Examining Perspectives: Increasing Your Ability to Connect with Students Marsha L. Bayless, Stephen F. Austin State University.

Examining Perspectives: Increasing Your Ability to Connect with StudentsMarsha L. Bayless, Stephen F. Austin State University

Joshua changes my perception.

How Do You Relate to Your Students

▪ First, you need to understand your perspective

▪ Second, you need to understand your students’ perspectives

▪ Third, develop ways to adapt your teaching techniques to suit your student’s perspectives

How long have you been a business teacher??

▪ Started in Fall 1975 teaching vocational office education at Hays High

▪ Since then have taught at vocational school level, community college level, and university level.

▪ Just finished teaching 40 years as a business teacher at five schools in three states.

What have I learned in 40 years?

▪ You have to keep learning and teaching yourself new things because business education is a discipline that is always changing.

▪ It is better to laugh than to cry.

▪ If you teach in a College of Business, you can’t wear pink (it isn’t a power color) and you can’t let people see you write shorthand (they will not treat you well).

▪ Enthusiasm for your job and for life is something you must try to pass on to your students.

▪ When you make a mistake, fix it.

▪ If you are bored with teaching, it is your own fault.

My Book of Useless Business Knowledge - 2015

▪ Chapter 1

▪ Chapter 2

▪ Chapter 3

▪ Chapter 4

▪ Chapter 5

▪ Chapter 6

▪ Chapter 7

▪ Chapter 8

Typewriters from Manual to Memory

Using a Rotation Schedule --You Don’t Have Enough Machines for All

How to Dictate A Letter at 140 words a minute

Learning and Teaching Symbol and Alphabetic Shorthand

How to Calculate a Five Minute Timed Writing

How to Use Exotic Office Supplies like Carbon Paper and Whiteout

Operating Machines like Spirit Duplicator, Mimeograph, & Transcribers

Knowledge of Outdated Software Like WordStar, WordPerfect, Lotus 123, Paradox, dBase III

Chapter 1 – From Manual to Memory

▪ IBM Selectric – Ball Element

▪ IBM Proportional Space Typewriter

▪ IBM Correcting Typewriters

▪ IBM Wheelwriter

▪ IBM Memory 50 or Memory 100 Typewriters

▪ IBM was the brand that was the Gold Standard for the Business Teacher

▪ Usually had several new machines each year – not a whole classroom

Chapter 4 - Shorthand

▪ Symbol – Gregg Shorthand (Some schools used Pitman)– Anniversary – 1929

– Simplified – 1949

– Diamond Jubilee – 1963 (THIS WAS MINE)

– Series 90 – 1978

– Centennial – 1988

▪ Alphabetic– Forkner, 1955

– Speedwriting

– Stenoscript

– Personal Shorthand

Do You Have More Chapters to Add

What the book would tell you

1. You LEARNED it all and much of it you taught yourself.

2. If you learned all that information in the past, you can learn a bunch of new stuff in the future.

3. Forge ahead – don’t let the idea of how much work it is, slow you down when it comes to learning new things.

PerspectivesThink back to one of your years in high school. Here was my junior year because it was the year of my first business course.

1970Is it a trip down memory lane --- or ----Is it like Jurassic Park – a completely different world!!!

1970Kansas

Dodge City Senior High SchoolI almost learned how to type on a manual typewriter. Instead, I was in the half of the class on an electric typewriter

Curriculum – Dodge City Senior High School

Junior Year – 3 hour block

▪ Typewriting

▪ Shorthand

▪ Accounting

Senior Year – 3 hour block

▪ Typewriting 2

▪ Shorthand 2

▪ Office Procedures

▪ PLUS 15 hours of cooperative office work. My job was in Superintendent of School’s office at new minimum wage of $1.45 per hour.

The Environment - 1970

▪ Girls had to wear skirts or dresses– They had to be knee length (the

60’s didn’t get to Kansas until the 70’s.)

– 1970 was the first year that more pantyhose were sold than stockings.

▪ Boys had to worry about being drafted to the Vietnam War. Or, could get into the National Guard like my cousin.

▪ Saw movie Romeo and Juliet for English class.

▪ Shared a 1956 Ford with manual shift with my sister.

▪ Had a party telephone line.

▪ We didn’t have the much sought after Princess Phone.

▪ Television was black and white with no remote control. Not until 1972 were more color sets sold than black and white.

▪ We watched 2 and a half channels on TV.

QUIZ? What is it? Define the following.

Item A Item B

Answers

A

An electric collator. One of first machines I ever used on the job so that you could sit down and assemble up to 10 pages at one time.

B

A mimeograph machine. Type a stencil.

Some more items

Item CItem D

Answers

Item C – IBM Magnetic belt transcriber Item D – Apple II e

computer

Today’s Students - Perceptions

Environment

▪ Always been around a world at war –Iraq, Afghanistan, and terrorists

▪ Economy went downhill in 2008 impacting many in society

▪ Personal safety for children

▪ Helicopter parents

Technology

▪ Not familiar with a world without computers and cell phones

▪ Ask Google questions instead of adults

▪ Do not use cursive handwriting

▪ Some have sense of entitlement

▪ Want to have an example of assignments

▪ Would prefer to watch You-tube instead of reading to learn.

Other Perceptions

▪ Texting is favorite way to communicate.

▪ May lack face-to-face people skills.

▪ Use social media to keep up with friends and family.

▪ As a generation, may be the first not to exceed the success of their parents.

▪ As a generation, seeking a balance between work and life. May be more likely to choose life instead of work.

▪ Interested in working for charitable causes.

▪ Interested in green goals and saving environment.

StrategiesHow to use perceptions to improve teaching

Overcome Obstacles with EAR-E

▪ EXAMINE your perspectives and that of your students. Students can help define what is important to them, what is life like, what are challenges, what do they think of the future. Use group activities to define perceptions.

▪ ADAPT your skills and knowledge to a changing environment. It will always be changing.

▪ RE-ASSESS your stories and examples. Get newer and better ones that students can relate to. If you can’t think of any, recruit students to help you with ideas.

▪ ENTHUSIASM for learning. You have to be both an educator and an entertainer. Develop your own style. Relate to what is of interest to students. What do you have in common? Hobbies, music, art?

Questions or Comments?