I appear as one,
although I'm two.
And as I reach
before and back
I find you,
where:
Already Four?
(As if so early simple.)
So lie with me
This bed of life,
and nestle my neck's nap
'til we must part,
alone,
as two or one.
You appear as one,
but I see two.
And three and four
as we go forth
to a horizon bright
that on we smiled.
"Please me dance."
"I ne'er learned how."
But tripped about
so sweet and tears.
My life and love
kept me still
and moving too.
A music heard
but ne'er before,
had we but danced.
Come with me.
The music calls.
I'll the one.
You the two.
We the three.
Us the four.
In life's ways--
Sow's the promise.
My partner gone . . .
Are you there?
I sing as one.
I sing as two.
And hope to meet,
where.
To nestle 'gain
as spoons would do
in the bed of bliss
to unknown reach.
Upsides us
If I were one
and you were two
and we the three
and the four.
Just for now!
If not four more.
1992
July 31, 2007
July 30, 2007
Logical conclusion
"You don't understand.
"You were not there."
So?
"You can't know."
You've made your point.
So why are you telling me?
(why are you distancing me?
why are you asking me
to listen to all these things
I will not and cannot?)
(I need to say them for myself,
to pinch myself alive)
"You just happened to be here."
(your mistake was listening)
What is it about what you experience
that I can understand?
(or is it all about untouched lives
wandering about muttering,
and grumbling?)
"You can't . . . (understand this,
you don't understand that)"
(let's agree on this,)
I give up (being here, I'm gone).
November 2005
"You were not there."
So?
"You can't know."
You've made your point.
So why are you telling me?
(why are you distancing me?
why are you asking me
to listen to all these things
I will not and cannot?)
(I need to say them for myself,
to pinch myself alive)
"You just happened to be here."
(your mistake was listening)
What is it about what you experience
that I can understand?
(or is it all about untouched lives
wandering about muttering,
and grumbling?)
"You can't . . . (understand this,
you don't understand that)"
(let's agree on this,)
I give up (being here, I'm gone).
November 2005
Fear and loathing in Liberec
[This transcript and its audio (podcast) version were never made available to my students of teaching. I still have an uneasy feeling about the level of the language this piece was written in and how direct it is in some places. I also have misgivings about revealing my own inadequacies in coming to terms as a stranger in a foreign land.]
There are very specific limits to my fear and loathing, and I am sure introducing these terms to the intended audience would have caused conclusions not bound by exactly what is said. My fear and loathing are more rhetorical devices to highlight and critique a system than actual personal feelings. This nuance would have been lost to most, and perhaps still will be.
All this aside, the commentary on one of the purposes of education may be of some value. And the exercise to script an instructional podcast in limited space was useful to me in the early days when I was experimenting with alternatives in content delivery. The rhetorical question at the end should be the subject of another piece. Perhaps this was a necessary exercise to get to that.]
This is a download for one of my courses. I am Kevin Mactavish, and I am a student of teaching at the Technical University of Liberec in the Czech Republic. My remarks here are to help students succeed in their studies in English.
The title of this presentation is "Fear and loathing in Liberec".
The title of this rant is "Fear and loathing in Liberec". I fear for most of the students I have had. They will never get it. That is, they will never understand, one sense of "get it". And they will never understand even half of what their education has to offer. They will not capture, that is get a hold of it. They will miss it. They will miss out. They, or perhaps you, in some sense, will be illiterate.
Some days I loathe teaching. In fact, most days I just plain hate it, but loathe is a better word. Why I loathe teaching can be a subject for when we have more time. But to answer this question quickly here, let's just say teaching doesn't work in this environment. Learning works. But teaching doesn't.
But I will start with fear. As I test and examine students--I am not sure there is a difference, but it is clear that the university is an exam factory. . . . My experience shows two things stand out when I ask questions, questions not about language or grammar, but questions about a subject.
1. Students may know a few facts, like dots on some piece of paper.
2. They cannot relate the facts, and often the courses they are taking, to anything within or outside the subject. They can't connect the dots showing relations and the picture the connected dots may reveal.
In short, students have little knowledge and almost no skills with which to understand the little they have. Not a very complimentary observation, I admit. But now, just think about the prospect of teaching under these conditions! Does teaching students who even after courses and courses perform to the level of the least common denominator invite you to start the day? to go into the teaching profession?
What the careful and thorough teacher must do in a situation like this is dot all the i's and cross all the t's, although I know and it is ironic, and perhaps symbolic, that in Czech handwriting, t's are not crossed.
If the teacher has to teach everything in order to get higher levels of performance, that job is thankless, overwhelming, and not doable. And if higher levels of performance is defined from the start as more facts to recall, teaching becomes telling, sometimes explaining. In other words, teaching is just talking. This is not a very interesting or expansive role for a teacher. In fact, if you think about it, it is quite dull. A more familiar expression for the Czech English speaker might be boring. Who wants to bore students with presenting and reviewing and testing facts? Would you?
I fear this role you have for me here, and often I loathe it. But what's the problem? Why do we teachers and students find ourselves in this situation? in this environment? Are students not able? Are they, in their word, stupid? This is a taboo term in my courses. It is not a term I would use, but I use it here because it communicates. I would offer better wording with a more accurate description for this question. Are students less or not capable of better performance? Don't believe you aren't. You are not stupid. You are quite able.
Well, the next question then is, what is it in your environment and history that somehow prevents or doesn't encourage a deeper knowledge of details and better critical thinking? Why is it that you have isolated dots on the paper and no sense of how to connect them to reveal the larger parts and wholes, the beautiful landscapes or portraits hidden from your view?
I suspect it's either culture or schooling--some would say that these are the same, that teachers and schools are culture carriers and that students become part of the culture through schooling. Culture or schooling has not shown you that there are possible numbering schemes for the dots. And numbering suggests something else. The more dots you have, like pixels on a computer screen, the easier it is to make out the picture. And if the dots are ordered well enough in some way, the easier it is to know what the image you see communicates, or means.
These are the objects in education: to see and to understand. You want to see the complete if complex picture and try to understand what it means. Perhaps the fault, if I can use that word, lies with what you have experienced, your history. I believe the system has failed you somehow. And now you are at my doorstep thinking I am unrealistic or crazy for wanting more for you.
Do not assume immediately that what I am saying is totally culturally bound and narrow. If I say in-depth knowledge and the ability to use and expand it are the right goals for teaching and learning but you think your goals are better, whatever they are, I would have you look outside the classroom door and see if the everyday world rewards--that is pays for--people who do less than what I suggest.
Now, after having talked about all of this, I still fear for you and your future based on my experience, or history, in Czech universities. And I sometimes loathe teaching. In this environment I still resist telling you facts and giving simple explanations for words you can look up yourself. You can have a book or a podcast do that job for you. There are dictionaries for people who want to use the language for more than ordering a Coke on some Spanish beach. For this, you don't need a teacher who is interested in helping you put together the puzzle and talk in English about what the puzzle means in your and our lives.
So I leave you with this. Teachers love to stump, that is puzzle, students. The title of these remarks is an allusion to a book in English by a famous, or infamous, author who took his life not too long ago. He lived in a famous American ski town and wrote about, among other things, Las Vegas. Who was this author and what is the allusion? And for the better students, why this title for these remarks?
You can play this download again or read the transcript, or both. Should be a good English lesson for you, if not something to begin to think about: Do few facts and an inability to put together analyses and conclusions about a subject summarize you and your goals for your time spent in school?
Approx 1100 words
June 21, 2006
There are very specific limits to my fear and loathing, and I am sure introducing these terms to the intended audience would have caused conclusions not bound by exactly what is said. My fear and loathing are more rhetorical devices to highlight and critique a system than actual personal feelings. This nuance would have been lost to most, and perhaps still will be.
All this aside, the commentary on one of the purposes of education may be of some value. And the exercise to script an instructional podcast in limited space was useful to me in the early days when I was experimenting with alternatives in content delivery. The rhetorical question at the end should be the subject of another piece. Perhaps this was a necessary exercise to get to that.]
This is a download for one of my courses. I am Kevin Mactavish, and I am a student of teaching at the Technical University of Liberec in the Czech Republic. My remarks here are to help students succeed in their studies in English.
The title of this presentation is "Fear and loathing in Liberec".
The title of this rant is "Fear and loathing in Liberec". I fear for most of the students I have had. They will never get it. That is, they will never understand, one sense of "get it". And they will never understand even half of what their education has to offer. They will not capture, that is get a hold of it. They will miss it. They will miss out. They, or perhaps you, in some sense, will be illiterate.
Some days I loathe teaching. In fact, most days I just plain hate it, but loathe is a better word. Why I loathe teaching can be a subject for when we have more time. But to answer this question quickly here, let's just say teaching doesn't work in this environment. Learning works. But teaching doesn't.
But I will start with fear. As I test and examine students--I am not sure there is a difference, but it is clear that the university is an exam factory. . . . My experience shows two things stand out when I ask questions, questions not about language or grammar, but questions about a subject.
1. Students may know a few facts, like dots on some piece of paper.
2. They cannot relate the facts, and often the courses they are taking, to anything within or outside the subject. They can't connect the dots showing relations and the picture the connected dots may reveal.
In short, students have little knowledge and almost no skills with which to understand the little they have. Not a very complimentary observation, I admit. But now, just think about the prospect of teaching under these conditions! Does teaching students who even after courses and courses perform to the level of the least common denominator invite you to start the day? to go into the teaching profession?
What the careful and thorough teacher must do in a situation like this is dot all the i's and cross all the t's, although I know and it is ironic, and perhaps symbolic, that in Czech handwriting, t's are not crossed.
If the teacher has to teach everything in order to get higher levels of performance, that job is thankless, overwhelming, and not doable. And if higher levels of performance is defined from the start as more facts to recall, teaching becomes telling, sometimes explaining. In other words, teaching is just talking. This is not a very interesting or expansive role for a teacher. In fact, if you think about it, it is quite dull. A more familiar expression for the Czech English speaker might be boring. Who wants to bore students with presenting and reviewing and testing facts? Would you?
I fear this role you have for me here, and often I loathe it. But what's the problem? Why do we teachers and students find ourselves in this situation? in this environment? Are students not able? Are they, in their word, stupid? This is a taboo term in my courses. It is not a term I would use, but I use it here because it communicates. I would offer better wording with a more accurate description for this question. Are students less or not capable of better performance? Don't believe you aren't. You are not stupid. You are quite able.
Well, the next question then is, what is it in your environment and history that somehow prevents or doesn't encourage a deeper knowledge of details and better critical thinking? Why is it that you have isolated dots on the paper and no sense of how to connect them to reveal the larger parts and wholes, the beautiful landscapes or portraits hidden from your view?
I suspect it's either culture or schooling--some would say that these are the same, that teachers and schools are culture carriers and that students become part of the culture through schooling. Culture or schooling has not shown you that there are possible numbering schemes for the dots. And numbering suggests something else. The more dots you have, like pixels on a computer screen, the easier it is to make out the picture. And if the dots are ordered well enough in some way, the easier it is to know what the image you see communicates, or means.
These are the objects in education: to see and to understand. You want to see the complete if complex picture and try to understand what it means. Perhaps the fault, if I can use that word, lies with what you have experienced, your history. I believe the system has failed you somehow. And now you are at my doorstep thinking I am unrealistic or crazy for wanting more for you.
Do not assume immediately that what I am saying is totally culturally bound and narrow. If I say in-depth knowledge and the ability to use and expand it are the right goals for teaching and learning but you think your goals are better, whatever they are, I would have you look outside the classroom door and see if the everyday world rewards--that is pays for--people who do less than what I suggest.
Now, after having talked about all of this, I still fear for you and your future based on my experience, or history, in Czech universities. And I sometimes loathe teaching. In this environment I still resist telling you facts and giving simple explanations for words you can look up yourself. You can have a book or a podcast do that job for you. There are dictionaries for people who want to use the language for more than ordering a Coke on some Spanish beach. For this, you don't need a teacher who is interested in helping you put together the puzzle and talk in English about what the puzzle means in your and our lives.
So I leave you with this. Teachers love to stump, that is puzzle, students. The title of these remarks is an allusion to a book in English by a famous, or infamous, author who took his life not too long ago. He lived in a famous American ski town and wrote about, among other things, Las Vegas. Who was this author and what is the allusion? And for the better students, why this title for these remarks?
You can play this download again or read the transcript, or both. Should be a good English lesson for you, if not something to begin to think about: Do few facts and an inability to put together analyses and conclusions about a subject summarize you and your goals for your time spent in school?
Approx 1100 words
June 21, 2006
July 8, 2007
untitled
A poem a day
keeps Alzheimer's away.
But if it does not,
will my brain still rot
from some other diversion
promising less re-vision?
keeps Alzheimer's away.
But if it does not,
will my brain still rot
from some other diversion
promising less re-vision?
July 7, 2007
Orienting generalizations
Orienting generalizations can help us remember how we are the same and how we are different across cultures. They can also guide us in making statements about what we know and what we don't about the other. Here are four.
1. We seek truth, beauty, and goodness--what can be observed or demonstrated as true (science), what attracts me and I find pleasing (art), and what we together feel or value (culture).
2. We can start from what we think culture is. "Everything characteristic of or produced by a group of people" is one definition.
What I find characteristic may be the same or different from my own culture. Intercultural understanding starts at home.
3. We need all knowledge perspectives--singular, plural, inside, outside, the I , the We, the It, and the Its (things plural)--to understand culture.
No one (perspective) has all the answers.
4. The knowledge we claim to have about a culture is determined by following a method for a given perspective, looking at the results the method produces, and confirming if others agree.
It is beer experts who best can tell us which beer is the best . . . after, of course, extensive tasting, I mean testing.
Final example. Eat what an American says is a "good hamburger." Then ask: Do I like it? This is the personal test. Do people who know hamburgers like it? The We test. Is it made of the right ingredients? The It test--for a true hamburger. Does it serve the nutritional or economic or other needs of the people who eat them? The Its test.
Knowledge claim. Different and not always compatible answers to the questions are the rule. You might not like the good hamburger, but it might serve key interests (e.g., economic, social) of the culture or country.
A course not taught
Since the early days of Cultural Studies courses, a number of approaches developed which have proved useful and popular. Cultural Studies as area studies focuses on knowledge about peoples and places, and courses along this line often have the character of geography or social studies. Cultural studies as history and literature tend to appear in departments of languages and literature, or perhaps the visual and dramatic arts. Those cultural studies benefiting from the human sciences, including social theory and political science, focus on themes such as race, gender, government, and power. An integral studies approach might look at a society and its worldviews in terms of its evolution along developmental continua.
Regardless of which of the above approaches and their respective methods for inquiry and knowledge building, if Cultural Studies is at least about gaining greater understanding of the other, and thereby ourselves, then the academic discipline is as important today as ever; and this overarching concern--understanding--can anchor any one or a combination of emphases.
This means that to understand others through different disciplines or themes requires the perspectives and methods appropriate to those along with whatever specific content is chosen in the name of culture or Culture. That is, some disciplinary or interdisciplinary ways of understanding must exist or be taught along side of who these people are, where they live, and why it is important to know something about them. Students need knowledge and sound methodology in order to slice through the thickets of culture.
This two-tiered approach is sometimes daunting if the discourse is in a second language, since primary sources and public discourse are always in a people's own language. Admittedly, much today is available in English, plus one can often access facts and information about another culture or people in one's own language. But although facts and information are important, alone they are not enough. Factual information always begs the question of so what. Some scaffolding for knowledge and understanding needs to be built to hold raw data. And these scaffolds are more and more available in one's native language through different departments in institutions of higher learning, the library and bookstores, and the Internet.
