A few days ago I read this piece in Salon.com, and have found myself reflecting on it and wondering what other educators think of the questions the author is posing.

She writes “… the majority of students who start classes in any given academic year will drop out, either temporarily or permanently, for reasons that are far, far beyond our control.”

And later in the article she continues: “If I didn’t think that community colleges could save plenty of people, I could not do my job. But I don’t think they can save everyone, and I don’t think that everyone is in need of salvation. They are expected to fill an enormous void in our culture and in our educational system, to bridge a gap that in many cases seems unbridgeable, to break down barriers of race and class. And at their best, they do every bit of that.”

Some of the comments on this article are intriguing as well. Some people tell stories of how much their community college education meant to them. Others, educators, point to the problem of trying to keep students enrolled simply for the sake of tuition. And some argue that completion should not be the only measure of success, that educational experiences may have value even if they don’t contribute to the institution’s five year completion statistic.

As those of you who are “friends” of mine on facebook are already aware, I recently purchased a Kindle. It will arrive tomorrow, with three “books” already transferred to it. I’m very excited, as I have coveted the Kindle (2) ever since I read an article in The New Yorker about two years ago. Sadly, I never had the spare cash lying around.

Although it has come down significantly in price, what inspired my purchase was actually a debate between two friends over 4th of July weekend. Both book lovers, one was arguing that it is “text” that he loves — the content, not the object. The other, identifying herself as perhaps a more authentic, or sentimental, book person, argued that it was the entire experience of the book.

I identify myself very much as a reader and “book person” — but for some reason the e-reader concept immediately appealed to me. No more lugging books around, no more dusty bookcases (last year I brought 19 boxes of books down to storage, got rid of another five, and still have four full bookcases in my apartment). As for book versus text, I reasoned, when I loved A Tree Grows in Brooklyn or Heidi, it was the story and the writing that captured my imagination.

All that said, I was very moved by this article in The New York Times that describes the positive results of giving kids 12 books — physical books — to take home over the summer. Suddenly I had a different take on the e-reader issue. The physical book is part of the experience. I remember a fierce attachment to the physical book, walking around with it, curling up with it, just examining the pages, staring at the cover… And it seems that at least for kids this physicality is part of the experience. Not to mention the pride in building a library.

The Times article compares learning outcomes associated with reading physical books with a generalized experience of the Internet, not with e-readers specifically. I’m wondering how e-readers will impact children’s formative reading experience, and am thinking that these devices are more appropriate for mature readers who are already hooked than for novices. autocad 2008 and autocad 2010 adobe acrobat 8.

In any event, I still can’t wait for my Kindle to get here!

I strongly feel that the compare-contrast essay is, or can be, an excellent way for students to practice, hone, and demonstrate analytic skills. This essay requires them to show mastery and comprehension of material, a grasp of the larger, more abstract concepts, an understanding of the relationship between these concepts, and a recognition of the significance of these similarities and differences.

photo credit: TheBusyBrain

That said, I am often very disappointed in the work that students submit in response to this type of assignment. The majority lack a clear thesis statement, suffer from weak overall organization, show a difficulty identifying the authors’ thesis, struggle with concise yet relevant summaries, and most significantly, seem to break down when it comes to articulating the relationship between concepts. I work hard to help my students make connections between readings, to see multiple perspectives, to understand that every thesis has a counter-thesis, and I’m not sure to what extent I see these efforts pay off in their written work.

Having said that, I ask, am I barking up the wrong tree, clinging to this type of assignment? Is there a better way to help students develop stronger reading, writing, and thinking skills? Perhaps there are ways of framing the traditional assignment that better facilitate the type of end product I am expecting?

(I did use an involved in-class writing assignment today, that was then used for small group work, and which lead to an involved class discussion about relationships between four readings. I think this was successful; however, I’m not sure how that work will be reflected in their formal written assignments.)
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I do not know a lot about advanced placement courses, other than the fact that high school students who pass them are eligible for college credit (?). From the video it appears that quality is definitely sacrificed for quantity in terms of learning, and this leads me to wonder what exactly the learning objectives of these programs are. Are they to challenge bright students who might be otherwise under-stimulated by their curriculum? To provide early exposure to college level material?

I’m also curious about college professors’ experiences with students who have taken AP courses. Are these students actually more prepared? Do they have an “edge” over other students?

The issue of AP courses is particularly salient to me at the moment, as I am teaching a “College Now” course. These courses are held at CUNY campuses and the form, content, and expectations are all the same as with any other college course. However, the students are all in high school. I am only into my second week of the first semester of this experience, and so far things are going very well. Of course it’s too soon to have formulated any opinion, and I look forward to posting more about this innovative program later in the semester.

In the meantime, please share your thoughts about AP work and similar programs. I also hope this post opens up a discussion about the differences between high school and college level teaching and learning.

She frequently uses many writing across the curriculum techniques — in-class writing, small groups, staged assignments, etc. But nothing seems to be working. Students don’t answer basic questions that she poses and won’t participate in discussions. It feels like they are not engaged with the material or the course on any level, and some are openly resistant.

I have worked with this professor before and can attest that she is a very talented teacher. She hasn’t encountered this problem with her other classes.

I found myself at a loss as to how help her. She’s doing everything “right” and nothing seems to work. What suggestions, words of encouragement, or advice would you give this professor?

Here’s a favorite:

An angry Martin Luther nailed 95 theocrats to a church door. Theologically, Luthar was into reorientation mutation. Calvinism was the most convenient religion since the days of the ancients. Anabaptist services tended to be migratory. The Popes, of course, were usually Catholic.

