Saturday, February 25, 2012
Discourse
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I love discourse, verbal interchange, conversation - especially when it is regarding new ideas or challenging thoughts. When I was in high school, I remember my classmates would always roll their eyes and say, "You have an opinion about everything!" Now, in my graduate classes, I find that I am often the only one asking questions. There is sort of a joke in college classes (probably high school too), that if the students just stay quiet, the teacher will finish the lecture early and everyone can leave. You don't want to be "that person" who is always asking a question, extending the conversation and the time of the class.
I love discourse, verbal interchange, conversation - especially when it is regarding new ideas or challenging thoughts. When I was in high school, I remember my classmates would always roll their eyes and say, "You have an opinion about everything!" Now, in my graduate classes, I find that I am often the only one asking questions. There is sort of a joke in college classes (probably high school too), that if the students just stay quiet, the teacher will finish the lecture early and everyone can leave. You don't want to be "that person" who is always asking a question, extending the conversation and the time of the class.
Yeah, I'm that person. The one who always has something to say.
But lately, I find it harder and harder to engage in meaningful discourse. And ironically, this is most evident in my graduate classes at Ohio State. This could be just a misperception on my part, but it seems to be difficult to really engage ideas, both with my classmates and with my teachers.
I might ask a question like, "What is the root meaning of that word, and is its use really applicable in this situation?" Or, "What is the feasibility of this theory in real life, and if its not applicable in its truest sense, why don't the authors admit as much?"
When I ask a question like that, I get the impression that I come across as being confrontational. But this is not my intent. In my opinion, this is the nature of discourse, and more importantly, the essence of learning. As a student, I am engaging the information in such a way that I am comparing it to what I already know and understand, and looking for new insights, but also points of weakness or areas in which I need clarification.
Perhaps the key difference here is engaging the information. Such an approach is not common, ironically (again) in our communication age. We typically read the webpages we prefer and already agree with. We watch television, which is a one-sided distribution of information. We don't talk back to the TV (actually, I do, and my dog gives me a weird look). As a society, we are passive in our learning.
I might be making too much of all of this, but if an over-generalization can be made, namely that we are more passive in our learning than engaging with new information, I think there are many examples in our lives. Think about so-called "social networks," or "political discourse" (a misnomer if there ever was one?).
This is one reason why I love my faith community. We value discourse and we try to foster lively but friendly discussion as best we can. Admittedly, this is difficult! And perhaps that is because across society, we don't participate in discourse very much, at least not without it appearing to be confrontational and aggressive.
Personally, I will continue to seek out and join in discourse of all types. I will also aim to be as gentle and friendly in my demeanor when I say things like, "I fundamentally disagree." But I will also aim to be open to learn in the deepest sense, which inherently involves a change in my person and being. I still believe that this can happen through meaningful, and yes sometimes heated, discourse.
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3 comments:
Don't you think that part of the problem is a flaw in our educational system where the two main styles of teaching are lecture (totally one sided) and discussion (in which the students read one book on a topic they know almost nothing about and are expected to comment critically on it). I have been thinking a lot about how to break out of this mold as I prepare to teach a freshman class in the Fall. How can I get my students interested, excited and engaged in the material rather than just giving them all the answers?
Hey Blaine - thanks for sharing your thoughts. I agree that we have very few styles of teaching, we usually lean toward lecture with a powerpoint. Remember Dr. Bowdle always said "Nothing ruins a good lecture like a powerpoint." After two years in graduate school, I'm convinced he was right!!
Regarding your question, how to get students interested and involved, I will share my opinion, based upon my experience with high school students.
1) Stay current - in my experience, the best conversation starters are those that pertain to topics happening *today* - politics, national issues, news stories, etc. This also brings the material home to real-world, real-life application.
2) Encourage students to *create* - whatever that might look like, poetry, art, their own doctrine, their own opinion, etc. Listening and regurgitating isn't learning, its when we apply what we know, make decisions about what we would create. (Btw, group presentations is *not* creating, it's just a day off for the professor! haha)
3) Present radical points of view - there has to be a bit of "shock and awe" to keep students on their toes , keep them thinking, guessing, engaged.
4) Be personally passionate and live it out. As a student, I can tell the professors who don't really believe what they are saying, or even if they do, if they just stand behind the lecture podium, we all fall asleep (along with the professor). Students have to see that the information matters to the professor before they ever think it will matter to them.
Just a few of my thoughts! What subject are you teaching in the fall? It's not an easy task for sure, but when it goes well, teaching is so rewarding! Best of luck friend -
Good thoughts Jesse. I am teaching an freshman intro course at TCU in the Fall on Religion and Race in America. I am still working on the syllabus; so, I am trying to come up with some creative ideas for student projects and how to organize the course.
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