Gaining greater understanding of the other, and thereby ourselves, is what we can agree on as the why for Cultural Studies, but to what end? The application of understanding is communication, or more accurately it is interaction involving what we know and the successful transmission-reception of same. The foundation for this is literacy, cultural literacy.
Literacy as not just the structure of the language and its vocabulary, but also broad and shared knowledge. When it comes to understanding the other, we need to know a lot of what they know. Shared contexts inform our words and deeds. Cultural literacy then is the names, phrases, events, artifacts, and other items that are familiar to the natives allowing them to communicate, work, and live together. What constitutes this body of knowledge? and if it can be listed and defined, will it help the outsider discover the other? Yes. This is the contention here.
Cultural studies is then information about people and peoples and their places. It is about history, arts, artifacts, and the values and themes they are concerned about. Cultural studies is also about their place in the world developmentally and relationally. Not finally, Cultural Studies is about the unique ways people and a people communicate among themselves and with others in their language.
How does one learn this stuff of the essence of what it is to be of and from one nation or group other than one's own? Admittedly, no one class or course or field of study will provide the whole picture. But the study of ourselves and others can take a middle yet practical road, and one specific to future teachers of English.
Briefly.
Regardless of which of the above approaches and their respective methods for inquiry and knowledge building, if Cultural Studies is at least about gaining greater understanding of the other, and thereby ourselves, then the academic discipline is as important today as ever; and this overarching concern--understanding--can anchor any one or a combination of emphases.
This means that to understand others through different disciplines or themes requires the perspectives and methods appropriate to those along with whatever specific content is chosen in the name of culture or Culture. That is, some disciplinary or interdisciplinary ways of understanding must exist or be taught along side of who these people are, where they live, and why it is important to know something about them. Students need knowledge and sound methodology in order to slice through the thickets of culture.
This two-tiered approach is sometimes daunting if the discourse is in a second language, since primary sources and public discourse are always in a people's own language. Admittedly, much today is available in English, plus one can often access facts and information about another culture or people in one's own language. But although facts and information are important, alone they are not enough. Factual information always begs the question of so what. Some scaffolding for knowledge and understanding needs to be built to hold raw data. And these scaffolds are more and more available in one's native language through different departments in institutions of higher learning, the library and bookstores, and the Internet.
Gaining greater understanding of the other, and thereby ourselves, is what we can agree on as the why for Cultural Studies, but to what end? The application of understanding is communication, or more accurately it is interaction involving what we know and the successful transmission-reception of same. The foundation for this is literacy, cultural literacy.
Literacy as not just the structure of the language and its vocabulary, but also broad and shared knowledge. When it comes to understanding the other, we need to know a lot of what they know. Shared contexts inform our words and deeds. Cultural literacy then is the names, phrases, events, artifacts, and other items that are familiar to the natives allowing them to communicate, work, and live together. What constitutes this body of knowledge? and if it can be listed and defined, will it help the outsider discover the other? Yes. This is the contention here.
Cultural studies is then information about people and peoples and their places. It is about history, arts, artifacts, and the values and themes they are concerned about. Cultural studies is also about their place in the world developmentally and relationally. Not finally, Cultural Studies is about the unique ways people and a people communicate among themselves and with others in their language.
How does one learn this stuff of the essence of what it is to be of and from one nation or group other than one's own? Admittedly, no one class or course or field of study will provide the whole picture. But the study of ourselves and others can take a middle yet practical road, and one specific to future teachers of English.
Briefly.
- In order to have basic and shared knowledge of a people or country, one must know what they know (cultural literacy).
- In order to understand their current place and development, one must know their past (geography and history).
- In order to access the native culture in its own words, one must hear or read its memorable words and know which it considers representative and important (literature and writing).
- In order to assess what the other values, one must examine what they say about what they do, or what their artifacts are (cultural insights).
- And in order to acquire an attitude of constant consciousness about language to be learned or taught, one must experience as much of the target/native language as possible (language studies).
July 5, 2007
Some such art
The music of the words
and the gaze into worlds
have brought me to this:
Let what is be what I see.
Have what should be what we do.
And the marriage of these, splendor.
Isn't poetry, or some such art,
the way we would of it--
it concrete,
and not more,
and no less,
perfect in perfection,
to enjoy and inspire?
Tis so. Tis so.
and the gaze into worlds
have brought me to this:
Let what is be what I see.
Have what should be what we do.
And the marriage of these, splendor.
Isn't poetry, or some such art,
the way we would of it--
it concrete,
and not more,
and no less,
perfect in perfection,
to enjoy and inspire?
Tis so. Tis so.
July 3, 2007
I am your teacher.
The best learning is designing and enacting experiences which will consume and exhume us. The best of these is like a great feast. You can't get enough of all the good things to devour. The best of these experiences also brings new life and vigor to dormant or deadened parts of ourselves. We sometines need to awaken suddenly and force march to places we've never been before with the urgency that we know we are late but we hope to get there as soon as possible.
The problem with school and education is we think teachers should do this great and dirty work for us. But I don't do great and dirty work like that. That is for the teacher within you. I am just here to invite you to the feast and whisper from time to time, "Wake up."
The problem with school and education is we think teachers should do this great and dirty work for us. But I don't do great and dirty work like that. That is for the teacher within you. I am just here to invite you to the feast and whisper from time to time, "Wake up."
AS syllabus
KAJ-->FP TU v Liberci, 3. ročník, ZS 2006/2007 (studijní obor anglický jazyk) AMERICKÉ STUDIE 1(1+1 z) (2 kredity) – sylabus
Instructor: Kevin Mactavish, Ph.D., Building S, Room 606, Ex. 4267
Aims: Cultural literacy is the basic knowledge and awarenesses that we need to understand those from a different country or culture. This course aims to increase all of these--knowledge, awareness, understanding--of the United States of America and its people, from its beginnings to 1900.
The focus of this course is an introduction to the field of American Studies, and specifically to America's past, wherein present day phenomena, including aspects of American English and culture, have their roots.
This is a blended learning course, part online and part with the teacher in person. It is also a course that endorses common learning outcomes for all students and unique learning outcomes for each.
Schedule: (tentative)
1. (Even Calendar Week) Lecture: "Administrivia" and Introduction (in class) and Pre-test (online)
Seminar A: How do you know what you know?
2. (Odd Calendar Week) Seminar B and C: How do you know what you know?
3. Lecture: What is American Studies? and Penetrating Culture (both online)
Seminar A: Penetrating Culture, Washington Crossing the Delaware
4. Seminar B and C: Penetrating Culture, Washington Crossing the Delaware
5. Lecture: Getting Started with American Studies (online)
Seminar A: Literature Topic (TBA)
6. Seminar B and C: Literature Topic (TBA)
7. Lecture: An American Fairy Tale (evening film and discussion) and Mid-term test (online)
Seminar A: Student Presentations
8. Seminar B and C: Student Presentations, facilitated by student(s)
9. Lecture: Reading, Founding Documents (online)
Seminar A: Student Presentations, facilitated by student(s)
10. Seminar B and C: Student Presentations, facilitated by student(s)
11. Lecture: History and Literature (online practice test)
Seminar A: Student Presentations
12. Seminar B and C: Student Presentations
Christmas
13. (Odd Week) Seminar B and C: First sitting, end-of-term test OR Review and Conclusion
14. (Even Week) Seminar A: Second sitting, end-of-term test OR Review and Conclusion
Assessment: This course follows the departmental policy of continuous assessment. Students should continuously show that they are making progress. An end-of-term written test may be given. Students passing any tests and completing all other work including readings will get credit.
Readings and Resources: These provide the core readings and resources for the course.
Available from Knihovna Technické univerzity v Liberci
(Citations per OPAC)
Author: High, Peter B.
Title: Outline of American literature
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher/year: London : Longman, 1986
Physical descr. : 256 s. : il.
Signatures: A 35843
Author: O'Callaghan, Bryn
Title: <>illustrated history of the USA
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher/year: Harlow : Longman, 1990
Physical descr. : 144 s. : il.
Signatures: A 54570
The course Web site also has links to required primary and secondary source materials. See http://wbl-en.com/sl.
Recommended readings and additional information are below.
Date: September 15, 2006
---
Participation: Participating in class, or in tutorial or other sessions, and online from start to finish will show that a student is making progress.
Participation is defined as contributing to one's own learning and that of others. Assignments must be turned in on time and be the student's own work.
Copying from someone else without mentioning it and without including a citation will show you are not participating. Not participating in this way results in no credit for the term or course.
Readings and Resources: These provide the core readings and resources for the course.
Available from Knihovna Technické univerzity v Liberci
(Citations per OPAC)
Required:
Author: High, Peter B.
Title: Outline of American literature
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher/year: London : Longman, 1986
Physical descr. : 256 s. : il.
Signatures: A 35843
Author: O'Callaghan, Bryn
Title: <>illustrated history of the USA
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher/year: Harlow : Longman, 1990
Physical descr. : 144 s. : il.
Signatures: A 54570
The course Web site also has links to required primary and secondary source materials.
Recommended:
Author: Inge, M. Thomas
Title: A nineteenth-century American reader
Publisher/year: Washington : United States Information Agency, 1991
Physical descr. : xx, 584 s. : il.
Signatures: A 37949
[selections only]
Title: An Outline of American History
Edition: 1. vyd.
Publisher/year: Washington : United States Information Agency, 1994
Physical descr. : 407 s.
Signatures: A 38387
Author: Birdsall, [written by Stephen S.
Florin], John
Title: Outline of American geography : regional landscapes of the United States
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher/year: [Washington : United States information agency], 1992
Physical descr. : 197 s. : il.
Signatures: A 47808
Clack, George (ed.). Outline of U.S. History. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. 2005.
Available from the Instructor (for a 200 CZK deposit)
Author: Inge, M. Thomas
Title: A nineteenth-century American reader
Publisher/year: Washington : United States Information Agency, 1991
Physical descr. : xx, 584 s. : il.
Signatures: A 37949
[Available from the Instructor (200 CZK deposit).]
and
Lemay, J.A. Leo (ed.), An Early American Reader. Washington, D.C.: United States Information Agency. 1991.
[Available from the Instructor (200 CZK deposit).]
Commitment:
In-class and online (required) = 21 hours (estimate)
Out-of-class (study time plus online resources) = 31 hours (estimate)
Total = 52 hours
Topics/Key Questions:
What is this discipline called American Studies?
What information is essential for cultural literacy?
How can we understand America and Americans?
What are some specific insights into America's past?
Objectives: As a result of this course, students should be able to:
* describe American Studies as an academic discipline;
* write general outlines for the history and literature of the US to 1900, and give details for at least two or three topics in each of these outlines;
* list ten major American authors to 1900 and the title and character of one or two of their writings; or alternatively,
* read and report on a list of required readings;
* describe the requirements for valid and useful descriptions of a people; and
* demonstrate an understanding of American culture by giving a rich interpretation of a cultural artifact prior to 1900.
Grading Scheme: (most common)
1 = 9, 10 points (for best work)
2 = 7, 8 (for above average work)
3 = 5, 6 (for average work)
Failing = 1, 2, 3, 4 points (for something)
0 = 0 (for no work)
This course also tries to assess whether or not students show separate and connected ways of knowing. How facts relate to one another is important.
Prerequisites: Upper intermediate level English proficiency; Introduction to Cultural Studies or a related course.
Instructor: Kevin Mactavish, Ph.D., Building S, Room 606, Ex. 4267
Aims: Cultural literacy is the basic knowledge and awarenesses that we need to understand those from a different country or culture. This course aims to increase all of these--knowledge, awareness, understanding--of the United States of America and its people, from its beginnings to 1900.
The focus of this course is an introduction to the field of American Studies, and specifically to America's past, wherein present day phenomena, including aspects of American English and culture, have their roots.
This is a blended learning course, part online and part with the teacher in person. It is also a course that endorses common learning outcomes for all students and unique learning outcomes for each.
Schedule: (tentative)
1. (Even Calendar Week) Lecture: "Administrivia" and Introduction (in class) and Pre-test (online)
Seminar A: How do you know what you know?
2. (Odd Calendar Week) Seminar B and C: How do you know what you know?
3. Lecture: What is American Studies? and Penetrating Culture (both online)
Seminar A: Penetrating Culture, Washington Crossing the Delaware
4. Seminar B and C: Penetrating Culture, Washington Crossing the Delaware
5. Lecture: Getting Started with American Studies (online)
Seminar A: Literature Topic (TBA)
6. Seminar B and C: Literature Topic (TBA)
7. Lecture: An American Fairy Tale (evening film and discussion) and Mid-term test (online)
Seminar A: Student Presentations
8. Seminar B and C: Student Presentations, facilitated by student(s)
9. Lecture: Reading, Founding Documents (online)
Seminar A: Student Presentations, facilitated by student(s)
10. Seminar B and C: Student Presentations, facilitated by student(s)
11. Lecture: History and Literature (online practice test)
Seminar A: Student Presentations
12. Seminar B and C: Student Presentations
Christmas
13. (Odd Week) Seminar B and C: First sitting, end-of-term test OR Review and Conclusion
14. (Even Week) Seminar A: Second sitting, end-of-term test OR Review and Conclusion
Assessment: This course follows the departmental policy of continuous assessment. Students should continuously show that they are making progress. An end-of-term written test may be given. Students passing any tests and completing all other work including readings will get credit.
Readings and Resources: These provide the core readings and resources for the course.
Available from Knihovna Technické univerzity v Liberci
(Citations per OPAC)
Author: High, Peter B.
Title: Outline of American literature
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher/year: London : Longman, 1986
Physical descr. : 256 s. : il.
Signatures: A 35843
Author: O'Callaghan, Bryn
Title: <
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher/year: Harlow : Longman, 1990
Physical descr. : 144 s. : il.
Signatures: A 54570
The course Web site also has links to required primary and secondary source materials. See http://wbl-en.com/sl.
Recommended readings and additional information are below.
Date: September 15, 2006
---
Participation: Participating in class, or in tutorial or other sessions, and online from start to finish will show that a student is making progress.
Participation is defined as contributing to one's own learning and that of others. Assignments must be turned in on time and be the student's own work.
Copying from someone else without mentioning it and without including a citation will show you are not participating. Not participating in this way results in no credit for the term or course.
Readings and Resources: These provide the core readings and resources for the course.
Available from Knihovna Technické univerzity v Liberci
(Citations per OPAC)
Required:
Author: High, Peter B.
Title: Outline of American literature
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher/year: London : Longman, 1986
Physical descr. : 256 s. : il.
Signatures: A 35843
Author: O'Callaghan, Bryn
Title: <
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher/year: Harlow : Longman, 1990
Physical descr. : 144 s. : il.
Signatures: A 54570
The course Web site also has links to required primary and secondary source materials.
Recommended:
Author: Inge, M. Thomas
Title: A nineteenth-century American reader
Publisher/year: Washington : United States Information Agency, 1991
Physical descr. : xx, 584 s. : il.
Signatures: A 37949
[selections only]
Title: An Outline of American History
Edition: 1. vyd.
Publisher/year: Washington : United States Information Agency, 1994
Physical descr. : 407 s.
Signatures: A 38387
Author: Birdsall, [written by Stephen S.
Florin], John
Title: Outline of American geography : regional landscapes of the United States
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher/year: [Washington : United States information agency], 1992
Physical descr. : 197 s. : il.
Signatures: A 47808
Clack, George (ed.). Outline of U.S. History. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. 2005.
Available from the Instructor (for a 200 CZK deposit)
Author: Inge, M. Thomas
Title: A nineteenth-century American reader
Publisher/year: Washington : United States Information Agency, 1991
Physical descr. : xx, 584 s. : il.
Signatures: A 37949
[Available from the Instructor (200 CZK deposit).]
and
Lemay, J.A. Leo (ed.), An Early American Reader. Washington, D.C.: United States Information Agency. 1991.
