Exploratory Essay, that would also make them take a lot of time reading.


• I wouldn't be able to do it for every single assignment, but maybe for a small group of assignments.


• Part of me worries that students would be either too easy or too hard on each other. I also feel like it needs to be anonymous somehow, so that students don't make it a popularity contest. Plus, I'm not a big fan of thumbs-up/thumbs-down critiques since they have the effect of flattening out the worth of an essay.

So, we'll see. I'll let you know if I decide to use this system in my class. If so, I'll report to you about how it goes!

fall 2010 available and other news

A few pieces of breaking news:

1. Tentative fall 2010 schedules are in your mailboxes. Please pick them up and return the signed portion to Samuel in the front office to confirm. We're making one or more new tenure-track hires and may have the usual schedule movement over the summer, so if you need adjustments, please return your schedule with a note indicating your needs.

2. We may be able to offer additional summer sections, so if you haven't yet sent a summer preference, here's another chance. Please include the following information:

Availability for A block, B block, or both

Time availability: MWF, MW, TR; day or afternoon/evening

For everyone already scheduled for summer, I'll let you know if there's a good fit for a second class. If you do not wish to be assigned to a second class, please let me know.

3. Pay increase for part time faculty begins summer A block. The increase is $250 per 3 hour course, so we should see some additional increase in first year composition compensation. We'd certainly like to see this number grow, but it's a gesture from university administration that indicates their knowledge that adjunct pay is woefully low.

Thanks for your work. See you over the summer or in August for orientation.

Fall 2010 preferences, and other news

Attached on the listserv version of this message is a preference form for fall 2010 teaching. You'll see a couple of changes from previous years, including the split between MWF and MW sections. Starting in fall 2010, we're going to try aligning MW afternoon sections with the TR schedule, so beginning at 1pm MW sections will be 75 minutes; 50 minute MWF sections will continue to be held from 7-12. As expected in my previous email, we will not be able to assign fourth sections to any of our part time instructors, so three sections will be the maximum.

Please take a moment to fill out BOTH preferred days/times (middle) and availability (bottom) sections of the form to help us make the best fit between schedule openings and your preferences.

Please return your form by email or to my mailbox by Friday March 5; let me know if you neeed a hard copy to fill out. If you know you won't be returning to teach for English next year, please tell me at your earliest convenience to help us anticipate hiring needs as soon as possible.

On that note, as a reminder, if you know of anyone who is interested in part time instructional work, please encourage them to apply through the HR website or contact me with questions. We're going to try doing most of our fall hiring as we write the first draft of the schedule to avoid undue pressure on last minute hires.

In other news, Meredith told me that she only has spring syllabi from about half of you. I'll try to get a list together this week and start chasing you down--but this can be avoided by simply emailing a copy of your syllabus to Meredith or putting it in her box.

We may be able to hold at least one face to face meeting during spring, probably the April 13 meeting which we had scheduled at orientation. There have been a number of good suggestions for meeting topics over the past few months, and I'm sorry we haven't been able to get to them yet. I'm especially interested in having a discussion, as suggested by one instructor, on dealing with students who depend on arguments of faith/belief in their academic writing courses. We've also had suggestions to address more explicitly concerns of teaching ELL students, defining and dealing with plagiarism, and so on. We may not get to all of these this semester, or have time to only touch on one or more of these issues, but I am trying to keep track of your interests so we can get to them as time allows.

Finally, whether face to face or via the listserv, we will have some news about new 2010/2020 texts, updated assignment sequences, and other important matters later this semester, so please keep your eyes open for notification of that decision and news. Those of you who teach 2010 and/or 2020 should anticipate shifting away from using the Allyn and Bacon Guide and adopting a new text; and we want to give you as much time as possible over the summer to prepare. I'm less sure about the future of Norton Field Guide, but will have more to tell you after deliberation with Grant and Gae Lyn, and your colleagues who are piloting alternative texts this term.

Thanks for your work--see you in the halls.

Copy center codes, and other news

• A note especially for those of you who are teaching in multiple departments (i.e. English along with Basic Comp, Phil/Hum, Foreign Languages, etc.): please make sure when giving work orders to the copy center in SC to use the copy code that corresponds with each particular job, so that each department gets charged appropriately for its jobs and no other's.

• We should be able to start on the Fall 2010 schedule soon, so start thinking about your availability. There's a new option in the works to hold classes MW afternoons, during the same periods as TR classes. I believe we'll keep the MWF hourly schedule through early afternoon (like 1pm), then shift over to 75 minute blocks for the remainder of MW afternoons; MW evenings will remain the same as in past semesters. I'll get a revised schedule preference form out once I'm sure of the new schedule system.

