Design Forward
An emergent exploration of critical instructional design.
Design Forward
Portfolio Part: Anne’s student biography and teaching reflection
Student Biography
Anne’s student biography and teaching reflection
In this exercise you will explore the stories and lives of your current students. You may choose to write a biography (incorporating the elements identified below) or you may choose to draw or otherwise represent a student (again, finding some way to incorporate the identified elements). Be as specific as possible, but think of your imagined biography as an amalgamation of students, rather than the actual biography of an individual student you know:
Elements to include:
- Name
- Hometown(s)
- Childhood education experience: type of school attended, typical grades, relationship with teachers, overall impression of what school is for z Family background: How may parents, siblings, etc. Who do they live with? Who do they have close relationships with?
- Interests & hobbies
- Declared major(s) or minor(s)
- Future life goals
- Stressors and obstacles
- Opportunities and comforts
I’m Matthew J. and I’m from a town south of Boston, MA. I grew up living with both of my parents in separate homes and I spent weeks at a time with my mom and weeks at a time with my dad. Then they both remarried and I have all these family members that I have to like and spend time with. It was really hard sometimes and I often felt like I had no real home. Two moms, two dads…..who was the “real one”? It sucks being in a divorced family. My mom is a stickler for grades but dad isn’t so I only did okay in school. Not great, but good enough to go to college so I decided to go to Plymouth State. I could be away from the drama that often happens at home around holidays and birthdays. I’m thinking of Business as a major because everyone in my family says I need to get a job after college. Especially, my stepdad. He’s pushing that a lot and makes fun of English majors. I just want to graduate from Plymouth and get a job doing something I like. I want to have a good time here and spend time outside skiing and hiking. Maybe I can even get a job in the summer up here and go swimming at the lakes.
When you’re done, write 1-2 paragraph reflecting upon the student you have created. Where did you get your inspiration? How is this student like/different than you were as a student? As a teacher, what do you think are the 3 most important things you can do for this student?
My own life experience and the introduction speeches were the impetus for this student biography. Even though I’m happily married for a second time to the best man ever, I STILL regret my divorce that left my children schlepping between two homes. I hear these similar stories from my own students. Broken homes, step-parents they only tolerate and everyone telling them to do something different. This student is soooo different from my own college experience. I had two parents still married and in one home. While they didn’t really offer me any guidance on college and my future, I knew the loved me and had confidence in me that I would figure it out. My holidays and birthdays were great….just one big family. No mixed messages.
I didn’t write about money directly in my biography but that plays a huge role in my students’ lives. They worry about paying for school, paying for their food and transportation. Many come from families that are struggling. My own family struggled too, but life was more affordable. Sure, I made less money but finding an apartment to live in didn’t require me to go in a bidding war or take out a personal loan. I hear over and over from students that they need to go to college to learn a trade, or how to do something. Some programs do just that at Plymouth. But not all of them.
As a teacher, I need to be aware of these financial straights. I need to stop taking attendance (or keeping track of it for a grade since I like taking attendance to learn faces and names), I need to stop thinking my class is the top thing on their list of things to do and focus my teaching on the basics of what they really need to learn. As librarians, we’ve become more and more aware that asking a student in a first-year class to find and read a peer-reviewed article just isn’t helpful. First, it’s hard to read and secondly, they need to learn how to search for more practical things. Sure, peer-reviewed later, but not in the first year.