[Available from the Instructor (200 CZK deposit).]
Commitment:
In-class and online (required) = 21 hours (estimate)
Out-of-class (study time plus online resources) = 31 hours (estimate)
Total = 52 hours
Topics/Key Questions:
What is this discipline called American Studies?
What information is essential for cultural literacy?
How can we understand America and Americans?
What are some specific insights into America's past?
Objectives: As a result of this course, students should be able to:
* describe American Studies as an academic discipline;
* write general outlines for the history and literature of the US to 1900, and give details for at least two or three topics in each of these outlines;
* list ten major American authors to 1900 and the title and character of one or two of their writings; or alternatively,
* read and report on a list of required readings;
* describe the requirements for valid and useful descriptions of a people; and
* demonstrate an understanding of American culture by giving a rich interpretation of a cultural artifact prior to 1900.
Grading Scheme: (most common)
1 = 9, 10 points (for best work)
2 = 7, 8 (for above average work)
3 = 5, 6 (for average work)
Failing = 1, 2, 3, 4 points (for something)
0 = 0 (for no work)
This course also tries to assess whether or not students show separate and connected ways of knowing. How facts relate to one another is important.
Prerequisites: Upper intermediate level English proficiency; Introduction to Cultural Studies or a related course.
Cultural studies
[I taught a Cultural Studies course at the Technical University of Liberec during the Winter Term of 2006-07 called "Life and Institutions of English-speaking Countries." Here are some highlights. I place these here to remind myself of how difficult inter-cultural relations are to manifest. And manifesting probably doesn't come from cognitive and rational stuff--such as this.]
COURSE CONTENT RESOURCE 1
Orienting generalizations can help us remember how we are the same and how we are different across cultures. They can also guide us in making statements about what we know and what we don't about the other.
1. We seek truth, beauty, and goodness--what can be observed or demonstrated as true (science), what attracts me and I find pleasing (art), and what we together feel or value (culture).
2. We can start from what we think culture is. "Everything characteristic of or produced by a group of people" is one definition.
What I find characteristic may be the same or different from my own culture. Intercultural understanding starts at home.
3. We need all knowledge perspectives--single, plural, inside, outside, the I , the We, the It, and the Its (things plural)--to understand culture.
No one (perspective) has all the answers.
4. The knowledge we claim to have about a culture is determined by following a method for a given perspective, looking at the results the method produces, and confirming if others agree.
It is beer experts who best can tell us which beer is the best . . . after, of course, extensive tasting, I mean testing.
Final example. Eat what an American says is a "good hamburger." Then ask: Do I like it? This is the personal test. Do people who know hamburgers like it? The We test. Is it made of the right ingredients? The It test--for a true hamburger. Does it serve the nutritional or economic or other needs of the people who eat them? The Its test.
Knowledge claim. Different and not always compatible answers to the questions are the rule. You might not like the good hamburger, but it might serve key interests (e.g., economic, social) of the culture or country.
---
COURSE CONTENT RESOURCE 2
Questions, questions, questions
In addition to questions you have of your study or topic, there are always more. Here are some possibilities categorized according to perspective.
Formalist (structural)
How do various elements of the object of study reinforce meanings?
How are the elements related to the whole? What is the major organizing principle?
What issues does the subject raise? How does the structure resolve these issues?
Biographical
Are there facts about people's lives relevant to your understanding of the object of study?
Are people and events seen as bound to their lives and experiences? Are these factual?
How are people's lives reflected in the object of study?
Psychological
How does the object of study reflect personal psychology(ies)?
What do people's emotions and behavior show about their psychological states?
Are psychological matters such as repression, dreams, and desire shown consciously or unconsciously?
Historical
How does the object of study reflect its period?
What influences helped to shape the form and content of the object of study?
How important is the historical context to understanding?
Marxist
How are class differences presented in the object of study?
Are people aware of the economic and social forces that affect them?
What ideological values are explicit or implicit? Does these challenge or affirm the social order?
Feminist (gender)
Is the form or content of the object of study influenced by gender? your gender?
What are the relationships between men and women? Are these relationships sources of conflict?
Does the object of study challenge or affirm traditional ideas about women? and men?
Mythological
How does the object of study resemble other stories, settings, symbols, etc.?
Are archetypes present, such as quests, initiations, scapegoats, withdrawals and returns?
Do people undergo transformations, such as from innocence to experience?
Reader-Response
How do your own experiences and expectations affect your understanding?
What is object of study's original or intended audience or participant?
To what extent are you similar to or different from that audience or participant?
Deconstruction
How are contradictory and opposing meanings expressed in the object of study?
How does meaning break down in the language of the object of study?
Would you say that definitive meanings are impossible to determine?
How are implicit ideological values revealed in the object of study?
---
GUIDE TO COMPLETING THE SEMESTER ASSIGNMENT
Ways of approaching your project, or study.
One has to understand what one is looking at before making evaluative statements, or statements of agreement or disagreement. Makes sense, no?
Two requirements for being able to understand an authentic cultural (or literary, historic, etc.) phenomenon are to
1. Hold it at arm's length (impersonally look at it), and
2. Try to see it from one or more points of view.
One or more people can do this together. A common description for this interpretive activity is academic discourse.
Academic discourse is grounded in dialectics (logic and reasoning), and questioning. Ask as many questions as you can about your object of study before and as the discourse proceeds, and you are well on your way to grasping what it is, what it means, what its context is.
As a proof of competence in understanding, you make observations and statements and insights, and you do this in different ways--online and in the classroom.
By writing it all out, others can look at what you say, discuss that, and come to an understanding. The My Study space is reserved for this particular way of learning that connects you and your work with others and theirs.
To say you understand is to make a knowledge claim. How are these made?
* Follow a method (particular to your point of view).
* Look at the results (do the data show something).
* Ask if experts agree (cite references).
We have highlighted some points of view or perspectives thus far that we can use. Although it was rightly pointed out that perhaps your education does not equip you to use any of these as perhaps an expert would, there is enough awareness and knowledge to make use of selected ones to make tentative understanding/knowledge claims.
---
CLASSROOM HANDOUT
KEY QUESTION: What in your view should be the main aims of a ‘cultural syllabus’ in EFL/ESL programs and how might these be best achieved?
OUR COURSE DESCRIPTION: The aim of the course is to deal with a variety of topics concerning English-speaking countries and to revise and extend essential background information in history, literature, social and cultural life, and basic institutions. The actual program will be adjusted to individual student needs and interests.
SUB QUESTIONS
1. Why study culture at all?
2. What are some of the problems in deciding on a cultural syllabus?
3. Should the syllabus include Places?
4. Should the syllabus include History?
5. Should the syllabus include Institutions?
6. Should the syllabus include Art, Music and Literature?
7. Should the syllabus include Artifacts and Popular Culture?
8. Should the syllabus build from The Students’ Situation?
9. Other?
SOME ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:
+ knowledge about the target culture
+ awareness of its characteristics and differences between the target culture and the learner’s own country
+ a research-minded outlook
+ an emphasis on understanding socio-cultural implications of language and language use
+ affective goals--interest, intellectual curiosity, and empathy
‘Why should students learn about this?’ needs to be asked about each suggested component of the syllabus.
‘A language is part of a culture and culture is part of language; the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture’. But how do you strip away the surplus culture and find those aspects which have a direct and obvious link to language?
CONCLUSION: Do we have a new course description? what should the syllabus contain? would you suggest a new title for the course?
---
END-OF-TERM ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS AND KEY
RECALL what you wrote on the assessment, and then look below to see suggested and correct answers. Some answers are and have been on the Web site, so you may have to look at the links again to refresh your memory.
IF you wish to go over your assessment in person, please come by the office. Discussion can clarify or enrich your feedback beyond what can be done here.
1. Give three reasons for studying Native Alaskans in a course on English-speaking peoples?
Three possible reasons include the fact that these Alaskans influence the English of Alaska and elsewhere (e.g., Inuit words such as mukluk); knowing another culture through English helps us understand that plus our own; specialist words, such as medical or sociological terms, can be learned.
2. We have highlighted some points of view or perspectives to study English-speaking peoples. Although your education may not equip you to use these as an expert, we can ask different kinds of questions. Match the questions with the study approach.
[course Web site has more info]
3. Orienting generalizations can help us remember how we are the same and how we are different across cultures. They can also guide us in making statements about what we know and what we don't about the other. What would be a good orienting generalization for a course where students from the Czech Republic study the "Life and Institutions of English-speaking Countries"?
[course Web site has more info]
4. Comparison is one way to study a foreign country or culture. What is an example of things to compare?
You need to pick something from one culture (your own, or one you know perfectly) and one from the target culture. For example, murder and violent crime rates--in both cultures. Only by comparison do we get an insight into a phenomenon. "Without a no there is no yes."
5. "It is beer experts who best can tell us which beer is the best." How is this statement a guide in understanding a different culture?
This is the third of the three principles for how you know what you know. Thus, it is people who study countries and cultures that can confirm or deny our tentative conclusions.
[course Web site has more info]
6. Before you make evaluative statements, or statements of agreement or disagreement about a people or what they do, what must happen for you and how can it happen?
You need to understand at beyond a surface level. One way is to use informants. (See the culture penetration model.) Another is to use a method, like feminism to study phenomena.
[course Web site has more info]
7. Two requirements for studying an authentic cultural phenomenon are to, 1) hold it at arm's length, and 2) try to see it from one or more points of view. We call this attitude and activity what? Describe briefly the nature of the text produced by following these principles.
Academic discourse.
The text is in the third person following the listed principles. The text does not typically indicate opinions, agreement, or whether or not the author likes something. It is more descriptive and analytical, not personal.
[course Web site has more info]
8. "Follow a method. Look at the results. Ask if experts agree." These steps describe what?
Making a knowledge claim, or how do you know what you know.
9. "Culture is the knowledge people use to generate and interpret social behavior." From your general knowledge, the study you did, or one you read for the course, give an example of cultural knowledge and the corresponding social behavior.
Example.
freedom of religion in America = many different Christian religions there (Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, etc.)
10. Sylvie Vichnarová interviewed three people who had experienced English-speaking cultures. And there was a model given in class and on the Web site for penetrating a culture. Comment on Sylvie's study in terms of this model. Then say what we can conclude from her study, but not using the model.
The first question is difficult. And a number of answers are possible. One possible answer is that the problem appears to be in the depth of insights given by the visitors to the other countries. They seem to have been tourists without getting at deeper reasons why people do what they do. Although the questions to each respondent were the same, what each looked at or commented on was different.
What we can conclude from the study also provides a number of possibilities. The safest one is that the methodology used was carefully structured. Its results are three individual bytes of qualitative data which may or may not be valid if more respondents were to be asked. No safe generalization can be made across the respondents without rigorous analysis.
The study provides a rich text and rich texts for further study.
11. Here are some lyrics from a song.
I got a girl, she's long and tall,
sleeps in the kitchen with her feet in the hall.
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got 'em for sale.
Yes she got 'em for sale. Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got 'em for sale.
She got two for a nickel, four for a dime,
Would sell you more, but they ain't none of mine.
According to Šimon Oldrich's study, what would make this song fit into the category of blues music?
It is both happy and possibly sad--because the speaker has none. Sadness or a kind of depression is the blues; but happiness is also possible in this music genre.
12. What can a pop culture topic like MTV and its influence teach us about the English language?
The show, often mostly in English around the world, spreads the language, perhaps especially to a certain segment of the population. And because the show is pop and oriented to music and lifestyles, English is the key or ticket to understanding and appreciation. English is easily learned if delivered via this medium.
COURSE CONTENT RESOURCE 1
Orienting generalizations can help us remember how we are the same and how we are different across cultures. They can also guide us in making statements about what we know and what we don't about the other.
1. We seek truth, beauty, and goodness--what can be observed or demonstrated as true (science), what attracts me and I find pleasing (art), and what we together feel or value (culture).
2. We can start from what we think culture is. "Everything characteristic of or produced by a group of people" is one definition.
What I find characteristic may be the same or different from my own culture. Intercultural understanding starts at home.
3. We need all knowledge perspectives--single, plural, inside, outside, the I , the We, the It, and the Its (things plural)--to understand culture.
No one (perspective) has all the answers.
4. The knowledge we claim to have about a culture is determined by following a method for a given perspective, looking at the results the method produces, and confirming if others agree.
It is beer experts who best can tell us which beer is the best . . . after, of course, extensive tasting, I mean testing.
Final example. Eat what an American says is a "good hamburger." Then ask: Do I like it? This is the personal test. Do people who know hamburgers like it? The We test. Is it made of the right ingredients? The It test--for a true hamburger. Does it serve the nutritional or economic or other needs of the people who eat them? The Its test.
Knowledge claim. Different and not always compatible answers to the questions are the rule. You might not like the good hamburger, but it might serve key interests (e.g., economic, social) of the culture or country.
---
COURSE CONTENT RESOURCE 2
Questions, questions, questions
In addition to questions you have of your study or topic, there are always more. Here are some possibilities categorized according to perspective.
Formalist (structural)
How do various elements of the object of study reinforce meanings?
How are the elements related to the whole? What is the major organizing principle?
What issues does the subject raise? How does the structure resolve these issues?
Biographical
Are there facts about people's lives relevant to your understanding of the object of study?
Are people and events seen as bound to their lives and experiences? Are these factual?
How are people's lives reflected in the object of study?
Psychological
How does the object of study reflect personal psychology(ies)?
What do people's emotions and behavior show about their psychological states?
Are psychological matters such as repression, dreams, and desire shown consciously or unconsciously?
Historical
How does the object of study reflect its period?
What influences helped to shape the form and content of the object of study?
How important is the historical context to understanding?
Marxist
How are class differences presented in the object of study?
Are people aware of the economic and social forces that affect them?
What ideological values are explicit or implicit? Does these challenge or affirm the social order?
Feminist (gender)
Is the form or content of the object of study influenced by gender? your gender?
What are the relationships between men and women? Are these relationships sources of conflict?
Does the object of study challenge or affirm traditional ideas about women? and men?
Mythological
How does the object of study resemble other stories, settings, symbols, etc.?
Are archetypes present, such as quests, initiations, scapegoats, withdrawals and returns?
Do people undergo transformations, such as from innocence to experience?
Reader-Response
How do your own experiences and expectations affect your understanding?
What is object of study's original or intended audience or participant?
To what extent are you similar to or different from that audience or participant?
Deconstruction
How are contradictory and opposing meanings expressed in the object of study?
How does meaning break down in the language of the object of study?
Would you say that definitive meanings are impossible to determine?
How are implicit ideological values revealed in the object of study?
---
GUIDE TO COMPLETING THE SEMESTER ASSIGNMENT
Ways of approaching your project, or study.
One has to understand what one is looking at before making evaluative statements, or statements of agreement or disagreement. Makes sense, no?
Two requirements for being able to understand an authentic cultural (or literary, historic, etc.) phenomenon are to
1. Hold it at arm's length (impersonally look at it), and
2. Try to see it from one or more points of view.
One or more people can do this together. A common description for this interpretive activity is academic discourse.
Academic discourse is grounded in dialectics (logic and reasoning), and questioning. Ask as many questions as you can about your object of study before and as the discourse proceeds, and you are well on your way to grasping what it is, what it means, what its context is.
As a proof of competence in understanding, you make observations and statements and insights, and you do this in different ways--online and in the classroom.
By writing it all out, others can look at what you say, discuss that, and come to an understanding. The My Study space is reserved for this particular way of learning that connects you and your work with others and theirs.
To say you understand is to make a knowledge claim. How are these made?
* Follow a method (particular to your point of view).
* Look at the results (do the data show something).
* Ask if experts agree (cite references).
