On the Stand: John Civardi

John Civardi, SPS Adjunct Instrutor

We are proud to release the first edition of a Leather Aprons publication called “On the Stand.”  The concept is easy:  The SPS Faculty Services team selects a member of the Centenary community and puts them “on the stand” - under the white hot lights of curious inquiry - by posing questions in an interview format.   As with the Leather Apron Talks, the focus is on people, ideas, and transformation.  Our community quest for the essence of things continues here. 

In Volume 1 we showcase adjunct instructor John Civardi.  John is an environmental engineer for Hatch Mott Macdonald and teaches Environmental Science and Math for the SPS program.  John shared profound ideas on advocacy, family, faith, the environment, literature, and many other things in the course of our conversation.  We are grateful for his candor, openness, and time.

You can read the article by clicking the following link:  On the Stand:  John Civardi

Please to discuss and share comments and thoughts about the article and the ideas within by clicking "Post a Comment" (or clicking the link listing the number of comments).

The Leather Apron Talks - Ideas, Community, and Transformation

THE BACKGROUND

 

Some things never go out of style.  The leather apron, as an idea, whether or not as a fashion, is such an example.

The leather apron in the literal sense was a protective cloak worn by craftsmen and artisans.  We of course do not care what you wear.  In that sense, this could be the khaki pants community or the fleece vest society.  Wear what you want.  We are interested only in the idea.  

The leather apron as an idea – as a symbol – was fruited by Ben Franklin.  Franklin was known for his platitudes - a few of which he actually followed – but also and, more importantly, for his relentless pursuit of useful knowledge.  In 1727, Franklin pulled together members from all walks of society and formed “The Leather Apron Club”, a group dedicated to inquiry, discussion, idea generation, and mutual benefit. Franklin knew that vast knowledge and experience could be found in many quarters, including the artisans of society – those who donned, yes indeed, the leather apron. 

We are carrying that idea forward.  Imagine our concept as this:  Ben Franklin meets TED Talks.  The Leather Apron to us represents inquiry, attention to detail, mutual respect, big ideas, inclusiveness, sharing, and transformation.  Franklin was committed to generating ideas while TED is committed to spreading them.  We are committed to both

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WHAT WE ARE

Within our Centenary College School of Professional Studies community – faculty, students, staff, and alumni – the reservoir of knowledge and experience runs deep.  Through the SPS Leather Apron Talks, we plumb it, showcase it, and render from it communal good. 

 Education is not a commodity, it is not about tediously collecting credit hours in the name of earning the right to buy a piece of paper for your office wall.  It is about long simmering and sometimes explosive growth and useful change.  Each classroom is an intellectual laboratory committed to this, but no classroom is an island.  The Leather Apron Talks plough a path from each classroom into a common area, a place where we meet as an entire community and talk and listen and make each other better.  This is our intellectual marketplace, where we each carry all that we have, unload our wares in the common area, and offer them to each other, making us all more complete and empowered through the exchange.  

THE FORMAT

We meet periodically and throw open the doors to our entire Centenary community when we do.  The format varies from event to event, as different ideas require different treatment.  There could be short talks, panel discussions, round table discussions, long-form lecture; the possible iterations are many.  Each event is organized around a general theme or topic and different members of the community are asked to speak, present, or facilitate.  As with Franklin’s group, our events are “conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without fondness for dispute or desire of victory.”

Put another way, we are the antidote to cable TV’s screaming dual panels, two people on opposite sides of the issue, on opposite sides of the screen, shouting their positions and demeaning those who oppose them.  As all young attorneys quickly learn, repeating your point, or worse, repeating it more loudly, does not make a point more persuasive.

The Leather Apron Talks will be a forum for authentic dialogue.  A curious mien, an open mind, and a willingness to listen with judgment suspended - those are the lone prerequisites for admission.  Thus, the Leather Apron will be our polestar symbol as we meet under its auspices of converting good ideas into a better reality. 

The First Night: Angels or Demons Unleashed?

A short while ago, some weird things happened.  One night at 2 a.m., my car horn started honking on its own accord.  I went to the driveway prepared for bear or thief but found neither.   A week later, I came home to an empty house and a microwave that was in full operation (“I smell cumin,” I said.  It was the melting plastic of the splatter cover). 

While explaining these odd events to my sister, I ruminated about ghosts in the machines and such to which she responded pointedly, as older sisters are wont to do, by giving me a soft-cover Christmas present titled “Is Your House Haunted?  Poltergeists, Ghosts, or Bad Wiring.”

