After three years of a combination of good luck and caution, I tested positive for COVID for the first time on New Yearās Eve. A bit of an ominous start to the new year, perhaps, but I had also just begun reading Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May. The book threads together an appreciation of cold, snow, and the dark quiet gathering in of winters; a plea to value the lessons held by times of life when health crises or new parenting or other major life disruptions force us to hibernate a bit; and a call to reject our societyās demands for constant frenetic productivity.
āPlants and animals donāt fight the winter; they donāt pretend itās not happening and attempt to carry on living the same lives that they lived in the summer,ā May writes. āThey prepare. They adapt. They perform extraordinary acts of metamorphosis to get them through. Winter is a time of withdrawing from the world, maximizing scant resources, carrying out acts of brutal efficiency and vanishing from sight; but thatās where the transformation occurs.ā None of these words made me happy about having COVID, of course. But it certainly made the time reading in bed, simmering in a light fever, a little more bearable.
Thankfully, Iām feeling much better and happy to share some of the readings and musings from this time with you.
BE THE SPARK - Thoughts on Teaching and Learning
In exciting teaching and learning book news, historian and education writer Cate Denialās new book A Pedagogy of Kindness is just about out, and ready for pre-order. Just look at this joyous cover. You know you want one.
In The Chronicle of Higher Education, author Jim Lang and psychologist Kristi Rudenga argue that in all of our (rightful) calls to ignite the intrinsic motivation of our students, we may have unfairly maligned extrinsic motivation. They make several compelling points to which I would add that "intrinsic" versus "extrinsic" is not a dichotomy but a continuum. And as is true of all of psychology, our theoretical conception of āintrinsicā and āextrinsicā motivators are somewhat artificial impositions of our limited understanding of the world, our biases, and our available language, as we do our best to try to sort and make order of things. For both of these reasons, a sharp differentiation between the two is suspect. We're all constantly shifting the energy and direction of our motivation at different aims for different reasons, out of varying combinations of internal and external rewards, and I agree that we're at our best when we intentionally build lives (and courses!) that leverage both the enlivening fuel of intrinsic motivation and the effective tools of extrinsic motivation.
In another possibly-spicy take in teaching and learning, biologist Jayme Dyer temporarily helms Robert Talbert and David Clarkās Grading for Growth newsletter to argue that ungrading may have an āAchillesā heelā when it comes to equity. She argues that since in an ungraded course the student and instructor collaboratively determine the grade through conversation, the grading process may be more subject to implicit biases held by both the instructor and the student than a more traditional model where the grade is built out of individual scores on exams and homework assignments and the like. Itās an interesting essay I encourage you to readāIām sure it has generated quite a lot of reaction that Iām also interested to read and consider but havenāt had a chance to dig into.
Next up, education writer Beckie Supiano shares in her newsletter insights from a recent article on helping students to reframe struggle in the process of learning. Among the suggestions for instructors: normalize the role of setbacks and difficulties in learning, coach (maybe during office hours), acknowledge small wins, and consult with your colleagues.
Finally, one of the most common (and hard-to-answer) questions that comes up in my speaking engagements has to do with individual differences at the level of both instructor and student. A common question goes like this: āYou recommend incorporating lots of small-group discussions and activities as a way of building community in the classroomā¦ but doesnāt that disadvantage autistic students or those with social anxiety?ā Another: āYou recommend personal warmth and care in instruction, but doesnāt that exacerbate traditional gender role expectations for female-identifying instructors?ā Just last week I confronted questions like these and was dissatisfied with my answers.
So I wasnāt I thrilled when disabilities studies scholar Sarah Silverman posted on LinkedIn about what she labeled as āaccess frictionā in teaching and learningāāwhen different access needs exist in friction with one another.ā She points out that this can happen both in terms of conflicting needs of different students, but also in the tension between student and instructor needs. She refers us out to writing by assistant professor of Medicine, Health, and Society and American studies Aimie Hamraie, and also reminds us that āaccess needs may appear to be opposing or conflicting, but we do not need to view them as in competition as long as all members of the community are willing to work towards a solution together.ā Looking forward to reading, learning, listening more.
