Resident Expert

Several weeks ago, I started a new one-minute activity at the beginning of each class, before we get into the course material. One student shares a skill they’re particularly good at, or an area where they’re particularly knowledgeable. This is almost always because they’ve spent a lot of time learning it. If they haven’t already done so in their quick talk, I usually ask them what got them interested and how long they’ve been at it. I’ve dubbed this activity “Resident Expert”.

 

I pitched it to students as a way for me to get to know them better, for them to learn something about each other, build class camaraderie, and if something someone says piques their interest, they know who to talk to – the resident expert! In my G-Chem class, we’re going in reverse alphabetical order (by last name). In my P-Chem class, I generated a random list and sent it to the students ahead of time. I also remind the students who’s up next, so each person has time to think about what they’d like to share as their resident expertise. I modeled the activity by going first: Imagining myself when I was in college, I shared that I was a resident expert in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings – my most re-read book at that time in my life.

 

But I have other reasons for introducing this activity that I haven’t fully articulated to my students yet. I want each of them to realize that they’re good at something (and it doesn’t have to be chemistry), and that being interested and spending time on it builds expertise. Chemistry is challenging, and when you’re in the early stages of learning (especially if it’s only your first or second exposure), you might feel that this is all for naught. In the jargon, one might say I’m exposing students to a ‘growth mindset’ but I wasn’t thinking about this phrase until a moment ago as I typed the previous sentence.

 

I think of this activity as laying the groundwork for future conversations, perhaps in my office (when a student visits), or maybe in class itself, where I build on the idea and give this metacognitive strategy a little more flesh. When a student is asking me about study skills or perhaps needs some help with self-motivation, I can bring up their resident expertise. When a student is struggling through a challenge, I can ask them about their resident expertise and how they overcame some of the initial barriers in their journey from novice to expert.

 

My P-Chem students have taken to this activity with gusto, possibly because they have many friends in class, and feel comfortable sharing something about themselves. I’ve very much enjoyed learning something about my students – they have such varied interests, backgrounds and skills! My G-Chem students seem more cagey, maybe because they’re mostly first-year students, don’t know each other very well, and perhaps think this activity  a little strange. (Students can e-mail me to opt out so I won’t call on them – so far only one student has done so.)

 

One benefit of doing this at the beginning of class, certainly in my P-Chem class, is that everyone perks up for this one-minute activity. The class seems engaged listening to whoever is sharing their resident expertise, and it’s a way of getting them prepped to learn. Earlier this week, I was telling my mother (a retired schoolteacher) about this activity and she told me that “set induction” was a regular thing that the best teachers did in her school. (She didn’t teach in the schools I attended growing up.) One of her colleagues specialized in ghost stories that had the students shrieking in fear and delight. As a result of getting everyone’s blood pumping, the subsequent lessons on actual class material were rather effective.

 

I’ve only been doing this for a few weeks (and we’re just five weeks into the semester) so I’m not yet sure exactly how I will build on this activity. I do know all my students’ names now and I’ve been able to chat with some of them when they visit me in my office or when we cross paths in the building. I think making these (social) connections with students will enhance their learning although I can’t cite any studies or quantitative data to back up my assertion. (There is some, but I think it’s mainly qualitative or conjectural even when numbers and percentages are cited.) For the moment, I’m just enjoying learning more about my students as unique individuals, each with their own expertise and knowledge in one or many things.