February 27, 2007
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Just how much motivation has to come from students? And how much should come from teachers? Especially at the college level? And just how much hand-holding should we do? If we do too much, are we still a college with high expectations? It shouldn’t be “easy” to get a degree anywhere. College is supposed to be tough, right? If students don’t learn how to do things on their own, how will they make it after college?
I have very little sympathy for students who expect everything to be handed to them. And I do look down on those who don’t take the initiative to figure things out for themselves.
Case in point: Once, I had a class with a professor who wanted us to create hypertexts. This meant learning HTML to a certain extent. I was one of the only Mac users, so I had to learn a different program (Clarisworks). I complained about it; he tried to help in every way possible, yet he knew how to compose these hypertexts on the program everyone else was using. So, I had to teach myself. Once I “got it,” the lightbulb popped on as to why he wanted us to learn it. It has been valuable for me to know HTML and how to create hypertexts now. [I think that that is the story I need to tell students before they start on the PPT MusicVideos after Spring Break.]So, the small group activity I conducted yesterday definitely separated the classroom into those who have been reading and those who haven’t.
I’ve started to create a rough idea of the Poetry course for the fall semester…
Comments (2)
I think that all the motivation should come from the students (assuming as I do that you are a good and inspiring teacher). However, I think it is also possible that not all students got the preparation they needed in high school. Not your problem, but a good reason to have classes in study skills and so on for the freshmen.
Thanks for your comment.