Monday evening class: Bet the students haven't a clue that the teacher is nervous about the success (or failure?) of her class. The teacher's worst nightmare: No one shows up! Not an exaggeration since her students didn't show up this past Sunday evening on her screen (or very few). Well, okay, here again is our classroom in 117 Massey Library & Technology Center-- that great big room. Remember my first entry, dear Blog? I wondered how the space would be used: well, there's too much space: we are not cozy enough. And this room is not half as brightly lit now that we are approaching November. It's dark outside--and will be darker come Eastern Standard Time.
The morning after: anxieties have past--at least for Monday night: students did show up--to work in class during our two hours and 40 minutes--and to work one to one at the screen with me. I did not have to invite students to come visit the instructor's station: each came quite willingly. Some are very anxious about really being able to achieve a product, an essay. They are too much looking ahead rather than focusing on what's assigned here and now. Some haven't recognized that the summary writing about the articles retrieved is the essay being developed: "Readers need to know what you know. The writer needs to present the context, lay out the information before talking about/arguing about the information. There were moments on Monday I considered successful: nervous students came up to me with questions time after time--little bits of hesitations, little bits of nervous questions.
The morning after: anxieties have past--at least for Monday night: students did show up--to work in class during our two hours and 40 minutes--and to work one to one at the screen with me. I did not have to invite students to come visit the instructor's station: each came quite willingly. Some are very anxious about really being able to achieve a product, an essay. They are too much looking ahead rather than focusing on what's assigned here and now. Some haven't recognized that the summary writing about the articles retrieved is the essay being developed: "Readers need to know what you know. The writer needs to present the context, lay out the information before talking about/arguing about the information. There were moments on Monday I considered successful: nervous students came up to me with questions time after time--little bits of hesitations, little bits of nervous questions.
The conversations are best when unannounced, unexpected ideas emerge--for example, writing electronically opens up the opportunity for visual rhetoric. Anthony is arguing about the proposal to raise the bar on the legal age to drink alcohol: the strongest proponent for this argument is Mothers against Drunk Driving: "Why not, I asked, google for MADD posters? Analyze the rhetoric of the posters? Do they have a case? Are the messages credible? Some essays in progress need more discussion: but how? To several I suggested primary research: "Find out what your classmates and friends are experiencing since more of their budgets are being spent on gas. Ask your classmates to tell you stories. Make a plan as an appendix to your essay. Email your questions to get feedback. Report your respondents' narratives, which also allows for the strategies to present direct and indirect quotes."
Anne is arguing that Sarah Palin is hardly (and laughably) a 'green' candidate: why not find other of her claims that are fallacious? Have fun with your argument--as much fun as the Saturday Night Live parodies about the Vice-Presidential candidate!" With this suggestion, light broke: Sarah was into her essay--really into it. Now she sees (as she said) "the big picture" of this essay: not a 5-paragraph dinosaur but writing beyond the margins. "And, by the way, I offered, if you had been offering a strongly pro-Palin argument, I would have given you just as many suggestions to support that stance. You will never know where I stand."
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