Version 7.0ish. Digital Humanities. Running. Pedagogy. Linux.

Recently, I’ve thought a lot about Courtney Stoker’s recent post about attempting to avoid teaching her students to look for “objectivity” in writing. Objectivity, I agree with Courtney, is a mirage, a fallacy that should be removed from classroom discussion. Instead of teaching my students to be objective or look for objectivity in research, I try to teach them to look for biased arguments instead, whether their own or an authors.

When looking for bias, I ask them to consider a few simple concerns. Does an author present themself as well-informed about an issue? More importantly, something I focus on a lot, do they consider alternative “sides” to the issue at hand? Do they present other arguments against their viewpoint and then defend their view against them? If not, there is a good chance the writer’s argument will have flaws or insufficient. I don’t really care if a writer comes into an article without a shred of objectivity, as long as they consider the issue in a meaningful way and consider different perspectives on it.

In their own writing, students often come to me asking if “they can have an opinion” in their papers. I tell them, YES, of course they can, but they need to not just say “I believe _____.” Have a viewpoint, but also declare that viewpoint proudly, consider other viewpoints, defend your viewpoint against them using evidence from other sources and your own argument. This seems to work for most of my students.

A recent Profhacker post about reliance on test banks for exam questions prompted a lot of discussion in the adjunct office at my school. My, rather negative, thoughts on test banks are for another post, but this situation in Florida has made me even more proud of my crowdsourcing effort for the grammar exam in eng101.

Here’s what I do: At the beginning of the semester, I give my students in Composition I (eng101) a brief (too brief…it needs to be revised during break to be clearer about my expectations) handout asking them to create a sentence for each of the six sections of grammar we study during the first two months of the semester. Later in the semester, after we finish our final discussion of grammar, students must submit one sentence for each section of grammar. I take those, grade them for participation, and then copy/paste the best, or worst, sentences into each section of the exam. If I run short of good, or bad, sentences, I add them myself or bring back questions from quizzes that a lot of students had trouble with during the semester. This becomes the grammar exam.

My students have found this a very interesting way to engage with grammar. Many express excitement, and will comment as such in the margins, at their sentence, or some version of it, being used on the exam. Others have commented that writing your own questions offers supplemental practice that is absolute necessary for many of them. Some just think it’s cool having agency over what goes into the exam. Finally, I get to see what is, and is not, important to that particular set of students that particular semester.

This kind of participatory education is something I believe very strongly in. I am working on other ways to incorporate my students in the decision-making process in my classroom. I strongly prefer democratic participation over mindless regurgitation of facts and ideas from a textbook.

This summer, I am teaching two sections of Composition I at Burlington’s campus next to the McGuire Air Force Base. I am enjoying these classes; the smaller groups have been wonderful for teaching Comp I. We can slow down and really deconstruct whatever we are discussing. This has been especially helpful during the grammar portion of the class. Both sets of students have been excellent.

Here are links to the course websites I put together for each class. ENG101-85 (Summer Session I) ENG101-88 (Summer Session II).

Prof Hacker’s end of semester checklist post suggested writing some sort of “End of the Semester Roundup” post so I thought I would write one up. This semester was one of great advancements for me. I taught my first college level courses and had a great time doing so. Originally, my schedule involved teaching two sections of Composition I but during the first week of the semester I ended up adding a section of Composition II as well.

Comp I was a lot of work, but well worth it. I saw a lot of advancement in my student’s work as the semester went on. I also saw a lot if disappointing efforts from others. Teaching writing and grammar also allowed me to sharpen my own skills and talk about some of the adventures I have had over the years as a student and academic. Check out the class weblog for more information.

Composition II was a great joy to teach. I got to teach a lot of my favourite canonical authors like Chopin, Gilman, and Ibsen.An unconscious theme of discussing gender and women’s liberation became a focus of our close readings as the semester advanced through short stories to plays (A Doll House, Othello) and then to poets like Plath and Dickinson. Immediately, a handful of students stood apart from the rest of the class but I also saw many others slowly begin to contribute more and more as they became more comfortable with their own close reading skills. My focus in class was on what my students wanted to discuss. Of course, I would bring lecture notes with ideas I wanted to highlight. However, after our daily, randomly selected, journal readers I would ask the class where they wanted to begin, what they wanted to discuss, and that is where we would start. I could talk for hours about most of the texts we read, but I am more concerned with what my students wish to discuss.

