Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Teacher on Mute

  

  I sang fully and long and for two days to open our new one-woman musical—Shakespeare's *itches: The Women Talk Back.  On Friday morning, I woke up without a voice.  This had never happened to me before. Honestly, I was panicky—with two big shows coming up within twelve days. I had to rest. I love my classes too much to cancel unless it’s absolutely necessary. I knew that I would have to teach my morning Writing Poetry class without talking: whispering is even worse for the voice. I pushed my Mute button.
     Of course, I had the white board, might even have pulled down the screen and opened up the class PC. Or thrown the students (as it were) into groups for the whole time. But we had an opportunity. What would happen for almost three hours if I didn't phonate?
     Many of us come to this class before the official start time—to beat traffic, to munch Mary Ellen's goodies, to enjoy some chat time.  This is a media-freeze class, so there's nothing much to do but actually connect.  I wrote "Can't use my voice today" on the board. 
     And in my distraction, I had forgotten my book.  OK. Official start of class. I motioned for them to open their books (Mentor and Muse)—hands in prayer position, then open.  I motioned to Megan to begin responding.  She interpreted this as "start reading aloud."  OK. We usually do that for poems, but not for essays. Since I didn't have the book in front of me, that works. At the bottom of the page (I knew because of how her head bent as she read) I made my hands into goose feet landing on a lake. Someone noticed and told her to stop . I wrote on the board: "What did you learn for your own writing from this?"  All I had to do for the next half hour, was to record—point to the question I wrote in the middle of board, and record. I took to including quote marks and students’ names. Some fascinating dynamics!   A collaborative spirit arose, as students interpreted and reinterpreted for each other what I might meant with hand and body gestures—“say more," "stop apologizing" (we're retraining Generra), “that’s plodding,” “ho-hum,” “halleluia.”        
     I noticed that as the students shifted from interpreting my speaking to interpreting my body language, as they relied more on reading the board, their contributions became more visual and kinetic. Adam, who is an artist, read and interpreted my body language the most quickly and accurately to my intent.  He started to offer streams of images for the writing process, such as this for (yep) finding your voice—“it’s like tuning a radio.”  Deanna, too, sitting close to me, became an astute translator of my cues to the class. Students started to talk more softly and with more expression in their voices.  We became much more aware of all the sounds around us.  We retuned!
     When I asked the students what their experience was, they universally Liked (and Shared).  Not, ha-ha, because they would rather not listen to me, but because of how, like water, they were able to flow into the gap I left. These were some of their responses:  “we got to teach each other,” “it was fun,” “we took care of each other.”  I’ll ask again next week, to see how their week was affected by this experiment.



© 2014 Susanna Rich

39 comments:

  1. I agree with this blog post. My comments were that I could not express myself, and now I can express myself very well. I also learned how to make original titles to poems, and now I can make titles as well.

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  3. Dr. Rich,
    I am not going to lie; I giggled a bit reading this post. Only because I see the date is from April 29, 2014, and you have finally completed writing Shakespeare’s *itches. Which is absolutely amazing! You are really a one of a kind teacher, and you can see it especially through the experience you mentioned in this post. I think it’s hilarious and very courageous that you held a class without a voice. A lot of professors wouldn’t be able to pull it off, but this goes along with another post I read on your blog (Knowing By Heart~The Dynamics of Memorization). In that post you talk about how when presenting something you should be using eye contact and body movements. I believe that body language is just as important as talking if not more. Even without a voice the way I present myself really shows through my body composure. I think a lot of teaching comes from not what you say, but what you do. As a future educator I’m learning that a lot through my classroom experiences. Like you’ve mentioned in class before, if I stand in front of a group of students with my arms cross or shoulders shrugged, they may thing less of me and feed into my lack of confidence. However, if I stand tall and strong (not with my arms in the air specifically like you mentioned in class) I am showing them I am confident and ready to teach. If it ever so happens that I’m left without a voice or end up being the “Teacher on Mute” I’ll be sure to remember this blog post and how body language is everything!
    -Alessandra Finis

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  4. Dr. Rich,

    Your experiment is genius! I'd like to share an experience with you which I had very similarly:

    At Middlesex County College I decided to enroll in a American Sign Language class. I figured the teacher must have had a parent who was Deaf and learned sign language as a result. To my surprise, on the first day of class, I walked in to find two teachers. One standing in the center of the room, and the other a little to the left and behind. The board had note cards with our names on them and the order we should sit (in a semi-circle, same as your class). We (all of the students) started looking at one another, but we rightfully took our seats. Once we were all sitting, we waited. FOR A LONG TIME, for the class to start. The two teachers in the front of the room were signing to one another. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life--two people communicating with hands, facial expressions, and gestures. As the class truly began, one teacher started to sign. The other started to speak and sign. I was informed that my professor is Deaf, and that for the first class ONLY we would have an interpreter to help us understand the syllabus and then she would be leaving. I COMPLETELY panicked. How the HELL was I supposed to learn without hearing my professor, without being able to use my own voice? I soon realized how easy and smoothly interactions without words can be. I became well acquainted with my professor to the point where I was able to visit her outside of the classroom. We would meet outside occasional, sign about the weather, and whenever I'd get stuck, I'd gesture, finger spell, write down on paper, and then the conversation would flow again, back to normal. This was a huge learning experience for me, so I can understand how this muted class did wonders for your class.

    One of the results of a student, “we took care of each other," spoke to me. These students were able to fill in the missing links. This is the same as my professor was able to fill in the missing links without using her voice and without making me feel uncomfortable to sign with her.

    - Paige Bollman

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  5. Dr Rich,

    This was actually one of the first problems I had encountered in your class (besides actually writing the paper). When we did our workshop and you looked at my title, you told me it was too broad. Which I know agree, it was. Good thing I got out of that habit. When you told me that I needed to land my helicopter and get a title that explained the entire paper just in case any one happen to come across mines and wanted to use it for research, I couldn't agree more. The hard part was finding a title that explained the whole paper. But let's be real, titles have to be good. They have to be a little impactful too. But you have helped me with that. I use to save my titles for the last type before I print, now I do it first, and I center my entire paper around it.

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  6. Dr. Rich,
    You sure are one dedicated professor. To be able to improvise, and come up with another way to teach really is amazing. There are so many teachers out there that would give up, and not want to come to class due to losing their voice, or other forms of sickness. But knowing that you still came to class for 3 hrs without being able to talk, you deserve an award for that. I like the idea that the class was able to teach themselves, to learn from each other, and to also study your body language. Who knows when we will be faced with this, and can use your way of being able to still teach if there ever comes a time in which "the show must go on". Your students came together like a family, especially when one of the students says, "We took care of each other". It is really amazing of how students will stay dedicated and adapt to change no matter what the situation may be.
    -Valentina Quesada

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  7. Dr. Rich, I completely agree with this post. So often, professor forget that is also great to sit back and observe how good of a professor you are to your students. In my country (Haiti), Professors don't sometimes show up for class without alerting their students of their absence. Not the same scenario, I know, but I had first hand experience on how we used to take over and have class learning from each other, while having fun doing it. The saying that sometimes, "Teachers become the students" is quite true because it allow the professor sit back and observe the change in learning from their students. You get to know if your teaching approach is working for them. Now believe me Dr. Rich, you have been an awesome professor, truly one of the best.

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  8. This post was so much fun to read! I couldn’t help but laugh to myself, picturing this exact scenario happening in our class. Except I envisioned my actual classmates and how we would react if you came to class without a voice, instead of the students you mentioned. It’s impressive that you even held class with no voice. I had a professor this semester who cancelled so many classes, I think we didn’t have more class more than we did because he was always sick or put other things before class. What a waste. I also appreciate that you mentioned Shakespeare’s *tches! I’m so happy that three years later, you have finally completed it and it became something bigger and better than you originally imagined.
    The fact that you were able to teach a Poetry class without speaking, shows how great of a teacher you are. Even though you lost the class a little bit every now and then, you were still able to bring them back in and turn it into a whole experiment. I think that’s such a special gift, and something I hope to one day master as future teacher. I think this should be something you do in future classes even if you have a voice, just to switch things up and teach your students in a different, yet fun, way.

