Small discipline(s)

 

As many do, this is the time of year I like to take the time to reflect on the year just ended and project to the year just beginning. I'm not one to make resolutions, but I look for a theme or guiding idea for the year ahead. This often happens at my church's Epiphany service, where each person receives a star with a word written on it. We are invited to muse and contemplate what meaning the word might have for us. The word I got in 2024 was "gentleness," which I believe was a reminder to be more gentle with myself and with my fellow human beings. My 2025 word was "purpose," which also seemed appropriate, as I was seeking some discernable purpose in my career trajectory. Still working on that. I haven't yet received the 2026 word, but I think I have one I'd like to try: discipline. 

By discipline, I don't mean single minded focus on one thing and one thing only. I do mean focus, but I also include intentionality in that definition. I have things that I need, and want, to do with my time and energy every day, and discipline helps. So let me try to tease this out a bit. 

One of my favorite teaching books is James Lang's Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning, which is full of research-based teaching practices and advice. His central idea is that teachers should pick one thing, one small thing that they could try tomorrow, next week, next month, to try in their classrooms or in their practice. If it is successful, the teacher can then try something else. If it doesn't succeed, then the teacher hasn't spent a lot of time or energy revamping their classroom or their practice and can easily move on. So my title is "Small discipline(s)": discipline is all very well and good, and it can mean many things. I want to explore small disciplines that I can engage in this year in my personal and professional lives.

• Keep an eye on the pantry: With food prices being what they are, I'd like to find small ways to not waste food. I already save vegetable parings for making soup stock with. I'd like to be more intentional about the trip to the grocery store, perhaps trying some new meals that don't necessarily require a lot of planning but that can be nutritious and tasty--and that don't require specialty items that will only be used for that recipe. I can do that. 

• Add another mile to my bike ride: I decided last fall that I wanted to try riding the Salem Bicycle Club Monster Cookie Metric Century (62.7 miles / 100K) again in 2026. I have ridden it before, but it's been at least a decade. I will need some serious training and have been trying to ride one more day a week. Maybe it can be as simple as one more mile each time I go out. That's not always possible, but when it is, I can do that. 

• Connect with colleagues: As a contingent or part-time faculty member at 5 different schools, it's often difficult to make meaningful connections. I may be at one or more campuses on the same day, plus driving time, so I don't always have the time to stop and chat with a colleague. But, then again, saying hi is something small that can lead to further connections. So I can do that. 

I could probably other "small disciplines" to this list, but I think that's a good start. 

 

The Mittelstaedt Monitor

Christmas 2025

December's now here, and Jean at last said,

"Let's get this newsletter updatèd..."

Ted and Jean, 30th anniversary, August 7, 2023

Working hard...or hardly working...

Ted has been the Director of Information Technology with CODA, Inc., and addiction recovery non-profit, since 2023. He oversees IT operations at the main office and at the various treatment and residential facilities around Oregon. Their latest project is a new treatment and residential facility in partnership with Washington County called Beaverton Recovery Center (aka CATT). He oversaw installation of phone systems, routers, signal repeaters, and everything else tech-related that they will use to assist in their clients' substance addiction recovery. His work still involves hands-on, but he is doing more with budgets and purchasing, equipment deployment, and personnel management. And he's actually taking days off now.  😊

I teach students about writing at Chemeketa Community College and at Linn-Benton Community College. In January, I started teaching at Warner Pacific University as well, teaching about information literacy. And this fall, I began teaching writing at my alma mater, Western Oregon University (go Wolves!). During Fall term, which just ended, I taught two Writing 121 classes at Chemeketa and one Writing 122 class at WOU. I'm teaching writing and information literacy during Winter term, which begins in January. This summer, I taught driver education at Chemeketa and was the adult education specialist for a train-the-trainer session with the Oregon Department of  Education which trains bus driver trainers.  I continue on Chemeketa’s Faculty Senate, where I maintain their Web site, among other duties.   

