tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5349025651070168896.post275741805137786607..comments2024-02-10T02:51:24.273-07:00Comments on Mom, Ph.D.: Critical reflections upon the apparent lack of critical reflection in college classroomsMom, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06382723864273701137noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5349025651070168896.post-17960080872405794532011-02-05T07:10:54.523-07:002011-02-05T07:10:54.523-07:00Basically, and as you might guess, I put no stock ...Basically, and as you might guess, I put no stock whatsoever in students' self-assessments of learning or anything else. It looked to me like there was way too much of that in the book. Even external studies are suspicious (who sponsored it?) unless they're designed extraordinarily well. Seriously, who gets to decide when learning has happened? That's the real issue underlying these books, teaching to the test, etc. Heaven forbid teachers get to decide...<br /><br />Also, I don't give a damn what anyone thinks profs <i>should</i> be assigning until it is acknowledged that the current job description contains a untenable number of demands. If people want better teaching, universities have to stop putting research first. Period.WostProfEverhttp://www.worstprofessorever.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5349025651070168896.post-82861452378490268022011-01-23T17:29:37.183-07:002011-01-23T17:29:37.183-07:00Poetry is a great example! I'd say 40+ pages ...Poetry is a great example! I'd say 40+ pages of most poetry would be way too much. But good poetry would certainly generate critical thinking, right?Mom, Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06382723864273701137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5349025651070168896.post-41768026275213586242011-01-23T10:25:50.537-07:002011-01-23T10:25:50.537-07:00"Students whose classes reflect high expectat..."Students whose classes reflect high expectations (more than 40 pages of reading a week and more than 20 pages of writing a semester) gained more than other students."<br /><br />I dunno. Calling this "high expectations" seems a bit misleading and judgmental. I would argue that assigning less reading and asking them to read VERY closely--even read something more than once, gasp--can yield stronger results than making them jam through a big chunk of text. <br /><br />But that may be because I believe, for example, that teaching poetry is not only difficult but important and worthy of slower movement. So there are weeks when I've only asked them to read, say, 10 pages. But covering, say, 10 pages of TS Eliot's poetry and theory and *understanding* those 10 pages? Or 10 pages of Derrida? Or Foucault? I think "high expectations" is a fitting description there.<br /><br />Certainly I think there are courses where lots of reading has to happen: in the novel course I'm teaching right now...we're reading well over 200 pages a week! Though frankly I'm secretly regretting those 200 pages because I need to read 100 myself before tomorrow. ;)Inkhttp://inktopia.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.com