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  9. First of all you are a true BADASS for holding class when you did not have a voice. Most professors who could really care less would simply cancel class and not even blink twice. You on the other hand decided to create a scenario in which not only did your class learn something but so did you. Teachers talk too much, I’ve heard this somewhere but I can’t remember where and boy is it true! Maybe teachers start to think of themselves as all knowing, I don’t want to be that teacher. I PRAY that whenever I am not letting my students learn through each other that this post comes to mind.
    Body language and watching students just know what you want of them shows that they need just enough of that from you to keep the class going by themselves. And the students hold the class down shows that they actually are integrated in their own learning and enjoy the process of that. I would be very excited to see what would happen if you did this on the first day of class, just wrote on the board what you wanted of them without giving away too much and letting students just run with it. What do you think would happen?

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  10. Hi Dr. Rich,

    It's interesting to recognize how your inability-for-the-day lead to such an interesting class. Of course, your class is always interesting, but this happening proves that your approach works. The media freeze pushes us students to enjoy one another and your mute teacher forced this class to teach each other as well. I would love to see how this would work as a teaching approach to our Wednesday night class.

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  11. As a student under your guidance, I can see how this can be successful in your classroom, however I feel as though with freshman or a less mature class it could have gone completely left. BUT in advanced poetry writing, that silence definitely could be amazing, it gives time for energy to flow between both students and self as well as poetry. I wish more professors would have class days where students were able to just teach themselves in a sense and workshop without guidance. It seems more independent that more though evoking

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  12. Dr. Rich,

    Although I was not in this class, I think it would have been really interesting to be present in a course in which the professor did not say a single word, but instead communicated with gestures, almost as if it were a sign language course. Reading about this experiment actually reminded me a lot of the Rude Student experiment that you conducted the very first day of class. As you walked in, you did not a say a single word, which I believed was very odd. You wore a baseball cap, along with shades, and your earbuds were tucked in as you listened to music. You took out some food to eat, and you were also on your phone. What I found interesting about that experiment is that you never once communicated with anything else besides the use of gestures. In a sense, you were modeling the negative behavior and it was up to us to figure out how to react. I remember hearing one student whisper to another, “Hey, she’s trying to tell us to put our phones away.” Another student said to a classmate, “Take your food off your desk. She wants us to put our food away.” Slowly, we as a class, began putting the puzzle pieces together and communicating with each other so that we could interpret the message that was being conveyed through gestures.

    These two experiments, while they were completely different and done for different purposes, had evoked a similar reaction from the students. I would love it, Dr. Rich, if before the end of the semester, we could have one of these silent classes in which you simply point to the questions on the board and leave it up to us to interpret your gestures. This would serve as a great learning experience where we could teach each other.

    Nada Amer

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  13. Dr. Rich,

    I love your passion for teaching. Many professors would have cancelled class but you didn't. This is what teaching is all about... using what you have to teach! The use of body language which include facial expression, gestures, eye movement and body postures, this was certainly an interesting class. The students seemed to have enjoyed it. They learned from one another and they were able to understand you even if you were mute. This is amazing what you did, you improvised when you had no voice and no book. Student were also able to connect with those people that are unable to speak, and what they have to go through everyday. It's like sign language in a way. Thanks for sharing Dr. Rich.

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  14. Dr. Rich,
    I hope to be as passionate as you are when I become a teacher. You are beyond dedicated to your students and it is truly inspiring. Normally, if a teacher can't use their voice they'll just cancel class or not show up for work that day. I find it incredible that you were able to improvise for your entire class and still be able to have that big of an impact on your students.
    I thought it was really interesting that you sat back and gave the students the opportunity to learn from each other. It is surprising how much we actually know when were forced to do the work on our own.
    When we were getting ready to do our presentations for Shakespeare Survey, I remember thinking to myself there is no way I'm going to be able to to teach a play without summarizing it. But to my surprise, when I opened the book, I had no trouble at all using the techniques we had learned in class. I didn't think I would be able to do it without the your guidance and suggestions.

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  15. This reminds me of the time I had to work a 12 hour shift with no voice. Mind you, I work in food service, as a cashier. And I couldn't call out so I had to find a way to get through it. My manager told me not to do register but I still found myself at the register.

    Just like you, I didn't whisper. I used my body movements and slowly worded out specific orders for the customers to interpret so we could both get a clear understanding of what would be made. It wasn't hard at all actually. And I was thankful that a lot of customers were empathetic about the situation and worked with me. No one got mad. We all did our best to make the best of the situation.

