Silence in the classroom

I wrapped up a short week on Wednesday with MLA documentation. My attendance has almost never been higher as we went over the mechanics of a works cited page and in-text documentation.

This group of students don't ask questions. It's disconcerting at best since they just sit back and soak up the information without revealing any sign whether the information gets jumbled in their heads or whether I'm explaining everything thoroughly enough. After explaining a concept, I'll ask if there are any questions and sit back to regard the class with mild speculation as their eyes trail from one end of the tile floor to another. Some will glance up at me with a scowl. They give me no feedback.

So, I've gotten in the habit of taking feedback from them in the form of worksheets, group activities and the like.On Wednesday, I had them read a page from "The Areas of My Expertise" by John Hodgman. If you pick it up and read a few paragraphs, you will see why I like it so much. I had the students cite different statements from the text and a wonderful thing happened at 1:42. The students started asking questions about in-text citation. Not only that! The students were taking notes about it! We were actually holding a conversation about MLA citation in the classroom. I would tell them how to cite something and a hand would pop up. "Then, how do we..." "In that case, you cite it like this..." Another hand would pop up. "Can we cite it like this?" "No, don't be an idiot. Cite it like this." Okay, I didn't really say that last one. I was just too happy to have my class asking me questions in class about a concept... MLA citation no-less!

The eight minutes just flew by, and before I knew it the class was over. I wanted to shout to them to stay and ask more questions. "I'm a bastion of knowledge, kids! bust me open and soak up the knowledge with a sponge!" But, I did not. They had alcohol to imbibe and dignity to lose. I settled for merely stating how happy I was that they were asking questions.

Don't Tell Them She's Canadian!!!

I went over Margaret Atwood's "Letter to America" on Monday. I usually have them read that for homework, we discuss it for a little bit on Monday, I have them read "When they Learned to Yelp" by Dave Eggers, then have them write a short paper about 9/11. Both pieces have a lot to do with 9/11, so I like to wrap it up with the paper, because I love grading papers.

The class started off with an air of violence in the air. The students in the class were frowning and had looks in their eyes like Sean Hannity did when Romney dropped out of the race. "Alright. Let's start off with general feelings about the piece... what did you see that jumped out at you?"

What came next was a tirade of right-wing propoganda. Not only did they see everything Atwood said as an insult to our country and everything we stand for (freedom, spreading that freedom, being the best country on the planet, being infallable, etc.), Atwood was also Canadian. In the students' eyes, this immediately nixed all authority she had. She had neither the right nor the ability to discuss our mistakes in a public foum. Not only that, Canada's not a great country; it's full of French people (their words, not mine).

I went into a long diatribe about how, in many ways, Canada is doing a lot better than the United States... higher literacy, they aren't in quite as bad of a financial funk since the Iraq war costs us somewhere in the lower billions of dollars each month. I even pointed out that she loves America and says so many times during the piece.

"It's propaganda. This is the sort of stuff that makes people love Barak Obama even though they know nothing about him!" Another student pointed out that everything she says is opinion.

I looked at them for a moment. Yes, they were serious.

I asked the students if this was good advice she was doling out, and they started packing up their things. Every single student was packing up their things to leave the classroom. I looked up at the clock and saw I'd kept them 5 minutes over class time. I'd spent 50 minutes defending a stupid Canadian. Why did Atwood have to be Canadian!? Of all the countries!

Anyway, many of you are familiar with Naomi Shihab Nye's "Letter to a Would-be Terrorist." It has the same reasoning as the Atwood piece, only directed toward terrorists. It got a positive reaction, which punched holes in a lot of their arguments. I felt so good about myself, I bought a candy bar in the check-out line at the grocery store: Snickers. A big one.

I'd earned it.

The assignments came early and often this week. The snow was gone; only the mounds of gray and black piled high near the edges of commercial parking lots stood as a reminder that there was once snow, and a couple of inches of ice, on the ground. It was time for students to come back to class. I started 110 on Monday with a handout detailing every major assignment until the research paper... important information they needed in order to survive the class for the next month. I gave them an assignment on plagiarism. We also had a quiz over the Research paper guidelines. I told the students that it was to make sure they were clear on what was expected of them, but I couldn't lie to myself that it was to reward them for showing up. Seven students showed up.

The textual analyses were due on Wednesday... as were the plagiarism assignments. I reviewed a littla about the important information introduced on Monday and the students brought their Hacker books which I had asked them to bring. I guess I should say that five students brought their Hacker books. I brought a box of magazines, DVDs and books to class. The students were to group up and cite the sources using the Hacker book as their anchor. Sixteen students showed up. Word was out.

On Friday, I had the students tell me about their research paper proposals. A few students chose the Holocaust or Holocaust-esque topics. On student chose Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon... an idea I touched on when we were brainstorming for ideas. They turned in their proposals and reminded them that we would meet in the Library on Monday. 17 students showed up.

Between the quiz, proposal, textual analysis and assignments, about 200 points were garnered this week. The snow is gone, and it is time for the students to stop missing classes. And, I know, it is a cruel tactic to use. It stresses the students and makes those who did not show up to class fall behind. It is cruel, but it is also very effective. Last week, I saw students who I had not seen in weeks. One students turned to another which was prone to absences and asked, "You're still in this class, Shane?" They turned in their textual analyses, and I made it a point of passing back the quizzes they had missed. I could see the fear in their eyes when they started mentally talleying up the points they had lost over the last few weeks. But, I'm fairly certain they will pull their act together. They have the fear, now. And, once they have the fear, they can't shake it.