Reflection on Winter Term, 2012 - AE TOEFL

My main new challenge this term was teaching a TOEFL iBT preparation class.

I had taught TOEFL Prep for the paper-based TOEFL many years ago, but teaching the iBT involved becoming familiar with quite a different combination of tasks. In addition, the course titled 'Advanced English: TOEFL" had no method of screening what level of student could take the class and that led to having a mix of different types of students with different expectations among the 20 who enrolled. Most were first year students finished with Program C, which meant their TOEFL was already over 550, many close to 600, and good enough to study abroad almost anywhere with just a few things to polish up--mostly in terms of academic language, logic and vocabulary. Mixed in with them were some juniors and seniors who had lower proficiency and less confidence especially in their speaking and listening skills; and paradoxically, the lower level older students were more in need of TOEFL score improvement for going to graduate school while the first year students, who were at a higher level (many as returnees) had enrolled for...it seemed just a vague sense that they wanted to keep studying English. It was a strange situation made worse by the fact that it was a once-a-week, two-hour evening class and energy levels were notably low after attending classes all day, and it was difficult to communicate with each other because I chose to use a computer classroom to do iBT activities on the computer. And we only met once a week, often interrupted by holidays, and it was even hard to learn names. Weird situation.

As it turned out, it was one of the weirdest courses I ever taught, and one of the least satisfying. It is an interesting one to analyze in retrospect, with hopefully some lessons for avoiding similar difficulties in the future.

So...to cut to the chase, what made it strange and how can I change or avoid that in the future?

1) Filter out students who are too high or too low, or a least define what kind of test prep will be done in the course description in advance so that those students can avoid enrolling. This was my first year, so I had no way to control the content of course description given to students in advance of registration. But for future years, I think a new description is needed. With test prep, a class with mixed levels and varying need-profiles really does not work well. In the case of AE: TOEFL, my preference would be that the "returnee type" students be filtered out and moved to College Composition or Presentation Skills or some other content-based class somehow.

2) Set up a better cycle of weekly homework to identify weaknesses and needs, and then in class addressing those needs with explanations and strategies. Lacking experience with the iBT format and how students should do homework to practice the skills, I wasn't able to take control of the homework cycle and assign work that would lead to active discussion in the next class. This time, I used one week per skill -- Speaking, Writing, Listening, Reading, and then Speaking, Writing again -- because I wasn't sure what students would benefit from the most. Next time, it would be ideal to spend the first two weeks flushing out levels and needs in each area before setting up the schedule. I need a clear profile of the students' weaknesses and expectations and motivations before deciding how much time to spend on what. Also, the first two weeks should be used to get some kind of score indication for all students that can be used as a benchmark of improvement to compare with in the final weeks. Doing a full TOEFL iBT takes 4 hours, so that is not realistic, but in retrospect even doing a two hour "half test" in the first or second week would help me see where they are with taking the test under time pressure. For writing, a 30 minute typed timed writing, with submission by email would be good for starting off. For speaking, one or two 1 minute recordings to see whether they are. For listening and reading, 30 minutes each or so to see how well they can get through the questions and formats. Then, possibly require them to self-score by working through that question and model answers step by step.

3) Set up a running TED based journal as well. TED is ideal for all skills - listen / read transcript / pick up new vocab / write a summary and reaction / and finally record an audio summary reaction of 1 minute or so. This can be easily posted on Moodle as a record of week to week effort to improve English, and can be done on top of practicing the textbook exercises and preparing questions for class.

U.S. no longer a land of opportunity | The Japan Times Online

U.S. no longer a land of opportunity | The Japan Times Online

As the US presidential election draws nearer, this issue of "fair opportunity" to be successful and have a decent quality of life is very important to me.

One related concept in economics seems to be intergenerational economic mobility: whether or not children of poor parents have a chance to be successful if they work hard. I am not an expert on international comparisons of mobility, so I'm not sure of how reasonable the article is, but the author of the article believes that mobility in the United States in more restricted than Europe. The rich stay rich, and the poor and middle class seem to have little upward mobility.

As an educator, my hope is that all students can have equal opportunity in quality of education regardless of parental income. I hope the next administration will not tell children of struggling families to just "fight in the free market" with no support, but will take resources from those (like Romney and his millionaire buddies) who have too much beyond what they need and allocate it to programs that make a difference in the lives of people who are at a relative disadvantage.