However, this is not the first such compilation that I have seen, and I was wondering what purpose they serve. The editors of this entry suggest that the professor was perhaps motivated by vengeance. What other motives do we have for sharing such stories? Do pieces like these offer any opportunities for educators to improve their own teaching techniques?

True, they amuse. But they also allow the reader to feel superior and self-satisfied. As those who know me are aware, I myself been known to tell “amusing” anecdotes showcasing students’ mistakes or limitations. I’m afraid to say that more often than not these anecdotes result in mirthful eye-rolling, rather than in improved practice on my part.

It explores a variety of social factors that contribute to individual success, and provides a very strong (and elegant) counter-argument to generally shared assumptions about how individuals work their way to the top. It is particularly interesting in light of my teaching in deviance, where I try to get students to see social factors that contribute to individual and group marginalization.

Gladwell holds a doctorate in sociology, and Outliers refers to a number of classic texts and experiments. His writing is so jargon-free, and his story-telling abilities are so exceptional, that the content is accessible to anyone. For this reason I can see how it would be useful in an introductory course.

However, I suspect that many would have objections to using a popular, non-academic text in the classroom. Because it is outside the academic discourse community, it might not be appropriate. Additionally, he can be accused of dumbing down or glossing over material. I would like to hear more of these objections, if any readers here have any, as well as objections to using popular and/or journalistic books in other disciplines.

This sounds very interesting to me, but rather challenging. Even though he provides an example, I still can’t quite envision how to actually do this. It seems like it would require a lot of prep before hand: envisioning a full essay and mapping it out. I also can’t quite picture how students I’ve worked with would take to the task.

Has anyone done this before? Could you let us know how you prepped the task, what it was exactly, and how it worked out? Thanks!

To my credit I came up with an in-class exercise based on a segment of a chapter that allowed students to enter the content imaginatively, and I think it was rather successful.

However, I still have this major misgiving about how to use these books to foster critical thinking and I was wondering if anyone had thoughts or ideas about this. For instance, what are the benefits of using them? How can you liven them up? Where does argumentative and critical thinking come in?

“Elizabeth, New Jersey, when my mother was being raised there in a flat over her father’s grocery store, was an industrial port a quarter the size of Newark, dominated by the Irish working class and their politicians and the tightly knit parish life that revolved around the town’s many churches, and though I never heard her complain of having been pointedly ill-treated in Elizabeth as a girl, it was not until she married and moved to Newark’s new Jewish neighborhood that she discovered the confidence that led her to become first a PTA “grade mother,” then a PTA vice president in charge of establishing a Kindergarten Mothers’ Club, and finally the PTA president, who, after attending a conference in Trenton on infantile paralysis, proposed an annual March of Dimes dance on January 30 – President Roosevelt’s birthday – that was accepted by most schools.”

While this sentence is not a-typical for Roth, it certainly is for the most of us. It’s important to note that it does not break any grammatical rules (it isn’t even a run-on), and that even my overly-sensitive grammar check didn’t have a problem with it.

I shared it with my students to illustrate that run-on doesn’t necessarily mean long, and to point to the fact that wordiness is not simply about the amount of words, but the meaning of the words: Roth has no redundancies here.

Each day I brought in a list of questions for students, although they were free to write about whatever they wanted as long as it somehow related to our readings.  Most of their responses showed thoughful engagement with the texts and it was enormously helpful for me to read what they wrote.  It provided immediate feedback on the kinds of things that they liked as well as on what they were not getting.  I also had students bring in their own questions and asked them to talk about why they wanted to address that issue.  In this way, the writing assignments helped shape class discusssion.

The questions I gave them were helpful in a number of ways.  Writing them helped me prepare for class in general and it consistently reinforced to students the ways in which I wanted them to be reading and thinking.  But I think the biggest success of the in-class writing was demonstrated at exam time where they had to write four essays.  The class was very nervous and disgruntled about having to take an exam, but in the end most of them did extraordinarily well.  I think this is because they had been writing off the top of their heads about the material on regular basis, which reinforced their knowledge and their thought.

So, I know that most people reading this blog are already well aware of the benefits of this type of assignment, and in a way I am preaching to the converted.  However, I couldn’t resist sharing my success and encouraging educators to continue to integrate in-class writing into their pedagogy.

When I’ve mentioned this to students, they tend to act like they have never heard of such a thing. In some cases they say that they were taught specifically to only use one space. A student last week claimed that every teacher tells him something different about it. Are teachers really telling students to only use one space? Have style manuals changed since I learned to type?

I do wonder about writing handbooks, however. Like I said, there is something in me that enjoys reading about writing and putting a sentence together. (There is also something in me that is never quite sure how to use a comma and am always up for a refresher course.) But do students like these books? Do they actually read them? The ones like Keys for Writers which are less “talky” and more like manuals seem like they might be kind of complicated for undergraduates. And S&W and Elbow seem to require students to actually take the time to read them. I wonder how helpful others have found these books. I also wonder if anyone else out there knows of any little gems I might enjoy.

Last semester I developed a form with the following fields:

This essay is about ____

It’s main argument is ___

It is based on the following readings ___

The main strengths of this essay are ____

Is the argument well developed? How so or how not? ___

Explain how this essay is logical. Explain how this essay could be more clear ___

How can this essay be improved? ____

The intention was to have students start thinking in this way BEFORE coming to see a writing consultant. However, none of the students who were given this form last semester came to see me. Does anyone have feedback on the usefulness or limitations of my handout?