Apparently, poltergeists are “noisy ghosts” who can disrupt your world by screaming and hiding your car keys and breaking your stuff.   They often are present but dormant .  Humans unwittingly prod the poltergeist into action by feeding it their own negative energy.  For example, the human gives off bad vibes - by crabbing about traffic or in-laws -- and the poltergeist devours that negativity, springs to “life”, and becomes a real rock in your shoe.   So says this earnest little book.

Now, truth be told, I spilled mouthwash into my steering column and used that microwave oven to heat up treats while watching the Clinton-Dole debates, so I’m fairly certain bad wiring is my issue.   That is not to say that the poltergeist dilemma -- the danger of manifesting bad things by giving off the wrong energy –is irrelevant to other things…like teaching.

 

Think about the first night of a new course.  Isn’t the success of that session greatly dependent on the energy you supply?

Students often come into a new class anxious.  Saddled for eight-weeks with the instructor, the content, the workload, and the classmates, they want quick insights and as such will draw quick conclusions about the general temperament of “the class”. 

 

On one shoulder rests a latent poltergeist, the fears about disconnected instructors, irrelevant content, and unmanageable workload.  On the other perches a latent angel, the hopes about engaging facilitators, stimulating and useful content, and challenging but achievable expectations.  The instructor determines which forces manifest, the angels or demons, based on the presentation of self and subject and the quality of energy disseminated in the process. 

 

The first night of class should beckon the angels forth.  In the spaces where students are motivated, supported, and filled with trust, the poltergeists of negativity cannot roam.

 

Tips for the first night of class

What’s in it for the student? – Students come into class wondering how this class will be relevant and valuable to them.  Find ways to help them make that connection early.   Ask questions that require them to think about the content  from their own experiences.

Learn something about your students – Knowing your students can help you deliver the content in a way that is alive to each of them.  It also shows that you care about them as individual learners and  opens the door for deeper engagement and dialogue.  That said, learn their names ASAP!  More so, find out their motivations, their existing knowledge base, and their expectations for the class.  Then:  connect, connect, connect.  [Practice tip:  some instructors effectively use Moodle in the week leading up to class, asking students to post an introduction which tells why they are taking the class, what they hope to gain from it, and what they perceive to be their greatest challenge].

Show your passion for the topic – Passion is contagious.  Let students know that it is possible to truly care about what they are going to learn.  Help them understand how the course can better them in some way.

Pose big “entry” questions – As a starting point, ask students to consider some “big” questions which force them to think about the topic in a new and exciting light and perhaps from a new perspective. [I start my business law class by writing “Welcome to Deadwood” on the whiteboard – before we consider a world with laws, we consider one without them].

Hit the ground running – Don’t exhaust the energy of the first night on housekeeping alone.  I like to fill the earliest moments of the course with something big and engaging and participative and then cover the syllabus requirements after the break, having at that point hopefully generated some interest, motivation, and credibility.  I want intellectual excitement to be their first reaction to the course I am offering them.

Give something of yourself -  Establish yourself as an authentic person committed to supporting student learning.  Build credibility while maintaining humility (a wise friend once told me “There are two things I leave in my car on the nights I teach – my cell phone and my ego”). 

Also, give them “hooks” – interests and experiences – to connect with you in some way.  That will make you more approachable and increase the chances for deeper engagement.  Don’t get lost behind PowerPoint slides; come forth and talk with your students.

The students should come away from the first session feeling like they are partnered with an instructor who is on their side, a fellow explorer on the journey. 

  

Begin creating a comfortable learning space – One of your greatest tasks is to make your classroom “hospitable”, as the ever-sage Parker Palmer puts it, to students and their contrasting ideas.  A classroom should be safe, open, honest, and filled with trust.  If students sense condescension or airs of superiority, they will resist taking risks and, in the worst case, shut down.  Students will contribute in a learning space where they feel that their ideas and experiences are valued.  Show them yours is such a space on Day One.

Set high expectations – Let the students know what you expect and why.  Help students see the value to be extracted from their hard work.  Also, talk about time-on-task so that students understand what it will take to be successful in the course.   Remember though, setting a high bar, alone, is not enough.  You then need to create an environment that helps students succeed (trust and respect precede the setting of high expectations, as students will be more responsive to the challenges you pose once they trust your commitment to their betterment).   Help students picture themselves down the road, empowered with specific new skills as the fruits of their labor.

 

On the flip side, have the courage to let students know what they can expect of you – preparedness, content knowledge, respect, patience, timely and thorough feedback, accessibility, and openness, for example.

