I'm in the middle of reading Erasure, a required book for the Lit class in the LC.
Wow! It's kind of hard to explain this, but I am really enjoying this book. I don't think the book is meant to be enjoyed in the regular sense of the word. It's not fun. It's not entertaining. It's not "laugh out loud" funny. But for me it is enjoyable because it is getting me to think about the issues it raises and to stretch my brain for the links to the other literature it refers to.
In some ways it has already reminded me of The Invisible Man, Native Son, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Pale Fire. I don't want to talk about Erasure too much because I'd hate to spoil anything for the people who will read it, but that doesn't mean I can't talk about the other books!
I'm going to start with Pale Fire by Nabokov. Most people know Nabokov because he wrote Lolita. I have to admit: I have tried several times to read Lolita but have never gotten through it. The protagonist was way too twisted and unlikeable for me to get into it. Which leads to to Pale Fire. This is perhaps the strangest book I have ever read. It starts with an Introduction of sorts and then there is a long poem. After that is the notes section of the book. At first glance, it looks like this book will be about the poem. In reality, the book is the intro and the notes, which are not what you would expect at all. Nabokov creates a poet who writes the poem. Then he creates another character who writes the intro and the notes. If memory serves, his name was Kinbote, and he is an oddball. He worships the poet. He also believes in the existence of this other world that doesn't really exist (or does it?) and he makes the poem notes refer to this other world in their entirety. So there will be a line of the poem, something like "gray shoots through the fog of the car" (completely made up for example purpose here) and the number that indicates the note will direct you to a page about a hundred pages back, where you'll find pages upon pages of a note that have to do with this other place and only begin with some reference to the fog or the car.
Anyway, what does this have to do with Erasure? I'm not entirely sure myself. I'm just reminded of Pale Fire because of the book within the book and the idea of making characters who have their own little worlds out there in order for them to be fully realized characters. For someone to seem real, there has to be an immense backstory or the possibility of a backstory. Then it gets you thinking about what is real and how much of it is our perception of what's real compared to what is actually real.
Their Eyes Were Watching God is one of my favorite books. This is a slight digression here, but it's also one of Oprah's favorite books. Her reason is it's the "best love story ever" or something to that effect. I feel like that's really reducing the book to something frivolous, like a fluffy romance novel. The book is wonderful for its language. The beginnings and endings of the chapters are beautiful for their wording, images and meaning. Yet, they are also simple enough that the reader can almost miss the depth that is there. The parts in Erasure that are about fishing and woodworking are lesser versions of what I experience as a reader of Zora Neale Hurston's work.
Native Son and Invisible Man are clearly referenced in Erasure. At some point, I started writing, "Reminds me of Native Son" in the margins of my book. A little later, I wrote, "It is Native Son!" It's been years since I've read the book, but I think the structure of My Pafothology follows NS in a fairly straightforward way, diverting in order just on the point of the girlfriend (or baby momma in this case). At some point after My Pafology, Monk actually starts saying of himself, "I am invisible." As a lit scholar with the last name of Ellison, I would expect him to be very familiar with this book, so that one is a no-brainer. One big difference: I associate both books with winter and darkness, so it's kind of weird for me to have E set in California's sunshine.
This brings me to what is making the book fun for me and also making my head hurt and making me want to reread The Signifying Monkey by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Erasure is obviously referring to venerable works of literature that also happen to be written by African-Americans. (Like the narrator, I hate that all books written by African-Americans get placed into a category of their own, and that's probably a discussion for another blog) Anyhow... This referencing of another work is generally labeled allusion when encountered in most canonical literature. Signifying is something similar but different...which is pretty near the best definition I can come up with of it in a short amount of space. Signifying involves alluding to or using the original but expanding on it and/or commenting on it by reusing it in a different or more involved way. It's like jazz that improvises from an already established piece of music. Yes, it is similar, yes it borrows from, but is it the same? no, not really. Do you have some of the same feelings and reflections you had with the other work? Yes, but more because you have those and the new.