One student in particular started the semester off very slowly only to eventually be the first to raise their hand almost every class. Another only contributed on Fridays, somehow, but always blew our minds with their ideas. Almost every student in class had a day where they stood out and shone brighter than anyone else.

The week of my classroom observation by Dr. Alexander coincided with my favorite week of the semester: the week we discussed (post)modern authors like Borges, Coover, and Auster. I was very impressed with my students and their ability to tackle these difficult texts. I can’t wait to teach 102 again and hope I get a chance to pick up a section in the spring. Check out our course weblog.

This semester I ran our course weblogs on WordPress and am thrilled with the results. I have run WP on a number of websites, including this one, for the past four years and couldn’t be happier with the results. In the spring I think I am going to try the dreaded Blackboard for my classes. As an offsite alternative, I believe I am going to wade my toes into the world of Drupal as well. I am going to spend some time over break considering my options.

I also guest lectured for two classes in Dr. McCadden’s upper level class ENG203 The Origins of Literature. I presented two lectures: “Telemachus & The Search For the Ideal Son in Classical Greek Literature” and “The Odyssey & Nonlinear Reading.”

Another project I am going to finish over break is the long-awaited draft of my article on Shelley Jackson for The Quarterly Conversation. I was supposed to have this completed for the winter issue, but the hectic nature of the fall semester got in the way. Scott Esposito was gracious enough to give me an extension. I’m hoping to have something to him early in the new year.

I have a handful of journal article proposals that I need to send over break as well. A few of them are spinoff projects from my MA thesis and others are ideas that I have brewed for a period of time. Hopefully some of them will be publishable.

in the spring, currently, I am teaching two sections of Comp I. One is MWF, the other TT. This isn’t the most ideal schedule, but hopefully I will pick another Comp I, a Comp II, or another class. I am very happy to have a few weeks off to get some of my work done and prep for the spring. However, I am also excited to get back to Burlington and begin teaching again.

Earlier this semester in Composition I I had students read one of Thomas Jefferson’s State Of The Union addresses and annotate it as part of our early discussions on literary research. What I wish I had thought to do was create a wordle of the address to see how that changes/helps student’s annotation and close reading. Recently, after I mentioned this on Twitter, another Twitter user pointed me to Governing Dynamo, a website that archives every president’s inaugural addresses but also offers wordles and other assorted new media.

The wordles are very insightful and I think can help students narrow in on what the focus of a piece of writing. I think in the spring I will use Jefferson’s first inaugural address for the annotation assignment. Wordles will add an interesting new aspect to student reading and my teaching.

I thought it would be nice to post an update about my first few weeks teaching at Burlington. First off, I have to say my colleagues and the support staff have been extremely helpful. When I run into professors from the English program they offer help, guidance, and anything else I need. The secretaries in the Liberal Arts department offices have gone above and beyond to help me and answer my often idiotic questions. The print shop, which is a post in and of itself, has aided me and, during that first week, really went out of their way to help me as well. Which leads to…

When I got home the first day of classes, the dean of my department called and asked if I would be willing to pick up an additional course. So now I am also teaching a section of Eng102: Composition II. Unlike Eng101, which is more of a mechanical, and technical, English course, 102 allows me to teach short stories, plays, and later in the semester some poetry. I am really enjoying this class. The conversations have been lively and I have had my brain picked by a few future English majors after class almost every session.

Since the semester began, I have already gone through a few Google Calendar revisions. Originally I was going to allow students to set up meetings with me from 9am-noon when I am off, but I have shrunk that down to 9am-10am because I am doing prep work for my other classes during those other hours. I found a computer lab I am using as an “office” and so far that has worked out fine. The campus is pretty small, so if a student needs to find me they usually can without a lot of pain. I store all of my lecture notes, handouts, etc in Google Docs so I can access them at anytime. I’ve also created a very detailed spreadsheet to keep track of grades and attendance. At the end of the semester I will post the templates I have created, once I finish tinkering with them.

So far, I have not had to make a lot of changes to the syllabus or schedule. One change I have made is to add more group work to my 101 classes. Students seem to responding more to working in small groups than they do to me lecturing for an hour. That is fine with me; whatever helps them learn is what matters.

On the sidebar to the right, I have added links to the syllabus, schedule, and course weblog for both of my classes.