Set the tone – Get students involved early.  Show them you respect and expect their contributions.  Give them a true feel of how you plan to utilize your class time to the fullest.

 

Create a feedback culture – Feedback is crucial to learning.  Establish a culture where students know that the purpose of feedback is to make them better, not to judge them.  Feedback is the lynchpin to shifting a class from grade-centric to learning-centric.   It makes students less risk averse and more willing to experience failure, not as a personal reflection but rather as a stepping stone on the path of learning and success. 

 

Go over policy and procedure – Without belaboring it and at the right time, be sure to establish the ground rules for the class so that students understand your standard operating procedures.   Let them know your rules and the consequences that will follow from their breach.  No surprises.  Be clear about your requirements for attendance, participation, interaction, papers, and collaboration.

Guest Blogger - Stephanie Melick "Sheer Determination"

Author Stephanie Melick

   

  "Stories are the single most

powerful tool in a leader's toolkit"

-Howard Gardner

As an adjunct instructor for an accelerated continuing adult degree program, I often wonder who is learning more: the students or me. Every day, the media provides stories of amazing determination, designed to inspire and motivate me; and they certainly do. Yet, I have come to realize that there is an entire group of individuals whose stories are not touted, tweeted or texted. These are the adults who have decided it is time to become a college student; some for the very first time. I teach their first course: Academic Foundations (AFC), with the major objective to reacclimatize the adult student to college and academia. It is through this class that I am privileged to hear the backstories that brought about the return to school. Each individual student offers a unique saga of determination and inspiration. 

It is a story of the student, who after an unsuccessful college experience directly out of high school, in which bad choices resulted in multiple run-ins with the legal system, now appreciates the learning experience. He is so proud to say he is a 37-year-old sophomore.

It is a story of the student who is returning to school after 20 years as a single parent raising two children, juggling home, work and academics, now bringing a life-perspective born out of struggle and deprivation. Once disenfranchised, she now believes she has been given the opportunity to make a difference.

It is a story of the student who was denied higher education due to her immigration status, though she graduated 7^th in her high school class, now with a green card that allows her the opportunity to obtain her college degree. Having known bigotry and bias, she now seeks to become a role-model for those still denied access to education.

It is a story of the student who is working three jobs to support his family, having decided he needs to set the example for his five children, he is now standing out in the classroom with his intellect and leadership skills. This man fully understands the true meaning of the word “challenge.”

It is a story of the student who has experienced years of domestic violence, finally accepting that she has worth, intelligence and a voice. Now she seeks to prove not only to those who once demoralized and degraded her, but most mostly to herself, that she can succeed.

It is a story of a man who witnessed corruption on the job and reported it. He now wants to make a difference in how companies do business by learning how to implement values and integrity into the day-to-day operation and organization of Corporate America.

And it is a story of a returning veteran, who after tours in Iraq and Afghanistan is a single parent, trying to raise a two-year old while dealing with traumatic stress. She is now proving herself in the classroom, just as she did on the battle field.

Every one of these students has the desire and motivation to succeed, yet they will need support and guidance to do so. Encouragement may come from family and friends; yet the learning institution and instructors, such as me, also have an obligation to the adult student. I believe that my role as an AFC instructor is to provide the adult students with not only the academic benchmarks and skill-sets needed to make the grade, but also with a set of values that will be applicable in every aspect of life.

These skills and values will be learned through clearly stated parameters and transparency of school policies set forth in my syllabus. There needs to be accessibility not only to the learning but also to me, in a non-judgmental and trustworthy approach, while I patiently providing meaningfully relevant lessons and topics for discussion. The adult student also needs my empathy which enables me to understand without condescension. And finally, institutions of higher learning and I need to provide the adult student with the guidance to navigate through the all-important, yet exasperating, minutiae. This last has caused many students to thrown in the towel at their first attempt in college. I believe that if I can implement this people-oriented humanistic approach that student will succeed in obtaining their dreams.

But how do these core values translate into the classroom lesson? Well, many of my students still aren’t sure what they “want to be when they grow up.” They are struggling to find work in an economy that suddenly will fill a menial position with a PhD. Or my students just have a gut feeling that there has to be something more meaningful in their 9-5 existence. Therefore, the former guidance counselor in me uses a variety of self-assessments, inventories and surveys selected to help students identify strength and weaknesses; interests and motivators. The results enable students to create a personality and skill-set profile; a picture of who they are both in and out of the classroom. One of my students dubbed them the “Cosmo quiz of the week,” but at the end of the course confessed that if he had known himself this well 20 years ago he probably would have made it through his first attempt at college. 

