After working all day at a retirement complex, I stopped by a local Dutch Bros for a caffeinated pick-me-up. In the traditional fashion of a Dutch Bro, the barista wanted to know my life history. He causally leaned out the window and asked, “What are you up to today? Going home from work or on your way to work?”

“No,” I replied. “I just got done with work. Now I’m going to school.”

“Cool! What class are you taking?” He asked in enthusiastic Dutch Bro fashion.

“Oh,” I corrected, gently. “I’m actually teaching class. Public Speaking.”

He furrowed his brow. “Wait. So, you left work… and now you’re going back to work?”

I laughed at his confusion. “Yeah, I guess so,” I answered. “Although teaching never really feels like work.”

And that’s when I had a career-changing epiphany. I worked full-time as the Director of Resident Relations at a luxury retirement complex. I enjoyed my job, being a liaison to residents and managing a department of 28 people, but it definitely felt like work. Whereas, my “part-time job” of being an evening adjunct instructor and assistant coach for the Speech & Debate (or Forensics) Team was fun and invigorating.

I had the realization right there in the Dutch Bros line (perhaps one more reason it always takes so long.) Maybe, just maybe, I should be spending 40 hours a week doing what I love instead of only squeezing in a few classes after “work.”

By this time, my oldest son was not quite one. Having a baby had changed my priorities, but it had not, yet, significantly changed my work schedule. I was still working my normal 8am-4pm job, then teaching 2-3 evening and online classes per week, then traveling to California (and elsewhere) about twice a month for speech tournaments… now with a baby in tow. Something had to give.

By all intents and purposes, it should have been coaching Forensics. This took up 10-15 hours of coaching per week in addition to traveling on the weekends, and it paid the least. But, I couldn’t give it up. I couldn’t let go.

I took some time to reflect. I realized that I loved teaching and coaching. I loved connecting with students and helping them to become better speakers. I loved being a coach and leading a team. I’m pretty very competitive. Forensics gave me an outlet for my competitive drive and my creativity. Teaching gave me a platform to continue to publicly speak and to kindle students’ love of learning, too.

Sometimes inspiration comes in the form of a mentor or a beloved family member. I certainly have stores to draw from. My favorite teacher in high school, Mrs. Farrington, who taught Speech (This should have been a sign) and was the club adviser for TAFE, the Texas Association for Future Educators (yet another sign.) I became the President of the club, mostly just to get to continue working with Mrs. Farrington. I signed up for every speech competition she recommended. (My awards include being the Hutchinson County Cattelwomen’s Beef Ambassador for both 2000 and 2001. I can’t make this up.) Mrs. Farrington is also the person who first introduced me to the world of Speech & Debate. I competed for 3.5 years in high school, then went on to compete in college as well. I still remember her combination of classy authority while also making me feel valued, like an “insider” working with her not just for her. As a high school student, that was a great feeling, but as an adult, we still desire this feeling of inclusion. I strive to impart these feelings of autonomy and support for my students.

I also remember my grandfather, who retired from the Navy and came back to our home town to run the family business, an office supply store. But when Walmart moved to our small town, our little store (like so many others) went out of business. My grandfather, “Gramp,” went back to school. He drove to the nearest college 2 hours away to complete his degree in Special Education. Upon graduation, he accepted a teaching position at a middle school in an even tinier town than ours almost 3 hours away. He rented a small apartment across the street from the middle school and walked to work every day. He came home on the weekends, but sometimes we’d go stay with him, which felt like a special treat. A few times, I even got to go to work with him. I met his students and his teachers aids; I observed the rapport he had with his students and the passion he had for connecting with students who struggled in the education system. I saw my grandpa in a new light. He seemed so happy and capable. I was proud to share my smart and funny grandfather with these students. His colleagues shared with me glowing complements about him as I drank my hot chocolate from a coffee mug in the teacher’s lounge. I like to think I got my sense of humor from him, and this is a vital tool for my teaching.

These are just two pillars in my life who inspired me, long before I knew that I would someday become a teacher. I believe that no matter what career path I chose, these inspirational figures would still have guided and shaped me to be my best.

But sometimes, inspiration comes in a less obvious form… like perhaps the form of a Large Caramel Annihilator from Dutch Bros. So to that fateful barista, I say “Thanks a latte.”