We have highlighted some points of view or perspectives thus far that we can use. Although it was rightly pointed out that perhaps your education does not equip you to use any of these as perhaps an expert would, there is enough awareness and knowledge to make use of selected ones to make tentative understanding/knowledge claims.
---
CLASSROOM HANDOUT
KEY QUESTION: What in your view should be the main aims of a ‘cultural syllabus’ in EFL/ESL programs and how might these be best achieved?
OUR COURSE DESCRIPTION: The aim of the course is to deal with a variety of topics concerning English-speaking countries and to revise and extend essential background information in history, literature, social and cultural life, and basic institutions. The actual program will be adjusted to individual student needs and interests.
SUB QUESTIONS
1. Why study culture at all?
2. What are some of the problems in deciding on a cultural syllabus?
3. Should the syllabus include Places?
4. Should the syllabus include History?
5. Should the syllabus include Institutions?
6. Should the syllabus include Art, Music and Literature?
7. Should the syllabus include Artifacts and Popular Culture?
8. Should the syllabus build from The Students’ Situation?
9. Other?
SOME ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:
+ knowledge about the target culture
+ awareness of its characteristics and differences between the target culture and the learner’s own country
+ a research-minded outlook
+ an emphasis on understanding socio-cultural implications of language and language use
+ affective goals--interest, intellectual curiosity, and empathy
‘Why should students learn about this?’ needs to be asked about each suggested component of the syllabus.
‘A language is part of a culture and culture is part of language; the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture’. But how do you strip away the surplus culture and find those aspects which have a direct and obvious link to language?
CONCLUSION: Do we have a new course description? what should the syllabus contain? would you suggest a new title for the course?
---
END-OF-TERM ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS AND KEY
RECALL what you wrote on the assessment, and then look below to see suggested and correct answers. Some answers are and have been on the Web site, so you may have to look at the links again to refresh your memory.
IF you wish to go over your assessment in person, please come by the office. Discussion can clarify or enrich your feedback beyond what can be done here.
1. Give three reasons for studying Native Alaskans in a course on English-speaking peoples?
Three possible reasons include the fact that these Alaskans influence the English of Alaska and elsewhere (e.g., Inuit words such as mukluk); knowing another culture through English helps us understand that plus our own; specialist words, such as medical or sociological terms, can be learned.
2. We have highlighted some points of view or perspectives to study English-speaking peoples. Although your education may not equip you to use these as an expert, we can ask different kinds of questions. Match the questions with the study approach.
[course Web site has more info]
3. Orienting generalizations can help us remember how we are the same and how we are different across cultures. They can also guide us in making statements about what we know and what we don't about the other. What would be a good orienting generalization for a course where students from the Czech Republic study the "Life and Institutions of English-speaking Countries"?
[course Web site has more info]
4. Comparison is one way to study a foreign country or culture. What is an example of things to compare?
You need to pick something from one culture (your own, or one you know perfectly) and one from the target culture. For example, murder and violent crime rates--in both cultures. Only by comparison do we get an insight into a phenomenon. "Without a no there is no yes."
5. "It is beer experts who best can tell us which beer is the best." How is this statement a guide in understanding a different culture?
This is the third of the three principles for how you know what you know. Thus, it is people who study countries and cultures that can confirm or deny our tentative conclusions.
[course Web site has more info]
6. Before you make evaluative statements, or statements of agreement or disagreement about a people or what they do, what must happen for you and how can it happen?
You need to understand at beyond a surface level. One way is to use informants. (See the culture penetration model.) Another is to use a method, like feminism to study phenomena.
[course Web site has more info]
7. Two requirements for studying an authentic cultural phenomenon are to, 1) hold it at arm's length, and 2) try to see it from one or more points of view. We call this attitude and activity what? Describe briefly the nature of the text produced by following these principles.
Academic discourse.
The text is in the third person following the listed principles. The text does not typically indicate opinions, agreement, or whether or not the author likes something. It is more descriptive and analytical, not personal.
[course Web site has more info]
8. "Follow a method. Look at the results. Ask if experts agree." These steps describe what?
Making a knowledge claim, or how do you know what you know.
9. "Culture is the knowledge people use to generate and interpret social behavior." From your general knowledge, the study you did, or one you read for the course, give an example of cultural knowledge and the corresponding social behavior.
Example.
freedom of religion in America = many different Christian religions there (Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, etc.)
10. Sylvie Vichnarová interviewed three people who had experienced English-speaking cultures. And there was a model given in class and on the Web site for penetrating a culture. Comment on Sylvie's study in terms of this model. Then say what we can conclude from her study, but not using the model.
The first question is difficult. And a number of answers are possible. One possible answer is that the problem appears to be in the depth of insights given by the visitors to the other countries. They seem to have been tourists without getting at deeper reasons why people do what they do. Although the questions to each respondent were the same, what each looked at or commented on was different.
What we can conclude from the study also provides a number of possibilities. The safest one is that the methodology used was carefully structured. Its results are three individual bytes of qualitative data which may or may not be valid if more respondents were to be asked. No safe generalization can be made across the respondents without rigorous analysis.
The study provides a rich text and rich texts for further study.
11. Here are some lyrics from a song.
I got a girl, she's long and tall,
sleeps in the kitchen with her feet in the hall.
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got 'em for sale.
Yes she got 'em for sale. Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got 'em for sale.
She got two for a nickel, four for a dime,
Would sell you more, but they ain't none of mine.
According to Šimon Oldrich's study, what would make this song fit into the category of blues music?
It is both happy and possibly sad--because the speaker has none. Sadness or a kind of depression is the blues; but happiness is also possible in this music genre.
12. What can a pop culture topic like MTV and its influence teach us about the English language?
The show, often mostly in English around the world, spreads the language, perhaps especially to a certain segment of the population. And because the show is pop and oriented to music and lifestyles, English is the key or ticket to understanding and appreciation. English is easily learned if delivered via this medium.
Speakers bureau
Web Support for the Speakers Bureau
DRAFT: September 5, 2001
DRAFT: September 5, 2001
The basic structure for the Speakers Bureau is up on the Web for review. However, it is not "apparently" accessible to the public. That linking and needed promotion will wait for any necessary approvals.
The intranet piece of the Bureau has faculty members self-registering, giving details about themselves and the topic(s) they wish to offer. Registration populates a members database and sends e-mail messages to the coordinator for the Bureau and the database administrator. The e-mail messages alert these people--perhaps one and the same person--of some activity. Database monitoring ensures that the public user on the Internet will read properly formatted entries.
The public user accesses the Speakers Bureau on the college Web site. From this location, s/he can evaluate a speaker's performance. Evaluate may be a strong word. Give feedback? The details of the form need to be worked out, but once submitted, the results are monitored by the coordinator and a copy sent to the speaker. The public user can also view the Bureau's speakers and what they are offer from this start page. From the results page, the user can request that speaker.
If the user makes a request, it goes via e-mail to the speaker, who is then to follow up as necessary. E-mail messages also go to the coordinator and database administrator, who monitor that the technology is working and what levels of activity the Bureau experiences via the Web. Requests are also dropped into a requests database which can be copied whenever anyone--the committee?--wishes to see a summary of requests and perform any analyses.
Transactions
Background*
Online voting as a process is much like that in so-called real life. One registers to vote. To do so, s/he proves his or her identity and eligibility to vote. Then when an election comes, s/he gets a ballot after s/he has shown proof of identity and appears on the list of eligible voters. The voter then votes using an authorized ballot and submits it to be counted.
In computerese this is registering to access a Web page form, getting an e-mail confirmation of registration with the address of the protected page, logging in by providing a user name and password to access it, accessing it, filling in the form, and submitting it.
Someone with access to the ballots (in a physical locked box or on a Web server) gathers the data, summarizes them, reports them, etc., including seeing that no unauthorized input is included. Or, this person gives the raw data to others to do with what is appropriate for indubitable results.
Admittedly, there is a difference between the online solution built for the Faculty Senate's study and that in real life in that a user name is associated with a ballot. In turn, that user name is associated with a person's e-mail address. If the e-mail address is "one eligible to vote," then the user name is accepted in its place as eligible. And if one wanted to see who voted which way or that, or wanted to rig the results somehow, that is possible, as it is using other voting procedures and media (e.g., paper ballots).
Who sees the file or files where user names are associated with e-mail addresses? The person with the permission to read that file on the Web server. This can be someone in Computing Services, or the election administrator, or the committee in charge of the election. Set it up one way or another and that will be who can read the different files.
The server makes three files in online voting:
1. A registrations file holding e-mail address, chosen or given user name, password, and date;
2. A user names file with encrypted passwords; and
3. A results file holding IP address, date, time, vote(s), and user name.
Whoever is authorized to examine these files for illegitimate votes (whether by ineligible voters or multiple voting) looks first at the registrations file to see if the e-mail addresses represent eligible voters. Next, s/he, or another person looks at the user names file to determine if only eligible user names have logged in to vote. Finally, the authorized person or election oversight body examines the results file to see that there is only one eligible user name per vote.
Those in charge of an election can set different levels of information access. In other words, the person charged with examining the registrations file only sees that and reports irregularities. The person or person charged with examining the user names file sees only that and reports these are the users (fictitious names, really) who logged in to vote. And the person or persons charged with examining the results file uses the irregularities reported above to weed out ineligible voters and deletes multiple votes by the same user name.
Checks and balances? You build them around what the technologies are capable of and provide you.
In lieu of a better mousetrap, this is the solution that has been built. Rapidly developing Web world tools and greater resources devoted to a more satisfactory solution bode well for WNCC's participation on the frontier of electronic democracy. For now, this is something to use, or not.
Secured Transactions, Medium-Tech Solution
A medium- to low-tech solution has been prepared to serve both online voting and logging evaluations. It is the result of developing a "voting/evaluation protocol" and then employing various Web technologies to actualize it. This is the protocol.
1. An administrator (in consultation with Web Support and a teacher or group interested in asking for a vote/poll) creates a transaction form;
2. The administrator announces the participation window and transaction procedures;
3. The administrator lists or receives a list of eligible users;
4. The user registers with his or her e-mail user name and any password;
5. The system (computing resource) distributes registration confirmation and the address (URL) of the transaction;
6. The user enters his or her e-mail user name and password;
7. The user accesses the transaction page, enters data, and submits them;
8. The system deters the user's return to the transaction page;
9. The administrator checks for duplicate transactions;
10. The administrator checks for unregistered users; and
11. The administrator collects and posts results.
Online voting as a process is much like that in so-called real life. One registers to vote. To do so, s/he proves his or her identity and eligibility to vote. Then when an election comes, s/he gets a ballot after s/he has shown proof of identity and appears on the list of eligible voters. The voter then votes using an authorized ballot and submits it to be counted.
In computerese this is registering to access a Web page form, getting an e-mail confirmation of registration with the address of the protected page, logging in by providing a user name and password to access it, accessing it, filling in the form, and submitting it.
Someone with access to the ballots (in a physical locked box or on a Web server) gathers the data, summarizes them, reports them, etc., including seeing that no unauthorized input is included. Or, this person gives the raw data to others to do with what is appropriate for indubitable results.
Admittedly, there is a difference between the online solution built for the Faculty Senate's study and that in real life in that a user name is associated with a ballot. In turn, that user name is associated with a person's e-mail address. If the e-mail address is "one eligible to vote," then the user name is accepted in its place as eligible. And if one wanted to see who voted which way or that, or wanted to rig the results somehow, that is possible, as it is using other voting procedures and media (e.g., paper ballots).
Who sees the file or files where user names are associated with e-mail addresses? The person with the permission to read that file on the Web server. This can be someone in Computing Services, or the election administrator, or the committee in charge of the election. Set it up one way or another and that will be who can read the different files.
The server makes three files in online voting:
1. A registrations file holding e-mail address, chosen or given user name, password, and date;
2. A user names file with encrypted passwords; and
3. A results file holding IP address, date, time, vote(s), and user name.
Whoever is authorized to examine these files for illegitimate votes (whether by ineligible voters or multiple voting) looks first at the registrations file to see if the e-mail addresses represent eligible voters. Next, s/he, or another person looks at the user names file to determine if only eligible user names have logged in to vote. Finally, the authorized person or election oversight body examines the results file to see that there is only one eligible user name per vote.
Those in charge of an election can set different levels of information access. In other words, the person charged with examining the registrations file only sees that and reports irregularities. The person or person charged with examining the user names file sees only that and reports these are the users (fictitious names, really) who logged in to vote. And the person or persons charged with examining the results file uses the irregularities reported above to weed out ineligible voters and deletes multiple votes by the same user name.
Checks and balances? You build them around what the technologies are capable of and provide you.
In lieu of a better mousetrap, this is the solution that has been built. Rapidly developing Web world tools and greater resources devoted to a more satisfactory solution bode well for WNCC's participation on the frontier of electronic democracy. For now, this is something to use, or not.
Secured Transactions, Medium-Tech Solution
A medium- to low-tech solution has been prepared to serve both online voting and logging evaluations. It is the result of developing a "voting/evaluation protocol" and then employing various Web technologies to actualize it. This is the protocol.
1. An administrator (in consultation with Web Support and a teacher or group interested in asking for a vote/poll) creates a transaction form;
2. The administrator announces the participation window and transaction procedures;
3. The administrator lists or receives a list of eligible users;
4. The user registers with his or her e-mail user name and any password;
5. The system (computing resource) distributes registration confirmation and the address (URL) of the transaction;
6. The user enters his or her e-mail user name and password;
7. The user accesses the transaction page, enters data, and submits them;
8. The system deters the user's return to the transaction page;
9. The administrator checks for duplicate transactions;
10. The administrator checks for unregistered users; and
11. The administrator collects and posts results.
See also the documentation and demonstration pages at:
http://www.wncc.nevada.edu/intranet/webdevelop
_____
* Prepared for discussion and consideration by the faculty of WNCC, about 2001 (e.g., for online voting, teacher/course evaluations).
W-PPS
W-PPS: Web-Based Program Planning and SchedulingPart I, Database Considerations
6/15/01
Background.
If a WNCC student wants ready access to current information about programs/degrees, courses, the master schedule, class schedules, open sections, instructors, and online course materials, this information is already available via several media, or we have the infrastructure to provide it. Centralizing this information such that via the Web the student can interactively "jump to" what s/he most needs and desires is a trend among Nevada's higher education Web sites and has been an informal goal for WNCC for about a year. Helping students plan a course of studies easily and determine the upcoming term's schedule for which to register are interests shared among many academic, administrative, and support services in the college.
For lack of a better name and to easily refer to this improvement in services for students, W-PPS has been initiated--Web-based Program Planning and Scheduling. This document addresses the first steps in bringing W-PPS live, the matter of a database, or the integration of databases and their tables.
Other Institutions.
Other Nevada institutions have the same goal and are working on related tasks, and they have realized them to one degree or another. Here is a brief summary of their states-of-the-art.
TMCC. TMCC has perhaps the closest approximation to what some at WNCC have been considering. At http://www.tmcc.edu/admissions/catalog/ the following appears.
Go To: Student Information, Program Worksheets, Course Descriptions, Appendices, Campus Maps, Faculty/Staff
Other Links: Admissions and Records, Financial Aid, Class Schedules
From the Go To links, the student can get general information, student services, Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files of each degree and certificate program, an alpha listing of courses, and appendices, which are policies, procedures, requirements. Faculty/Staff is a directory look-up.
Other Links takes you to class schedules, and from there you can get further details of the schedule for a given class.
Courses are read from a database (db) as is the schedule. You cannot go from schedule directly to the course description or instructor. However, this is a very good and user-friendly scheme for degrees/programs, courses, and schedule--plus easy access to instructor information.
CCSN. The schedule has a search feature. There is also a seat availablity feature in registration.
GBCC. The catalog is provided as PDF and .zip files.
