Several of chapter four's comp tales deal with misunderstandings or literal interpretations by students, and I have fallen victim to these situations.
Geoff, my most influential boss and the English Department chair, once told me that teaching didn't have a learning curve, instead it was a learning spike. He went on to tell me how as a teacher I would learn so much in such a short span of time that my style and techniques would undergo dramatic change by the second semester and would continue to do so (and if it didn't I wasn't learning anything). He was right. For instance, the first comparison-contrast paper I assigned was a disappointment that required correction the next time I taught it. I went over various ways to construct and outline the paper, but I only gave one example of a sample paper. Well, on the due date, I received 20 papers that were near identical. My students had taken that one sample paper as gospel and mimicked its structure, and some even used very similar topics. I thought about he results, so the next semester, I made an assignment sheet that had two sample outlines, rather than papers. Well, on that due date, I received 20 papers in one of the two purposed formats.
Okay, I decided to change it again. The next semester, I included the outlines and shared the sample paper. The results were similar to past two semesters, but still lacked variety. I was determined to get it right, so the next semester I gave the sample outlines, sample paper, and assigned sample readings that ranged from narrative to persuasive. The combination of lecture, sample outlines, a sample student paper, and a multitude of readings that demonstrated comparison-contrast resulted in a variety of papers that I was finally happy with. However, the changes I made meant changing my syllabus's schedule, which lead to a restructuring of the course to fit in the extra material.
Geoff was right; at the end of one year, my syllabus was nearly unrecognizable, my approach had changed, and the work I was receiving from my students was much better.
First of all- yay! Good for you finally getting the results you wanted! It sounds like such a quick process- going one semester, then another, then another, then another- with little changes here and there. We all must constantly change until we find exactly what works for us, and apparently it is most common for the change to happen immediately. This seems to be the best though, for if we didn't make immediate changes and learn quickly how to improve, we would be stuck in a rut that would be terrible not only for us but for our students as well. But then my question is, "What happens if/when we plateau?" Apparently the growing has stopped, the changing has stopped, we have found exactly what works for us and we are comfortable- no changes need be made. What then?! Though I'm sure this question need not faced by any of us for quite some time :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know what happens! Hopefully we keep seeing ways to change things, so we will get better at teaching. If we plateau, I would think that calls for a tropical vacation with unlimited drinks.
ReplyDeleteCarrie, I think for me the third time I teach a class I change less than I have before. It's starting to feel stable--although not without changes!
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