OUR MONSTERS, OURSELVES - Uncertainty, Challenges, Mental Health
For a while now, the psychologist Lucy Foulkes has been writing and speaking on a complex issue: the degree to which the combined forces of mental health awareness campaigns and social media (especially TikTok) may have inadvertently changed how we talk to young people about their mental health in ways that could make symptoms worse by collating all negative emotions into the same band of (supposedly pathological) experience. āThis is particularly relevant in schools, who now teach young people to notice and make adjustments for any negative feelings they might have, thereby inadvertently (or sometimes explicitly) promoting the idea that emotions are medical problems,ā she writes. This message can lead to a sense of helplessness, catastrophizing (which can worsen symptoms and is a target of most psychotherapy), and avoidance (which can also make symptoms worse). On the other side of the spectrum, āsomeone who is seriously unwell, maybe actively suicidal, ends up seeing advice about taking a hot bath or downloading a mindfulness app,ā which is not only unhelpful but also infuriating.
Iāve been following Foulkesā writing closely. Most recently, she writes about a different worrisome issueāpeople taking research like hers and using it in a backlash against mental health awareness and treatment. She writes in Medium that ā[w]e are in a situation where some adolescents are very legitimately experiencing mental health crises, without decent treatment, while others are inaccurately describing typical developmental stress with the language of disorder.ā But the frame of many of the media outlets reaching out to her is: Why are young people lying, and how can we get them to stop? It is a dismaying turn of events, and one that reveals yet again the appeal of dichotomies and overly simple answers to wicked problems.
In more positive mental health news, Ben Miller focuses his first newsletter of the year on mental health reform excited for the new year, challenging us to be more creative in how we think about how to better shore up our community mental health.
Finally, if you have been waiting to read my book on youth mental health Mind Over Monsters until it wasnāt quite so pricey to do so, the paperback is now available for pre-order (shipping in April), featuring two new blurbs Iām honored to share below! Both are from writing heroes of mine. Grateful.
āSarah Rose Cavanaghās Mind Over Monsters is the book we need nowānow, when the teen mental health crisis has reached alarming proportions. With thoughtful nuance, clear-eyed observation, and a sure grasp of the evidence, Cavanagh delivers a message to parents, teachers, and everyone else who cares about adolescents: what young people need from us is compassionate support and invigorating challenge. Her book is both reassuring and inspiringāa must-read for everyone who knows and loves a teenager.ā
āAnnie Murphy Paul, author of The Extended Mind
āThereās a lot of bluster and a lot of people convinced they have the āone true thingā about how we should be supporting the mental health of young people. But these issues are complex, not simple. I personally count on Sarah Rose Cavanagh as someone who will grapple with these complexities, while still providing a clear pathway towards helping people thrive.ā
āJohn Warner, author of The Writerās Practice
HIVEMIND - Our Synchronous Selves
Today in Science That Makes Me Sad: a new study on vicarious experience of pain and fear in rodents. In sum: āWe review evidence that rodents show signs of fear and pain when they witness the fear and pain of others." I suppose the positive side of this is that even rodents are not alone in this world. We experience it together.
Speaking of synchronicity, neuroscientist Thalia Wheatley and colleagues publish an important update in Perspectives on āThe Emerging Science of Interacting Mindsā.
Iām looking forward to digging in and considering the implications not just for affective processes but also teaching and learning ones.
INCIDENTALLY - The End of Drum-Time
We end where we beganāwith wintering, and with a book recommendation. Fiction this time, but just as snowy. On Anne Helen Petersenās recommendation I read The End of Drum-Time and it was just stunning.
A love story set in the 1800s among SĆ”mi reindeer herders in the Arctic Circle, it couldnāt be more wintry, thought-provoking, and touching. It also evokes a sense of magic while being set quite soundly in our own universe. Also ending where we begināKatherine May interviews a SĆ”mi reindeer herder in her wintering book.
Happy winter, newsletter friends. Let me know what youāre reading these darker months. Maybe we can host a book club here?
Thank you for the shout out!
I tested positive for Covid on January 3, and stayed that way for two weeks. It was a humbling lesson in taking things slow (which I'm still doing) and recognizing what really matters. I hope you're recovering well, and that re-entry is kind to you!