Bugs 101: Week 4

The fourth week of the semester seems to be the first major morale dip in my experience. From my experience, most courses are on a four-week unit cycle, meaning that weeks four and five are the first exam in most classes, which means that students are often facing a week of tests. I purposefully short-changed my first unit to avoid syncing up with other course test schedules. This week also marked a shift in the classroom community, but more on that later.

Day 7: Insects + Society

Learning Goals & Objectives:

• Introduce the Build-a-Bug project

• Release the Build-a-Bug planner to students as their weekly task

• Frontload foundational vocabulary related to types of social groups and cultural storytelling

I’ve been really looking forward to this unit, specifically because it leans away from the scientific aspects of insects and instead focuses on the societal role that insects have played. As an entomologist focusing on education and science communication, I lean heavily on the ubiquity of insects as reliable sources of prior knowledge to engage. This unit provides a platform for all these historical and cultural connections to be spotlighted, and to explicitly address all this connective tissue I am constantly hinting at. 

Two profound things happened in my classroom during this lesson. First, I noticed a different subset of students being engaged. Students that I had previously noted as disengaged were suddenly eager to take notes or volunteer answers out loud. This could be due to the nature of the content being addressed in this lecture, that these students are more naturally inclined to be invested in historical stories or cultural oddities. 

The other thing I noticed, which may also explain this behavioral shift, is that the general vibe in the classroom has changed. I remember turning to Maris right after this class had ended and asking her if she noticed anything different, and though she couldn’t explain it in concrete terms, we both agreed that things felt lighter and the rapport with students felt more intimate. Students were more accepting of small jokes, or would volunteer suggestions or stories in a way they hadn’t yet. I can feel our little classroom community shedding a few layers of unfamiliarity and I can see the students becoming more confident with my teaching style and the expectations of the course. 

Content wise, we talked about the difference between ethnic and cultural groups, the role of mythology in religion and the existence of MSU specific mythos. We also reviewed some symbolic structures like omens, allegories, and microcosms within the context of insects. The purpose of this lesson is really to demonstrate the expansiveness of this unit and build up some of the foundational vocabulary that will be used in future lectures. Students also got a few minutes to start brainstorming for their Build-a-Bug project, which you can read all about in an upcoming blog post.

Day 8: History & Religion

Learning Goals & Objectives:

• Describe major historical events and cultural concepts involving insects from around the world.

This lesson is the least structured yet, which is kind of the point. I spent a lot of time trying to spread the love and find examples of insects as religious symbols or major players in historical events from each continent (barring Antarctica of course). The slideshow is quite minimalistic, and I spent almost all the allotted time drawing on the board and making notes as I told stories and checked my notes for relevant points. 

I had intended to hand draw a world map on the board and model note-taking that students could then mirror on their own note-catchers. Fun fact: hand drawing a world map with some semblance of scale and accuracy is incredibly difficult. Even more difficult when a handful of your students decide to heckle you. I welcomed the opportunity to build rapport and played the victim, asking my ULA to “go back there and fail them for being mean to me.” The students were quick to point out that they “weren’t being mean, just being honest.” It was a cute back and forth that eventually led to me giving up and watching a group of students bicker as they drew the world. Poorly I might add. I wish I could have recorded the faces of students walking into their 3 p.m. Tuesday lecture to find their instructor lounging in the middle of the room, legs crossed and leaned back as students struggle to accurately draw the zillion islands of Oceania with the little space they’ve left themselves. 

Though my slides are quite spartan, I made sure that the questions on the exam are visually represented on the slides so that students who didn’t take notes or were absent still have a fighting chance to study effectively. Maris also took amazing notes for me, which I’ll attach below for everyone to revel in. 

This is one of the lectures I think I will eventually translate into a content-rich, free-standing blog post. Understanding the crippling effects that lice had on Napoleon’s crumbling army, or learning about the seductive, skeleton-faced Aztec goddess Itzpapalotl and her obsidian-edged butterfly wings is a fun reprieve from the more boring aspects of insect research. 

I started to receive submissions for the Build-a-Bug planner at the end of this lecture and I can’t wait to spotlight some of this student creativity. Next week, Maris and I have committed to some much needed skill building related to the Essays and the use of the Mastery Rubrics. While that will require a considerable amount of work, I’m excited to see how students engage in self-selected skill growth and how their familiarity with the rubrics improves.

Reflecting on this week…

… we are definitely in the swing of things; students are showing the visible signs of wear, everyone seems comfortable with the course structure and assessments, and our little community is beginning to develop its own identity. I’m excited to see how we tackle Essay writing next week, and how student grades change as a product. In reflecting, I also can’t state enough how appreciative I am of my ULA’s dedication and flexibility. It’s been so rewarding sharing this experience with someone that is so positive and excited about teaching. I hope that I am preparing her for her future as a secondary social studies teacher because she has saved me so much time and stress in these short four weeks. Shout out to Maris, a true MVP.