Anyways, back to today, so we split into small groups to discuss our assigned reading (which was a bad decision since the only text we've read so far is Beowulf and they decided to have us split into groups just as we started a new text so the class doesn't really know what's going on), and then we spent the rest of the class period standing in front of the class in groups and saying what we talked about. Devastatingly, we didn't get to all of the groups today, so we're going to pick it up again on Tuesday, and then all of the groups who went today are going to go up again and talk about any differences they noticed now that we've read some more. That's two days of class where my notes are useless, and all I'm learning is how much I hate other students when they're trying to sound smart (not that I begrudge them, hell I must sound like a complete asshole whenever I decide to raise my hand).
The best part of this, we have two, yes two professors teaching this class together. Not just that, these are two professors who have doctorates in, or at least closely relating to the subject of the class, so I know that they could talk for days about any of this stuff. Well I was going to write about clicks, and how I hate a large portion of the gaming elite (though I count myself among them), or how I hate the general populace, but now I'm just too angry to keep going (and it would make this post late and I want to be on time today). Honestly, several thousand dollars just so I can talk to four people, only one of whom did the reading and we both spent our lunches talking about it...
-Cory Ragsdale
P.S. What the hell is up with people assuming you want to be a teacher if you're an english major? Even my professors assume it, hell the english major curriculum at this school requires a presentation to the class, and or leading the class in discussion as if you were the professor. Can't I just, I don't know, write? Seriously, I've had two classes that have let me write creatively in any fashion, and of those two, one wouldn't let me write any "genre'd" works, so no supernatural elements, no time period outside of the present, nothing that isn't entirely believable (no suspension of disbelief in the slightest), and anything else that I was even slightly interested in writing. Ugh, I had forgotten how much that class tried to kill my creativity.
2 comments:
I have a thing or two to say about the whole group work situation. Theoretically, it can be a good idea. It forces everyone into discussion whereas the entire group as a class gives students the opportunity to avoid contributing and participating. Of course, this is all thrown out the window if a group is unmotivated as a whole or if there's a student in the group who either didn't do the prerequisite activity or has a bad attitude and won't participate no matter how much their group hassles them about it.
Also, group work theoretically gives students a better chance to get answers to any questions they might have. This is because it makes it more efficient by allowing multiple students to ask their questions at the same time, within their groups. Furthermore, students might be more willing to ask things in a small group that might be more embarrassing to them in front of the whole class. However, this does assume that someone else in the group knows what the hell is going on and can actually be helpful.
Overall, I think it's worth trying from time to time, and it's likely that at least someone in the class is learning better from the group activities, so it can be good to not rely on any one style too much.
The only solution I see to this problem is giving some sort of (possibly ungraded) quick quiz on the material to sort out the people who hadn't done the reading, but what do you do with them then? It's tough work being a teacher. (Though if they don't care that their methods aren't working well and aren't making an effort to improve them, then fuck 'em)
Man, I am so excited for you to become a teacher. What you say makes a lot of sense, and I can definitely see why professors use group activities from time to time, I was mainly lamenting how it was used in this instance and my own personal experiences with it in the past. I just think it would have been far more useful after we had at least one class session where we were introduced to the text we were discussing.
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