The CORE Train the Trainer event in July

Hexagonal thinking discussion in Writing 121Z

Visual arguments using print ads in Writing 115

Mittel-Nexters

Ian and Ambrose at a family Halloween party

Ian turned 27 this summer and began a new job as a tech Alvest Equipment Services (AES), which provides support for ground transport vehicles at the airport--think baggage trucks and food transport trucks. His partner Ambrose is at Centria Health, providing support for children with Autism. They just moved to a new apartment. It's larger and has plenty of room for their three cats: Morpheus, Freyja, and Selûne. It's still close by us so he is still able to stop in occasionally for a hot dinner or to let Ruby out when we are out of town. They are both TKs (Theater Kids), so they enjoy going to local theater whenever they can.  

  

Ian and Ambrose at a local pumpkin patch

Dorothy turned 23 this fall, just before beginning her final year at Seattle University. A mechanical engineering major, she's been taking math, physics, and engineering classes as well as gen-ed classes. Her on-campus apartment in Vi Hilbert Hall is much larger, plus she has a view. She's officially in her Senior Design class with a team of four classmates working on a yearlong project for a local company. They will showcase their work at an annual university Senior Project Day in June 2026, when she also graduates! She enjoys finding deals on groceries and trying new Asian recipes in her own kitchen. She loves life in Seattle and enjoys exploring the area around campus when not studying. Her favorite place to visit is Twice Sold Tales, a bookstore with cats, and she regularly checks in with the dogs at Cal Anderson Park. She is still with Rover.com and has achieved Star Sitter status with the excellent service she gives her clients walking dogs and house- and pet-sitting. She's home over Christmas and will return for Winter term classes after New Year's. 

Dorothy and Amura

Dorothy and Foxy

Ruby is 18 now and is slowing down more, but you wouldn’t know it when she's out on the beach at Seaside. She gave us a couple of scares last year where we ended up at Dove Lewis (they are amazing!), but she bounces back quickly and doing pretty well for her age. Her stomach is a pretty reliable timepiece in our house, and she is not above looking thoroughly starving whenever people food appears. She sleeps more these days but still loves going to the beach.

She's perfectly fine in this picture--just enjoying the nice cool grass. 

Mittel-Nesters

Our personal lives are not quite as busy as our professional lives, but we still make time for fun. We celebrated our 32nd anniversary in August. I still sing with the Chancel Choir at Westminster Presbyterian, although sometimes my teaching schedule necessitates a hiatus. I ride my bike when I can. Ted runs and in 2025 ran two half-marathon and the Hood to Coast relay with a team from CODA--which works out great, as we already have a place in Seaside to stay.  😊  In September, we visited the Connections Museum in Seattle and got to see how phone connections used to be made with real working models.  More recently, we enjoyed an excursion on the Holiday Express from the Oregon Rail Heritage Center with a real steam engine. We also enjoy walking through our very walkable neighborhood and watching whichever streaming program we have time for. We're looking forward to Series 6 of All Creatures Great and Small in January. 

The different moods of Tillamook Head in Seaside

And to all a good night...

                
Peace and love to all of our family and friends in 2026! 

Ted and I got this Nativity when we moved into our house in 1996

Teamwork is the real catalyst for change

While on vacation between teaching assignments, I ate lunch one day with my husband Ted at Panda Express. In my fortune cookie was the following message (seen in the picture at the top of this post): “Your positivity will become a catalyst for change.”

I got to experience this at my first teaching assignment this summer: two week-long “train the trainer” sessions in partnership with the Oregon Department of Education Pupil Transportation unit. I was the adult education specialist and gave five presentations on brain-based learning, planning lessons, presenting with confidence, dealing with “difficult” people, and giving and receiving feedback. I watched and gave feedback on participants’ solo and paired presentations. I led three lunchtime activities as well. It is a lot for a week! This is the third summer I’ve done it, and it’s truly the best teaching assignment I’ve ever had.

I try to bring positivity to what must be hard work for the participants, all bus drivers who want to become trainers. I enjoy observing them as they dive into the activities I facilitate. I enjoy their hard work, both solo and together, as they learn something new. I enjoy watching the participants’ presentations, which show so much growth across the three days they happen. I enjoy meeting individually with each driver to discuss their presentation and our feedback on their work. I hope my feedback helps with their growth as they learn to become a trainer. Most of all, I enjoy talking and laughing together throughout the week, and it’s bittersweet when we say goodbye at the end of the week, not unlike summer camp. Much of that comes from the teamwork that I see and am a part of.

