Wendi's Reading Notes #8

Intentionally focusing attention on students who arrive late—Personally, I have a very hard time with Davis’ point (50) about the faculty member who singles students out as they arrive to class late.  I believe this to be extremely unprofessional.  If this is done, other students in the class do not know that the student may have talked to the instructor ahead of time or has a very good reason.  I would interpret this as the instructor is showing that regardless of prior contact, the late student’s reason does not matter.  If this were the case, I would prefer not to attend the class at all just to avoid the embarrassment.  If students are that easily distracted by a student coming in late, then the instructor may really need to re-evaluate their own teaching methods because when they do this, they are forcibly turning the attention away from the content.  Now, having said all that, if tardiness is habitual due to a good reason, I would recommend talking to the student first, but then briefly discussing it with the class to be sure they are okay with the repeated tardiness (thus reducing the “distraction”).  While Lang does not specifically address what is said to the late student (255-256), he does point out some very interesting statistics on the number of students coming late to class.

Stomping out the doldrums—I have actually used Lang’s activities for getting rid of the doldrums using field trips, posters, case studies, and trials (235-244).  However, I am intrigued by the inkshedding activity (239).  What a great idea!  I even went on-line like Lang suggested to get a few more ideas on inkshedding.  I can already envision several times I could have used this in my instruction.  These type of activities could make many issues disappear that were discussed in Davis’ Ch.4 and Lang’s Ch. 12.  This is the type of activity that a student could be responsible to get started and see where the “discussion” goes from there.  I can’t wait to use it myself!

Teacher motivation—I can’t think of a better way to sum of Lang’s Ch. 12.  Motivation really does start with us!  This Week 11 and 12 are great times for us to get rejuvenated and to end the semester on a strong and positive note.  Why don’t departments make a more conscious effort to rejuvenate their educators around Week 11?

Power sharing—The additional reading  packet really shook what I thought I understood a complete and effective syllabus should entail.  I am curious to read the syllabus (Appendix A) that is referenced (32).  I can understand and agree with some sharing of “power” with students, but I’m still struggling with how there’s enough time to actually accomplish this in 16 short weeks.  Plus, I truly question just how much learning has occurred when students only need to earn 50 percent of the points for an assignment to count (33).  I will agree with the mention several times in the article that this is a new concept and will require a major transition on the part of the teachers.