Hi
Here is an excerpt from an email last summer while we were work on a
literature course
###################
When I look at your essay questions....4 Sıs activities just jump out
#####################
Should they accept Freud and re-examine relationships within their families?
Yes?No as discussion start point
##############
1. In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Walter Lee struggles
because of his immaturity, but the play reaches its climax when Walter Lee
shows that he has the substance to be the leader of his family. Several
explanations are offered for his immaturity:
a. He foolishly believes that money is centrally important in life.
b. He is a victim of the white man.
c. His mother is too strong, and he cannot lead the family as well as
she.
d. He allows alcohol to stall his progress.
e. He blames the ³black woman² for his lack of progress.
f. He lacks the guidance of his father.
################
1. Which world is better? A world without psychological complexes caused by
families, or a world with such complexes?
##################
1. What is Freudıs theory of the Oedipus complex? Evaluate each of the plays
listed below and determine which play brings Freudıs theory most clearly to
life.
a. Sophocles, Oedipus the King
b. Shakespeare, Hamlet
c. Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun
Any of these would work.....maybe students could do an individual response
as an out of class assignment...then come to class.....discuss/peer
teach.....vote....discuss
OR
If you have groups of six....maybe 2 students could do 1 problem of the 3
(so all 3 problem get discussed)....then come to class....teach their
teammates.....make a decision....simultaneously report.....discuss some more
Maybe each team could prepare a post discussion worksheet as a team response
to each question
#######################
jim
> From: Christopher Boettcher <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Christopher Boettcher <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2011 09:50:31 -0500
> To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: TBL group activities in literature classes
>
> Hello Charles and all,
>
> This is something I've struggled with as well. I started using TBL for a
> sophomore-level Western literature course required of all students. I've had
> a really tough time thinking my way into class activities. Sometimes I think
> it's because I don't have enough time, but I think the bigger issue that I
> haven't been able to think about how this methodology is best applied to
> literature, particularly literature in this course.
>
> In my teaching generally I make regular use of small groups for discussion and
> for generating ideas. I understand that TBL should be used for more
> substantive work than that. I get the "four S's," but I've found it difficult
> to come up with activities that are significant and that I can evaluate for
> course credit. It's difficult to come up with "right answer" problems that
> are interesting enough to sustain attention, so I've found myself overplaying
> interpretations (without a "right answer" I can use to set standards for best
> response). I would really appreciate any help with ideas, and I've imagined
> that someone would say: "here's a great resource on helping you to think
> about and plan activities." Like you, Charles, I see the centrality of case
> studies in TBL and I do think that literature is in some senses all about case
> studies, but I haven't found anything in the TBL descriptions to help me to
> connect the dots between what I know how to do and what TBL can help m
> e to do.
>
> My situation might be illustrative: Most students at the college seem to
> think of this course as their least important course, and they'll do
> significant work to avoid reading, or reading at any depth. The larger truth
> is that many of them don't have basic reading skills, so reading Homeric epic,
> for example, seems to challenge them for a variety of reasons. I apparently
> set the difficulties of the first RAT's a little too high for them, and some
> of the students got discouraged. We talked that through, and I thought they
> were with me. The class activities, if they had the right challenge and
> payoff, would have helped them to build on what they knew and establish some
> accountability to one another. The activities I came up with apparently
> didn't do that, so, as an example, I have one team that is really discouraged
> and who reinforce one another in being discouraged. Part of the problem is
> that they aren't doing work to prepare themselves for class, and they justify
> it to
> one ano
>
> Any help from the list would be most appreciated, and I'm also interested in
> further conversation to come up with ideas.
>
>
> Thanks
>
> Chris Boettcher
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Christopher Boettcher, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor of English
> 158 Leavenworth Hall
> Castleton State College
> 86 Seminary Dr.
> Castleton, VT 05735
> (802) 468-1278
>
>>>> Charles Dameron <[log in to unmask]> 03/07/11 2:47 PM >>>
> I've been wanting to strengthen my active- learning activities in my sophomore
> literature classes, and the TBL approach provides a number of fine
> suggestions. I give frequent quizzes and have daily one- page assignments
> (called reaction papers) that I require students to complete, and I put them
> in groups during most class meetings to use their reaction papers to launch
> them into discussions of our reading in the literature courses I teach.
> However....... The purpose of these groups discussions isn't focused enough, I
> have found, and I don't have a really effective reporting out activity at the
> end.
>
> I have read through the Michaelsen/Knight/Fink book on TBL, which is certainly
> stimulating, but I'm still wrestling with the issue of constructing group
> assignments that lead to productive reporting out discussions. Most of the
> courses that use TBL successfully appear to use case studies from a medical,
> legal, or business context. Have any of you developed case studies, or
> something along those lines, for literature courses? Are there literature
> faculty out there who are having good success with group discussions and then
> simultaneous reporting out?
>
> Much thanks,
> Charles Dameron
>
>
> [cid:image001.jpg@01CBDCCD.CE5933F0]
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