Affective Issues Overview

“How students feel about themselves as learners and how schools help students develop self-confidence are important components in achievement.” (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory 2015, qtd. in “Listening, Observing, and Intervening to Identify and Address Affective Issues in the Pre-Collegiate Classroom” by Kaminsky et al., slide 4)

Introduction 

Teaching an ENA101 course for the first time after teaching ENG101 may be a new experience. After getting used to four hours per week with our students, the idea of an extra three may cause panic. Some of us may worry that we won’t be able to “fill the time,” while others may feel a frantic urge to teach all of the things that we never have enough time to do in a regular semester (“I’ll finally be able to get all the way through MLA format!” or “There’s no way I won’t be able to really teach organization the way I’ve always wanted to!”). In reality, teaching an ENA101 course is a unique opportunity instead to slow things down and focus on what really matters. One of those important matters is responding to affective issues. 

Responding to Affective Issues (from LaGuardia’s ENA framework statement; emphasis mine)

At LaGuardia, [our] faculty recognizes that the most common difficulty for students who do not succeed in credit-bearing composition classes is not merely with writing, but the rest of their often-complicated lives. Students frequently drop out of school because they become discouraged, stressed, or because problems in their lives become overwhelming. They may experience extreme financial difficulties, get evicted, lose their jobs, they or their children get sick, they find themselves in an abusive home situation, or some combination of such factors. 

While very few English teachers have professional preparation in responding to these affective or life issues, we have discovered that the low-stakes nature, small-class size, and theme-oriented discussion of ENA101 courses can, nevertheless, effectively make our classrooms safe places where students can discuss problems and receive advice (often from other students). When the situation requires it, instructors can also connect students with outside support. In addition, we can try to structure our classes in ways that will improve our students’ chances of successfully completing their composition courses and continuing on to their degrees. 

General Principles

• Approaching thinking from the affective domain rather than defaulting to the cognitive domain

• Helping students to develop “habits of mind” (Costa and Kallick)

• Some key words and phrases: personal responsibility, time management, (growth) mindset, grit, empowerment, engagement, effort, persistence, metacognition, motivation

Resources

For Background Information

• The College Fear Factor: How Students and Professors Misunderstand One Another by Rebecca T. Cox, especially Ch. 2, “The Student Fear Factor” (pp. 20-41) and Ch. 5, “College Teaching” (pp. 92-113)
• Habits of Mind by Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick 
• “Square Pegs: Adult Students and Their ‘Fit’ in Postsecondary Institutions” and “The Role of Urban Community Colleges in Educating Diverse Populations” by Linda Serra Hagedorn

For Classroom Use

• On Course: Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life by Skip Downing (textbook)
• “The Significance of Grit: A Conversation with Angela Lee Duckworth” by Deborah Perkins-Gough
• “The Truth About Grit” by Jonah Lehrer (h/t Aarti Maharaj, Spring I FYIP workshop)
• “From Dropout to Graduate” by Laura Kuehn (h/t Matt Rockwood, Spring I FYIP workshop)
• “Living in Two Worlds” by Marcus Mabry (h/t Lalit Bajaj, Spring I FYIP workshop)