"Meritocracy" is basically a good concept. Those who work hard should be rewarded. Competition for rewards can stimulate creativity and productivity, and that leads to better quality of life for all. But from those who have much talent, must should be required. Those who have millions due to their investment ability or talent should be giving back to worthy causes almost everything except what they really need, whether it is through government programs or private donations.

Hopefully, the next president will not be fighting for the rich minority who finance the large part of political campaigns, but for the quality of life of all people in the nation.

Francis Fukuyama - Genetic Engineering (Chp. Our Posthuman Future)

Main Points:
In chapter 5 "Genetic Engineering" of his book Our Post Human Future: Consequences of The Biotechnology Revolution, political philosopher Francis Fukuyama attempts to predict whether genetic engineering (GE below) will ever be used for enhancing human traits. For a definition and explanation of the process of genetic engineering, click here.

Glow in the Dark Kittens - Genetically Engineered (Fox News Sept. 12, 2011)

Is GE of humans likely? For plants like Roundup Ready soybeans and animals like the cats above, the technology already exists and is in actual use to some extent. For humans, Fukuyama seems to believe that it can occur as soon as the main obstacles are overcome.

One main obstacle is the complexity of the relationship between DNA and human traits. Will we ever know which genes influence intelligence and master how to manipulate them? However, as computer technology and understanding of genetic increases, it may only be a matter of time before a number of human gene-trait relations are defined clearly.

Another obstacle is the ethics of human experimentation. Failures in human experiments should not be accepted, so confirmation of the technology will not occur until animal GE experiments are considered extremely reliable. Some governments may choose to never allow human GE because the first child will always be an experiment with potentially unknown consequences. After animal experiments are reliable, will we move to GE on humans?? Fukuyama predicts that experiments WILL occur, especially with somatic gene therapy (for adults by their choice) if the risks of the disease outweigh the risks of the gene therapy. But for embryos, GE experimentation is a completely different matter. (He avoids predicting or arguing anything about embryo experimentation in this chapter--I wonder why? Does he deal with it later?)

Finally, Fukuyama talks about the obstacle or risk that GE will lead to altering human nature on a large scale. In other words, a whole population of humans may develop engineered traits and that may have consequences for human society such as discrimination against those who have or don't have those traits. If GE is only available for rich persons, that would limit the effect on the whole population, but if it becomes inexpensive, human society may be affected.


Mostly importantly, assuming that the technology becomes available, what are the ethical problems or dangers of GE? Experimentation has already been mentioned. Another could be unintended consequences or side-effects. Also, there may be problems with inequality if only some people have access to genetic enhancement and it creates a gap or discrimination. Finally, the issue of eugenics must be considered. If we aim for perfection from genetics, how will we treat people who are born with imperfections?

Reactions?

• My overall reaction is that the issue of GE is critical and must be debated extensively by all countries before the technology becomes available for humans. It could have immense consequences. 
• In that sense, Fukuyama's listing of the risks is valuable. Actually, he does not talk about the risks enough, in my mind. More discussion about the potential dangers is necessary so that they can be weighed against the benefits. Perhaps that comes in the next chapters?
• So...what would I do if I had an opportunity for genetic enhancement in the future? Honestly, I have to admit that I have many things I want to improve about myself. I would prefer to not get bald, to not gain weight even if I eat and drink as I like, and I want to avoid cancer and other diseases if possible. If a GE cure for something like that becomes available, I may consider it. 
• How about selecting traits of children before birth?? My children are wonderful, but if I could have designed my children to be a little less noisy, or a little more mature from an earlier age, that would be tempting (though I love them both just as they are, of course.). Also, I am fortunate to have very healthy children, but parents who struggle with children who are born with diseases may be able to avoid such problems in the future by screening or engineering embryos. Should such trait selection be possible? That will be our debate on Friday.

Happy New Year 2012! Some '11 reflections and '12 resolutions

Happy New Year!

I hope your 2012, the year of the dragon, will be healthy, lively and full of passion.

