UT System Academy of Distinguished Teachers mini conference
Going the Distance:
What We Can Do by Min(d)ing the Gaps in Teaching and Learning
UTRGV Brownsville TX (F2F)
Zoom links available
April 7, 2022
Welcome
On behalf of the UT System Academy of Distinguished Teachers and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, thank you for participating in our ADT Spring 2022 mini-conference, Going the Distance: What We Can Do by Min(d)ing the Gaps in Teaching and Learning.
Our presenters have prepared a series of valuable sessions devoted to topics that promise to stimulate your thinking and perhaps inspire new ideas that may contribute to your effectiveness as a teacher and broaden your perspective in the face of the many challenges confronting higher education. The “gaps” between what we teach and what students learn often go unnoticed. Recognizing where they occur, illuminates opportunities for ourselves and our students to engage in more meaningful and rewarding learning experiences.
We are extremely grateful to all those who contributed to today’s meeting, including our presenters, the conference organizers, led by Academy members Karen Huxtable-Jester and Hector Aguilar, the capable staff at the UT System, and our Academy colleagues here at UTRGV, Art Brownlow, Alyssa Guadalupe Cavazos, and Colin Charlton.
My colleagues and I look forward to a wonderful afternoon of joyful collaboration.
Bob Duke
President, UT System Academy of Distinguished Teachers
Welcome (Zoom Link)
Janna Arney . UTRGV Provost
Bob Duke is the Marlene and Morton Meyerson Centennial Professor and Head of Music and Human Learning at The University of Texas at Austin, where he is a University of Texas and University of Texas System Distinguished Teaching Professor, Elizabeth Shatto Massey Distinguished Fellow in Teacher Education, and Director of the Center for Music Learning. He is also an affiliate professor in the Dell Medical School at The University of Texas and was the founding director of the psychology of learning program at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles.
Duke’s research on human learning and behavior spans multiple disciplines, and his most recent work explores the refinement of procedural memories and the analysis of attention allocation in teacher-learner interactions. A former studio musician and public school music teacher, he has worked closely with children at-risk, both in the public schools and through the juvenile justice system. He is the author of Scribe 5 behavior analysis software, and his most recent books are Intelligent Music Teaching: Essays on the Core Principles of Effective Instruction, The Habits of Musicianship, which he co-authored with Jim Byo of Louisiana State University, and Brain Briefs, which he co-authored with Art Markman, his co-host on the public radio program and podcast Two Guys on Your Head, produced by KUT Radio in Austin.
“The gap between competence and comprehension is often obscured by what we accept as evidence that students have learned. Merely getting the right answer is a poor indicator of understanding.” – Bob Duke
ROOM: Salon Cassia BMAIN. 45 MINS (Zoom Link)
Strategic confusion and the joy of accomplishment
Bob Duke . The University of Texas at Austin, President, UT System Academy of Distinguished Teachers
Great teachers are skillful experience-creators. Although it’s certainly necessary at times for us to explain and demonstrate when we teach, our students learn most when they engage in activities that ask them to interpret, reason, write, solve problems, and uncover and work through gaps in their understanding. Designing tasks that illuminate these gaps and provide strategic opportunities for productive muddling is what great teaching and effective learning are all about.
CONCURRENT SESSIONS 1
2:00 – 3:00 pm
1A . ROOM: BSABH 1.102 . 60 MINS (Zoom Link)
HIS Experiential Learning in Online Instruction: Transforming Students and Business Communities
Sylvia Robles . The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Research on college graduation rates suggests that college students cannot see the relationship between higher education and career outcomes (e.g., college degree, sustainable employment). As a result, college programs across disciplines have used service-learning as an educational tool to situate their learning in communities preparing students for a career after college. However, taking the experiential learning to an online environment can be challenging. The purpose of this presentation is to showcase the design, creation, and delivery of a Humane-Inclusive-Sustainable Entrepreneurship based Model, “Adopt a Startup,” implementing Sustainability, Service-Learning, and Community-Engaged Scholarship to demonstrate the benefits to UTRGV students and the community partners. The Adopt a Startup HIS-E model assists in developing the students' professional skills and creating opportunities for isolated students to connect back to their class, other students, and their communities in an online environment. Service-Learning courses infusing the HIS model allow students to work through real challenges and contribute to meaningful change in their communities. Moreover, it's essential to consider the benefits of this unique experiential learning opportunity to students who can only accept online courses. The Adopt a Startup, HIS-E model marries an experiential entrepreneurial education with sustainability goals that improve society through creating more successful businesses and economic development through innovation. The program resounds in a traditionally underserved region like the Rio Grande Valley. It is a model that would benefit many more universities if implemented.
