Foundations Newsletter

By Sue Munroe

As the climate outside heats up and our classrooms become frigid pods of ice, we always notice the motivation of our students dwindling afters the months of April and May. This is a recurring problem, and one all instructors dread by the end of the semester. This year, after 6 years, was no exception. Cycle 4 always has a shift of attitude along with the weather bringing its own challenges to instructors in all colleges and programs. I often feel that we’re a slow-motion scene from the Matrix, as we all grasp to administer CPR to our dissipating student motivation level.

This is my sixth years of teaching Foundations at HCT. The last two years, my focus has been mainly on students from Pre-Foundations though to level 2.  Just over a week ago, I toiled with the idea spending two hours with third time repeating level 1 students. I felt a sense of complacency arise as I grabbed my ipad and folder trudging reluctantly over to the Foundation classroom block on that particular morning. I knew they keenly sensed their fate. The small group had diminished from 14 students to only 5 in a matter of weeks for lack of attendance or interest. My mind unfurled into a chaotic vortex. What exactly could I offer these somewhat disheartened troupe that would keep their minds challenged for two hours? I suppressed a discouraging sigh once I arrived. I gazed at the work I had pulled out of my bag and exchanged mutual glances with my ever-distracted students. I put down my device and worksheet placidly on the teacher’s desk gazing outward to my prospective audience and posed the question: “So, who’s staying here for cycle 5?”

It was if there was a burst dam at that second. The quiet and often passive students began to chatter! Somehow, I had managed to encourage them to stay keenly engaged in a discussion about college, travel and careers. Certainly, it hadn’t been an impromptu lesson. I left my original one in my folder. The conversation didn’t involve student engagement with technology and the latest apps as we have been encouraged to do over the last 3 years.  However, these very disheartened individuals had managed to communicate with the language skills they had learned reluctantly and managed to contribute a genuine conversation in English. We had surrounded our linguistic differences and technological disadvantages! My message to you is this – amongst our relentless quest for a technological perfection and strict college content delivery deadlines, never forget to ‘turn off and talk’. Do remember to give the gift of time and attention to our students who so often get lost in the relentless sea of course objectives and technology. It connects with our human-ness and lets them know they we do care!