In the Classroom
Students as Letter Writers: How Letters Inform Instructors Lynn M. Kirms Department of Chemistry, Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR 97520;
[email protected] Letters from students, either in electronic or paper form, are a simple mode of communication that serves to enhance dialogue in the classroom and to provide insight toward the students on a personal level. Writing letters in class “harnesses the energy of a familiar form and friendly voice in the service of classroom community” (1) and is a way of recognizing the human side of our students, which can be overlooked in the learning process. Two specific letter-writing assignments are described that have been found to be effective tools for gaining a more complete picture of the students in our classes. The Biographical Letter With the onset of new classes each fall, a common practice for several years among a number of faculty in the chemistry department at Southern Oregon University (SOU) is the solicitation of a short biographical letter from each student in the class. In the organic lecture section that I teach, the students are asked to give their past course experiences in chemistry, their desired academic major and career goals, what they do in their spare time, and the classic what-I-didduring-my-summer-vacation narrative. This first assignment is presented as a light get-to-know-you exercise that represents an easy way to earn a few points (10 points or 1–2% of their final grade). I also apply the questions that I ask of the students to myself and tell them about my background. Besides furnishing the requested information, the students are remarkably open in their expression of their hopes for the course and for their own success. They write candidly as they have not yet developed any bias toward the instructor or toward the class; to them, the instructor and the year ahead are a delightfully blank slate. The students also submit lively, and at times, personal pieces of information that they would not likely verbalize. Writing affords the opportunity of a confidential line of communication with the instructor without worrying about the hurdles of articulation (I wonder if I said that right?) and appearances (she must think I’m so dumb!) that can burden an oral format. Consequently, through these writings, the students reveal more of themselves than one would be able to glean through casual conversations.1, 2 Excepts from student letters are given to highlight this point. For example, Krystle writes: I am originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba and moved to Anchorage, Alaska, almost eight years ago. I am a returning sophomore this year and plan to major in chemistry. I have had only one year of previous chemistry experience and I want to eventually get involved in forensic chemistry. This summer I worked for an Alaskan tourism company as a customer service representative. I like to fish and camp and I am interested in hunting when I find the time. I play softball competitively and plan to play for SOU this year.
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Paul writes: Well, the only chemistry experience that I have had was last year in the 200 series. I was a little intimidated at first, but Doug made it about as easy as I think chemistry can be made. Since I was going back to school as a nontraditional student with no previous science classes taken in my past, I felt I gained a great deal of knowledge and understanding of chemistry from last year’s classes. My hobbies are just about anything to do with sports. I also love to teach and coach youth wrestling. I am an avid golfer and work 20–24 hours a week at a golf course. I enjoy playing with my kids and fighting with my wife.
Kim writes: I’m an archaeologist with a special interest in archaeometry and its forensic applications. Most of my experience with chemistry has been years of lab work focusing on artifact conservation. Outside of school, I work full time in technical support for a major corporation. On my days off from work I usually go haring off into the wilderness to hike. Beyond that, I’ve been publishing on and off since I was fifteen, so I try to keep up with my writing. I also used to do volunteer work for a ferret rescue shelter (The Weasel Waystation—isn’t that the coolest name ever?) and I still have four critters I adopted when I moved from Texas. Oh, and I love to read and cook, but those I do for pleasure with less frequency than I’d like.
These letters help me, as an instructor, on several practical fronts. The first benefit is a heightened appreciation of the diversity of backgrounds and interests of my students. In fact, these letters become a rich resource later on when writing letters of recommendation.3 Secondly, for students like Krystle, Paul, and Kim, I have a sense of what the students are involved in outside of class such as family, work, and sport commitments, which can have an impact on their performance in class. Like many students nationwide who are struggling to deal with tuition increases, it is not uncommon for some students at SOU to work 20–40 hours a week and still carry a full academic load. As in Paul’s case, students can also be juggling family responsibilities. Hearing from my students via letters helps me have a more complete view of the individuals in my class and it affects the way that I teach and interact with them. For many years I would assume in a general way that all of my students who were not doing well were “slackers” and were choosing not to put in the time required to master organic chemistry. This attitude would often come across in the posttest discussions we would have about how to do better on the next exam. I have since altered my stance as I have slowly
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In the Classroom
realized that for some students who may not be doing well there simply is no more time for studying that can be carved out of their tight schedules because of the life situations they find themselves in. Another key value of these letters lies in gaining an understanding for the subset of students who appear ambivalent or disengaged with the learning process. Interestingly enough, facets of these students’ lives not visible on the exterior can be revealed in letters, and it is the letters that these students write that prevent me from casually dismissing them for the way they present themselves in class. The students express interests and involvements that I would not have guessed based on their demeanor in lecture. Unfortunately, most of the time, what we know about our students are simply the unconscious judgments that we make based on superficial observations made in class. This is what we carry around as our impressions of them. Reading and then re-reading student biographical letters after some time has passed (particularly after ‘classroom judgment’ sets in) can be an enlightening and, at times, a surprisingly discomfiting experience as one confronts the mental stereotypes of students that have formed. And, it is those stereotypes— whether we will admit to them or not— that can subtly influence us in the way that we interact with students and even the way that a grade may fall in a borderline case. The Study-Skills Letter A second letter-writing assignment is designed to help the students to reflect on their study skills and time management. This is purposely given at the start of the winter term, when organic chemistry increases in its perceived level of difficulty. The students are assigned the article, 25 Ways to Get the Most Out of Now (2), that breaks down 25 compelling tips of study management into such categories as “When to Study”, “Ways to Handle the Rest of the World”, and “Things You Can Ask Yourself When You Get Stuck”. The students are required to write a letter listing the three suggestions in the article that resonated the most with them and are asked to explain why. Their completed letters receive points (10 points, or 2% of their final grade) and comments from me. While it would seem that an exercise like this would be more appropriate for a study skills seminar, the response from the students suggests that more of these exercises should be incorporated into our classes. The students welcomed the chance to reflect on their study skills and time-management techniques, and I, as a 40-something instructor, got a glimpse of how the current generation of media-saturated, multi-tasking students attempts to study out of class. One of the 25 study suggestions that received much attention from the students is one concerning the identification and elimination of distractions, as the following excerpts from letters show. For example, Emily writes: We just moved in with new roommates who are practically married to cable TV. I found the TLC channel where they do live surgeries, births, et cetera and I’m hooked! I find that I sit and watch TLC for hours with out realizing what time it is.