    When I got my voice back a couple of days after, the regular customers were like "you got your voice back!" and it made me happy because they cared and we had a fun time mouthing and interpreting orders. I don't want to lose my voice again of course, but, at least I know how to go about the situation.

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  16. Well i'm glad you're feeling better, sometimes we are at our worsts (physically, emotionally, and mentally) and we want to push through sometimes but sometimes taking a break isn't too bad. Though I did not have this experience with in, I like how our last class we went into our groups and it was more conversation between us in our group. The media free environment, though I do miss my phone for a few, does force use to communicate with out peers in our class. But as the semester went on, I cared less about being on my phone because this is one of the only classes where I know my classmates' names. I know that everyone is always up for a conversation and when we were in our groups just the opportunity to be social was a good feeling. And personally, my group was so wrapped in our conversations, I firmly believe we could have talked about the endless opportunities within out scenes if we had the time. We got to learn different things from one another and I really enjoy that experience.

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  17. Very nice post. I always read your blog.. So lovely!!! Kindly visit us @ Moto Service Center in Chennai

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  18. Dr. Rich,

    I understand the success of this experiment. I enrolled in an American Sign Language class while I was at Middlesex County College. I assumed that the instructor must have been very interested in sign language and maybe took to the language because it was interesting. However, when I walked in and said hello, she pressed her pointer finger to her lips, signaling that I should not speak. Throughout the rest of that first day, I discovered that nobody was to ever talk in her class. The instructor was deaf and did not like the idea of students being able to talk when she could not. I'll be honest, I was considering dropping the course after that day. I couldn't see how I was going to pass if there was no vocal instruction. Because I had never dropped a class, I wasn't going to start then. I stayed in that class and completed the semester with an A+. The students were able to learn from each other and help each other practice and acquire the necessary skills and understanding. My professor was able to teach us without using her voice. It was something I never thought could happen, let alone something I would have the pleasure of experiencing.

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  19. I agree with what you have written in this blog post. I believe giving students freedom in the classroom allows them to have confidence in their own voice. In the classroom, rules and structure are pushed down your throat from the beginning. We have to complete this much in this amount of time causing restrictions. What you did with your class I believe could have been shocking for some because when was the last time they were in a classroom and the teacher sat back and let their students teach the material. I feel the reason for that is because trust is lost in the classroom. You were able to prove though if the students were given the chance they would prove many people wrong on what they know and how they can apply it to their lives. Allowing them to teach also shows that they were able to understand the material and if they did not they were able to work together and help each other to grasp the content.

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  20. Its interesting to see the class reaction from having a teacher not speak for a full class. I would be very nervous as the teacher wondering how it would work. Fortunately with an older class this seems like no problem compared to a group of kindergarteners. I can't imagine how that would go without anyone telling them to be quiet and pay attention. It is a lot of observations and student centered learning when a teacher does not talk. I would enjoy a change in the classroom environment shift gears into a totally student centered discussion and feedback from peers. Confidence is key in the classroom and a teacher teaching without a voice shows that because most would have not even came to school. Even just writing what you want to say on the board would work. Coming up with creative strategies to fix the problem and still teach a class like creating important gestures and going over them at the beginning. I read some of the other comments and realized this is common in ASL classes. I took three sign language classes but none of them completely taught silent. My friends ASL class was completely silent because the professor was deaf. On the first day of the semester he had an interpreter to go over everything just so students understood and after that it was all body language with some help from the board. I found that so interesting and wondered what it would be like.

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  21. When I become a teacher, I definitely want to make sure I am dedicated enough to sow up to class even if my voice is gone or something. There aren’t that many teachers that are like that.
    Your method of teaching was brilliant because you were still able to hold class and I’m sure your students were able to learn a lot from just each other while you moderate the class. You always say that your classroom is a co- teaching classroom. This always meant that you would be the teacher along with the other students in the class. There are things to learn about from each other.
    Sometimes when I am sitting in a three hour class, I get bored because it is such a long time period. This seems like an interesting way to keep student’s attention. I also love to talk. It would be interesting to be in a class in which that‘s all I get to do.
    Priya Jhaveri