Greetings, readers!
Thanks for checking out my blog. For years I have been reading emails about the Write 6×6 Challenge and wondering what it’s all about. This semester, I decided to “take the plunge” and actually participate. (Wow, I often discourage writing students from using cliche and I just used one… hope this isn’t a sign of burn-out!)
The timing seems right for me. I am in the second year of my EdD program in Higher Education Leadership through NAU and this semester in my Philosophy of Education class we are talking an awful lot about the common good, what is “student success,” and who gets to define it. Similar conversations have been arising when I’m in the room working with the GCC Academic Strategic Plan Bridge committee. What contemplating these questions has forced me to do is review my time here at GCC, the things I’ve learned (and am in the process of learning), what I hope to accomplish, what I still wish could be changed, and from what position I stand to try to affect positive changes to better serve our students.
To me, in my personal thinking, our students are the entire reason all of us are here. This is a public institution of teaching and learning–these things should be at the core of everything we do. Best, better, more innovative, and more effective practices and processes should be what we seek (uh-oh, now I’m sounding like Yoda!).
Anyway, those are some of my thoughts as I set up this blog and get ready to take this challenge. Won’t you come along with us on this journey? 🙂

For as tedious as it is to force reflection for my Individual Development Plan, I do find myself reflecting beyond the IDP on ways to offer improved experiences for students in the classroom. A few months ago, I signed up to join other faculty at one of Dr. Terry’s Student Success Listening Sessions. That day is fast approaching. Being the good boy scout that I am (actually I’m a country boy and participated in 4-H), I wanted to prepare my talking points to the four questions posed for discussion. One of the questions is: “what is the best way to achieve student success?”. (If I could, I would insert a ten-minute pause here as my mind pondered that question yet again.) I am sure if one asked 100 people that question, one would get 100 different answers. But no matter what answer each person gives, I hope that all faculty can agree that we want an actively engaged student body in the classroom. In fact, my answer would be student engagement is the best way to achieve student success. As a nascent educator, I thought I was engaging the students by introducing active learning activities in the classroom. As a slightly more experienced educator, I now know that active learning is only half the battle. My formal educational background includes a bachelors in business, a masters in business, and a PhD in business. Although this makes me a content-rich instructor, it does not make an expert educator. Therefore, I search for resources that provide insight into teaching and learning. One of my favorites is Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty by E. Barkley. Barkley argues that students are only engaged when motivation and active learning overlap.

I can do learning activities all day long, but motivating students is the difficult part. Motivation is internal. Every person has their own incentives for being motivated to learn. How can one determine what motivates 125 students every semester? No worries.  There are some highly-researched theories that might help educators motivate students. This is one area where my business education background might be helpful. Any student of basic management theory has studied employee motivation. A modern theory of employee motivation is Vroom’s Expectancy Theory. Expectancy Theory suggests that employees are motivated to perform when they value the reward to be received for performing well and there is a reasonable expectation that the reward can be achieved.  This same theory has been applied to students in an educational setting (Becker, n.d.). Becker posits that in an educational setting, expectancy is the degree to which students expect to be able to learn successfully if they apply themselves, thus expecting to get whatever rewards that successful performance will bring. Value is the degree to which students value those rewards as well as the opportunity to engage in the processes involved in carrying out the learning itself. Although motivation is internal and specific to each student, faculty do have direct control over emphasizing and providing the expectancy and value responsible for student motivation.

At the risk of this blog post sounding like a dissertation chapter, I will stop discussing theory and provide practical examples of how faculty can provide rewards that students value. The Center for Teaching at Vanderbilt University provides the following examples. As I read these, I tally how many I am already using and ponder how to incorporate the others. I encourage all to do the same.

Deliver your presentations with energy and enthusiasm.  As a display of your motivation, your passion motivates your students. Make the course personal, showing why you are interested in the material. (relatedness)

Get to know your students. You will be able to better tailor your instruction to the students’ backgrounds, and your personal interest in them will inspire their personal loyalty to you. (relatedness)

Use examples freely. Many students want to be shown why a concept is useful before they want to study it further. Inform students about how your course prepares students for future opportunities. (relatedness)

Set realistic performance goals. Design assignments that are appropriately challenging in view of the experience and aptitude of the class. (mastery)

Be free with praise and constructive in criticism. Negative comments should pertain to particular performances, not the performer. Offer nonjudgmental feedback on students’ work, stress opportunities to improve, and look for ways to stimulate advancement. (mastery)

Give students as much control over their own education as possible. Let students choose paper and project topics that interest them. Assess them in a variety of ways (tests, papers, projects, presentations, etc.) to give students more control over how they show their understanding to you. (autonomy)

I found it interesting that as I read through these suggestions that each of them was practical advice on how to achieve the three components of self-determination theory—relatedness, mastery, and autonomy.  (I labeled each.) Self-determination theory is the basis of the Reimagine Teaching and Learning project that GCC is about to commence. I suspect those of us who may participate in that program will learn, discover, and implement more strategies to achieve student engagement through motivation and active learning.

Becker, B. (n.d.) A new meta-model of student engagement: The roles of student motivation and active learning. Retrieved from https://www.brettbecker.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IICE-13-_Becker_-419_Camera-Ready.pdf