After attending this presentation, participants will:
• Be aware of the importance of incorporating a service-learning component in an online course.
• Learn the basic guidelines to design an online course with a service-learning component
• Review the benefits for faculty and students who collaborate in service-learning/community-engaged scholarship projects and the impact in the community
• Increase and strengthen community and educational outreach programs and opportunities, including service-learning through online courses while infusing a humane- innovation-sustainable entrepreneurship-based model.
1B . ROOM: Salon Cassia BMAIN. 30 MINS (Zoom Link)
Collegial Peer Observation - Controlling Your Own Narrative
Pat Davis . The University of Texas in Austin
Depending on the structural design and intent, “peer observation” can range from securing collegial input that focuses on improvement in teaching, to an overall assessment of teaching quality that is evaluative (e.g., for promotion). A process thoughtfully designed by the unit faculty can enhance collegial dialog surrounding teaching, improve the quality of teaching through a primary focus on faculty development, and secure ‘buy-in’ in terms of how the peer process should (and should not) be used in assessment. We will argue that a formalized process of Collegial Peer Observation provides a mechanism to help faculty take control of their own narrative in documenting their growth as an educator. A systematic, longitudinal practice of using peer observations, student evaluations, and the resultant self-reflection to guide thoughtful changes in pedagogy helps empower faculty in capturing that developmental narrative. In this workshop-oriented session, participants will explore the status of peer observation in their own units, what they would like to see in terms of a new or modified structure to enhance faculty development regarding teaching, and next steps to get there. The objective of the session is for each participant to come away with an action plan. Participants will develop an understanding on how a Collegial Peer Observation process that focuses on faculty development can empower faculty to take control of their own narrative in documenting longitudinal growth in teaching excellence.
1B . ROOM: Salon Cassia BMAIN . 30 MINS (Zoom Link)
Teaching With the Hybrid Modality: Courtroom Observations and Busting the Law-and-Order Syndrome
Elizabeth Deven-Hernandez . The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
I have been teaching the hybrid method for several years. I have found the hybrid method to be the most effective and one that students seem to seek out most often due to its flexibility and its engagement. In this presentation I will discuss the advantages of the hybrid method: integrating community engagement, and the importance of creating service as a lifestyle. Teaching in the Criminal Justice Department means constantly reminding students they are future role models for the community and consistently integrating service learning and observing into assignments. I have created a community engagement assignment using the hybrid method, that most students are initially reluctant to engage with. However, I found the assignment to be so well-received it is currently being turned into a class. The assignment is Courtroom Observations. Criminal cases are in the news, TV and films every day. The dramatization of the courtroom and the criminal justice system has many believing that all criminal cases are solved in one hour: from arrest to investigation and prosecution. I call this the Law-and-Order Syndrome. However, this assignment takes the student out of the classroom, away from their textbook and the TV drama, and brings the reality of the courtroom to life. All while using the hybrid method. Participants will understand the importance and flexibility of the Hybrid Modality in their classroom.
1C . ROOM: BSABH 2.102. 60 MINS (Zoom Link)
“They don’t get it anymore.” Trending Learning Problems, the Barriers Responsible, and What You Can Do about Them
Cathy Ross . The University of Texas at Tyler
Increasingly, I am finding that my students—even majors--have considerable difficulty completing their assigned readings and coming to class with a clear enough understanding of what the words they read said. Never mind their doing much higher order analysis of the themes or formal strategies of the texts. In this presentation, I briefly detail the learning problems I am encountering in my English literature classes with students ranging from first years to graduate students. I review the barriers I’ve identified.