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  22. This blog post title says it all. When I become a teacher it's important that i wont lose my voice. As we know some teachers won’t have the ability to control a class and soon they will lose their voice within the noise that inside the class and become nothing more but just person with no authority. It's also the teachers job to obtain the attention of the students and make it interesting for everybody in the room. There also new things to learn from any other teacher so perhaps we can't all implement all the things we learn and put it to good use in our class. I too know what it means to be bored in a classroom as a student because the subject does not catch my attention and soon the professor's voice is lost in thin air and have no recollection of the subject that was just taught. This predominantly occurs in high school and the teachers there got it the worst. However, since I want to become a high school teacher I do know what the circumstances I’m getting into. That is why having a voice in a loud classroom and being able to obtain and distribute positive subjects are important. Once the students know that the teacher has everything under control that is when the respect between the student and the professor increases drastically.

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  23. Dear Dr. Rich,
    Your silent day made lots of noise. I was not there, but can imagine how much more engaged everyone was. I have had classes where our professor is the sole speaker, the ring master, only allowing short responses from those that dare speak. These types of classes are cold and rigid, luckily I have experience the opposite type of professors as well. This experience you shared makes me think about all the time students’ ideas and thoughts have been lost. How much more we could have learned if we could have listened instead of talked. When I came back to college, I was timid and felt out of place. Many of my classmates were (and are) the age of my son, which made me feel as if I didn’t belong. I also felt I should sit quietly, not to blend in, but to allow for other students to express themselves. Many times I have the answer to the question, but will keep my hand down because I had answered many times already and I felt I was monopolizing the class. Now I am no longer timid and try to interact with my classmates, even if they look at me like I am a weird old lady 😊. What I have learned at the end is that everything was in my head, my classmates really liked to be talked to and especially be listened to. I will never forget one class last semester where they actually crowned me as the class mom. Im not sure how good that statement is, but I know it made me feel part of the class. Helping a young lady who had a cold and dorms away from her mother, made me feel as if I was doing something good. That feeling is what I intend to experience often as a teacher. Reading your post makes me see that sometimes being silent is all you need to do to reach out to others. Just to show us how hungry we are for people to stop and listen, really listen.

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  24. Nicole Diefenbacher
    Dr. Rich
    ENG 3000*01

    Teacher on Mute

    It’s no secret that I talk a lot. I can talk to anyone about anything. But I, too, can recall a time where I found myself in the same predicament as you did in this blog post. I was in the 7th grade and was cast as the lead in the musical, Alice in Wonderland. The week of the show, I woke up with no voice. It eventually turned into what I remember sounding like a frog croak, but needless to say, it was AWFUL. And it was hard to not talk. I remember it being so difficult to rest my voice because all I wanted to do was talk. I resorted to writing answers to questions on my notebook when called. It was so hard and I remember how upset I was because this was my first lead role ever.

    Your exercise seemed very interesting, and I think it would be cool to try.

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  25. Dear Dr. Rich,

    At first by just reading the title, so many ideas rushed to my head. I thought either she couldn’t physically talk, or the class just took over and didn’t let her talk. Thank God it was the first one. I can imagine how horrible the second one must be. And as a future teacher I would hate for that to happen.

    Growing up I’ve seen this happen to a lot of teachers where they had no control over the class. But you on the other hand couldn’t even talk and somehow still had control and that says a lot about your character. Dr. Rich you are certainly my spirit animal, I want to be you when I grow up!

    But in all seriousness, it’s really interesting to see how this experiment played out. And even though I wasn’t in that class I can picture our class going just the same. We know the routine and you always want to hear what we have to say versus what you have to say anyway.

    I love how our opinions are really valued in your class. I hope you never lose your voice again, because that would be horrible. But I think you should try teaching mute again one day to see if you continue to have the same reaction. Because it looks to me like even being mute your classes are still successful, and students still learn!!

    Arlyn Abad

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  26. Dr. Rich,

    I have to hand it to you, you are one dedicated professor. Most professors don't care enough to show up to class when they lost their voice, but you did. It is amazing to read that the students actually learned from each other. This kind of reminds me of the Socratic methods, where people discuss and learn from each other, going deeper and deeper into the topic. I wish I had been part of this experience, but it is nice to see that others got to be apart of such an enriching class.