I am not doing Gates' work justice at all here, but these are some of the things I'm thinking about while reading this book.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
More thoughts about LC books
I got a late start on reading for the LC Book Club. I meant to start this a while ago so I wouldn't have quite so much reading to do over the summer. I did start Kate Chopin's The Awakening at some point in the spring, but then I got distracted from finishing it. I had had a spare weekend where I wasn't feeling well and I stayed in bed and read close to half of it that weekend. Then, as life often has a habit of doing, things kind of snow-piled and I didn't get back to it. In the meantime, I have reflected about the book on multiple occasions without actually going back to finish it. I have read it a couple of times before, though, so I know where it is heading.
Anyway, part of the reflections have to do with how society has certain expectations for gender roles. I think this has improved significantly, but is nowhere near perfect. I still bristle at assumptions that my role in the home is to cook, clean and also care for the children while the husband's role is that of the breadwinner and the outside caretaker. For what it's worth, these assumptions do not come from my husband, who also does not refer to watching his own children as "babysitting." If the child is your own, it should be called "parenting"!!!!, but I digress...
I do plan to get back to Chopin, but it probably won't happen until after I have read some of the other books. I ordered a bunch from half.com recently. I bought Catch Me if You Can; Black, White and Jewish; No Telephone to Heaven; She's Not There; Erasure and something else that escapes me for the moment all for around $30, shipping included. Three of the books arrived earlier than they had to. I love half.com. In my many purchases from that site, I have only had one bad experience, and even that would not have been a bad experience had I not needed the book by a certain time. The seller couldn't find the book after I'd put in the purchase bid. The purchase did not go through, but I was left with little time to buy the book from someone else to get it in time. This was back when I was tracking down copies of "Death of a Salesman" for my McKendree students. I will never be the book purchaser for students ever again. Anyway, the whole point was that I have both purchased and sold books via half.com pretty much without issue.
I started and finished Catch Me in just two or three days. The others will proceed more slowly, I'm afraid. Kevin and I are also in the midst of rereading the Harry Potter books. We read Book 3 earlier this summer and then skipped 4 because we're really familiar with that one. Now, we're on Book 5, which is huge! I know there's no reason to share my Harry Potter theories, but I may do so in a post later this summer. I'll put a spoiler alert for anyone who may want to skip over it.
Anyway, part of the reflections have to do with how society has certain expectations for gender roles. I think this has improved significantly, but is nowhere near perfect. I still bristle at assumptions that my role in the home is to cook, clean and also care for the children while the husband's role is that of the breadwinner and the outside caretaker. For what it's worth, these assumptions do not come from my husband, who also does not refer to watching his own children as "babysitting." If the child is your own, it should be called "parenting"!!!!, but I digress...
I do plan to get back to Chopin, but it probably won't happen until after I have read some of the other books. I ordered a bunch from half.com recently. I bought Catch Me if You Can; Black, White and Jewish; No Telephone to Heaven; She's Not There; Erasure and something else that escapes me for the moment all for around $30, shipping included. Three of the books arrived earlier than they had to. I love half.com. In my many purchases from that site, I have only had one bad experience, and even that would not have been a bad experience had I not needed the book by a certain time. The seller couldn't find the book after I'd put in the purchase bid. The purchase did not go through, but I was left with little time to buy the book from someone else to get it in time. This was back when I was tracking down copies of "Death of a Salesman" for my McKendree students. I will never be the book purchaser for students ever again. Anyway, the whole point was that I have both purchased and sold books via half.com pretty much without issue.
I started and finished Catch Me in just two or three days. The others will proceed more slowly, I'm afraid. Kevin and I are also in the midst of rereading the Harry Potter books. We read Book 3 earlier this summer and then skipped 4 because we're really familiar with that one. Now, we're on Book 5, which is huge! I know there's no reason to share my Harry Potter theories, but I may do so in a post later this summer. I'll put a spoiler alert for anyone who may want to skip over it.
Catch Me If You Can
I just finished reading Catch Me If You Can, one of the Book Club options for the Fall Learning Community. Our themes are identity, gender and race. I really didn't know anything about it other than what I had heard about the movie long, long ago...which was basically that it starred Leonardo Dicaprio and Tom Hanks and was about a guy who had pretended to be, among other things, a commercial air pilot. Denise had chosen this one, saying it would be good for the identity category.
And she was right. This is a really good fit for the identity category as he frequently changes his identity to make a quick buck. It has much that could be said about gender too, since his pursuit of money is really motivated by his pursuit of women.