We also compare and contrast the level on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to roles one takes on in a groups ~ personal, professional and academic. This particular lesson focuses on why we may not demonstrate leadership qualities in a business setting because we are fearful of rejection or possibly do not feel safe in the job. This leads to a discussion regarding how one’s metacognitive awareness and regulation can determine job satisfaction. In fact, after every assessment we then examine the results in terms the student’s current personal and professional life. 

But it is not all “fun and games.” The assessments are interwoven with the benchmark skills necessary to continue on in the Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree programs; most importantly focusing on comprehension, critical thinking and writing skills. All this leads to a Career Analysis Research paper, that not only helps the student learn more about his or her dream job, but refreshes and/or introduces the student to information literacy, data base research and a formal research paper. While these academic skills can baffle and frustrate my students, the question that inevitably stymies them is: “Where do you see yourself in five or ten years?” This is not surprising, considering the average age of my continuing education students is 35-40 years old.

Two specific stories come to mind: The first is about one of my students who stated that her dream was to become a CEO of a hospital. Currently working as an office manager in a doctor’s office, she believed this was a natural progression. She was able to identify the business courses necessary to achieve a BA and eventually an MBA. Academic or peer review articles on the qualifications and responsibilities of a hospital CEO were relatively easy to find in our library databases. She even had two people that she could interview and/or shadow. After setting up her paper, addressing all the bullets of the assignment, she interviewed a CEO. Then she called me in a panic.

In doing all the research and interviews, even shadowing the CEO one afternoon, she realized that she did not have the personality traits for the job. How did she know this? She compared the results of all the inventories and surveys she had completed during AFC and realized that her results were antithetical to the traits needed to run a hospital. For example: There is quite a bit of administrative paper work required and that wasn’t even a blip on her career-interest survey results. She also realized that she needed strong leadership skills and her results from the team work inventory indicated that she was much stronger in compromising. The only assessment that would have supported this future career choice was the results from her learning style survey, which indicated she is a physical reflective learner; both learning styles that would be needed when one are in charge of an entire hospital.

Of course her panic was that the submission date was less than three days away! What should she do now?

My advice: Finish the paper explaining what she discovered and how this assignment saved her years of course work that she would not benefit from. What a wonderful example of the process of learning.

And as an endnote: After realizing that she was more interested in the qualitative rather than quantitative aspects of a business, she changed her major.  She is now part of the Bachelors of Sociology: Organizational Studies rather than the Bachelors of Science Business Administration program!

Another one of my students was currently working in the high paying, high stress job of sales. The 10-hour days were really wearing on him; however with a growing family he could not walk away from the steady paycheck. A former Marine, he was used to hard work and long days; but he was uninspired and bored.

He could not answer the question: Where do you want to be in five or ten years? He just knew it wasn’t in his current job.

The career-interest survey indicated he would make a good crossing-guard! Seriously, that was his top “career.” We all had a good laugh at that; but the reality was that there was validity in those results. His learning style was a physical social learner. His team work skills were strong in leadership and evaluation. Yet he was the first to acknowledge that the results from the organization-skills assessment were spot on: he lacked organizational and time management skills. Crossing guard was looking more and more viable!

In the end, it was his love of food that won out. After interviewing a couple of friends who owned their own restaurants, he realized that the day-to-day minutiae of a restaurant were exactly what he needed to keep his interest; keep him moving while allowing him to kibitz with people. He was also wise enough to realize that he would need a partner who possesses the organizational skills that he lacks. No worries: he would be the host, the face the restaurant and his partner could be the brains. He knows just the right person for the job…

Stories like these are the reason I teach. Yes, my role as the instructor is to encourage and enable efficacy in the academic world. But I also urge my students to embrace the learning ~ not the grade. In every course my main objective is to embolden my students to focus on their strengths and to have the courage to ask for help, which is often extremely intimidating for an adult learner. So as an adjunct in an accelerated adult program, I must embrace the core values that foster endurance and resiliency; essentially, I must develop and earn my students’ trust. I can present the activities and be the cheerleader, but it is the student’s desires and belief in the learning that make the difference. 

Out of sheer determination, these adult students walk into classrooms every day anxious at the impending challenges, yet eager to absorb and share the learning. They may not be the current sound bite who gets their 15 minutes of fame, but they are superstars in the eyes of their families, friends and especially me. As a wise man once suggested to me, anything I can do as a teacher “to nurture and strengthen this determination will pay wonderful dividends, helping students complete their dreams for a better life.”