    Sarah Otero

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  27. Seanette Martin
    February 1, 2019
    Eng 4817
    Prof Rich
    Teacher on Mute Blog 3
    The title of this blog is so captivating. As I scrolled through the list of blogs I began to skim through the readings, and this one caught my attention. I am so passionate about teaching that when I see teacher anywhere I have to be nosey. Your dedication to your students after losing your voice shows me how passionate you truly are about your profession. I know so many educators who find every reason to call out, but not you definitely a trooper in my eyes. As an educator myself, I try not to miss any days unless it is out of my control because I know that my students need me. One day away from them and they feel like something happened to me. Working in a preschool classroom, although, I didn’t lose my voice I just actually give them a look and they automatically know to get their behavior on track.
    I have never expressed to the children that the look has a meaning, but somehow they just automatically know and I feel great knowing that I don’t have to say a word to get my point across. In the blog your students read your body language and that is where the communication came from. No words were spoken from you and they automatically understood exactly you were implying. This is a great exercise to try with students even though your situation wasn’t planned at all it just happened. I would like to try this when I get into my own classroom, this blog showed me how much your class respected you and were willing to take the time out to understand what your body language was trying to tell them. All in all body language is a major part of our lives and reading this post just made me believe that even more.

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  28. While reading Teacher On Mute, I realized how I was able to relate to this! I remembered my freshman year of college and my history professor coming in with a sore throat, therefore, he chose not to speak. I thought the class was interesting. I was able to speak to many students whom I have never spoken too. It allowed the students to have a voice, and be able to talk without the professor having to move on from what we were talking about. It also allowed the professor to hear students speak and be able to see if the students were reading the textbook, or following the powerpoint notes every day. The professor could tell then who was and wasn't paying attention to the text by seeing the participating. The class was merely a powerpoint presentation, so it was a very different class experience for him and the students.
    I admire your passion for teaching, Dr. Rich. I also think that a little change in the classroom is beneficial. Not having a voice is definitely not fun for anyone to experience, but I do believe that the experience in the classroom was a positive one! Not only did the students learn something new, but so did you, Dr. Rich! It allowed you to see how observant some students are, and how they can carry on a class without you having to speak! This was a fun blog, I believe classes like this are fun and give the students a little more time to speak. It is amazing how you improvised, and still got great use out of the three hours.

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  29. I am truly a believer of every experience being a learning experience. Though you were unable to use your voice this day in class, you were still able to teach your students what they needed to stay on track with their course. Not only were you able to host class in a mute stance but you were also able to allow the class to in a way guide the each other to teaching themselves and helping one another to comprehend what was taking place throughout the reading. One thing I noticed through our media freeze classes is that we are able to learn from one another and interact with one another way more than any other class I have had in my college experience thus far so I can only imagine how much your students were able to come together and use one another to interpret what you as the professor was trying to say as well as what they each interpreted through the writer and your body language and hand gestures.
    At times teachers are unaware of how much of an impact they have towards their students learning because they are often guiding their students to the conclusion that should be reached but by you not having a voice there was only but so much guiding you could do through the board so the students were challenged to think outside of the box while interpreting your meaning as well as the writers meaning. You as a professor was also challenged to sit back and listen to your students and hear them come to the conclusion on their own in a sense rather than using the tone of your voice and the amount of pressure you place on your words to come to a conclusion. Thought you loosing your voice wasn’t intentional I truly believe this was the true meaning of turning a negative thing in to a positive one.

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  30. Reading this blog, was quite interesting and amusing at the same time. Normally when my teachers lose their voice, they still manage to come to class and use their voice. Not only do they put a strain on their voice but it also takes away time from the class itself. When the teacher is speaking with her voice almost done, she/he would have to constantly repeat themselves or the students would often take advantage and have them keep talking.

    I found this blog interesting to read because I never witness or heard a teacher directed class without using their voice. Without using your voice, it seems like it has benefitted you because the students are engaging more than they normally would. I bet you had students who don't often talk, spoke out more.

    What is also amusing about reading this blog is the fact that the students could still understand what you wanted them to do. Using your body language to communicate is giving me an idea for me to utilize when I become an educator. I won’t often use my body language but I would only use it when I lose my voice, and maybe when I feel like my students are not engaging in the class as they should be.

