tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post3961834518664158514..comments2024-03-17T16:32:51.970-04:00Comments on Vast Public Indifference: A Thought for Grading DayCDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390048358391513711noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-82236042695935021362011-05-15T14:13:10.503-04:002011-05-15T14:13:10.503-04:00This might sound dumb, but when I was teaching Eng...This might sound dumb, but when I was teaching English and American lit/culture in China, I had students physically act some things out. Harvard students might not like this much because it DOES sound a little dumb, but when I was trying to teach something as simple as the thought "the South's ideas about the Civil War were different than the North's ideas," I'd divide up the class and send them to war with each other. It would make it more than an exercise in rote memorization, which these students excelled at. Forcing them to imagine themselves in the position of the South or North (or dividing further, white Southerner, black Southerner, etc.) helped complicate their responses and when we discussed those responses as a class, they were able to see more than just their own side as well. <br /><br />It might seem silly and a bit too rudimentary for Harvard students, but role-playing helped my college English majors "get it." I mean, don't turn your class into a Zimbardo experiment or anything, but perhaps something simple?<br /><br />And anyway, my experience of honors students is that they become used to being able to BS their way through almost anything at an early enough age that they almost don't get taught -- it's assumed that because they sound like they know what they're talking about, they DO know what they're talking about -- and they too easily consider themselves above silly-seeming learning methods, when those methods are actually really helpful. (Like asking basic questions.) They, especially, can get by this way by doing exactly what you wish they would stop doing, which is parroting back dominant culture responses. This might be the first time the dominant cultural response doesn't cut it for them.Aliciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11612768039888295232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-76005159628723401472011-05-11T03:29:38.118-04:002011-05-11T03:29:38.118-04:00I'm sorry. I can feel your pain from here.
I&...I'm sorry. I can feel your pain from here.<br /><br />I've run into something similar with my younger (8th grade) students. After sharing news stories about NeoConfederates in the South celebrating the anniversary of various secessions, they easily accept these guys at their word and side with them and have no interest in digging deeper. I'm not sure how to break up their love affair with easy, surface-level answers.woodenmaskhttp://teachertoys.weebly.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-2027535509658367402011-05-10T13:56:54.306-04:002011-05-10T13:56:54.306-04:00Although our site is used mainly in history classe...Although our site is used mainly in history classes rather than Gen Ed ones, it's proven popular because we offer in-depth commentary on primary sources written by historians. We'll soon let professors hide/reveal this analysis, so profs can ask students to analyze a document and then compare their analysis to the one done by our team of historians. Have you thought about asking the class to analyze a source collaboratively? Perhaps this would let you, and even other students, provide a reality check if the group is missing the point?Neil Schlagerhttp://www.milestonedocuments.com/about/ditch-the-textbook/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-7764173453623704562011-05-10T12:23:21.566-04:002011-05-10T12:23:21.566-04:00How my heart goes out to you! Today's generat...How my heart goes out to you! Today's generation of students simply have not been brought up to think critically at all. They do not judge or question - they merely swallow everything presented to them. Future governments will be able to do whatever they like with such a new generation!<br /><br />I think the rot goes too deep. The damage is done in junior school and in the home. By the time the students get to you, it's already too late.Elizabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822197854763797106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-90039338062708715582011-05-08T15:14:07.754-04:002011-05-08T15:14:07.754-04:00I don't think I have given these students the ...I don't think I have given these students the tools to do anything. If they had looked at the primary sources and used them to reach an incorrect and independent conclusion, that would be fine. They haven't done that. They're just parroting the primary sources without any type of mediating thought whatsoever. If a 19th-century Army officer writes, "Indians are dirty," these students conclude that Indians are dirty. It's not independent thought —it's recitation.Caitlin GD Hopkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-22169224860139180742011-05-08T09:05:55.009-04:002011-05-08T09:05:55.009-04:00One of the great things about using primary source...One of the great things about using primary sources in Gen Ed classes is that you teach students to evaluate the evidence for themselves. One of the tough things to accept about that same method is that students sometimes draw conclusions you do not want them to. You've taught them to think independently. "Wrong" conclusions go with the territory. Give them time, they may come around to your point of view. You've given them the tools to do so.<br />---and old prof.polisciprofnoreply@blogger.com