My goals and resolutions for 2012 are basically the same as last year. I want to live the year like it will be my last, spending time with people I love, doing what I love, and doing what I can to be helpful to others.

Specifically...I want to have many dates with my wife Megumi, take my kids to places that will they will remember for the rest of their lives (still planning), read more with my kids, Skype with my family and friends more often, fearlessly keep trying new things in my teaching and blog about/publish research papers on them, travel to a country I've never been to (Spain is in the planning), run my 6th marathon (and enjoy it--need to lose a bit of weight to achieve the "enjoy" part), and find a new volunteer activity (still searching).

Looking back, 2011 was an unsettling year with the Tohoku earthquake and Fukushima reactor crisis, and I hope 2012 will be safer and more peaceful. Aside from that crisis, 2011 was a very good year and I have many "best of 2011" things to be thankful for. First and foremost, Megumi, Michael, Mei and I stayed healthy and without any major hospital emergencies. I was able to do my usual Tokyo Marathon (4th in a row, 5th one coming in 2012) and a half-marathon as well. We were also able to travel to Seattle in July to visit family and friends. Professionally, I was blessed with another year of stimulating teaching and learning at ICU and TAT with excellent students and colleagues. I was able to present research at the JACET conference in Fukuoka and JALT in Tokyo as well as publish a paper on using 20x20 for presentation training.

There were many other things I wanted to get done, or to do more, of course, but those will carry over into 2012.

I'm looking forward to communicating with all of you in 2012!
今年もよろしくお願いします。

Mark

Gifts That Show You Care - Instead of a present, donate on someone's behalf!

This is a nice article Kristof of the New York Times.

I ask my relatives to donate to causes rather than buy me presents.

Really, I mean, almost all of us in the US and Japan have everything we need.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/opinion/sunday/kristof-gifts-that-say-you-care.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

Never Let Me Go (2010) Directed by Original by K. Ishiguro

Just saw this, in connection with the beginning of the bioethics unit that I am going to be teaching from tomorrow in my ICU class.

The bioethics connection is that the characters in this movie are humans who have been raised as organ donors. They will be used for organ harvesting.

This is similar to the concept of the 2005 movie, The Island.

However, the movie Never Let Me Go, which is based on the acclaimed 2005 novel of the same title by Kazuo Ishiguro, is more than a bioethics SF film.

If fact, I would argue that it does not fit the genre of SF. It is much more. The file is not really about the ethics of using humans as organ donation machines. That is the main characteristic of the lives that the characters are living, but this is just a background theme that Ishiguro uses to explore other themes of human existence and relationships.

I thought the main theme is how we accept and deal with the time limit of our own existence. As Kathy, the protagonist, ponders at the end, there isn't so much difference between us (non-donor humans), and them, who were created to live, give, and die when they have completed giving. We live, have freedom to some extent, and give ourselves to others, sometimes voluntarily, sometimes with no choice, and them we are "completed," as the donors called it when they die from their final donation operation.

What has Ishiguro said about this novel? Why did he write it? I am curious and want to read the original.

YOU: A Course of Personal Writing -- My Reflection

After autumn term, the break flew by with various conferences and family obligations. I wanted to look back at my new course for ICU 2nd year students called YOU: A Course of Personal Writing.

Here's the link to the course blog.

http://you-personal-writing.blogspot.com/

It has the various course materials and links to student blog and writings.

This was a very fun course to teach, and I learned a lot. There's a saying that "the best way to learn something is to teach it" and this was very true, once again.

Basically, I allowed students free choice of topic, genre, and deadlines, and they just had to complete 20 blogs of free personal writing, and 3 published pieces that were drafted, revised, edited, and published on our blog.

The creativity of my students was very impressive. I also wrote a few pieces for practice, but since I have done very little creative writing since...high school, it was a very new and anxious process for me. I was very honest about that with my students, that I am not a professional creative writer in any way, and I was just one of the writers in the class trying to discover what is meaningful to me in terms of themes, and trying new genres.

How can the course be better? Students made excellent suggestions in their final reflections including adding a group project, introducing more examples of good writing, and ways to evaluate more transparently, and ways to help them squeeze out their creativity a little more efficiently with deadlines of some sort--so that not everything will be done at the last moment just before the end of the class.

I'm looking forward to teaching it next year!