TEXT FOR THE DAY: The Yogurt Model

...Almost every student and teacher has had the experience of being in a learning group that finally gets rolling. The group "takes off" and functions at a new and higher level. There is a great new force for learning and satisfaction: the members have learned to expect useful behavior and inhibit disruptive behavior in each other. The group has become a kind of self-regulating mechanism. Therefore, any class which really achieves this take-off level should see in themselves a precious culture to be preserved. Yogurt. Not a class with an end, a "term." They should think of themselves as having created a living culture that can continue even when the membership has changed. (Or for those who don't like yogurt, a floating crap game.) ... Compare this yogurt model with our current "movie" model of a learning structure. In the movie model, a course or class is a "show" with a fixed starting and stopping time, and is played over and over again. Each term you start with a fresh group of people and no learning culture, and then at the end of twelve weeks or so, when a learning culture may be just getting going, you disband it, flush it down the toilet. It wouldn't be hard to build the yogurt model into a university or school.

from Peter Elbow, Writing without Teachers, Oxford University Press, 1973

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I like the idea of a classroom as a yogurt culture.  I'm one of those people who learn more effectively by doing than by watching.  Towards the end of last quarter, our 1A class was really taking off.  We even emailed each other a few times after our final.  I was sad to see it go.  But, each quarter must have a starting and stopping point, and with such a large school, it's inevitable that people come and go from our classes. 

I think the best way to perpetuate the yopurt model would be to continue the environment that allowed for class to develop, and to welcome new students and make individuals feel as comfortable as possible. 

In this case, it looks like 1B is shaping up nicely.  Yes, we had some individuals from 1A last quarter, but the addition of a bunch of new folks to the class is great, dare I say -- better.  Already, I've had several incredibly sweet emails from classmates (and one non-1Aer) giving me the reading assignment and wishing me well.  I find the labs in the ATC building help by allowing us a bit of time to chit-chat and get to know one another more, which further develops the yogurt culture.

Now, having said that.  Not all classes are capable of becoming yogurt.  I think it depends mostly on the people in the class, the subject, and the environment the Professor creates.  A forum filled with 200+ students, for example, would have a difficult time building the environment that our class of 20 builds.  The movie model is for situations such as the large audience in the forum.   And while I'm on the movie model, let me just say that not all of our Professors should DO the movie model, as the instructors are no where near actors.  They may very well know their material, and love the subject, but they simply don't know how to make the subject interesting for students and/or worse, cannot teach.  Certainly not as effective movie model teachers anyway.  I think many of these instructors would do well trying the yogurt approach, but that will mean that they might have to give up some control of the classroom, and let the class develop in its own direction.  I'm not sure how keen they would be of that idea.