2016.10.24: More Swedish

It used to be just overcast almost every day, to the point where I was surprised that there was no rain with so much grey. Now, it feels a little more like Seattle, grey with sporadic light rain. But this means that I have to wear rain pants for the bicycle ride to and from work.

I had and unusual experience today. A store clerk actually chatted with me! At the neighborhood grocery store, there is a busy desk at the entrance. There you pick up packages that are too big to go through a mail slot. You mail letters and buy stamps, and pick up any lottery winnings. There are a bunch of other services too, but these are the ones I know. Today, I mailed in my absentee ballot with the King County “Vote” panel that I cut out from my downloaded ballot and taped to my envelope. We chatted about the candidates briefly, but I’m keeping politics out of this blog, so I won’t give the details.

The American presidential election is big in conversation here. In the afternoon fika, there was quite a conversation (in Swedish), though nobody asked me anything about it. I just sat and listened to as much as I could get from the conversation. Much of it is too fast for me to understand. My boss actually did his PhD at UC Santa Barbara looking at religion in US presidential politics. So, he had quite a bit to say today at fika. I just don’t really know what he said.

I did go to the språk café or talk time at church today.

I was fortunate to have my regular conversation partner from the last two weeks. However, at the beginning of the session, it seemed more difficult for me today. My brain seemed really tired, but I had enough sleep. I just couldn’t connect the concepts to words. It got a bit better later. I know that there are some topics that have vocabulary that I’m more familiar with, and these go better. About halfway through the 2 hours, Hans 1 from my first visit joined us. I wondered if that would add to the complexity, and to some degree it did, but not too much. At first he was speaking too fast, so he had to slow down. I assume that is a compliment. I’d rather not have that compliment.

In the afternoon, my boss stopped by in my new office. He was just checking in. That’s nice of him. We chatted a bit, and he invited me to share any insights or ideas I have as I see possibilities or concerns at Johannelund. He has been here only a bit over 1 year, so he is not overly protective of how things are now. He inherited most of it. I graciously mentioned a thing or two that I didn’t understand, such as with the distance learning program. He agreed that these were good to bring up in discussion. He welcomed me to keep reflecting and even write down anything that may add to these discussions.

So later, I spent a bit of time writing down the things that I see as tremendous strengths to celebrate and grow as well as some areas that could be discussed. I mentioned that perhaps I just don’t understand the full picture, so it would just be informing me of the other issues. For example, there are some dramatic differences in educational systems. Previously, I discovered that a student can return several years later to a course that they didn’t complete and finish the portions that were left hanging! I think there will be 2 or 3 writing the final exam in the course I will be teaching, starting in November! So, they don’t have to come to class, just show up for the final and simply “pass.” I understand that there is a financial incentive to the institution to have them finish. In the USA, there is a financial incentive to most students to finish the course, and if there is an incomplete given for extenuating circumstances, there is a time limit of perhaps one term or six months before it turns into whatever points were accumulated at the time, which is often a failure.

What I’m trying to figure out is if I develop the pedagogy to learner-centered teaching with my “buffet of learning” style (where for about 1/3 of the course points, students can choose various projects that align with their major, vocation, passions, and skills to stimulate active and personally meaningful learning). With these individualize projects that are presented or demonstrated to the class (engaging one aspect of reflective learning), how would students who leave come back and finish up these “buffet” projects two years later!?! I typically include a longer “standard academic paper” (instead of a shorter one with the “buffet” options–in a lower division course), so that may be the default for these former students. Perhaps if they are more engaged in the course, they won’t leave as easily, except for family or health crises.

This reminds me of a student and one of my advisees at Trinity. His mom died in the middle of the semester. It was tragic. I spent quite of bit of time with him in my office talking over how I could support him and talking through the decisions with regard to his education. His dad really wanted him to continue his studies, but he was unable to do it with such a difficult time of grieving. So, the next semester, he couldn’t finish the course either. He tried again later as well, and eventually quit his studies and went to work. A year or so later, we were talking in my office about him returning to Trinity. However, now, the curriculum had changed. I told him that the class he had with me would no longer be taught, so we’d have to put him in another class to meet that requirement. He replied, “Oh, that’s too bad! That was a great class. I should know; I took it three times!” This is one of my favorite Trinity student quotes!

The best part of the day was playing ping pong with Anya. There are always wonderful moments of laughter.

With blessings,

Beth