UNR and UNLV. Extensive use of PDF. The schedule is on paper and in PDF, and these are deemed official.
Where we are.
WNCC combines PDF and "bulk" schedule information. The college also offers instructor look-up and links to their home pages. However, these are not fine-grained for the most part and not integrated. WNCC can evolve toward a better model, building upon the design and approaches represented above, what the college already has, and some basic questions that an integrated information access feature could address.
Registrant's Questions.
It is assumed a student is typically interested in one or more of the following.
1. What program/degree do I wish to pursue?
2. What is this course/class about?
3. Is it offered this term and where/how?
4. What section can I sign up for?
5. Is the section I want open?
6. Who is teaching the class?
7. Who is this instructor?
8. Does s/he have class materials online?
And not out of the realm of consideration,
9. What have former students of this course and
instructor said about their experiences?
10. Does the bookstore have the required texts?
Although all of these interests may not be of concern to a given student, nor in this order, an interactive body of information could help in the planning and decision-making processes involved in pursuing training and education at WNCC.
Challenge.
Putting together the Web features and tools needed to accomplish information access of this magnitude will take the talents and cooperation of a number of people, and the task will have to be achieved in increments given its breadth and complexity. However, the building blocks are almost ready at hand. Here are the beginning pieces followed by how, if necessary, they can be specifically converted into usable form.
* Programs_Degrees (requirements, descriptions, etc.)
* Courses (prefixes, credits, etc.)
* Master_Schedule (when, where offered)
* Schedule (when, where offered this term)
* Open_Sections (space available)
* Instructors (name, url, e-mail, etc.)
Programs_Degree--from .html versions of brochures/catalog.
1. Highlight the .htm file in a browser.
2. Paste the copy into a text editor.
3. Create a new Access db.
4. Copy and paste blocks of text into the db.
5. Create reports for printing or export in .csv for MySql and the Web.
This appears to be the easiest way to create this table of the db the first time. Once created, the it can be maintained.
Courses--from the PDF version of the Catalog.
1. Highlight one page of the catalog-courses section. Copy it.
2. Paste into a text editor.
3. Remove all carriage returns. Also remove any text that is not a course record like a new section heading (i.e., import only by using the same class prefixes).
4. Search for all instances of • (e.g., from the 1999-2000 catalog) and replace with carriage returns. This separates the records.
5. Save the file.
6. Open Access and get external data, the above-saved file using the defaults that Access recommends.
Once the file is imported into a table print reports if desired and export in delimited text only file (.csv) for Web-accessible db.
Master_Schedule [insert content here]
Schedule--from SIS [correct?]
1. Open .exl or other compatible db import file.
2. Import into an Access db.
3. Export as .csv for MySql and the Web.
This appears to be the easiest way to build the schedule table each time it is good enough to publish in print and periodically during the period when classes are cancelled/added during registrations.
Open_Sections [insert content here]
Instructors.
The online directory look-up can include the instructor's home page with links to classes and materials. Instructors are also listed by courses taught in the schedule.
W-PPS.
The technologies that integrate and make this information easily accessible via the Internet might be called a Web-based Program Planning and Scheduling tool (W-PPS). To get a working version of W-PPS up and running without exhaustive and time-consuming conversion work the following interactive features and interfaces are proposed.
Interactive Features.
1. Search/look-up feature from every page opening in the same window for:
* Programs_Degrees, driven by PDF files/db
* Courses, driven by db
* Master_Schedule, driven by db/PDF
* Schedule, driven by db
* Open_Sections, driven by db
* Instructors, driven by db
Each of these may have additional fields to choose from. For example, if looking into the schedule, the student may want to look up by instructor, or call number, etc.
2. Direct link to registration opening in a new window.
3. Direct links to faculty pages and the Virtual College.
The interfaces for W-PPS would consist of standard header and footer for the main level pages. The body or center of the Web page would have the interactive features and search results particular to the "where" the user is at any given point. Successive windows would open with each new penetration into the depths of information. This way the user can go back to the registration or other windows and compare or supply information as needed.
DB Considerations.
The depths of information are represented by the tables in the database(s). At this writing, these tables would look something like the following, with the key (unique data for one field ) of Class_Title, the field common across most tables and PDF files. If you know the course/class title you should be able to get most other information needed. (If you want to take a course and see how it fits into a course of studies, this is not possible given this design and planned state-of-the-art for W-PPS.)
* Programs_Degrees: [PDF/new db]
Type
Description
Requirements (core, emphasis, etc.)
Recommended
Notes
Sequence (by semester)
* Courses: [new db]
Subject_Area
Class_Title
Class_Prefix
Credits
Prerequisite
Description
Type (transfer, degree, etc.)
* Master_Schedule: [as exists or]
Class_Title
Term
Year
Class_Prefix
Campus
* Schedule: [as exists; field names to be confirmed]
Subject_Area
Class_Prefix
Call_Number
Class_Title
Prerequisite
Credits
Notes
Cost
Location
Day
Time
Date
Spaces
Instructor
* Open_Sections: [insert content here]
* Instructors: [as exists with field names]
Last_Name
First_Name
Title
Department
Campus
Building
Phone
Fax
URL
Next Steps.
Given concurrence on the above and having worked through the db considerations and set the tables up in Access and on the Web server, the next step is to provide the Web interface and programming necessary to get information out. That is, it should be possible to call information from the db and have the server and Web programming generate pages on the fly for users. The next part to W-PPS will address this part--challenge--of the W-PPS project.
Web-supported learning?
Proposed Scheme for Web-supported Learning*
1. Teachers and others set up and maintain content area sites based on Web site formatting standards, stylesheet, or templates. The content area sites are a part of CMC's intellectual property.
2. Content area sites have generic user accounts with a current faculty/staff person as lead.
3. A faculty/staff person can have a homepage linked from a content area site, for example for a CV or resume. (CMC needs to decide if faculty/staff member homepages are a part of the main site or not!)
3. Lead persons work with webmaster to set up/use Internet features (e.g., mysql).
_____
* Prepared for short presentation/persuasion for CMC Graduate School of Business, Celakovice, Czech Republic, 2003.
June 27, 2007
In the beginning
Noema (noematic), that to which we orient ourselves; it is the object referent of noesis, the noetic act.
Noesis, the interpretive act directed to an intentional object, the noema (or the noematic object).
Noematics, in this context, what is externalized, exposing understanding, albeit partial and a temporary negotiation.
Noesis, the interpretive act directed to an intentional object, the noema (or the noematic object).
Noematics, in this context, what is externalized, exposing understanding, albeit partial and a temporary negotiation.
June 26, 2007
6 'nd 3, so
[on the occasion of my nephew's wedding in '06]
Life is kinda like that.
Anticipation up.
Dips, thrills, clickety clack.
Pain and joy, little luck.
So it goes.
Marriage--Mother Coaster!
Up, down, and around.
Little love'll get mosta her.
And later wheels will sound.
So it goes.
Years and miles pass ya by
(before now joyous eyes),
so fast you'll wonder why.
Life'll hide in disguise.
So it goes.
This day be both of yours:
Remember well be wise
for ends come in "No more's,"
just fit us each our size.
That is it . . .
if I here were there to say so.
Life is kinda like that.
Anticipation up.
Dips, thrills, clickety clack.
Pain and joy, little luck.
So it goes.
Marriage--Mother Coaster!
Up, down, and around.
Little love'll get mosta her.
And later wheels will sound.
So it goes.
Years and miles pass ya by
(before now joyous eyes),
so fast you'll wonder why.
Life'll hide in disguise.
So it goes.
This day be both of yours:
Remember well be wise
for ends come in "No more's,"
just fit us each our size.
That is it . . .
if I here were there to say so.
untitled
Smoky pubs don't turn me on.
Talk and cheap philosophy be gone.
No one's that clever in those places.
If so, we'd've won our human races.
As it is day-in-day-out the same,
To keep the hoi polli insane.
And aspirant ones have their druthers,
But can't solve the quest of the others.
Talk and cheap philosophy be gone.
No one's that clever in those places.
If so, we'd've won our human races.
As it is day-in-day-out the same,
To keep the hoi polli insane.
And aspirant ones have their druthers,
But can't solve the quest of the others.
I accept
A rope dropped from the sky
Inviting us up for a better view.
But doubters doubted, including why.
It undulated gently in the breeze,
Innocent it was and said just is.
Some said portend! comes dis-ease.
Leave well alone enough already.
So the crowd prevailed,
And convinced us steady.
Such a shame to leave that way--
Could have been a giant up there.
And I have never seen one. What say?
Inviting us up for a better view.
But doubters doubted, including why.
It undulated gently in the breeze,
Innocent it was and said just is.
Some said portend! comes dis-ease.
Leave well alone enough already.
So the crowd prevailed,
And convinced us steady.
Such a shame to leave that way--
Could have been a giant up there.
And I have never seen one. What say?
As I could
Yellow with green, a centered vase
On the worn warm table before me.
Here in flesh but without a face,
I seek not seen nor do I see.
Round them circle and curl the cat
Flowers flair and timely fade,
I come not from this land or that.
As we watch and wait among the made.
Bloom away, you defiant one.
But give to me the face I would--
Not to curl and circle, stray but run
Till I can see as I could.
On the worn warm table before me.
Here in flesh but without a face,
I seek not seen nor do I see.
Round them circle and curl the cat
Flowers flair and timely fade,
I come not from this land or that.
As we watch and wait among the made.
Bloom away, you defiant one.
But give to me the face I would--
Not to curl and circle, stray but run
Till I can see as I could.
n-of-one
it is blue,
anyone said
I saw green
but this one was!
I then saw blue
(and everyone like that)
I saw green again
and then red
and black
and a color I had no n for
curious science or math
or whatever it is
n of one--
with better things to do . . .
anyone said
I saw green
but this one was!
I then saw blue
(and everyone like that)
I saw green again
and then red
and black
and a color I had no n for
curious science or math
or whatever it is
n of one--
with better things to do . . .
untitled
Tourists too have a stable life,
as their placeholder brothers and sisters.
With stress and strife
and bills to pay, occasional blisters.
It has just been chance or choice
that appear to make us different.
So judge or wish deliberately,
before you our places take.
We'll both return home
to that self-same place.
And we'll give no matter
to distances, landscapes
and the spaces left intween.
November 05
_____
* for Marie.
as their placeholder brothers and sisters.
With stress and strife
and bills to pay, occasional blisters.
It has just been chance or choice
that appear to make us different.
So judge or wish deliberately,
before you our places take.
We'll both return home
to that self-same place.
And we'll give no matter
to distances, landscapes
and the spaces left intween.
November 05
_____
* for Marie.
This morning
This morning I got up and knew it was the day. I tried to slip out without being seen, but I had to ask to use the car. It was too far to walk. I said I was going to the store and would bring something back to eat for breakfast. I could hardly keep from crying as I spoke. I hid my face as I left quietly and quickly.
It is almost the 25th of October, the anniversary of her death. This visit has been planned for months, but not consciously. I think today was the right day. I just knew it as I awoke. It was time.
I went to the grocery store and among the few things bought a peach colored rose. I left the store with tears in my eyes.
Green Mountain Cemetery is nestled up against the mountains. It is a quiet and beautiful place, just above where Anne and Ray lived on Devon Place. I parked the car nearby and approached the outdoor bank of compartments. There is where Tara's ashes lay, facing the south and east. I cried and cried and talked to her and talked some more. I then lay the rose at the foot of the bank of compartments noting that I had tried to think of what she might want. She was married in a peach colored dress and peach was somehow the color of her wedding to Tony that day on top of Vail Mountain.
I went to see Ray's gravesite nearby. Walked right to it. I sort of knew my way without looking. I recall looking out the window of the house on Devon, seeing two gravediggers jumping and packing the dirt on top of Ray's grave. I never told anyone about this--at the time, I could not look and turned away from the window. And today I talked for a short while, noting I had only twenty years with him while he was alive. I miss him, and I told him so. I took away a pot with dead flowers in it.
And upon returning to Tara, I cleaned up some dead flowers around her place of rest, although I am sure she is not there. I talked some more. I said I would listen from now on if she wanted to talk with me. I have been so selfishly sad all these years and have closed my eyes and ears to life and the pain. When there was just one Kleenex left in my back pocket and a full pocket of wet ones in my jacket, I said, "See ya later, I hope soon."
I returned slowly through the old neighborhood and by the university and down into the downtown. I parked the car and slipped into the house while it was quiet, went to my room, closed the door, and my eyes; and I thought I should tell someone this secret.
I am telling you because . . . if you love someone. . . .
It is almost the 25th of October, the anniversary of her death. This visit has been planned for months, but not consciously. I think today was the right day. I just knew it as I awoke. It was time.
I went to the grocery store and among the few things bought a peach colored rose. I left the store with tears in my eyes.
Green Mountain Cemetery is nestled up against the mountains. It is a quiet and beautiful place, just above where Anne and Ray lived on Devon Place. I parked the car nearby and approached the outdoor bank of compartments. There is where Tara's ashes lay, facing the south and east. I cried and cried and talked to her and talked some more. I then lay the rose at the foot of the bank of compartments noting that I had tried to think of what she might want. She was married in a peach colored dress and peach was somehow the color of her wedding to Tony that day on top of Vail Mountain.
I went to see Ray's gravesite nearby. Walked right to it. I sort of knew my way without looking. I recall looking out the window of the house on Devon, seeing two gravediggers jumping and packing the dirt on top of Ray's grave. I never told anyone about this--at the time, I could not look and turned away from the window. And today I talked for a short while, noting I had only twenty years with him while he was alive. I miss him, and I told him so. I took away a pot with dead flowers in it.
And upon returning to Tara, I cleaned up some dead flowers around her place of rest, although I am sure she is not there. I talked some more. I said I would listen from now on if she wanted to talk with me. I have been so selfishly sad all these years and have closed my eyes and ears to life and the pain. When there was just one Kleenex left in my back pocket and a full pocket of wet ones in my jacket, I said, "See ya later, I hope soon."
I returned slowly through the old neighborhood and by the university and down into the downtown. I parked the car and slipped into the house while it was quiet, went to my room, closed the door, and my eyes; and I thought I should tell someone this secret.
I am telling you because . . . if you love someone. . . .
That would be
New Year, come.
We can yet rejoice.
But for the old,
some dusting some.
Truth transient and goodness gone, of this world will not suffice, not again complicit, seduced or seducing. Now--beauty in mine eyes, this horizon; a definitive step, a worthy journey. Not this one's pimp, or that one's whore.
While others are left to theirs and uses, I will immerse in the colors and textures of what I see and can describe, in some lost corner, or in concert with truth and goodness that would be, and more.
New Year's, rejoice.
We're not yet old.
I will find my love,
and embrace her voice.
Goddesses not gods beauty is. And trinities but for the holy and the gifted. Choosing above the rest is worthy much (and yet not yet all outlawed). We can have abundant if limited and partial joy.
Before our silent fall, before the majesty that we can conceive. And conceive we must, if not realize, or we will surely die. So, New Year, come and let us rejoice--no need but want, no longer coy.
December 31, 2005
PS I have decided to return to living outside of the US to find and follow my muse, come what may. It is about time, and getting late.
We can yet rejoice.
But for the old,
some dusting some.
Truth transient and goodness gone, of this world will not suffice, not again complicit, seduced or seducing. Now--beauty in mine eyes, this horizon; a definitive step, a worthy journey. Not this one's pimp, or that one's whore.
While others are left to theirs and uses, I will immerse in the colors and textures of what I see and can describe, in some lost corner, or in concert with truth and goodness that would be, and more.
New Year's, rejoice.
We're not yet old.
I will find my love,
and embrace her voice.