The bus drivers who attend each week are one example of teamwork. They come from all over the state but usually bond quickly at their tables and as a group. They are always supportive during each other’s presentations and in the feedback they give. They are always eager to pitch in; they participate eagerly in their colleagues’ presentation and help each other tear down afterwards if needed. They help me out as well. An old knee injury of mine flared up during the second week, and I spent most of the remainder of the time in a chair. Every single driver regularly asked how I was, looked after me, and offered to help. Their teamwork ensured that the week ended successfully for everyone.    

The ODE staff also exemplifies teamwork. They do the heavy lifting to plan and facilitate the two sessions, but they make sure to include me. We meet in the spring to discuss plans for the summer sessions and then afterwards to debrief. During each session, we discuss the participants and the flow of the week and make any needed adjustments. We eat lunch together (offsite one day) and talk and laugh. Even though I am not an ODE employee, I feel very much part of the team. Brock, Cory, Lesley, Craig, Shonna, Yareli, and Rachel always greet me with a smile, ask me what I need, check in with me regularly, and bid me farewell with a sincere “Until next year!” I always miss them and always look forward to “next year.”

I wish I could say the same for my regular work during the school year, which is teaching students about writing at three community colleges in Oregon. Teaching at several institutions means less available time at any one particular school. As many contingent faculty can attest, there’s often just enough time to arrive, teach, maybe check one’s mailbox and swallow a quick meal, before heading off to the next class or the next campus. This doesn’t leave much time for conferring with colleagues or even processing that last email about an important policy change. It definitely doesn’t leave time or room for much “positivity” or “becoming a catalyst for change” beyond one’s own classes. I wish I could say that any of the schools I teach at has been particularly helpful or mindful of the importance of helping contingent faculty feel part of the team. Some have been better than others, with some individual effort.

My general experience has been that new contingent faculty are given some sort of onboarding experience, which may be in-person or online. Some department chairs meet with the new faculty, even assigning them a mentor; more should do this. Some even invite the new faculty to department meetings and include them in department-wide email lists. But even these small actions aren’t quite enough to help a new faculty person, or even a seasoned one like me, feel like we are part of “the team.” I have usually had new policies or practices communicated to me, but I have seldom to never had any say in creating them. Most meetings are usually focused on the full-time faculty and their activities and service. There seems to be little room—or interest—in inviting contingent faculty to become part of “the team.” So even though I teach at three different schools, I do not really feel like I am part of “the team” at any of them.

Earlier this spring, I wrote an article for the newsletter of a professional organization I belong to. The subject was how full-time faculty could do better by their contingent colleagues. Among other suggestions, I said, “Invite us to the table. If you know someone has a specialty, or skill or professional interest, ask them to join a workgroup or committee or to be included in the email chain or group chat.  Ask us what we think about ___ (teaching idea, policy, event) or about something from our perspective. And if a part-time colleague approaches you, listen.” It just seems to me that a little teamwork could go a long way toward cultivating positivity that could catalyze some needed—and welcome—change.

 

 The Mittelstaedt Monitor

Christmas 2024

December's now here, and Jean at last said,

"Let's get this newsletter updatèd..."

Ted and Jean, 30th anniversary, August 7, 2023

Working hard...or hardly working...

Ted has been at his new job for a little over a year now: Director of Information Technology with CODA, Inc., a non-profit substance use treatment program. He oversees IT operations at the main office and at the various treatment and residential facilities around Oregon. His work still involves hands-on, but he is doing more with budgets and purchasing, equipment deployment, and personnel management. And he's actually taking days off now.  😊

I teach students about writing at Chemeketa Community College and at Linn-Benton Community College. In January, I will be teaching at Warner Pacific University as well. During Fall term, which just ended, I taught three writing classes, an English class, and an online brain-based learning class. I'm teaching writing and information literacy during Winter term, which begins in January. I also taught driver education and was the education specialist for a train-the-trainer session with ODE which trains bus driver trainers.  I continue on Chemeketa’s Faculty Senate, where I maintain their Web site, among other duties.   