Stephanie A. Melick, MA, is a Program Advisor and also an adjunct instructor for Centenary College's School of Professional Studies.  This article will be published as part of an anthology titled "Moments of Clarity:  Anthology of Stories from Faculty Who Teach for Success" (John H. Shrawder, Editor).

Josh Ritter, Editing as Writing, and The Death of Winter

The real reason for this post is that I want to play you a song.  Weighed down by the immobility of winter and stupefied from never-ending hibernation, I want to post a link to Josh Ritter’s cathartic vernal anthem “Snow is Gone” (“long time coming/but now, the snow is gone”) and move on with it.  This being an educational blog, I’ll proceed, however, using a Josh Ritter article on writing and editing as clever pretext.  Just play along…

All instructors can teach writing.  We may not all be grammarians, but most of us can recognize sound or unsound employments of structure, thesis statement, source evaluation, source citation, and evidentiary support.  The SPS writing-across-the-curriculum philosophy thus presses us all into duty for the cause of better writing. [FN1] 

If we each hold certain lines, it will be easier for our students to develop better habits along them.  We could debate what those habits should be, but perhaps the best umbrella habit for good writing, after the author has uncovered something  valuable to say, is a willingness to proofread vigilantly and edit mercilessly.

Peter Matthiessen, author of the indispensable The Snow Leopard, says that writing is a slog, until it isn’t.  It takes commitment and persistence to achieve eloquence:

“[I]t’s plain hard labor, hunting the right way to express that thought that had seemed so penetrating, even beautiful, before you had to reduce it into words. I liken the donkey work of the first draft to the booster apparatus of a rocket—the terrible labor of those energies lifting this reluctant mass against the force of gravity, slowly, slowly, until marvelously—on the better days—the thing achieves its own momentum, and the dead weight of its booster falls away. Effortless, it enters into orbit—in short, ‘the zone’—sailing free and clear and light and sun-filled, opened wide to the flow of imagination, unobstructed.”

True, I do not expect the business law case studies I grade to be rocket-like in their elegance, but I do expect that the student has spent some time with the paper, organizing thoughts, getting them down, and then editing them into a neat, coherent, flowing whole.  A first draft of decent ideas handed in as a final product offends assertively, like stinky cheese left oozing in the sun.  It is something good, mishandled.

In some cases, the unedited piece results from lack of care or laziness.  Josh Ritter, singer-song writer extraordinaire, wrote a piece in the Wall Street Journal which highlighted the emotional/defensive mechanisms which, too, can create editing aversion.  [FN2] He tamed his own youthful distaste for editing with this realization:

“Doing good work and having creative thoughts means very little unless you're able to express that work and those thoughts to others in as straightforward a way as possible. To edit yourself isn't an admission of lack of talent; it's sticking up for that talent by taking the time to make sure that everyone can understand what you're trying to say.”

After the exhausting “donkey work” of the first draft, the surgical work of fixing it can lack enticement.  Our students need to be motivated to take that next step.  

Course by course, assignment by assignment, we each can encourage students to revise, edit, and proofread.   We can emphasize that taking these latter-stage steps demonstrates pride in the work to which their name is attached, making the writing clearer, tighter, more economical and precise, easier to comprehend, and better structured.  Then, we must hold them accountable for those very things, primarily through our feedback and grading process. 

 

When grading writing and providing useful feedback about it, perhaps we can use the framework below as guidance:

We can tell if they revised by evaluating the structure, organization, quality of analysis, relevance of evidence cited, and general content management (these are the big picture items).  

We can tell if they edited by evaluating the style, flow, economy of language, and sentence structure (this is where we look at the means of communication used).

We can tell if they proofread by evaluating the cleanness of the submission (this is where we look for errors in spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure).

If, together, we are going to make Centenary students better writers, we each must help our students understand the maxim Mr. Ritter extols in his article:  to write is to edit.

Here is a link to the Josh Ritter article:  Seeing Red:  To Write Is To Edit

Here is a link to an Oxford Guide on the subject:  Guide to Editing and Proofing

Most importantly:  Winter is gone; play the song loudly.

[FN1] Notice that APA citation is part of the puzzle, not all of it.  We want our students to cite consistently and clearly, but that is not the end game of our assessment of their writing.  This is another blog entry for another time.

[FN2] I saw Josh Ritter play at Monmouth University last fall.  At one point, he engaged a somewhat quiet crowd by unplugging his guitar, perching on the lip of the stage, and playing a full-hearted version of the song above.  He did not play to the mood; it being his room, he grabbed the audience by the collar and brought them into his joy by means of his passion.  Teaching lessons abounded.  That too is another blog entry for another time, though.