Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Blog Post #10
This class has probably meant something completely different to me than most of the other students in the class- primarily because I am not an English major and have very little knowledge on the subject. Even though I am not going into teaching as a career, I have great respect for good teachers and I can relate to them because everyone has had their share of good and bad teachers. I hope my ideas contributed as an outsider’s point of view. The first day of class is the most memorable lecture from the semester. I had never thought of, much less discussed whether or not humans were cannibals. I was interested and had an open mind from the beginning, mainly because early on the class definitely went against what I thought it would be. I really enjoyed how Dr. Garrison put a lot of emphasis on getting your ideas out there, even if he didn’t always agree. Having open discussions in class and doing blog postings gave everyone the opportunity to express what they were thinking. Another one of the strongest languages was the first one where Dr. Garrison started to push on the point that all language is persuasive. It showed me that if you introduce an interesting, NEW topic to students it is nearly impossible that they won’t be interested. Some of his ideas had me saying “huh???” but I still thought about it, which I presume is the overall goal. I have found throughout college that I trust a professors lecture and knowledge based on his or her credentials; however, it is a real turn off when they list every award they have ever gotten or every impressive thing on their resume. Dr. Garrison was able to show his intelligence through his lectures and discussions without having to brag or boast. For me, this class gave me a completely new way to think about English. I no longer think of it as writing a paper or reading Shakespeare, but it is a whole new language and way of thinking. For everyone that is teaching English I think it would be really helpful to surprise your students on the first day, just as Dr. Garrison did, and give them a new way to think of the subject.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Lindsey,
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with you when you say the most memorbale day of class was when we discussed whether or not humans were cannibals. I was immediately drawn to the class and could not wait to do the readings and see what the next class was going to be about. I think if all my classes were this interesting or at least stated off with a topic I found to be fun
That topic about cannibalism was very wierd. After that question that he asked us....I was like why are we talking about cannabalism and if we are cannibals. I just thought we were all talking nonsense. But when he tied this discussion to the rest of the things we have been talking about I saw where he was comming from.
ReplyDeleteWhen I become a teacher I hope to someday make my class as interesting as Mr. Garrison did too. I liked every aspect of the class you did. The discussions were great because it gave everyone a chance to voice their opinions in a respected environment. I also understand what you were saying with how this class has taught you to look at English in a completely different way. I feel that way as well.
ReplyDelete