Interversity.Org

I have been disappointed. Last week, I was really excited. I have been using Cris Tovani's idea of having students write what's in their heads as they read on sticky notes. I thought the level of thinking was "getting there." Then I had students do the "episodic notes" graphic organizer from Jim Burke's Tools for Thought. Students had to pick one major event from each chapter of Night, illustrate it, and write why it was important. Most students simply summarized the scene without explaining the importance. Then yesterday, they worked in groups to discuss those sheets and identify two or three important events from each chapter. I was disappointed with the level of the discussion--it's still very surface level thinking. I was only slightly more pleased with today's class.

I know that my students are not used to having to think for themselves. They are still--after an entire semester and half a quarter--waiting for me to give them the answers. I want them to think for themselves. Not even the stick of the grade is making any difference. There has to be another way to motivate them I just haven't found it yet.

However, a bright note: My English 102 class had one of the better discussions we've had in a while. We discussed Langston Hughes' play Mulatto. I expected an uproar, especially regarding the language. I think perhaps that students understood in part that Hughes was writing in a particular period of time using the language of that time. We talked briefly about the "register"--who was speaking, which characters used what words and to what effect--not enough, though. We may need to return to that idea later.

At the end of the class, one student told me that I had inspired her to major in English: she wants to be an English teacher because of me. And I was feeling so useless and helpless these days.

I'm still working on the analysis of what's working and not working in English 2. It's going to take a while.