Professor SS’s significant challenge was preparing the
Connect portion of each lesson’s concept in ways that would
intellectually tap each student’s schema for comprehending
a concept, and not result in her graduate students viewing
the Connect activities as “fluff.” She was apprehensive that
the graduate students would not recognize that the Connect
activities were in fact ways to creatively stimulate their capacity
to foster imaginative connections to learning concepts.
However, her concern that students would not recognize the
value of these activities proved to be unfounded based on the
positive reactions shared by many students at the end of each
class session, as well as in evaluation data collected at the end
of the semester. Additionally, a few of her students inquired
if she planned to continue to teach using the 4MAT model
as they continued into the spring semester. When asked why
they wanted to know that, all replied, because we really like
the way you get us into the learning at the beginning of each
class, and we look forward to how you will do this differently
next time.