Where the hell did it go? What the hell happened? For weeks I have been trying to figure out where the drive that was once present in our class went. Earlier in the semester our class was much more into our discussions, call me crazy but I enjoyed the open discussions that sometimes lead to a respectful debate amongst our peers. Now as I look around the classroom I see a bunch of blank stares and "I am not interested attitudes." Could it be the new 'summarize the chapters” method that was introduced to us a few weeks ago? If that is the case then I propose that we revert back to the way it was where we would summarize the book at the end, because I feel as if the chapter summaries take away from the discussions that we were all once engaged in.
Another thing that has been bothering me is the non-negotiations that have been happening with our class. We were all given the opportunity to basically control how the syllabus would look, yet no one with the exception of a few, actually did that. Come on people, when was the last time you had a professor that gave you the opportunity to change what you will be graded on. I know a lot of people (i.e. those taking the health profession courses, which is far from easy) that would have gladly traded places to have the opportunity that we were given. It is not like we were asked to write a 4 page proposal on why we shouldn't have certain things, it was just a simple present your argument and why. Again, I ask where the hell it went and what the hell happened?
I'm speaking personally when I say I am honestly still trying to get out this state of perplexity that I was in while reading Terranova. You can say that Prof. Dean's book is a bit of a sigh of relief, but I still haven't been really confident about speaking out in class about the recent readings, not to mention fully developing an argumentative approach to this course. I'm still learning. I completely understand your frustration as to why there has been a lack of enthusiasm in class, and that we really could have had a voice in not having midterms/exams. I'm upset too, seeing that now I'll be running around like a crazy deer in headlights trying to understand the material and study on top of catching up on blog writing. Hey, maybe we can be a little optimistic and hope for a bit of sunshine in the class, but for me, once I can confidently develop a full understanding to the reading, maybe then the clouds will disappear.
ReplyDeleteI think the midterm and paper created the need in everyone to grasp the core concepts of all the books, thus pulling everyone out of their lulls. Participate should be better after break.
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