This semester I have been adamant about telling my students that I want them to approach the class like an "art class" where they have the freedom to experiment and fail and triumph and sweat it out and start over and throw away and freak out all they want. I had them do a found poem exercise and it was the first time they really took what I said to heart. I gave them each a magazine to take home and the assignment was to cut out words and make a poem. I told them to really experiment and treat it like a painting or a sculpture and they totally did! (Ex: one person "wrote" their poem on a pair of sunglasses, etc) I was very impressed and so happy that they are listening. I found they really enjoyed doing this exercise and I think I'm going to try to employ more "hands-on" assignments.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
I have a group of brilliant students who read and think critically (almost too critically sometimes) and who do their homework (both literally and figuratively) and I'm constantly amazed and in awe of them. However, I can't seem to get past the "complainers."I have 2 students that consistently complain every single class period about the readings and the assignments and I cannot do anything right as a teacher, ever. I'm frustrated--mostly because I don't want to deal with them and less because it has effected (sans other students eye rolling when they speak) the environment of my classroom. If anything, these 2 students have brought about some very passionate, critical conversations and for that I am thankful but man, is it annoying.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I know this is sneaky and underhanded, but you might insinuate that their reductionist style is better suited to a lit class. Seriously, we're in a creative process here, and if they don't want to join, perhaps they're in the wrong class.
ReplyDeleteKatie says in a later post that the complainers have been subdued. But as I was going back over these posts I was thinking that one way to address this kind of problem is to confront it directly, as in asking the students (after class, say) what specifically they were expecting from the class and what different sorts of assignments they had in mind. Sometimes students just need an opportunity to fuss. Other times, they really have had skewed expectations and need someone to tell them, gently, exactly what the class is meant to accomplish.
ReplyDelete