tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post1493491417483155682..comments2023-06-11T02:19:27.429-07:00Comments on Academic Cog: Tired. But the Show Must Go On!Sisyphushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880634753539329199noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-16026289003017120182008-02-03T16:30:00.000-08:002008-02-03T16:30:00.000-08:00Ooh - and another group work exercise I use pretty...Ooh - and another group work exercise I use pretty regularly when teaching either fiction or drama. Break the class into groups of four or five. Assign each group a character. Have them describe first the physical then the personality characteristics of the character. Then, the group should choose a passage (or lines, whatever) that they think illustrates the character, and explain why they chose it. If you're feeling kicky and fun, you could also ask them to choose an actor/actress whom they'd cast in the role and to explain their choice. (and this is always fun when you come back together to discuss, because you end up with a bizarrely cast movie of the text for the day. Vin Diesel as Iago? Indeed.)Dr. Crazyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12457967076373916629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-32318502324368989512008-02-03T16:27:00.000-08:002008-02-03T16:27:00.000-08:00(I got bored in lectures and would end up just wri...(I got bored in lectures and would end up just writing whatever popped into my head, go off on a tangent, and then I'd look up and not know what was going on.)<BR/><BR/>Easy group work exercise:<BR/><BR/>Have them do the following with the text:<BR/><BR/>1. What was it about? (summary)<BR/>2. If it's fiction, name the main characters and give a brief description of each and his/her relationship to the other characters. If it's poetry, have them go through line by line and note poetic devices and why they think those devices were used.<BR/>3. What things caught your attention as you were reading?<BR/>4. What questions do you have?<BR/><BR/>Takes a good 20 minutes, and you can use it over and over again. Make a point about how the exercise models what the prof is expecting them to do on their own, or if in your own class, about how the exercise models what they should be doing on their own and how it will link to any tests you might give. (I use this one ALL the time in lower-level classes).<BR/><BR/>If they're reading something critical, I think it can be useful to have them break into groups and to do a reverse outline of the piece (thesis statement, main points).Dr. Crazyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12457967076373916629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-29540694565516592912008-02-02T17:14:00.000-08:002008-02-02T17:14:00.000-08:00Err, I haven't done any group work yet this term -...Err, I haven't done any group work yet this term --- when you only allocate the hour or so before class to prep, you go with whatever you can think of, and if you don't have a lucky brainstorm for a group project, it doesn't get done. <BR/><BR/>But thanks to everyone who thinks I'd be good at lecturing! Maybe I'll quit grad school to have a lucrative inspirational podcasting business on the web. Eh, not.<BR/><BR/>It's interesting that we all liked the lecture format ... I wonder if that's a selection-into-grad-school thing? Like the ones who mesh well with it do well enough to go, or we're the ones who would have done well no matter which way we were taught, or what? Hmm.Sisyphushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09880634753539329199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-6957692994130589952008-02-02T07:54:00.000-08:002008-02-02T07:54:00.000-08:00I, too, love to lecture - then I love turning it o...I, too, love to lecture - then I love turning it over to them and seeing how blown their brains get when we change gears quickly. Hee, hee....<BR/><BR/>I would love to hear you lecture as well!<BR/><BR/>And you do have cute kittens!medieval womanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00457130525946143002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-78566771729723022072008-02-01T15:47:00.000-08:002008-02-01T15:47:00.000-08:00See? I do that too. I loved the lectures, but then...See? I do that too. I loved the lectures, but then a dear friend reminded me that I'm a geek... and most people don't learn that way. Then there was the discovery that I - terminally shy and the one who practiced being invisible - loved performing as professor/expert. I love wowing the students with my flexibility, my ability to link apparently unlinkable ideas and events together. Love. It.<BR/><BR/>So I have had to learn to step back and give up the spotlight. Yeah. I miss it. Greatly.Bellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10849272391043604637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-29267000826176009862008-02-01T11:44:00.000-08:002008-02-01T11:44:00.000-08:00I too used to love the lecture format as a student...I too used to love the lecture format as a student. It wasn't even that my profs were very entertaining or anything, but that I loved hearing them discuss something that they obviously knew so much about -- and they had their own viewpoints about everything. But maybe I cared less about their viewpoints, because I really aspired to culture and thought my fellow students had nothing to teach me. Now, over ten years since I've graduated undergrad and after a lot of reading on pedagogical theory, I am a totally different teacher than the ones I would've liked. In fact, I've thought often how much I'd hate me if I were a scared freshman being told to figure out my own assignments by some teacher who promotes student ownership of academic work. Doesn't she know that we just do this stuff for the grade? (Well, I guess I wasn't like that. I did it for the culture.) It's this great irony. <BR/><BR/>Judging by your stand-up blog, I'd love to have you lecture!Earnest Englishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01947000435270263070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-91144900132420409962008-02-01T07:33:00.000-08:002008-02-01T07:33:00.000-08:00I am with you all the way on the teaching-as-perfo...I am with you all the way on the teaching-as-performance deal. As an undergrad, I felt more comfortable in settings where the instructor had more control -- not necessarily lectures, but certainly tightly guided discussions. Perhaps this had something to do with an inherent mistrust of my fellow students, but I digress. Point is, I constantly have to struggle against the same impulse to perform; it helps to have come to class with more interactive exercises, but as you say, sometimes it's just not worth the effort.<BR/><BR/>Finally, though, it seems like in your situation, you're doing the best you can with a Q&A format and some group work. Have you gotten any feedback from the students about how it's working for them? They may appreciate the clarification you're giving them.kermitthefroghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15742856153167362749noreply@blogger.com