The CORE Train the Trainer event in July

Hexagonal thinking discussion in Writing 121Z

Visual arguments using print ads in Writing 115

Mittelstaedts: The Next Generation

Ian and Ambrose headed to Beetlejuice

Ian turned 26 this summer and works at Vic's Auto Center in Lake Oswego as an automotive technician. He's working toward an apprenticeship with Tri-Met. His partner Ambrose will be starting a new job with Centria Health. They live in an apartment close by with their two cats Morpheus and Freyja, so he is able to stop in occasionally for a hot dinner or to let Ruby out when we are out of town. They are both TKs (Theater Kids), so they enjoy going to local theater whenever the can. These pictures are from when they attended Beetlejuice earlier this year.    

Ian and Ambrose at Beetlejuice at the Keller Auditorium

Dorothy turned 22 this fall, just before beginning her senior (but not last!) year at Seattle University. A mechanical engineering major, she's been taking math, physics, and engineering classes. Her off-campus apartment is much larger, plus she has a view. She enjoys finding deals on groceries and trying new Asian recipes in her own kitchen. She loves life in Seattle and enjoys exploring the area around campus when not studying. Her favorite place to visit is Twice Sold Tales, a bookstore with cats, and she regularly checks in with the dogs at Cal Anderson Park. She joined Rover.com this summer and has been busy walking dogs and house- and pet-sitting. She's home for a bit but will return to Seattle before Christmas for a house-sitting gig. 

Dorothy and Amura

Dorothy and Foxy

Ruby is 17 now and is slowing down more, but you wouldn’t know it when she's out on the beach at Seaside. She gave us a couple of scares this year where we ended up at Dove Lewis (they are amazing!), but she bounces back quickly and is not above looking thoroughly starving whenever people food appears. She sleeps more these days but still enjoys patrolling the local schoolyard to make sure it's kept free of food bits so that the little children and their parents don't have to worry.  😋

She's perfectly fine in this picture--just enjoying the nice cool grass. 

Life, the Universe, and Mittelstaedts

Our personal lives are not quite as busy as our professional lives, but we still make time for fun. We celebrated our 31st anniversary in August. I still sing with the Chancel Choir at Westminster Presbyterian, although sometimes my teaching schedule necessitates a hiatus. I ride my bike when I can. Ted runs and this year will captain a Hood to Coast team--which works out great, as we already have a place in Seaside to stay.  :-)  We also enjoy walking through our very walkable neighborhood and watching whichever streaming program we have time for. We're looking forward to Series 5 of All Creatures Great and Small in January. 

The different moods of Tillamook Head in Seaside

And to all a good night...

                
Peace and love to all of our family and friends in 2025! 

Ted and I got this Nativity when we moved into our house in 1996

Three moods of the same tree display at Winter Gleam at Oaks Park

One of my favorite lessons: Definitions in writing

 I've done this lesson for a number of years with Writing 115 (Introduction to Composition) and 121 (Composition 1). The lesson emphasizes the importance of defining terms for a reader in a college essay. But it also illustrates how definitions can be tricky--and how they can be used for good or for ill.

Here is the basic outline for the definitions in writing lesson. It's divided up over two class sessions, and each segment takes about 30-45 minutes. I've also done it in one class session.

I've indicated the texts I use, which could easily be substituted. I've also indicated texts I use in Writing 115 and Writing 121.  

Definitions in writing

1. In your notebook, write down one of these words and what you think it means:  need or neglect. (We discuss these terms, and I point out that definitions are really helped by concrete examples. I use the examples, “I need water/food/clothing/shelter/a red Miata” and “I forgot to feed my dog this morning/neglect.”)

2. Class: Watch this video about how and why to create definitions. 

3. With your workshop team, define one of the following terms. Use a concrete example to illustrate your definition. You can do this with words, pictures, colors, fonts, layout, or something else. (Students sometimes do this on paper and sometimes with tech, like a Google Doc.)
   

• Justice

• Ignorance

• Education

• Hatred

• Progress

• Discrimination
  

4. Look at another team’s (page or paper) and discuss their definition and example. What do you think of it? Leave the team one comment from your team. (This could be done on paper or with tech. This can also be done as a gallery walk with a “docent” from each team.)

5. Look at John Gast’s painting, “American Progress.”  What do you notice (details)?  What is the message of this painting? (We discuss the details and what the students think is the message. I sometimes write these on a whiteboard.)

