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Who do we become as professors?
Who do we become as professors?
Kari Beaty, child of and grandchild of teachers, swore she would never teach. Her teaching career has now spanned 47 years.
In the second of our conversations with life-long instructors, Kari charts the way she discovered teaching and how it's stayed alive for her over the years. Kari teaches Math in the School of STEM. She also teaches those learning to be K-12 Math teachers. The creativity and art of teaching is something she's given a great deal of thought to.
She talks about the emotional investment teaching requires and how much wisdom a professor needs--and how that wisdom can be very hard won and sometimes come much later than we would wish.
Below, you can see some of the games that her teaching students have created. You can also see a few lessons that she's adapted from the humanities into a Math context. And finally, in honor of Kari's years of work and joy in community theater, a simple invocation of the arts in any context and an invitation for you to revive or establish your own connections to an arts community.
Come spend some time with Math.
Episode 5
Episode 5
Listen here to our fifth episode or subscribe on Apple or Spotify.
Math Games in Action
Kari has been teaching K-12 Math teachers to design and implement creative games in the Math classes they'll eventually be teaching. Here is a gallery of games teachers have created in her MAT 250 classes. At the end of the course, the students have a day when they set up the games they've invented and everyone plays them, giving feedback on what works and what doesn't and enjoying themselves as they do it. Is there a place in your classes for students to show their personal projects and get feedback and appreciation from their peers?
Inquiring into Student Experience
Kari talks about how she began to explore ways to find out about how students are thinking and experience her teaching. These are two different methods that you could try to see how your methods in class and the student learning experience are aligning. A form of exit tickets, which she calls "accountability quizzes," are quick check-ins that are short and very focused. Inquiry projects are a little longer (but not much) and allow a slightly deeper glimpse into student thinking. Below are models you can adapt to your needs.
Accountability Quizzes
Accountability Quizzes
Kari mentions that she's begun using a kind of "exit ticket" in class. Exit tickets are designed to be a small touch on the student to check on their engagement. She calls her version "accountability quizzes." Here is how she designs, assigns and uses them in her classes.
Inquiry Projects
Inquiry Projects
Kari's "inquiry projects" are another light touch to engage students in a small, consistent way. Inquiry projects aren't always graded for correct answers like a quiz but are instead a chance for students to respond to class concepts. They also allow Kari a quick glimpse into each student's thinking, which can allow her to adjust teaching or individual response as she sees fit. Here are her guidelines.
More on Exit Tickets
More on Exit Tickets
Kari's accountability quizzes are modified exit tickets. If you'd like more guidance on the concept as a whole, here is a resource for creating exit tickets if you'd like to see more possibilities.
The Communities of the Arts
This is a simple reminder that our college is part of many overlapping communities. Keri has found great fun and joy in her local theater. Are you in community with local arts? If it's been awhile since you've connected with local theater or music or art, perhaps it's time to find your way back there, even if a virtual option is best for you for now. If the arts aren't alive to you, perhaps it's time to explore what the community is offering.
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