Elaboration (7):
Thesis: A professor should not distribute a hard copy of the syllabus the first day of class.
I’m tempted to "punt" here and list thirty-nine much more profitable uses of time on the first day of a class, but I’ll spare you.
So let me say this instead. This thesis was a cheap way to provoke responses and comments. It worked. I especially like Kelly’s comment; her request for elaboration assumes a story. And I think, in general, our strong opinions are formed much more by our stories than by the endless pontification and qualification of so-called “logical” argumentation. I also think that this is as it should be.
But back to my initial claim about this thesis being a cheap way to provoke comments. Is this tactic cheap? Maybe Brent is right. Maybe this is simply one tactic the teacher (or the blogger) has at her disposal as a means of provoking thought and interaction. Or perhaps it only makes one appear moronic.
Is it a cheap trick? Is it a cheap trick when I make the claim, as I frequently have in classes, that “any time two characters in a story or a film share a meal, it’s ‘communion?’” Or when I say, “To read a story is to re-write it for yourself.” Or how about, “If they go somewhere, it’s a quest narrative.”
This tactic—using a statement of “normative absoluteness”—can be pretty effective (if not used too often, and especially if spoken in a tone that hints at comedic self-mockery) as a discussion stimulator.
Of course I don’t think all teachers or professors everywhere should never distribute hard copies of the syllabus the first day of class. In fact, selfishly speaking, I kind of hope most of them will continue the practice. I’m inclined to think their practice makes the kinds of things some of us do instead refreshingly novel for students grown over-accustomed to (at worst) being scolded in syllabus-ese the first day of class.
See also: http://www.aacu.org/liberaleducation/le-fa07/le_fa07_myview.cfm
p.s. I haven't yet put into practice the collaborative construction of the syllabus by the community of learners, but I'm both convicted and tempted by this guy's ideas.
3 comments:
*smiles*
I think that thesis especially amused me because I conjured up all sorts of stories and scenarios of things that could have happened in class. Out of all of those dreaded syllabuses I received, yours were by far the *funniest* ever.
"And I think, in general, our strong opinions are formed much more by our stories than by the endless pontification and qualification of so-called 'logical' argumentation. I also think that this is as it should be."
It is now going to take a large quantity of self-medicating to overcome my feeling of ineptness for handing out a syllabus on the first day of my logic course this morning.
"It is now going to take a large quantity of self-medicating to overcome my feeling of ineptness for handing out a syllabus on the first day of my logic course this morning."
And that is also as it should be.
:-)
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