    I’m the type of person who is very big on technology. Knowing myself and my classroom, I will always use and have the students use technology to do work. But for certain times when I do not feel well or lose my voice I would like to take the old fashion way and use my body language to conduct the class because it is something different and will have the students become more alerted and engage in conversation as they express their voices.

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  31. College we pay professors to talk at us and not with us. Professors no matter how long we have a class time for, they just lecture, lecture, lecture. Even if they drop a discussion question here or there, they only listen till they hear the right answer. After reading this blog post it made me think about all the classes I ever had at Kean and if one class a semester our teachers went “mute” and allowed us to direct and put our knowledge together as students how much more we would learn and understand. Even though this was not a fun experience for Dr. Rich I believe she learned from this as well. Being able to allow your students to be free in a classroom is a big relief for them and an eye opener for you as the teacher. I know that when I teach I want my students to be comfortable and to completely understand and digest what we are learning. I don't want to just continue the students like robots in the system, but to be involved and actually interested in what they are learning. I think it is amazing that Dr. Rich still held class even though she lost her voice because I do not believe many of my teachers or professors would of done the same thing. No matter what she wants to have class for her students not to be a bother, but to continue their learning and help them be better students for themselves.

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  32. When reading this blog post, Teacher on Mute, I was surprised by your persistence. In today’s society, I find that many educators would not have successfully handled losing their voice in comparison to you. Reflecting on the professors I have had in the past; I do not believe any one of my professors would have came to class without being able to speak. I can imagine receiving an email stating that they have lost their voice and to enjoy the day off. Many individuals take the easy way out in regards to their obstacles without giving thought to solutions. I can admit that if I were a professor, I would have cancelled class as I would have thought coming to class would have been a waste of time for not only myself but also my students. Now looking at your blog post I am capable of viewing how you were still able to conduct class. The students in your class were able to come together and rely on one another. Ultimately, losing your voice brought the classroom closer because student’s used interpretation and each other. This also showcases how important body language is and how one’s body language can give off their thoughts and what they’re saying. As a future teacher, I will aim to keep this blog post in my mind as there will come a time that I may think I have to call out and cancel class, but there can be solutions available to me if I do not take the easy way out.

    Bailey Vick

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  33. There is a computer program called Steam that I buy and play video games on my
    computer with. It’s an interesting program that makes gaming easy, but it has a bunch of features
    to it that set it apart from other platforms, one of its best features it’s time tracking. A lot of
    gamers (myself included) find this feature helpful as it can be used to track progression. More
    often than not though, it just gives us an excuse when we die in a game because we can look at
    other people’s profiles and judge them for how many hours they put into the game (“Of course I
    died, this guy has over 1000 hours in the game!” is an unfortunate common phrase in the
    “wonderful” gaming community.)
    So when the topic of a media freeze was brought up last class I was caught off guard as I
    didn’t think I had a problem with any part of my life because I truly don’t watch that much TV
    and don’t use my cell phone nearly as my peers. Through Steam’s time tracking I was able to see
    that I have spent over 57 hours in the past two weeks playing a video game called “Dead by
    Daylight”. When I realized this my heart sort of skipped a beat, as I had never realized I relied on
    technology that much and almost prided myself on being able to stay away from technology
    compared to my friends. I was always the guy who would look at my friends when they were on
    their phones and say, “look at them not enjoying the moment.” Turns out, I’m missing out on a
    lot more moments than they are.
    So, I have decided to try to stop this habit. It’s been around 2 days now and I can say that
    I miss playing video games more than I think I thought I would. Maybe it’s because I didn’t
    realize how addicted I was, but this is borderline painful. Video games were my way of

    communicating with my best friend who moved to Nevada, and I miss that communication. I am
    trying to find more things to do with my time, but I’m having a much harder time finding things
    to do than I expected when I began my “freeze”.

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  34. Olivia A. Dalessandro
    Thu, Sep 12, 10:06 PM (9 hours ago)
    to me

    Hi there!