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Adam writes: Because my computer can be a big distraction sometimes I’ll occupy it by having it download music or defrag so it won’t be a distraction.
Ted writes: Like most students I know, I have to put things on hold in order to study. The phone and email tend to be the biggest distraction as they are the tools in which others can converse with you. Since I subscribed to caller ID and have voice mail, the phone is pretty much taken care of. Answering my 20 emails a day is still a major distraction.
Mike writes: I find myself studying in front of my computer with Instant Messenger on. It seems that every five minutes there is someone trying to talk to me. So, I need to turn off my computer when I study.
Samantha writes: I don’t like studying in the quiet, so I turn music or movies on. Sometimes I forget that I’m supposed to be studying, but other times I do just fine and get things done.
In contrast to the first letter assignment, where I obtained more personal information that was useful on an individual level, the second letter assignment opened up a broader sense of my students as a group, how they approached their studies, and what sorts of issues they were encountering that were preventing them from studying effectively. What these second letters afforded me was a realization of the overwhelming degree to which media and technology were drawing upon my students’ time and attention. I had assumed, as a matter of course, that my students were reasonably equipped in finding quiet, undisturbed, environments that gave them lots of opportunities for thoughtful reflection on the course material set before them, and that the major barriers to learning organic chemistry were in digesting large quantities of information, recognizing patterns, making conceptual leaps, and learning how to problem solve. It had not occurred to me to move one step back to dialogue with students about turning off the TV, the VCR, the computer, and their various phones as a first start in improving their grades in organic chemistry. However, if I am interested in meeting my students at their point of need, then this is where the discussion should begin. Conclusion Some instructors might be concerned that the quantity of time spent reading letters for such assignments could be burdensome. For the relatively small class sizes at Southern Oregon University (about 50 in organic lecture, for example) the time required to read letters and to record points is about 1.5–2 hours. When letters have been submitted by email I have on occasion responded individually to each letter, which takes considerably more time. Obviously, with larger lecture classes the time involved in reading the letters increases with class size, but it is in large classes especially that students are fighting anonymity and would desire more personal contact
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with their instructors. Dudley Herron summarizes this dilemma of needing to know one’s students better versus the time required to do this, Some who have taught—particularly chemists in large universities—will have difficulty in describing their students because they have had little opportunity to observe them. Their teaching has been limited to lectures for large groups where there is little opportunity for one-on-one interaction. Perhaps insight into student difficulties in such an environment can be obtained, but I do not know how. If you do not devote a portion of your time to individual student conferences, small group discussion, interactions with students during laboratory sessions, or other activities that provide opportunities to gain information about individual student learning, I encourage you to change your schedule. (3)
Letter writing would fall under the “other activities that provide opportunities to gain information about individual student learning” and incorporating this tool in the classroom may require a “change of schedule” for some. I have found the investment of time in student letter writing to be time well spent. The two sets of student letters described were valuable sources of information about my students and their lives. Only in understanding where the students have come from and where they are now, can I expect to connect with students and help them in their learning. Through knowing my students better, my ability to develop each individual is enhanced, and the classroom experience becomes more rewarding for everyone.
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Notes 1. The student letters have been used with permission. The letters have been edited for clarity and to retain anonymity. 2. For applications and examples of letter writing in other university classes see Dinitz, S.; Fulwiler, T. The Letter Book, Boynton/ Cook Publishers: Portsmouth, NH, 2000. The usefulness of students writing about themselves or their experiences is not unprecedented in chemical education either. The model established by the NSF sponsored Peer Led Team Learning Workshops promotes journaling for the student mentors as a way of voicing and processing their experiences as team leaders and also as a way for the instructor to monitor the progress of the workshops. See Gosser, D. K.; Cracolice, M. S.; Kampmeier, J. A.; Roth, V.; Strozak, V. S.; Varma-Nelson, P. Peer Led Team Learning. A Guidebook; Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2001. 3. With regard to privacy issues, the student letters are treated as any other confidential material would be and are not read by other students or faculty.
Literature Cited 1. Fulwiler, T. New Directions for Teaching and Learning 1997, 69, 15–25. 2. Ellis, D. B. In Peer-Led Team Learning, A Handbook for Team Leaders; Roth, V., Goldstein, E., Marcus, G., Eds.; Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2001; pp 66–71. 3. Herron, J. D. The Chemistry Classroom: Formulas for Successful Teaching; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1996; p 6.
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