I couldn't believe some of the things he did! I won't give anything away (because I hate it when people do that!), but as I was reading, I guess I kept saying things out loud because my husband kept looking at me funny. He wasn't the only one. At one point, my son said, "Mommy, why'd you say 'wow'?"
The book raises questions about why he did what he did...and also can I trust the writing of a man who used to do all of these things? The particular book that I purchased had a Q and A with the author at the end. I was glad it did. It has his older self answering questions about his younger actions. It helped me the with the constant justification and rationalization I had seen in the book.
Anyway...an enjoyable summer read. I'm glad Denise suggested it! And now that I've read it, I'm tempted to rent the movie despite my slight dislike of Leonardo Dicaprio.
And she was right. This is a really good fit for the identity category as he frequently changes his identity to make a quick buck. It has much that could be said about gender too, since his pursuit of money is really motivated by his pursuit of women.
I couldn't believe some of the things he did! I won't give anything away (because I hate it when people do that!), but as I was reading, I guess I kept saying things out loud because my husband kept looking at me funny. He wasn't the only one. At one point, my son said, "Mommy, why'd you say 'wow'?"
The book raises questions about why he did what he did...and also can I trust the writing of a man who used to do all of these things? The particular book that I purchased had a Q and A with the author at the end. I was glad it did. It has his older self answering questions about his younger actions. It helped me the with the constant justification and rationalization I had seen in the book.
Anyway...an enjoyable summer read. I'm glad Denise suggested it! And now that I've read it, I'm tempted to rent the movie despite my slight dislike of Leonardo Dicaprio.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Retention
As I was walking to the library today, it occurred to me that the same things I'm hoping to do in the Learning Community class in the Fall are also happening in this summer 102 class.
The Learning Community is designed to foster better retention by encouraging students to work with one another and to carry their thinking from one class over to another class, so coursework doesn't seem so isolated. Students in the 102 class are working well with one another which I think keeps them from feeling like they are alone in their confusion when confusion strikes. I think a goal of both classes is to show students that confusion is not necessarily a bad thing. Our best thinking happens when we are searching for a solution to a problem. Confusion means there is a problem to solve. If we're wandering along, quite complacent with everything, our brains are not doing anything; they are not actively learning. I think that "brain hurt" that happens when we are doing our best thinking sometimes discourages students.
Question asking and answering
Students tend to think, "Oh, I've got all of these questions. I must be doing something wrong." To me, all of those questions means you're probably doing everything just right. I think working in a group confirms this. It shows students they are not the only ones with questions and they get the opportunity to be both question-asker and question answerer. When questions are asked by the student of the instructor, students are only the question-asker and never the question-answerer. This may make them feel inadequate and like they only have questions and never have the answers. It also discourages seeking answers. I think when they're able to ask other students, it shows them they too have the power to have the answers. AND they have more answers already than they previously thought they had.
The Curious Researcher
The same things that will be emphasized in the Learning Community are emphasized in Bruce Ballenger's text, The Curious Researcher. First of all, let me just tell you, I love this book. I've been using Fieldworking for 102 which is about writing ethnographies, and I enjoyed that for a while, but with the Ballenger book I feel like it says everything I've always wanted to say to students about research.
It also emphasizes "real world research," where you turn to research and investigation out of interest in something rather than because of an artificial assignment that was forced on you. I think students are able to see the use in this for their school careers and beyond. That sense of purpose is vital to retention too. If they see classroom activities as pointless, they're more apt to think, "I can take this class later."
Thoughts on Retention
I'm not really sure what goes through a student's mind when considering whether or not to drop a class, as the thought never occurred to me while I was in school. I do know that many students of mine have had life just get in the way of concentration on school. I've had students who have been seriously ill and even one whose husband died. Many other students just have way too much going on and something has to give. In the decision of work vs. family vs. school, I can understand why school so often loses. What I want to know is why is it that in the decision of English vs. math vs. history vs. speech vs. whatever else, English loses? Writing is a prerequisite course!!! I could understand if the student was taking a class in his or her major area of concentration because that would be more interesting. Do the writing classes require more homework than other classes? Or a different, more foreign mode of thinking? Or are most students who drop dropping all of their classes at once and it isn't just a writing thing?