These include:
• Students don’t know how to start
• When they do, they are impatient with sophisticated language
• They lose focus easily
• They lack confidence that they can figure it out
• They quit
• They “do” it, but they don’t remember
Finally, I present the strategies I have developed to overcome as many of these barriers as possible, most of which can be modified to work in classes in almost any discipline. These include teaching focusing strategies, calculating reading time, a note-taking lesson, previewing, “translating,” at-home guiding questions that require written responses (“CPAs—Class Preparation Assignments”), brief “accountability quizzes,” open-book in-class exercises with a partner, discussion, and review. This presentation will help participants
1. Identify learning problems in your class, such as: not getting their reading done, not understanding their reading when they do it, not knowing what critical questions to ask to get inside the work, impatience with sophisticated language or professional jargon, problems with focus and perseverance
2. Identify barriers to learning in your class
3. Create strategies and interventions
CONCURRENT SESSIONS 2
3:15 – 4:15 pm
2A . ROOM: Salon Cassia BMAIN . 10 MINS (Zoom Link)
What The Beatles Can Teach Us About Team-Based Learning
Art Brownlow . The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
In November of 2021, New Zealand film director Peter Jackson released a documentary called Get Back, which features footage from the recording sessions that led to the creation of one of The Beatles final albums, Let It Be. For Beatles enthusiasts (like me) and music scholars (like me) this film was nothing short of a revelation on many levels. As I was devouring every fascinating minute of this film, I began to realize that it can be viewed as a masterclass in team collaboration. Every one of the best practices in team-based learning is on full and glorious display here, and there is much to be learned. This short presentation will explore the basic tenets of team-based learning, and see how The Beatles applied them in their workflow. At the end of this session, attendees will be able to (1) identify best practices in team-based learning and (2) explain how The Beatles applied these practices in the Let It Be sessions.
2A . ROOM: Salon Cassia BMAIN. 10 MINS (Zoom Link)
The Gaps We Believe Exist: Confronting and Reframing Instructor Deficit Thinking Practices
Cynthia Lopez Guerrero & Tomas Eric Guerrero . The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
In a perfect world, educators enter a classroom where students successfully engage with whatever learning outcomes an educator has carefully crafted for their students. However, we are all well aware that our world is far from perfect. A variety of interconnected circumstances can play a part in pedagogical intentions going awry and students not achieving the course goals as the teacher would hope. We will be focusing on one strand of problematic thinking that we believe is the backbone of many other systemic problems in pedagogical practices; the deficit thinking model. According to Valencia, “the deficit thinking model…[posits] that the student who fails in school does so because of internal deficits or deficiencies” (2). While this model of thinking might sound distant or something that occurs in other educators, we are all susceptible to this form of thinking. This leads to patterns of thinking that lean into negative assumptions about students; that they will be unwilling to engage or unable to comprehend the material. It is our hope instead to speak towards anti-deficit thinking practices, where we as educators enter the classroom with the intention of searching only for a student’s strengths and talents. To that end, we will use our presentation time to share activities that engage in anti-deficit thinking practices in our first year writing classrooms. Our goal is to reflect on how these practice work theoretically and intrinsically to combat embedded, internalized beliefs, so that we can shape a just and equitable space for all students. It is our hope that participants leave our presentation with a sense of pedagogical self-awareness in terms of deficit practices and languages in the classroom that can be reframed to encourage a sense of academic self-value in students.
2A . ROOM: Salon Cassia BMAIN 10 MINS (Zoom Link)
UTRGV Excellence Award Recipients in Teaching Reflect on Practices in Culturally Relevant Care and Culturally and Linguistically Inclusive Approaches in Teacher Preparation
Jacqueline B. Koonce & Sandra I. Musanti . The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
We are an Associate Professor and Professor in the Department of Bilingual and Literacy Studies who are joining forces to unpack what it means to reach our culturally and linguistically diverse students through culturally relevant care and culturally and linguistically inclusive approaches in teacher preparation. Our proposed presentation will consist of each of us sharing two or three Critical Questions that guide our reflective approach to teacher preparation. In order to respond to the gaps in teaching and learning, we will share a reflection or insight related to each question and a concrete example of how this reflects in our practice. For example, for culturally relevant care, we will pose the following 2 questions: How can we use culturally relevant care to connect with students of different backgrounds? How can we plan instruction modeling culturally relevant care? For culturally and linguistically inclusive pedagogy in teacher preparation, we ask these 2 questions: How can we model culturally and linguistically inclusive practices to leverage students’ culture and bilingualism? How can we plan instruction that purposefully integrate language fluid spaces to promote meaning making and validate students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds? This presentation will be designed to share innovative research-based practices in teacher preparation that respond and leverage our students cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The attendees will explain how to build more strategies of culturally relevant care in their pedagogy. The attendees will identify strategies to plan instruction that validate students’ cultural and linguistic assets.
2A . ROOM: Salon Cassia BMAIN. 10 MINS (Zoom Link)
High Impact Practices for Better Learning Outcomes
Maria Leonard . The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
In today's environment, it is essential to identify high impact and innovative practices that will yield better engagement among our students. As educators, we are charged with finding innovative ways to leverage technology and learning opportunities that go beyond the use of textbooks. Practices such as COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) and MRS (Mixed Reality Simulations) bring a different dimension of reflection and practical application of concepts to the classroom and encourage analytical thinking and self reflection to elevate learning. Identify practices and techniques that may allow for higher engagement and better learning outcomes.