• We'll be interested in hiring new instructors to fill in slots left by instructors who move, go on to graduate programs, and find other employment over the summer. We'll also anticipate continued enrollment growth and the need for opening additional sections. If you know someone who would make a strong first year composition teacher, holds a Masters-level degree (preferably in English or related field), and has some classroom experience, please encourage them to contact me or simply fill out an application through human resources.

• Some of you have already expressed interest in summer teaching. We're not yet prepared to make assignments, but I'll certainly send out a notice to the list a couple weeks before scheduling so that you can get your preferences in the mix.

• Amy passed on some documents (attached through the listserv) from a seminar held by FCTE on plagiarism. I've heard good things from a number of our group about the value of these seminars which cover teaching strategies, integrating technology into classes, etc. Contact Anton Tollman if you're interested in attending their events.

• OK. Keep your eyes on your email for preference forms soon and let me know if there are any questions or concerns in your individual classes.

• See you in the halls.

Spring 2010: First Week in Review

I hope your first days of class--Wednesday, Thursday, or today--went well.

We finally got the schedule finished Friday the 1st, so thanks to everyone for your continued patience and willingness to accommodate an unusual number of shifting needs for full time faculty as this term came into focus during December.

A couple of notes as we get started:

1. I know that for many of you the logistics of your schedule are less than ideal. As a reminder, the master schedule is produced by articulating class size to room size, with little to no consideration of other factors (like pedagogical needs), so our classes pay for smaller size with smaller (and typically less desirable) rooms.

Second, like many of you, full time faculty members have also been scheduled to rush too far across campus in too little time. I've also spent my first couple of class days figuring out how to get from Trades to LA in 10 minutes; it may take a couple more days, but I think we can all figure out ways to make it work.

Third, there's also the challenge of having to deal with unpredictable resources in the classrooms--like going from a fully wired room in LA to one with a chalkboard and overhead only in Trades. Again, this is a situation that's shared by full time faculty as well (myself included), and we simply have to make do. Please do though try to take advantage of media resources available for checkout in Trades and other more remote campus locations. You can get a key card for the media closet on the 6th floor of Trades from the circulation desk in the library.

2. We were unable to assign any part time instructors to fourth sections. Not only were some of you hoping for that possibility, I was as well, since it's an option that's been instrumental to our successfully completing the schedule in past terms. This change has been burdensome all around, and I hope to see the fourth class option return in future terms.

3. For the time being, we will not be able to offer monthly professional development meetings. I'll be working to get those reinstated some time in the semester though, since I enjoy being able to see you all and I believe the meetings are an essential part of a successful program. In the meantime, we'll use the listserv and blog to distribute information, and I hope more of you will become contributors to the blog. More online participation will help us at least to use that resource to share successes and share strategies for addressing challenges.

4. Please provide Meredith (Meredith.Bennie@uvu.edu) with electronic copies of your syllabi as soon as you can--let's say by the end of the second week of classes. We have to increase the rate of participation, so you'll probably see me more aggressively pursuing you to turn in your materials earlier in the term than in the past.

On that note, the same goes for portfolios. Thanks to those of you who did turn in portfolios from fall 09, and I'm sure that more of you will be able to get your in now that we're all back on campus (there's a drop box on Meredith's desk). We are committed to building a successful assessment instrument for our program, and as Gae Lyn showed last year, the portfolio is, according to the field's best practices, the way to get this started. Please ensure that you will be able to provide end-of-term portfolios for all of your first year writing courses for all students randomly selected. If you need a reminder on required portfolio elements, let me know.

5. Finally, we're expanding the piloting of two possible texts for Engl 2010/2020. We'll keep you informed of the progress of the pilot and the plan for shifting to a new text in the coming academic year.

That's probably enough information for now. My thanks to each of you for all of your work and contributions to the program and the university. See you in the halls.

portfolio selection launch

We launched the portfolio request last night and completed sending out notifications this evening, so please check your email inbox to find out which of your students have been selected to participate in portfolio evaluation.

If you have students who were selected but are no longer attending class, or who fail to submit a portfolio, please let Meredith know. Also, don't hesitate to let me know if you have any other questions or needs as we proceed through this first run of selections. Just as a reminder, the portfolios should include the following documents:

1. An informal piece of diagnostic writing (first day or between the first two class meetings)
2. The first graded writing assignment (in 1010 the problematizing essay; in 2010 the informative/surprising essay)
3. The final graded writing assignment (in 1010 the exploratory research project; in 2010 the formal research project)
4. A reflective essay.

Since so many of us use multiple email addresses, I included a list of selected instructors in the version of this posting that went out over the listserv as a way of helping you cross check. Meredith has made good efforts to send notifications to multiple addresses, but it also strikes me as a reminder of the importance of checking--or, better, auto-forwarding to a preferred account--your UVU email.