Goddesses not gods beauty is. And trinities but for the holy and the gifted. Choosing above the rest is worthy much (and yet not yet all outlawed). We can have abundant if limited and partial joy.
Before our silent fall, before the majesty that we can conceive. And conceive we must, if not realize, or we will surely die. So, New Year, come and let us rejoice--no need but want, no longer coy.
December 31, 2005
PS I have decided to return to living outside of the US to find and follow my muse, come what may. It is about time, and getting late.
Humanizing teaching and learning
I tried to end my teaching career by disclosing who I am and what I believe in and what I thought was happening to students in the system in which I supposedly teach. The result was an extraordinary outpouring of words and thoughts and sentiments from students asked to respond to my retirement. They responded to the different disclosures, each, apparently according to their interests and personalities. I had an insight into individuals and what they were about, more so than in two years of teaching them as other.
My object has been to create learning experiences which were evocative, but they were not, except at this end. It is ironic that as I try to end my teaching career, at least in the Czech system, I find one silver bullet for engaging students in feeling and writing about that.
My object has been to create learning experiences which were evocative, but they were not, except at this end. It is ironic that as I try to end my teaching career, at least in the Czech system, I find one silver bullet for engaging students in feeling and writing about that.
Hats I, An Invitation
(written on the occasion
of the First ZUSAS Staff
Research Colloquium,
January 15, 1998)
There's something quite like wearing a hat.
It can be compared with where you have sat.
Remember when you were at school,
And changing your seat was really cool?
From that new but ordinary place,
You actually changed your mental space.
To see the teacher and all goings on . . .
Well, at least for a while it staved off a yawn!
Hats come in all shapes and all sizes.
Some are even invisible, one realizes:
Have you ever seen a thinking cap?
Your teacher said, "Put it on!" after a loud clap.
Yes, in sizes and colors galore.
Some hats make you look from days of yore.
But some hats are mere functional,
Can make non-Germans downright punctual.
Others let you be whoever you would.
Some we call not hat but a hood.
Some sinister ones help you to hide,
And make you good though you have lied.
While some of these help you be hid.
Others make you look as if with a lid.
With some you can play sports and run.
Some to be seen in is just plain fun.
All in all hats do a trick.
They are as magicians,
And in a flick,
From candles come flowers,
Which turn into,
You guessed it, bowers.
It is abundant ideas here we are after,
Sparked by altered states, like laughter.
Your hat this occasion, silly or serious,
Will take you, scholar, beyond the mere curious.
Putting one on will change your view,
From who you were to someone new.
Realities beyond what is normal and is.
You can even change from a her to a his.
Consider for a moment if but brief,
How becoming another might be a relief!
So come with your head, and your hat.
Even if an invisible thinking cap.
(It's a small thing to ask.
And represents a wee task.)
And let yourself go.
To other worlds you would know.
There's nothing quite like wearing a hat
To alter the ordinary thises and that.
of the First ZUSAS Staff
Research Colloquium,
January 15, 1998)
There's something quite like wearing a hat.
It can be compared with where you have sat.
Remember when you were at school,
And changing your seat was really cool?
From that new but ordinary place,
You actually changed your mental space.
To see the teacher and all goings on . . .
Well, at least for a while it staved off a yawn!
Hats come in all shapes and all sizes.
Some are even invisible, one realizes:
Have you ever seen a thinking cap?
Your teacher said, "Put it on!" after a loud clap.
Yes, in sizes and colors galore.
Some hats make you look from days of yore.
But some hats are mere functional,
Can make non-Germans downright punctual.
Others let you be whoever you would.
Some we call not hat but a hood.
Some sinister ones help you to hide,
And make you good though you have lied.
While some of these help you be hid.
Others make you look as if with a lid.
With some you can play sports and run.
Some to be seen in is just plain fun.
All in all hats do a trick.
They are as magicians,
And in a flick,
From candles come flowers,
Which turn into,
You guessed it, bowers.
It is abundant ideas here we are after,
Sparked by altered states, like laughter.
Your hat this occasion, silly or serious,
Will take you, scholar, beyond the mere curious.
Putting one on will change your view,
From who you were to someone new.
Realities beyond what is normal and is.
You can even change from a her to a his.
Consider for a moment if but brief,
How becoming another might be a relief!
So come with your head, and your hat.
Even if an invisible thinking cap.
(It's a small thing to ask.
And represents a wee task.)
And let yourself go.
To other worlds you would know.
There's nothing quite like wearing a hat
To alter the ordinary thises and that.
Three strikes. You're out.
09.06.04
Exams are like chances to score in a game. Above are some descriptors and rules for "the game of university." In short, if you know the amount of content that is considered a passing percentage for a course from class meetings, textbooks and references, handouts, assignments, teacher recommendations and corrections, then you score and are "safe." You win the game.
"Three strikes and you're out" refers to American baseball. A batter gets three chances to hit a pitched (thrown) ball with a bat (piece of wood or metal, not be be confused with the nocturnal creature with wings). If the batter doesn't succeed, he is "out," and this is bad for his batting average (individual score). It is hard to be a winner if you strike out.
California, interestingly, has a three-strikes law. If you are arrested and convicted of three crimes, you go to prison for a long time. But this is another story . . .
In (this) university game you get three chances to pass an exam. If you don't pass, you don't go to prison, and your team is not hurt by your failure. Only you suffer(?) defeat and have to take a course again, or something, another time, plus exam, perhaps a year later. With regard to the three chances or attempts, if you miss the first scheduled sitting to take (not "write") the exam, well, then there are only two chances left to take it, and so on.
To cope with serving fair and comparable exams for three sittings, some teachers prepare three versions of an exam. Maybe they're called versions A, B, and C. If you sit for the first attempt and you get version C, well, next time it will be B or A. However, for the first sitting, versions B and A have been used with other students. (You know why.) No matter, this is how it goes in this game as it is often played.
What's wrong with this picture? One, if there are different knowledges and skills tested at any time, are the grades (scores) achieved comparable? Maybe. Maybe not. Tests and exams only test what they have on them, and test-takers do more or less well with that and only that which is on the exam. Sitting for different sets of questions results quite naturally in differences. And thus, usually students and student achievement scores cannot be compared with certainty with what different tests or exams show.
Two, if little Honza, a student, takes three chances to pass, is he just as qualified as those who took the same or similar test and passed earlier? Doubtful. He has the benefits of prior test-taking experience and more time to prepare for a test he can easily get a good idea of from those who have taken that same, exact test. No, Honza, regardless of your score, you are different in kind and quality from those who passed the exam at the first sitting.
One student, I will call her Petra, had a good point related to this. She said that taking the exam three times gave you an idea of how much more you have to study to pass. I like this objection. It is like the world is a glass of beer, and it is half full rather than half empty. But I thought in this part of the world people, including students, like beer a lot? Are they satisfied with half full and the rest will appear because the barman is a good and generous Pepa? (There may be a logical fallacy here, but I will ignore thinking about it. Glasses of beer is a good metaphor if you don't think about it another half minute.)
Third problem. It is laudable (a good thing) to give people second and third chances in life. But for performance--quality--assessment, after a term or two of classes and hopefully independent effort, a singular chance should be sufficient and much, much simpler. By the end of a course plus exam preparation, it is reasonable to expect that little Jitka, also a student, can answer just over half of the questions prepared for her to test her competence (knowledge, skills, abilities) in the subject. Well done, Jitka. I guess.
Just over half? What is this? A reflection of a system which tolerates and in fact encourages mediocrity? Think about it. If you guess the answer for all questions posed on an exam, you'll probably get fifty percent correct. Try flipping (tossing) a coin (guessing), if you can't read or understand the English question. You'll still get about fifty percent as your score. This is the law of averages and chance and all of that. To get ten or fifteen percent more correct, you then probably only need a little English. Show up in class a few times, have a glance now and then at a textbook or other learning resource, do a few assignments, and chat with those who've already taken the exam--they either passed or failed it, doesn't matter. Receiving a passing score under 70 percent appears in this light no great achievement--fifty percent chance plus fifteen percent material you can learn rather passively. But perhaps this too, the matter of acceptable passing scores, is another story.
For over ten years, EFL teachers in this country who have come from abroad have questioned and tried to circumvent, or somehow cope with, the three-strikes approach to the university exams game. Frankly, it appears quite blazen to us. But, hey, we are from somewhere else with our own crazy ideas and values.
Now, you have read the above, my understanding of and questions about the game. The next issue (matter to think about) is: How does this teacher circumvent or cope with all this, and is his way defensible particularly in view of the objections raised here? And why does s/he want to circumvent (go around) or cope (somehow work with)? The answer to this last question is easy. Teachers are like the referees in the match, trying to ensure that winners are certifiable winners. That is why we even bother to circumvent or cope in the face of a system which has apparent flaws (things wrong). Now, if you are interested in responses to the first questions in this paragraph, read on.
But I will not be writing for you to read. Look for yourself into how to test and measure academic competencies, what are some different grading methods, what is valid, validity, validation . . . and try to answer this question: Do the developing values and practices, even the way of life, in your society match what is being done in university departments and classrooms? Is the university game good preparation for what it will be like upon advancing from the university level player to that required in the-world-of-work game? After all, you are in a program to prepare yourself as a future teacher. You need to know and question what you are doing, and getting yourself into.
I suggest you look at what this education business is all about, from the inside and the outside--from the perspective (view) you have as an educated member of society who will lead and guide younger people in those institutions we call schools.
That's my two cents (idea, contribution) concerning "Three strikes and you're out."
Exams are like chances to score in a game. Above are some descriptors and rules for "the game of university." In short, if you know the amount of content that is considered a passing percentage for a course from class meetings, textbooks and references, handouts, assignments, teacher recommendations and corrections, then you score and are "safe." You win the game.
"Three strikes and you're out" refers to American baseball. A batter gets three chances to hit a pitched (thrown) ball with a bat (piece of wood or metal, not be be confused with the nocturnal creature with wings). If the batter doesn't succeed, he is "out," and this is bad for his batting average (individual score). It is hard to be a winner if you strike out.
California, interestingly, has a three-strikes law. If you are arrested and convicted of three crimes, you go to prison for a long time. But this is another story . . .
In (this) university game you get three chances to pass an exam. If you don't pass, you don't go to prison, and your team is not hurt by your failure. Only you suffer(?) defeat and have to take a course again, or something, another time, plus exam, perhaps a year later. With regard to the three chances or attempts, if you miss the first scheduled sitting to take (not "write") the exam, well, then there are only two chances left to take it, and so on.
To cope with serving fair and comparable exams for three sittings, some teachers prepare three versions of an exam. Maybe they're called versions A, B, and C. If you sit for the first attempt and you get version C, well, next time it will be B or A. However, for the first sitting, versions B and A have been used with other students. (You know why.) No matter, this is how it goes in this game as it is often played.
What's wrong with this picture? One, if there are different knowledges and skills tested at any time, are the grades (scores) achieved comparable? Maybe. Maybe not. Tests and exams only test what they have on them, and test-takers do more or less well with that and only that which is on the exam. Sitting for different sets of questions results quite naturally in differences. And thus, usually students and student achievement scores cannot be compared with certainty with what different tests or exams show.
Two, if little Honza, a student, takes three chances to pass, is he just as qualified as those who took the same or similar test and passed earlier? Doubtful. He has the benefits of prior test-taking experience and more time to prepare for a test he can easily get a good idea of from those who have taken that same, exact test. No, Honza, regardless of your score, you are different in kind and quality from those who passed the exam at the first sitting.
One student, I will call her Petra, had a good point related to this. She said that taking the exam three times gave you an idea of how much more you have to study to pass. I like this objection. It is like the world is a glass of beer, and it is half full rather than half empty. But I thought in this part of the world people, including students, like beer a lot? Are they satisfied with half full and the rest will appear because the barman is a good and generous Pepa? (There may be a logical fallacy here, but I will ignore thinking about it. Glasses of beer is a good metaphor if you don't think about it another half minute.)
Third problem. It is laudable (a good thing) to give people second and third chances in life. But for performance--quality--assessment, after a term or two of classes and hopefully independent effort, a singular chance should be sufficient and much, much simpler. By the end of a course plus exam preparation, it is reasonable to expect that little Jitka, also a student, can answer just over half of the questions prepared for her to test her competence (knowledge, skills, abilities) in the subject. Well done, Jitka. I guess.
Just over half? What is this? A reflection of a system which tolerates and in fact encourages mediocrity? Think about it. If you guess the answer for all questions posed on an exam, you'll probably get fifty percent correct. Try flipping (tossing) a coin (guessing), if you can't read or understand the English question. You'll still get about fifty percent as your score. This is the law of averages and chance and all of that. To get ten or fifteen percent more correct, you then probably only need a little English. Show up in class a few times, have a glance now and then at a textbook or other learning resource, do a few assignments, and chat with those who've already taken the exam--they either passed or failed it, doesn't matter. Receiving a passing score under 70 percent appears in this light no great achievement--fifty percent chance plus fifteen percent material you can learn rather passively. But perhaps this too, the matter of acceptable passing scores, is another story.
For over ten years, EFL teachers in this country who have come from abroad have questioned and tried to circumvent, or somehow cope with, the three-strikes approach to the university exams game. Frankly, it appears quite blazen to us. But, hey, we are from somewhere else with our own crazy ideas and values.
Now, you have read the above, my understanding of and questions about the game. The next issue (matter to think about) is: How does this teacher circumvent or cope with all this, and is his way defensible particularly in view of the objections raised here? And why does s/he want to circumvent (go around) or cope (somehow work with)? The answer to this last question is easy. Teachers are like the referees in the match, trying to ensure that winners are certifiable winners. That is why we even bother to circumvent or cope in the face of a system which has apparent flaws (things wrong). Now, if you are interested in responses to the first questions in this paragraph, read on.
But I will not be writing for you to read. Look for yourself into how to test and measure academic competencies, what are some different grading methods, what is valid, validity, validation . . . and try to answer this question: Do the developing values and practices, even the way of life, in your society match what is being done in university departments and classrooms? Is the university game good preparation for what it will be like upon advancing from the university level player to that required in the-world-of-work game? After all, you are in a program to prepare yourself as a future teacher. You need to know and question what you are doing, and getting yourself into.
I suggest you look at what this education business is all about, from the inside and the outside--from the perspective (view) you have as an educated member of society who will lead and guide younger people in those institutions we call schools.
That's my two cents (idea, contribution) concerning "Three strikes and you're out."
In one of Ken Wilber's pre-publication excerpts
7/18/04
In one of Ken Wilber's pre-publication excerpts, he says
One may inquire then, of each human developmental stream: What is it in my/our (rich, individual description and qualitative research) consciousness?
In one of Ken Wilber's pre-publication excerpts, he says
. . . The cognitive [developmental] stream represents the types of answers that people give to the question, 'What is?' The values stream represents the types of answers that people give to the question: 'Of what is, what do I value most?' The self-identity stream: 'Of what is, what is 'I' or me'?' Needs: 'Of what is, what do I require?' Morals: 'What should I do?'
One may inquire then, of each human developmental stream: What is it in my/our (rich, individual description and qualitative research) consciousness?
School--retrospect fragment
In the early '70s, Fred served as the watchdog for preparation standards development for school professionals. He particularly and articulately spoke against performance objectives and programs, machine-based or otherwise, which would produce desired results, or human products. This would be antithetical to education as creating the conditions whereby students discover and develop what they already know, or would naturally acquire in the course of a course, which necessarily allowed new and unapproved lines of inquiry in situ.
That was then, when fears of 1984 and big brother got linked to behaviorism and specifying desired outcomes. Ten years later, computers became personal and the flood was too great to hold back. Fred's feared future folded into an historical past, and now we don't talk much about behaviorism--we have e-learning in all its manifestations, effectively technology-delivered, disembodied content. For better or worse, what is intended is what is desired, albeit concretely and narrowly defined and measured.
