Catch Up

Seems we've hit it -- that mid-term period when students slow down and look glazed and I feel like I am just on the verge of falling behind (evidence: catching up on this blog on my "furlough day"). Funny thing I've noticed about my class -- we have a nice rapport when we get going but on Tuesdays I feel them transporting their "us" versus teacher frame until we re-break the ice.

Here's what's been going on:

Tuesday:
"How to Tame a Wild Tongue" -- a teaching favorite of mine. Started with a quickwrite -- QW: Describe your reaction to this essay. What was the experience of reading it like? What struck you as significant? Where would you want to start our conversation?

As always, I wrote the qw with them -- it both helps me engage with the text (get my head in the game) and models what I ask them to do.

The entire class conversation spun off of their responses that I solicited after we wrote. I posed one particular question during our conversation: How is language tied to identity? Why is this important?

I was very moved in the class by two women who spoke about the experience of reading this text -- the first thing they've ever read that was addressed particularly to *them*.

The discussion diverged into lots of talk about experience, about men and women and the word "bitch" -- productive associations I think.

There was the dismay from non-Spanish readers that I have found is typical when teaching this piece. We got to the point of agreeing that there is a project at work with asking readers from dominant Am culture to experience outsiderness in this essay, but the students who were upset about being outside didn't seem to understand why I thought this was an exciting experience for usually-privileged readers; they were happy to stop with feeling alienated. It was at this moment when I saw how my own comfort with displacement, ambiguity, etc is so informed by theory -- theory has really affected my life.

Anyway, we ended the class by talking about the politics of language and community in the US context.

Thursday:

1st got class business out of the way; then did a version of Josh's peer workshop, which went swimmingly. Ended by discussing "Entering the Serpent." Funny: one of the key talkers started the conversation by suggesting there was a sexual undertone to the piece, but she hedged this assertion. I made them snigger by reading out the opening paragraphs and redescribing what she is describing -- yeah, it's sexual. Asked, why? How does this relate to the other things going on in the essay? It was a fine discussion although we could have used more time.

Update: Space and Workshop

Thanks to my fellow UH 261ers, I have now instituted a circle in class -- it is tight but *just* fits. I can't be at the board easily which really cramps my teaching style, but the circle has made a HUGE difference. Put them in it halfway through last Thursday . . . it wa still pretty dead. Today, though, very lively: students chatting with each other, talking across the circle; non-speakers participating voluntarily multiple times. Hurray! For the last 25 minutes of class I had them working by themselves on a question for a second reading and told them they could move out of the circle for more comfort, but they said they prefer it and stayed in it.

Okay, here's what we've been up to:

Last Thurs.
- Finished group reporting about the pages from Pratt they broke into an outline; talked about how she moves between ideas, etc
- Workshop: I handed out copies of 4 papers. We workshopped 1 as a class, analyzing it using the same questions we had for Pratt: What's the project? What's at stake? What's the organization [had them do an outline of the paper]? What suggestions do you have for revision?

Then, we read the next 3 papers [I always have us read our workshop papers aloud as a group]. These three were all on the same topic -- text messaging. We didn't have a lot of time left, so I asked them to reread them to themselves and identify a strength in the paper. We then discussed these -- good conversation about voice. The paper that got the least enthusiasm was a traditional 5 paragraph paper -- all part of my devious plan.

Today

They returned with the papers I had given out last Thurs. Roughly 1/3 of the students took responsibilty for one of the 3 papers to address these questions: What's the project? What's at stake? Organization? Suggestions for revision. Then big group discussion about them all. Went really well. The students very smartly criticized the 5 paragraph paper for saying nothing and really have no stakes (they were very respectful, though). I had to push them to be more specific in their descriptions in their outlines -- it's not enough to say this paragraph is the introduction, what kind of introduction, what does it seek to do?

Thinking about Space

Strange vibe to the class yesterday. I think the students are scared of me, even though I have been waaaaay nicer than I usually am at the beginning. But, it is also possible the space in our classroom is inhibiting our building of community. I think this because even when some groups finished talking early and were waiting for the other groups the students didn't chat about life, etc with each other. Weird. I almost wanted to say, talk amongst yourselves, get to know each other but then I thought "should i be seen as encouraging non-work talking in groups as the teacher?"

The room is small, every seat is taken. There isn't room for a circle. We could do 2 rows of arcs but I hate having students seat behind a whole row of other students. Maybe I'll ask the students to help me think through this problem.

Anyhoo, what we did: developed a vocabulary for talking about writing, made an outline out of Pratt.

Day 3: Simplicity

I really didn't feel like teaching today and was dreading putting together my class plan. So, today ended up being a pleasant surprise. I ended up writing my assignment a mere 2 hours before teaching but yesterday's conversation at the TA meeting must have gotten my mind working in my sleep because I'm pretty happy with the outcome. (I also (ahem) borrowed heavily from Erica and Chloe's assignment).

I think what was weighing me down when I was thinking about class today was feeling like I had so much to get done. But then I had a moment of clarity: there's time next week and the rest of the quarter, just take one thing at a time.

So, today I concentrated on approaches to dealing with texts (this will feed into approaches to reading your own writing as we go).

Had enough time to brainstorm identities/communities and writing associated with them to help the students prepare for their essays.

Here is the class plan I used:
Qw: Describe the experience of reading this essay. What surprised you? Interested you? What did you struggle with? If you struggled, what did you do to deal with this difficulty?

Reading as a writer: How to approach text -- Discuss

1. What’s the writer’s project?
a. Why do you think I might propose the term project instead of thesis or main idea?
2. What’s at stake?
3. What are the key words or concepts?

Pairs – address these questions, take notes, have specific places in the text to go to
Class discussion

Assignment -- discuss