    Emailing to let you know that my blog post was not loading (I was scrolling through this evening and saw that it was not there!) and so I am sending what I intended to post:

    I opted to abstain from using my phone in the first hour of waking and in the last hour before sleeping. What I found was what I expected but it was nonetheless still terrifying. Silence. That beautifully eery place where the mind can wander into corridors it has been avoiding. So I wandered into those places and I faced myself because I needed to. I became a little uncomfortable and got reacquainted with myself and I discovered that I’m not such bad company after all. I fell in love with the silence and found also that the absence of sound was not the absence of company either, it was quite the opposite. In this stillness that I experienced every morning and every night, I felt such a sense of oneness with myself, my body, the crickets outside my window, the people in my home... everyone, all of it! I didn’t go through a day without waking and a night without sleeping. I talked to my father at breakfast and passed off a piece of cereal to my dog. I set intentions for the day and felt at peace. Most gloriously, I slept like a child. I miss that feeling and am grateful to have felt it again.


    Thank you for reading!

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  35. I decided to do the Teacher on Mute blog post today because Professor Dr. Rich was not in class today. The few of us who did attend the class would get one removed absence or extra credit for being present even when the teacher was not there.

    I found the class without the teacher to be quite interesting. Even before the class started, all of us still have engaging conversations with each other, talking to each other about our lives and our poems (we pointed towards this topic before the class started, especially hearing the first lines of Tia’s poem Friends with Benefits. We were all very excited). It was fun to learn that we would all still talk to each other even without the presence of the teacher. This is the mark of a true bond.

    When class began at 2 p.m., I admit, it was a little chaotic at first. We didn’t know what to do and had thought that it might have been a good idea to coordinate how many copies each of us would bring. Since it was a smaller class size than normal, we also pondered on the idea of doing something new, but eventually ended up following the normal procedure as if it were a regular class.

    I’ll admit, keeping track of time without the teachers is a difficult feat! We only did about three poems by the time it was 2:30. We realized then that we needed to speed it up in order to get through everyone’s poem.

    Onto the responses, I felt like we had filled the silence and critiqued each other’s poem well. By this time in the semester, we could practically hear what Dr. Rich would have to say about a certain line, so we used that as a guidepost to lead our discussions. We were all very engaged and had such a fun time doing our poems and critiquing them. But, I do have to say, I still wish the professor was there. It felt like there was a hole and a missing piece. Nothing is quite the same without the professor offering her insights and gently moving us along through each poem.

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  36. The same thing happened to me while I was teaching swim classes. I was a cold and lost my voice from coughing all week but I couldn't get my shift covered so I had to go. I got in the pool and motioned my students that I had lost my voice by reenacting me getting sick and coughing and my students enjoyed my silly reenactment and I would raise my arms up for to motion my students to jump in and I would splash the water once when they needed to listen and it was a fun way to teach. I made it a thing that one class in every session I would teach mute and i had students take my class just to experience me teaching without talking!

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  37. I know losing your voice wasn't intentional but things happen for a reason. The point of teaching students isn't for them to become dependent on you (the teacher or peers) but rather to stand out and just do it. Sometimes being challenged outside of the norm (comfort shell) pushes you to see and experience things you never knew you or I are capable of handling. Independence may seem like an overrated term but has anyone ever realized that those who are independent were once dependent on something or someone.

    To know your students each with their own talent for reading cues, body language, tones, planning and thinking, that in itself is amazing. They were able to see and hear each other in a different format. Not to say this couldn’t have happened without the lack of voice, this particular situation was spontaneous. Basically your students didn’t have a choice, they made sure to survive together. What students truly appreciate, especially with a good teacher, is the mere presence of the teacher.

    I think it’s funny that although you may have been literally mute, the students heard your voice in their heads. It was a personal inner dialogue. What would she say? What would she think? What would she tell me next? That’s how you know you’ve made an impact on students and yourself.

    Meagan AWP 5000

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  38. Teachable moment, it was challenging moment with a great outcome. Something thing happens for a reason, expect the unexpected. It’s a saying I tell myself all the time, sometimes it not what happens but how you handle the situation it more important. For this situation everyone worked as a team to still have a successful class session. I give you credit for the love you have for all your students and still show up, I know that it wasn’t only challenging for you but also for your students to get them out their comfort zone and participate someway to keep the class going. Very appreciating posts Dr. Rich! Loved it!

    Jessica M.
    AWP 4000

    ReplyDelete