Notice about Cookies (for European readers)

I have been informed that I need to say something about how this site uses Cookies and possibly get the permission of my European readers about the use of Cookies. I'll be honest: I have no idea how the cookies on this site work. Here (I hope) are links to the pertinent information:

Google's Privacy practices: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en&gl=us

How Google uses information from sites or apps that use their services:

https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites





THINGS HAVE CHANGED:

Since I am no longer a professor in the classroom, this blog is changing focus. (I may at some future date change platforms, too, but not yet). I am now (as of May 2019) playing around with the idea of using this blog as a place to talk about the struggles of writing creatively. Those of you who have been following (or dipping in periodically) know that I've already been doing a little of that, but now the change is official. I don't write every day--yet--so I won't post to the blog every day--yet. But please do check in from time to time, if you're interested in this new phase in my life.


Hi! And you are...?

I am interested to see the fluctuation in my readers--but I don't know who is reading the blog, how you found it, and why you find it interesting. I'd love to hear from you! Please feel free to use the "comment" box at the end of any particular post to let me know what brought you to this page--and what keeps you coming back for more (if you do).





Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Well, that didn't work.

Last night I finished marking the idea logs for the Short Story class, both the ones the students did before seeing the PowerPoint and the ones they did after--and there was no discernible difference in content or quality. I'm now chipping my way through the post-PowerPoint logs for the 102s, and although some may show a hair of improvement over the pre-presentation logs, it's certainly not enough to make the game worth the candle, as my father would have said. I may have made this observation in a previous post, but I realize I have to do several things in revising the presentation. 1) It needs to be shorter. 2) I need to explain that the point is to move from mere observation, to interpretation, to overall analysis of the work. That's pretty abstract, so 3) I need to show specific examples of the kinds of log responses I do not want--and the kind I do. Or, as I'm learning to rephrase for the students, the kind of responses that will be beneficial to them and the kind that will not. (They can interpret "beneficial" any way they like. I mean beneficial in terms of their understanding and their preparedness to write their papers; they may simply see it as beneficial in terms of earning them better grades. Either one achieves the same end.)

With that in mind, before I returned the logs to the students in the Short Story class, I copied them; now I can put together examples to show the differences among observation, personal response, judgment of quality ("this is a good metaphor"), value judgment ("this is a stupid way for the character to behave"), almost interpretation, and real interpretation leading toward analysis. The hope is that they will better grasp the concept from the improved presentation, including student examples (fuck what I'd do; I need to show them student work). And the hope is I won't have to do what I did this time around, which was to write the same comment on 50-plus logs: "You need to ask yourself, 'Why is this significant to a deeper understanding of the story as a whole?'" I'm not sure they understand what I mean by "significant" or "deeper understanding"--but I hope we'll get there.

I also found a good definition of "theme" to share with them, so we started talking about potential themes in the stories they've read. Their first mini-papers are due tomorrow, and they're rather freaking out about that; I did briefly consider postponing the assignment, but nah. I want the time to mark the papers--and I think it's better for them to get an idea of where they stand as early as possible. The mini-papers are usually a harsh awakening for the students; best to get it over with.

Right now, I am undergoing an attack of the "shoulds": I should be marking more 102 logs, but my brains are crispy-fried, and my ability to focus and say anything intelligent in response is pretty well shot for the day (crappy night last night, so I'm desperately under-slept). I'll take a look at my calendar, and if it seems I will have time to finish up the 102 stuff between Advisement tomorrow (where things are very quiet these days) and Thursday prior to class, I'll pretty pack it in for tonight. If there's something on my calendar on Thursday, I'll try to squeeze a few more pages of marking out of myself tonight. I'm also trying to decide whether I have it in me to go to dance class or whether I would be better off to simply fold my tents now and collapse at home. I'll putter around a bit here as I try to make up my mind. Heaven knows I have lots of little bits of flotsam to tend to, some of which requires very little brain. It all needs to be tended to, but I am enormously grateful for the parts that are essentially factory work. So off I go, staggering into the evening....

No comments:

Post a Comment