2A . ROOM: Salon Cassia BMAIN. 10 MINS (Zoom Link)
UDL and First Gen. Students: Learning Together
Arlett Sophia Lomelí . The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) allows students, especially first-generation and English as a Second Language learners obtain the same level of information starting from the beginning of class. This allows for explanation of the process of navigating the course, identifying how to complete assessments efficiently and with detailed instructions. By including these items and accessibility considerations, students can focus on the concepts vs. understanding the instruction. UDL can help all students succeed in your classroom. Participants will identify and define the 3 areas of UDL. Participants will explain the benefits of incorporating UDL into their classrooms by way of transparency and detailed instruction.
2B. ROOM: BSABH 1.102 . 60 MINS (Zoom Link)
Cultivating Bilingualism, Biculturalism, and Biliteracy by Acknowledging and Affirming Latinx/a/o Students’ Linguistic and Cultural Capital in Higher Education
J. Joy Esquierdo, Alex Stehn, Hiram Moya, Teresa Patricia Feria-Arroyo, Jose Saldivar, Katherine Christoffersen, Kimberly Regalado
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
The purpose of the session is to showcase the work of six scholars at a large HSI that implement culturally relevant pedagogies to maximize the use of their university students’ bilingual, biliterate and bicultural assets. These scholars are from multiple disciplines, ranging between STEM, Linguistics, Philosophy, and Education. The intended outcome for participants is to understand how using culturally relevant pedagogies in higher education can help validate and maximize their students’ linguistic, cultural, and content learning. Additionally, participants will see examples of how this can be done across different disciplines.
2C . ROOM: BSABH 2.102 . 60 MINS (Zoom Link)
Stress, Burnout and Compassion Fatigue: We need to make sure the faculty are alright
Mary McNaughton-Cassill. The University of Texas at San Antonio
Most college faculty members love their discipline and are committed to advancing the knowledge base in their field and sharing what they know with others. However, the reality of balancing the demands of scholarship, teaching and service can be daunting. Even prior to the pandemic faculty members were feeling the strain of meeting institutional and student expectations without sacrificing their own well-being. But the stress of coping with the pandemic exacerbated this stress for virtually everyone. In addition to mastering the steep technological learning curve engendered by the rapid move to online instruction many faculty found that students struggling to cope with the impact of the virus on their physical and mental health were turning to them for guidance. Faculty members, facing pandemic related concerns of their own, found themselves struggling to manage these added demands. Some experienced Burnout, or feelings of hopelessness and futility in the face of the demands on their time and energy. Others found themselves absorbing the emotional distress of others or losing their sense of empathy, a condition traditional first responders such as health care personnel and therapists refer to as compassion fatigue. Fortunately, once we recognize the impact of both burnout and compassion fatigue on ourselves, our students, and our institutions, there are cognitive and behavioral strategies we can use to regain our balance. Not the least of these is acknowledging that we can’t care for others if we fail to care for ourselves. Participants will learn to recognize signs of burnout and compassion fatigue in themselves and others. They will become aware of strategies for managing these conditions at the personal and professional level.
Reflection (Zoom Link)
4:30 – 5:00 pm
ROOM: Salon Cassia BMAIN. 30 MINS (Zoom Link)
Alyssa Guadalupe Cavazos, Associate Professor, Writing and Language Studies and Directora, Center for Teaching Excellence
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
As our mini-conference comes to an end, we will engage in reflective and reflexive thinking about our teaching practices and what we learned, how we hope to apply what we learned, and how we intend to learn more in the future. When we are reflective, we think, through conscious effort, about events or choices we make and develop insights by consciously analyzing our decisions, often drawing on theory or diverse ways of knowing to connect back to practice. When we are reflexive, we identify strategies to consciously question our attitudes, values, assumptions, biases, and actions so that we may understand the nuances and complexities of the implications of our role in relation to others. Reflexivity allows us to become aware of how we are responsible for shaping our surroundings and thereby develop ethical ways of relating to others around us. After a short, guided reflective and reflexive activity, we will share our insights with the group as we collectively work toward better understanding ourselves and our students to create educational spaces that foster self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and relevance of learning.
SPONSORS AND PARTNERS
UTRGV Division of Student Success, UTRGV Center for Teaching Excellence, UTRGV Information Technology, UT System Office of Academic Affairs
THANK YOU FOR BEING PART OF THIS EVENT. WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO COMPLETE THIS OVERALL SYMPOSIUM EVALUATION (CLICK HERE).