The state of the art would seem to indicate that the rationality and sensibleness of good educators have prevailed in spite of. We have almost unlimited horizons with today's tools. We can create places Fred clearly objected to in the historical past, but these are no longer feared. They are just some among an infinite many. We have succumbed in some sense, and found the academic arguments no longer compelling. We have hardware and software and firmware and all kinds of ware at our disposal. We can fashion our learning's desires in ways not seen back then. And we have seen educational and economic interests converge so that practical aims of education (read, "getting a job") no longer play second to arts and humanities. So much for a liberal education.
But have we come so far? Are the tools we use and do the protocols of educational culture signal a kinder, gentler, brave new world? This paper will look at these questions in light of how we know what we know, a cousin to the varieties of learning experiences, and how suitable our technologies are to the tasks of education which have really not changed, only reversed their priority order: To learn practical matters for daily bread and to understand and appreciate the world we live in.
27.02.2005
That was then, when fears of 1984 and big brother got linked to behaviorism and specifying desired outcomes. Ten years later, computers became personal and the flood was too great to hold back. Fred's feared future folded into an historical past, and now we don't talk much about behaviorism--we have e-learning in all its manifestations, effectively technology-delivered, disembodied content. For better or worse, what is intended is what is desired, albeit concretely and narrowly defined and measured.
The state of the art would seem to indicate that the rationality and sensibleness of good educators have prevailed in spite of. We have almost unlimited horizons with today's tools. We can create places Fred clearly objected to in the historical past, but these are no longer feared. They are just some among an infinite many. We have succumbed in some sense, and found the academic arguments no longer compelling. We have hardware and software and firmware and all kinds of ware at our disposal. We can fashion our learning's desires in ways not seen back then. And we have seen educational and economic interests converge so that practical aims of education (read, "getting a job") no longer play second to arts and humanities. So much for a liberal education.
But have we come so far? Are the tools we use and do the protocols of educational culture signal a kinder, gentler, brave new world? This paper will look at these questions in light of how we know what we know, a cousin to the varieties of learning experiences, and how suitable our technologies are to the tasks of education which have really not changed, only reversed their priority order: To learn practical matters for daily bread and to understand and appreciate the world we live in.
27.02.2005
School--a collision course
Fall '04 Generalizations About
as online/blended learning courses launch:
students
--motivated by getting credit and out of school
--use presented information for later recall
--learning (and study) is attending class
course
--content available 24/7 for the term
--automated and individualized continuous assessment
--attendance is completing learning activities
methods
--self-directed and instructor-led blended learning
--steady and regular progress for completion
--class meetings are for special purposes
teacher
--motivated by the subject and learning
--uses what-do-you-think questions based on knowledge
--learning is doing, often separate from what teachers do
as online/blended learning courses launch:
students
--motivated by getting credit and out of school
--use presented information for later recall
--learning (and study) is attending class
course
--content available 24/7 for the term
--automated and individualized continuous assessment
--attendance is completing learning activities
methods
--self-directed and instructor-led blended learning
--steady and regular progress for completion
--class meetings are for special purposes
teacher
--motivated by the subject and learning
--uses what-do-you-think questions based on knowledge
--learning is doing, often separate from what teachers do
Fragment--Czech spring?
[unknown date--but in '04]
Spring snaps to attention as does awareness, which has brooded in the dark winters here. I am a tourist just having stayed a bit longer this time and revisited to see if there was something I missed somehow, or lost here.
Karel Gott still croons to the masses to tunes played by the ruling elite or popular trend. Lucie Bila screams in the new generations who had a childhood in a historical period they can't remember, or weren't aware of.
Spring snaps to attention as does awareness, which has brooded in the dark winters here. I am a tourist just having stayed a bit longer this time and revisited to see if there was something I missed somehow, or lost here.
Karel Gott still croons to the masses to tunes played by the ruling elite or popular trend. Lucie Bila screams in the new generations who had a childhood in a historical period they can't remember, or weren't aware of.
Apologies, Robert
Apologies, Robert: . . . in a Strange Land, A Sequel
My university students are really interesting. But they kind of have strange ideas. So does the department where I work. For example, the department says that the students must show up for class. If they do not, and there is a limit for how often they don't, they fail, or just don't get credit for the course. Same thing, I think.
So my students at the end of the term say to me, "I was in class. I was there (almost) every lesson," as they stare at their failing test paper. They then say, "I did the work. I turned in all of your assignments."
"My assignments?" And I am also thinking, but did you do your own assignments, your own work? I found a Web site with the exact same words your last essay had, an essay which said at the top, written by you. Funny kind of world, where Web sites are copying student work left and right.
Students come to me and apologize for not having attended a class. It is never "I won't be there because," but always "I was not there because, and I am sorry." I know I live in an English-as-a-second-or-third language part of the world, and things get a little screwy because my students and I are often not communicating in the same English. But the apology always stops me for a moment; I have learned to quickly recover though, and say something like, "You have communicated why you were not in class. That is an excuse, and I guess you are excused."
But you see, even that goes too far. I don't care if they come to class or not. I am not into excuses. I am not in concert with my department on this. I don't relish all that record keeping. Who is here today and who is not? The real question is who is present and are we learning anything interesting. Have you left evidence of your attendance in class today, or online at any time during the term? Presence of mind is more important than the body, and showing up on a given day and time is not as important when we can have our cake and eat it too. I am referring to virtual classrooms and 24/7 learning.
The absent student asks me if there will be a problem because s/he was not present (in body). I think not--the important thing is doing the work, that is showing you know and can do what the lesson or course is at least vaguely about.
So I say, "Attendance is meaningless as such. Performance and results are what count. Show up either in class or online and do the lesson."
"Oh?" or no response at all.
So my students at this time of year, taking the departmental line, say that they were in class, or online, and they should get credit or pass.
"You don't get credit for showing up on the job; you get paid when you do the work. And for some jobs nowadays, showing up thankfully means getting it done on your own time, at your own convenience, within limits, of course. What a great world, but in time (all at once at the last moment) is often not good enough, at least for the good reasons that we cannot control (i.e., check) the quality and eliminate defects before we certify you and send you out the door into the real world."
"Huh? So you won't give me credit?"
"It is not my job. It is your job to earn it. I am just the lackey who says you did your work. Competently."
Now there is a whole other subject, which I will not get into here. Suffice to say, just turning in work or getting ten percent above guessing all the answers to the test is not much competence: a 60 percent passing grade for a course is, well . . .
"Sixty percent quality product from this university for sale. What am I bid? Shows up for work if told to, and turns out work, if not his or her own, sometimes in sporatic bursts. Absent sometimes, but for reasons you can sympathesize with. Ideal pre-current-era employee: Believes showing up for work should be compensated."
Universities and students today? I feel like I am in culture shock in a strange country speaking an English that is at best half understood. I am operating at about 60 percent, I guess. Maybe I need to work a bit harder than just showing up in class and imagining I am teaching. I apologize. Really. Or, excuse me. I am just a stranger here.
03.02.2005
My university students are really interesting. But they kind of have strange ideas. So does the department where I work. For example, the department says that the students must show up for class. If they do not, and there is a limit for how often they don't, they fail, or just don't get credit for the course. Same thing, I think.
So my students at the end of the term say to me, "I was in class. I was there (almost) every lesson," as they stare at their failing test paper. They then say, "I did the work. I turned in all of your assignments."
"My assignments?" And I am also thinking, but did you do your own assignments, your own work? I found a Web site with the exact same words your last essay had, an essay which said at the top, written by you. Funny kind of world, where Web sites are copying student work left and right.
Students come to me and apologize for not having attended a class. It is never "I won't be there because," but always "I was not there because, and I am sorry." I know I live in an English-as-a-second-or-third language part of the world, and things get a little screwy because my students and I are often not communicating in the same English. But the apology always stops me for a moment; I have learned to quickly recover though, and say something like, "You have communicated why you were not in class. That is an excuse, and I guess you are excused."
But you see, even that goes too far. I don't care if they come to class or not. I am not into excuses. I am not in concert with my department on this. I don't relish all that record keeping. Who is here today and who is not? The real question is who is present and are we learning anything interesting. Have you left evidence of your attendance in class today, or online at any time during the term? Presence of mind is more important than the body, and showing up on a given day and time is not as important when we can have our cake and eat it too. I am referring to virtual classrooms and 24/7 learning.
The absent student asks me if there will be a problem because s/he was not present (in body). I think not--the important thing is doing the work, that is showing you know and can do what the lesson or course is at least vaguely about.
So I say, "Attendance is meaningless as such. Performance and results are what count. Show up either in class or online and do the lesson."
"Oh?" or no response at all.
So my students at this time of year, taking the departmental line, say that they were in class, or online, and they should get credit or pass.
"You don't get credit for showing up on the job; you get paid when you do the work. And for some jobs nowadays, showing up thankfully means getting it done on your own time, at your own convenience, within limits, of course. What a great world, but in time (all at once at the last moment) is often not good enough, at least for the good reasons that we cannot control (i.e., check) the quality and eliminate defects before we certify you and send you out the door into the real world."
"Huh? So you won't give me credit?"
"It is not my job. It is your job to earn it. I am just the lackey who says you did your work. Competently."
Now there is a whole other subject, which I will not get into here. Suffice to say, just turning in work or getting ten percent above guessing all the answers to the test is not much competence: a 60 percent passing grade for a course is, well . . .
"Sixty percent quality product from this university for sale. What am I bid? Shows up for work if told to, and turns out work, if not his or her own, sometimes in sporatic bursts. Absent sometimes, but for reasons you can sympathesize with. Ideal pre-current-era employee: Believes showing up for work should be compensated."
Universities and students today? I feel like I am in culture shock in a strange country speaking an English that is at best half understood. I am operating at about 60 percent, I guess. Maybe I need to work a bit harder than just showing up in class and imagining I am teaching. I apologize. Really. Or, excuse me. I am just a stranger here.
03.02.2005
PRB
[This listening/reading was given to two classes in a course called PRB. It produced the best student writing in six years of teaching English in the Czech Republic. I should have done something like this much, much earlier. But what did I know? I was trying to deliver the best content I could consistent with the syllabi and norms I knew about and sensed where I taught. Sometimes it is just best to follow your gut.]
PRB, a course abbreviation. Probable Reality--Bearable? Possible Realities Bothersome? I am not sure.
Today is my last day of teaching. I think forever. And next week, Monday, is my daughter\'s birthday. May 30. I think in honor of these occasions, my last classes today should somehow be remarkable, or I should fess up and disclose why PRB, or what the real PRB is.
Honesty, truthfulness, integrity, thoughtfulness, vulnerability, humanity, responsibility, meaning. Ideals and therefore values. Bothersome in that in this environment, this schooling--not education--they are irrelevant, and therefore, I am. Possible reality one. But my last chances today can be to live these values, and let students know at least in part why they, at least some, have had such a difficult time with me! I hope in living these values today, I can bear it.
First, let me thank you for inviting me this week to your party to mark the end of term. By the time I realized, it was past the time to show up, I was on my way to bed. I noted the invitation with care and significance when it was given to me, but my own vulnerability always prevents me from joining groups of treasured young people. So my forgetfulness was really a conscious decision not to participate. Truth.
In 1991, Tara, my daughter died. Informal groups, perhaps especially with young people, are impossible for me to bear. The sadness is overwhelming, and since my near-death almost a year after hers, experiencing strong emotions . . . well, I cannot allow it. Not yet. Maybe never again. With her death, I die a little each day. It is not something you want to show or share with other people.
So now you have my excuse for my not joining you plus my apology. I am truly sorry I did not and cannot participate. And I thank you for past invitations.
What has this got to do with our last class, and school, and English, and your education? A lot, I think. Just start with what you now know. Our classes have not been really about the important stuff. Should school be about important stuff, truth, vulnerability, meaning? In short, it should. And this dissonance has brought me to this point, that I no longer want to try to teach. It doesn\'t work. But more importantly, it is not, at least in this environment, this school, this country and culture, with and by me, now and here about important stuff. And I believe it should be.
PRB has been my last compromise. I merely check to see if you are sitting there and have handed in your assignments. If these things, you get credit for the course.
School. It is a place where you show up and produce a few things and get some kind of sanction that something changed you. But the only changes I see in the different students and years of study is that you can cope better and better with the system. Learning, and God forbid, getting educated are beyond probability, beyond even possibility. This is the reality I see, and I may be wrong. Reality may be, probably is, different. But we have to go on what we believe we know.
Education is a good thing. I believe in it. I believe in learning to enrich your life. I do not believe in school to make you rich. I am wrong, at least a minority voice, in this belief. It is bothersome to me that schools have sold out to practical realities. But that is as it is, and you will do well to take advantage of what school has to offer you.
Education is a bad thing. Having had a ton of it, formal and informal (in school and outside of school), I believe this. The wonderful textures and colors and nuances and insights now possible for me make for possible and probable realities impossible otherwise for me to experience. So, I hope that you can get an education here.
These richer dimensions, however, will make for dissonances so great as to separate you out from others; and if you need others like you, or those with whom you can communicate and feel something akin, well, forget it. Education will make you more alone, more alienated, more different. Place this together with your other losses and sadnesses and you have it sometimes unbearable.
You have two subjects you focus on here. English and something else. English, for the most part, is a skill to acquire so you can get along better using the current world language. Practical reality--making a living--has placed my language into prominence, because everybody else wants but doesn\'t need a lot of what the dominant cultures and countries (i.e., English speaking) have. So, you are not really just getting English but a whole range of cultural bits and pieces. But the language by itself is useful, I admit. Continue to go after it; it will serve you well.
Your second subject, let\'s call it the substantive one--not just a skill to acquire to get along in the world--must be teaching you something about, well, school or education. In my case, my language has allowed me to find the sense and nonsense of things. It has also allowed me to enjoy the best of life, and I include in that our brief association here at this university. My schooling and education have given me the qualitative difference. I am blessed, and cursed, with what I can know and do.
What does the other subject you study teach you, let\'s say, about school? Civics. What does civics say about the schooling you are experiencing? Information systems. What does this subject have to say about what school is? Any dissonances? Any joys?
Again, your second subject is really English. Your primary subject is not this practical thing called a language. It is what you study in your own language, or what you use English to know more about. What you are devoting your time to, other than English and what is in English, must help you by giving you information and knowledge about the world. Maybe it even helps you understand it through that lens.
What do you know now or understand about your university experience when you let mathematics, physics, chemistry, civics, psychology, Czech history and literature, etc., talk to you and make sense or nonsense for you?
What is all this now about? PRB, probabilities, Kevin\'s daughter, this question. Just that.
If this class, just for this day, is about what is important to you and what you believe in and what you are spending your time doing, wouldn\'t it be a pretty good idea to say, or find out, what good all your time and maybe effort is producing?
Education is for life. Will your or other lives be better in some way because of what you are studying here? Let\'s try to begin to answer that important question.
Here is my answer for me. This is my last day of teaching. I have found it has become more than bothersome. It is unbearable. The realities I see for you and for me here are not the best. And if I can make a change for the better, for me and for you, I need to get out of the way of your education, or at least your schooling. Doing teaching the way the students and culture expect of me here is too great a force for me to guide to what I believe are better, more important outcomes.
It is kind of like this. Students need not witness nor experience the effects of my frustration, my irrelevant values, my realities . . . my botheredness. It is not in your best interests. And I am happy for the decision, and happy for you. I have confidence in you that you will do best with what you choose to do. Maybe it is like the parent who lets his child go, and lets her experience the wonder of her possibilities and her realities wherever she is.
I will miss you, miss you more than you can possibly know.
After you try to answer your question about your primary subject and give me something I can touch and read to remember you by, that will be the end of class today.