6. Read “High on Progress” by Derrick Jensen for Writing 121 or “You say Latino” and “You say Latinx” by Terry Blas for Writing 115. (I usually start reading during class, sometimes on a document camera to annotate, and ask them to finish reading at home. You could substitute any text which is based on an extended definition.) 

7. Read Oregon Writes “Definition” (Part 4). (This reading reiterates and reinforces what was covered about definitions. I don’t usually give a quiz, but I do reference it on Day 2. You could substitute any reading on definitions.)

Directions for Day 2

8. Watch this clip from Babylon 5 episode, “Voices of Authority.” What point does it make about definitions? (While this episode is from 1995, it could easily have been written in more recent years.)

9. What does the Oregon Writes reading say about definitions? (If students don’t know, which they may not because they haven’t read it, we look it up together. You could give some sort of a reading quiz or a short writing prompt–a one-minute paper, for example.)

10. Writing 121: With your workshop team, answer the following questions. (These could be done using paper or using tech. You could add other questions if you like. The teams could debrief as well.) 

1. What is the rhetorical situation of “High on Progress”?

• Creator/writer

• Message

• Audience

• Purpose

• Context

2. What do you think of the message of “High on Progress”? Why?

11. Writing 115: With your workshop team, answer the following questions.

1. Why does Blas define the terms Latino, Hispanic, Latinx, and Latine?

2. What is Blas’s point or message? Do you buy it? Why?

3. What’s the big deal about definitions anyway? Why do they matter?

Using hexagonal thinking discussion with my Writing 121 class

 

I tried something new to me this term: a hexagonal thinking discussion as described by Betsy Potash of Spark Creativity. The idea behind it is to give students a number of hexagon cards on which are written titles, themes, characters, ideas, quotations (the possibilities are myriad). The hexagonal thinking happens when students make connections among the cards. They create a honeycomb-web of connected cards that they have discussed, arranged, rearranged, and re-rearranged. They can also add arrows and labels to show the connections or to show a particular direction,

I had wanted to try a hexagonal thinking discussion for quite some time but hadn’t been able to find the right opportunity. I decided to make it happen this term and happen it did!  

In my Writing 121 class, I hold periodic class discussions about the texts we’ve read and the commonalities they share. Then I have the students write discussion questions, which they discuss with their small-group workshop teams, and we decide as a class which questions to discuss. I figured that a hexagonal thinking discussion would be perfect for this. 

Because I wanted this discussion to encompass all the texts and themes we had discussed up to that point in the term. I created a list of those titles and themes. I then gave each team an instruction sheet and a set of hexagon cards. I demonstrated the discussion with a quick set of my own creation based on Lord of the Rings characters and ideas. (I use “Frodo” as an example all the time, so the students are accustomed to it.) Then I asked the teams to write the titles and themes on their set of hexagon cards to prepare for the discussion. (Betsy Potash describes several ways that words for the hexagons can be generated and the sets of cards made. This is just the method I chose.) 

The discussion itself took place during the next class session. I quickly did the demo again, particularly since there were several students who had been absent from the previous class session. Then I gave each team their sets of hexagons and explained how the discussion would run. They were to lay out their cards and work together to find the connections. They could move the cards as many times as they needed as long as they were discussing where the cards should be connected. After that, I let them talk…and enjoyed the experience as the engagement and energy buzzed. The discussion was rich, robust, and respectful, and it was clear that each team was immersed in the interactions with their teammates. 

The next step was to have each team visit the other teams’ hexagonal arrangements. One person stayed with their team’s shape while their teammates visited the others. This person explained the thinking to the visitors, much like a museum docent does. These discussions were equally rich and engaged. Each team also wrote down something that they noticed from the other shapes. Here are some samples: 

"I noticed that their honeycomb was very long and spread out but the connections were very strong. " 

"This team first based it on discrimination and then moved on from there." 

After everyone was done, the class debriefed. I asked them what they noticed. They were most struck by how different each team’s shape was and the different ways of thinking each shape demonstrated. They very much enjoyed doing this activity. They liked how it got them out of their seats and talking to each other. I hope we’ll be able to do it again. If I don’t do it with this class, I definitely plan to add it to my teacher toolbox for future classes.