I just know that the best class I ever had for retention was not a writing course and the writing classes frequently have very high drop rates. And I've met many a student taking ENGL 102 in one of their last semesters of college because they had signed up for and dropped many of their earlier English classes, whether multiple sections of 101 or 102 or a combination.
The Learning Community is designed to foster better retention by encouraging students to work with one another and to carry their thinking from one class over to another class, so coursework doesn't seem so isolated. Students in the 102 class are working well with one another which I think keeps them from feeling like they are alone in their confusion when confusion strikes. I think a goal of both classes is to show students that confusion is not necessarily a bad thing. Our best thinking happens when we are searching for a solution to a problem. Confusion means there is a problem to solve. If we're wandering along, quite complacent with everything, our brains are not doing anything; they are not actively learning. I think that "brain hurt" that happens when we are doing our best thinking sometimes discourages students.
Question asking and answering
Students tend to think, "Oh, I've got all of these questions. I must be doing something wrong." To me, all of those questions means you're probably doing everything just right. I think working in a group confirms this. It shows students they are not the only ones with questions and they get the opportunity to be both question-asker and question answerer. When questions are asked by the student of the instructor, students are only the question-asker and never the question-answerer. This may make them feel inadequate and like they only have questions and never have the answers. It also discourages seeking answers. I think when they're able to ask other students, it shows them they too have the power to have the answers. AND they have more answers already than they previously thought they had.
The Curious Researcher
The same things that will be emphasized in the Learning Community are emphasized in Bruce Ballenger's text, The Curious Researcher. First of all, let me just tell you, I love this book. I've been using Fieldworking for 102 which is about writing ethnographies, and I enjoyed that for a while, but with the Ballenger book I feel like it says everything I've always wanted to say to students about research.
It also emphasizes "real world research," where you turn to research and investigation out of interest in something rather than because of an artificial assignment that was forced on you. I think students are able to see the use in this for their school careers and beyond. That sense of purpose is vital to retention too. If they see classroom activities as pointless, they're more apt to think, "I can take this class later."
Thoughts on Retention
I'm not really sure what goes through a student's mind when considering whether or not to drop a class, as the thought never occurred to me while I was in school. I do know that many students of mine have had life just get in the way of concentration on school. I've had students who have been seriously ill and even one whose husband died. Many other students just have way too much going on and something has to give. In the decision of work vs. family vs. school, I can understand why school so often loses. What I want to know is why is it that in the decision of English vs. math vs. history vs. speech vs. whatever else, English loses? Writing is a prerequisite course!!! I could understand if the student was taking a class in his or her major area of concentration because that would be more interesting. Do the writing classes require more homework than other classes? Or a different, more foreign mode of thinking? Or are most students who drop dropping all of their classes at once and it isn't just a writing thing?
I just know that the best class I ever had for retention was not a writing course and the writing classes frequently have very high drop rates. And I've met many a student taking ENGL 102 in one of their last semesters of college because they had signed up for and dropped many of their earlier English classes, whether multiple sections of 101 or 102 or a combination.
Friday, June 8, 2007
So Far, So Good
The Google project #1 is going fairly well so far. The big problem is we do not have the ability to download some of the programs that are being written about. I believe that problem will be addressed early next week. Winnie has the ability to at least give us access to those on the teacher station. I do not think we can get them on the student computers without a huge hassle, unfortunately.
The other problem is communicating what I think the assignment should be while remaining open enough that students can determine how to do it on their own. This is an ongoing struggle of mine. I don't want to prescribe just one way of doing the assignment, but if I do not give parameters, students often underachieve because they don't have a clear understanding of my expectations. I may write an additional assignment sheet or update the one I already have on Google Documents.
One thing that really disappointed me was the number of students who did not appear to have their homework done before coming to class on Wednesday and Thursday. That was the lightest homework assignment they'll have all semester and they didn't have it complete?!? Not good. The future assignments will make it pretty clear who is doing what because they have to be posted for everyone to see and will have a date-stamp on them, so hopefully the students who did not do all of the assignment before coming to class will have learned from that mistake and won't slack on the work in the future.