May 27, 2005
PRB, a course abbreviation. Probable Reality--Bearable? Possible Realities Bothersome? I am not sure.
Today is my last day of teaching. I think forever. And next week, Monday, is my daughter\'s birthday. May 30. I think in honor of these occasions, my last classes today should somehow be remarkable, or I should fess up and disclose why PRB, or what the real PRB is.
Honesty, truthfulness, integrity, thoughtfulness, vulnerability, humanity, responsibility, meaning. Ideals and therefore values. Bothersome in that in this environment, this schooling--not education--they are irrelevant, and therefore, I am. Possible reality one. But my last chances today can be to live these values, and let students know at least in part why they, at least some, have had such a difficult time with me! I hope in living these values today, I can bear it.
First, let me thank you for inviting me this week to your party to mark the end of term. By the time I realized, it was past the time to show up, I was on my way to bed. I noted the invitation with care and significance when it was given to me, but my own vulnerability always prevents me from joining groups of treasured young people. So my forgetfulness was really a conscious decision not to participate. Truth.
In 1991, Tara, my daughter died. Informal groups, perhaps especially with young people, are impossible for me to bear. The sadness is overwhelming, and since my near-death almost a year after hers, experiencing strong emotions . . . well, I cannot allow it. Not yet. Maybe never again. With her death, I die a little each day. It is not something you want to show or share with other people.
So now you have my excuse for my not joining you plus my apology. I am truly sorry I did not and cannot participate. And I thank you for past invitations.
What has this got to do with our last class, and school, and English, and your education? A lot, I think. Just start with what you now know. Our classes have not been really about the important stuff. Should school be about important stuff, truth, vulnerability, meaning? In short, it should. And this dissonance has brought me to this point, that I no longer want to try to teach. It doesn\'t work. But more importantly, it is not, at least in this environment, this school, this country and culture, with and by me, now and here about important stuff. And I believe it should be.
PRB has been my last compromise. I merely check to see if you are sitting there and have handed in your assignments. If these things, you get credit for the course.
School. It is a place where you show up and produce a few things and get some kind of sanction that something changed you. But the only changes I see in the different students and years of study is that you can cope better and better with the system. Learning, and God forbid, getting educated are beyond probability, beyond even possibility. This is the reality I see, and I may be wrong. Reality may be, probably is, different. But we have to go on what we believe we know.
Education is a good thing. I believe in it. I believe in learning to enrich your life. I do not believe in school to make you rich. I am wrong, at least a minority voice, in this belief. It is bothersome to me that schools have sold out to practical realities. But that is as it is, and you will do well to take advantage of what school has to offer you.
Education is a bad thing. Having had a ton of it, formal and informal (in school and outside of school), I believe this. The wonderful textures and colors and nuances and insights now possible for me make for possible and probable realities impossible otherwise for me to experience. So, I hope that you can get an education here.
These richer dimensions, however, will make for dissonances so great as to separate you out from others; and if you need others like you, or those with whom you can communicate and feel something akin, well, forget it. Education will make you more alone, more alienated, more different. Place this together with your other losses and sadnesses and you have it sometimes unbearable.
You have two subjects you focus on here. English and something else. English, for the most part, is a skill to acquire so you can get along better using the current world language. Practical reality--making a living--has placed my language into prominence, because everybody else wants but doesn\'t need a lot of what the dominant cultures and countries (i.e., English speaking) have. So, you are not really just getting English but a whole range of cultural bits and pieces. But the language by itself is useful, I admit. Continue to go after it; it will serve you well.
Your second subject, let\'s call it the substantive one--not just a skill to acquire to get along in the world--must be teaching you something about, well, school or education. In my case, my language has allowed me to find the sense and nonsense of things. It has also allowed me to enjoy the best of life, and I include in that our brief association here at this university. My schooling and education have given me the qualitative difference. I am blessed, and cursed, with what I can know and do.
What does the other subject you study teach you, let\'s say, about school? Civics. What does civics say about the schooling you are experiencing? Information systems. What does this subject have to say about what school is? Any dissonances? Any joys?
Again, your second subject is really English. Your primary subject is not this practical thing called a language. It is what you study in your own language, or what you use English to know more about. What you are devoting your time to, other than English and what is in English, must help you by giving you information and knowledge about the world. Maybe it even helps you understand it through that lens.
What do you know now or understand about your university experience when you let mathematics, physics, chemistry, civics, psychology, Czech history and literature, etc., talk to you and make sense or nonsense for you?
What is all this now about? PRB, probabilities, Kevin\'s daughter, this question. Just that.
If this class, just for this day, is about what is important to you and what you believe in and what you are spending your time doing, wouldn\'t it be a pretty good idea to say, or find out, what good all your time and maybe effort is producing?
Education is for life. Will your or other lives be better in some way because of what you are studying here? Let\'s try to begin to answer that important question.
Here is my answer for me. This is my last day of teaching. I have found it has become more than bothersome. It is unbearable. The realities I see for you and for me here are not the best. And if I can make a change for the better, for me and for you, I need to get out of the way of your education, or at least your schooling. Doing teaching the way the students and culture expect of me here is too great a force for me to guide to what I believe are better, more important outcomes.
It is kind of like this. Students need not witness nor experience the effects of my frustration, my irrelevant values, my realities . . . my botheredness. It is not in your best interests. And I am happy for the decision, and happy for you. I have confidence in you that you will do best with what you choose to do. Maybe it is like the parent who lets his child go, and lets her experience the wonder of her possibilities and her realities wherever she is.
I will miss you, miss you more than you can possibly know.
After you try to answer your question about your primary subject and give me something I can touch and read to remember you by, that will be the end of class today.
May 27, 2005
First lecture, second term--rant
Recently I have been assessing what you have learned from the first term. And from the perspective of course content, this is a view of individual accomplishment that I uncovered. It is in a sense part of what I learned.
There are those who are or have been bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. This translates into students who have some solid knowledge about general and specific things and are keen learners.
There are those at the other end who are, now were, without much that was on offer for acquisition, or who may, in my estimation, be unsuitable for further study. It was like the lights were out and no one was home.
Slightly above these are those where the lights were on and there was apparently no one home; for these, I gave the benefit of the doubt. They could learn, I thought, or did but I couldn't measure it somehow. So, on provision of good performance in the second term, they could earn credit for the first term. They could continue, but a burden of proof lies on them. I will be assessing them especially, and carefully.
Next there are those who convinced me that they were capable of tracking and learning, and they had some level of knowledge about the subject and understood what the skills were that were required, if unable to demonstrate them. The lights were on and someone was home.
Take each of these categories and see if the shoe fits. You will note that only one of the categories is entirely complimentary. But that is the category that is the fundamental value that guides the course and makes what content is available. To be in concert with the subject, the content, that is the alignment you want. Now, I do not expect all to get into this alignment. After all, that wouldn't be American. We value diversity and each can decide how best to get through life and school challenges.
What else did I learn? I had my preconceptions confirmed. There would be difficulties for students to handle a wide open door of what to learn, plus part of the delivery of the course would take clear perception or reframing to accept and follow. What this means is that logging onto the learning server and doing lessons is essentially no different from attending class and remaining mentally awake for the given time period. The only difference is that with the former, you had to show you were at least a little bit awake. In the latter, in most classes, especially lecture classes, you can sleep while appearing to be awake. And I learned my students preferred this for a number of reasons, the main one being "because that is what we are used to."
I remain unconvinced that any of the students I have seen at this university really learns from this method.
I also learned that better mousetraps need to be built for the unmotivated, because they will do anything, and give any number of excuses, not to do the course and follow what is tacitly clear in any class or school in today's Europe. The first term had many words on the course site and resource area about all of this, but it boils down to: Do your own course work on time. In this one injunction, all is said and all judgments can be made about accomplishment.
Of course I also learned that because I would not teach how to use technology for learning, some would not use it, or would have difficulties. The rationale for not scaffolding the technology skills for this course ahead of time, or during it, still holds true. Students can and should learn this elsewhere, or on their own. We need not take away from the core content to learn how to read online, or write an essay and submit it electronically. We also, today, need not show students how to click on a link.
Those technical skills aside, and not part of the course, does not relieve me of the responsibility of helping students learn what is good and bad electronic information, what is important and what is not as important when they read or view an artifact. So these will be a part of the next term's work.
My students would make adequate lawyers. They look carefully for the loopholes in the law. That is fine, and my learning is to be very careful and specific about what the course requirements are. This emphasis on requirements comes as a result of a difference in values. Those bright-eyed and busy-tailed do not need to be told and reminded about what is due, or what you should learn. However, the vast majority need to know how to get through this experience with the least amount of difficulty, and the least amount of work. The university system breeds this norm. It is a fact of life for me and my students.
Part of being clearer must be to concept check every important point and assignment. The tacit for me must become the clearly known and understood for the student. Although it is impossible to meet this expectation, more effort on my part is required. And so it shall be. If students will hold me to the letter of the law as they understand it, then the law must be mutually understood. We must find the language that will convey for us both what is to be done, when, what is important, etc.
So each lesson, plus some material from last term, will be reviewed (AE), revised (BE). This means repetition for some. Unfortunate, but that is the price of making students attend class. We could move much faster using the knowledge base that is the Web and course site, but as we have learned, that also has its problems. So, more classes, more repetition. The optional class, by the way, is not optional content. But if you know or can do it already, you don't have to come. Get it elsewhere, or via the course documentation.
Thus, the course will be more directive. Total, or almost, freedom comes with responsibility. But to handle the freedom and the responsibility takes a level of knowledge, skills, and maturity most of the students I know do not have. So, I will "tell them what to do," within limits, because that is what they have pleaded for again and again. First this and then that. And so, the course will evolve more in concert with what students appear to need, although much of it should be available right from the get go for the better than average student.
Two serious problems I have noticed with some students. And I need to address this because it is not from the hopeless that I have heard these things. There is some aversion to reading and text. And there is an I've-already-made-up-my-mind, or similar, attitude. Embracing either of these spells doom for the culture studies student. Two skills are required.
One, text is the primary medium used for the preservation of what we know, and what happened before. Texts talk with us, not only to us. And a community of the knowing have the real keys to what the stories say and mean--meaning is the result of conversing with the text and trying to become a member of the community. The skill is reading and asking questions of the text.
Two, any area or subject of human society is an appropriate object of inquiry. Some will be interesting to some, other subjects won't interest. But that doesn't mean what you are not interested in is not important to someone, or for some understanding. Close the door prematurely on anything and you have become a smaller, more isolated person, and not a candidate for success in cultural studies. The skill is to hold off judgment until you have sufficient information and knowledge. For beginning students, this means holding off judgment. For those who have visited America, or have talked with someone who has, this is no excuse. Make no judgment, yet.
What is information and what is knowledge? This is where term two starts.
28.02.2005
There are those who are or have been bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. This translates into students who have some solid knowledge about general and specific things and are keen learners.
There are those at the other end who are, now were, without much that was on offer for acquisition, or who may, in my estimation, be unsuitable for further study. It was like the lights were out and no one was home.
Slightly above these are those where the lights were on and there was apparently no one home; for these, I gave the benefit of the doubt. They could learn, I thought, or did but I couldn't measure it somehow. So, on provision of good performance in the second term, they could earn credit for the first term. They could continue, but a burden of proof lies on them. I will be assessing them especially, and carefully.
Next there are those who convinced me that they were capable of tracking and learning, and they had some level of knowledge about the subject and understood what the skills were that were required, if unable to demonstrate them. The lights were on and someone was home.
Take each of these categories and see if the shoe fits. You will note that only one of the categories is entirely complimentary. But that is the category that is the fundamental value that guides the course and makes what content is available. To be in concert with the subject, the content, that is the alignment you want. Now, I do not expect all to get into this alignment. After all, that wouldn't be American. We value diversity and each can decide how best to get through life and school challenges.
What else did I learn? I had my preconceptions confirmed. There would be difficulties for students to handle a wide open door of what to learn, plus part of the delivery of the course would take clear perception or reframing to accept and follow. What this means is that logging onto the learning server and doing lessons is essentially no different from attending class and remaining mentally awake for the given time period. The only difference is that with the former, you had to show you were at least a little bit awake. In the latter, in most classes, especially lecture classes, you can sleep while appearing to be awake. And I learned my students preferred this for a number of reasons, the main one being "because that is what we are used to."
I remain unconvinced that any of the students I have seen at this university really learns from this method.
I also learned that better mousetraps need to be built for the unmotivated, because they will do anything, and give any number of excuses, not to do the course and follow what is tacitly clear in any class or school in today's Europe. The first term had many words on the course site and resource area about all of this, but it boils down to: Do your own course work on time. In this one injunction, all is said and all judgments can be made about accomplishment.
Of course I also learned that because I would not teach how to use technology for learning, some would not use it, or would have difficulties. The rationale for not scaffolding the technology skills for this course ahead of time, or during it, still holds true. Students can and should learn this elsewhere, or on their own. We need not take away from the core content to learn how to read online, or write an essay and submit it electronically. We also, today, need not show students how to click on a link.
Those technical skills aside, and not part of the course, does not relieve me of the responsibility of helping students learn what is good and bad electronic information, what is important and what is not as important when they read or view an artifact. So these will be a part of the next term's work.
My students would make adequate lawyers. They look carefully for the loopholes in the law. That is fine, and my learning is to be very careful and specific about what the course requirements are. This emphasis on requirements comes as a result of a difference in values. Those bright-eyed and busy-tailed do not need to be told and reminded about what is due, or what you should learn. However, the vast majority need to know how to get through this experience with the least amount of difficulty, and the least amount of work. The university system breeds this norm. It is a fact of life for me and my students.
Part of being clearer must be to concept check every important point and assignment. The tacit for me must become the clearly known and understood for the student. Although it is impossible to meet this expectation, more effort on my part is required. And so it shall be. If students will hold me to the letter of the law as they understand it, then the law must be mutually understood. We must find the language that will convey for us both what is to be done, when, what is important, etc.
So each lesson, plus some material from last term, will be reviewed (AE), revised (BE). This means repetition for some. Unfortunate, but that is the price of making students attend class. We could move much faster using the knowledge base that is the Web and course site, but as we have learned, that also has its problems. So, more classes, more repetition. The optional class, by the way, is not optional content. But if you know or can do it already, you don't have to come. Get it elsewhere, or via the course documentation.
Thus, the course will be more directive. Total, or almost, freedom comes with responsibility. But to handle the freedom and the responsibility takes a level of knowledge, skills, and maturity most of the students I know do not have. So, I will "tell them what to do," within limits, because that is what they have pleaded for again and again. First this and then that. And so, the course will evolve more in concert with what students appear to need, although much of it should be available right from the get go for the better than average student.
Two serious problems I have noticed with some students. And I need to address this because it is not from the hopeless that I have heard these things. There is some aversion to reading and text. And there is an I've-already-made-up-my-mind, or similar, attitude. Embracing either of these spells doom for the culture studies student. Two skills are required.
One, text is the primary medium used for the preservation of what we know, and what happened before. Texts talk with us, not only to us. And a community of the knowing have the real keys to what the stories say and mean--meaning is the result of conversing with the text and trying to become a member of the community. The skill is reading and asking questions of the text.
Two, any area or subject of human society is an appropriate object of inquiry. Some will be interesting to some, other subjects won't interest. But that doesn't mean what you are not interested in is not important to someone, or for some understanding. Close the door prematurely on anything and you have become a smaller, more isolated person, and not a candidate for success in cultural studies. The skill is to hold off judgment until you have sufficient information and knowledge. For beginning students, this means holding off judgment. For those who have visited America, or have talked with someone who has, this is no excuse. Make no judgment, yet.
What is information and what is knowledge? This is where term two starts.
28.02.2005
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