Below are my rough notes from our first discussion, please feel free to edit or add your own. Please review the discussion prompts for Chapter One and Two for our next meeting on Tuesday, October 2 (under discussions). Pose any questions or thoughts you may have on the readings as we progress:

The Spark of Learning Discussion Notes

Peter, Rachel, Amir, Darren, Monica, Valerie, Milton, Dena, Julie

Introductions: we began by framing our own experiences with Montclair State students and how they approach learning in terms of their emotional or mental models:
1. They often have attitudes of “why do we have to learn this?” (seeking relevance)
2. The example of using math skills in non-math courses
3. Student resistance to things they think they are bad at (survey our students about their attitudes)
4. Fear of doing poorly
They have a lack of choice in their courses (could lead to resistance)
1. Don’t want to be there (lack of autonomy?)
2. Students experience anxiety, boredom, frustration (they may have mixed emotions about why are there and what they are doing)
Issues of workload (feeling overwhelmed)
1. May not expect the level of difficulties in their programs/courses
Financial stress, including the cost of books
1. We discussed using OERs (assigning older issues to reduce costs, use library reserves
Satisfaction/dissatisfaction of students a factor for faculty emotional experiences in courses
1. Concern over student evaluations
2. Difficult topics or controversial issues and how to navigate them in class (we discussed the issue of trigger warnings and the ongoing debate about this in academia)
We discussed ways in which we try to meet students where they are, ask them about their experiences or learning preferences
1. Use exit slips
2. Do frequent check-ins of what is working and what isn’t
Student resistance (trying out new things and reporting back to the group how students respond)
1. Do they just want to be told what to do?