The other problem is communicating what I think the assignment should be while remaining open enough that students can determine how to do it on their own. This is an ongoing struggle of mine. I don't want to prescribe just one way of doing the assignment, but if I do not give parameters, students often underachieve because they don't have a clear understanding of my expectations. I may write an additional assignment sheet or update the one I already have on Google Documents.
One thing that really disappointed me was the number of students who did not appear to have their homework done before coming to class on Wednesday and Thursday. That was the lightest homework assignment they'll have all semester and they didn't have it complete?!? Not good. The future assignments will make it pretty clear who is doing what because they have to be posted for everyone to see and will have a date-stamp on them, so hopefully the students who did not do all of the assignment before coming to class will have learned from that mistake and won't slack on the work in the future.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Step 1 from Ballenger book
I have assigned Step 1 from the Ballenger text. I thought in all fairness I would do a little "fast-writing" of my own in response to the prompt. I think it's kind of difficult though to write about what most students think about research papers though now that I'm approaching research papers from the teaching perspective.
Anyway, here goes. I do think that most students still think of research papers in a traditional kind of way. Most of the thinking is probably filled with "supposed to"s. They're supposed to use so many book sources. They're supposed to quote so many times. They're supposed to have a wonderfully formulated thesis statement at the end of their introductions and they're supposed to avoid using "I."
I remember being told that to say "I think that" or "I believe" made it painfully obvious that that was just our opinion and the reader cared little for our opinion. Readers wanted facts. I agree with this to an extent. If you ask readers, they will say they trust facts, but I also know that as a reader, I also like it when I trust the writer. If the writer is incredibly boring, I have no desire to trust him or her. Now, using I doesn't mean the writer will be more personal and less boring, so I don't think students should just use I for the sake of using I. Like everything else, I think there ought to be a balance and students should determine why they are making the choices they are making instead of just doing them haphazardly.
When I was a student I didn't worry too much about whether or not the instructor would agree with me, but I have heard horror stories from many people who have felt they were graded poorly just because of disagreements between them and the instructor regarding the topic. Sidebar here: I'm thinking about creating a list of topics that I've heard too many times before or find tedious. The problem is I don't want to stifle anyone or make them think I think most topics are bad because I really do think that certain people can make them work with enough initiative. It's just the "I'll do this just because" people who have ruined those topics for me and I think it would be nice if everyone had fair warning. We'll see...
Looking at the list of things on page 2, I would say that most students unfortunately practice the last two: the paper won't be revised substantially and form matters more than content. I think half my semester is spent trying to convince people otherwise, but that's probably a story for another blog on another day.
I'm not sure how long I spent typing this as I was interrupted by a phone call.
Anyway, here goes. I do think that most students still think of research papers in a traditional kind of way. Most of the thinking is probably filled with "supposed to"s. They're supposed to use so many book sources. They're supposed to quote so many times. They're supposed to have a wonderfully formulated thesis statement at the end of their introductions and they're supposed to avoid using "I."
I remember being told that to say "I think that" or "I believe" made it painfully obvious that that was just our opinion and the reader cared little for our opinion. Readers wanted facts. I agree with this to an extent. If you ask readers, they will say they trust facts, but I also know that as a reader, I also like it when I trust the writer. If the writer is incredibly boring, I have no desire to trust him or her. Now, using I doesn't mean the writer will be more personal and less boring, so I don't think students should just use I for the sake of using I. Like everything else, I think there ought to be a balance and students should determine why they are making the choices they are making instead of just doing them haphazardly.
When I was a student I didn't worry too much about whether or not the instructor would agree with me, but I have heard horror stories from many people who have felt they were graded poorly just because of disagreements between them and the instructor regarding the topic. Sidebar here: I'm thinking about creating a list of topics that I've heard too many times before or find tedious. The problem is I don't want to stifle anyone or make them think I think most topics are bad because I really do think that certain people can make them work with enough initiative. It's just the "I'll do this just because" people who have ruined those topics for me and I think it would be nice if everyone had fair warning. We'll see...
Looking at the list of things on page 2, I would say that most students unfortunately practice the last two: the paper won't be revised substantially and form matters more than content. I think half my semester is spent trying to convince people otherwise, but that's probably a story for another blog on another day.
I'm not sure how long I spent typing this as I was interrupted by a phone call.
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