At 10:19 AM -0700 4/24/06, Lavolta Press wrote:
I don't think it's a question of looking down on people.
I agree -- it isn't at all about looking down on people. (If I had
such contempt for people, I wouldn't believe them capable of not
believing things just because they saw it in a movie, and so wouldn't
bother trying to encourage more people not to use movies as sources
of reliable information.)
As a
person who teaches costume history to college students, I'm more
frustrated than anything. Yes, I'm willing to teach anyone who's
interested enough to sign up for my classes, regardless of the
origin of their interest or what misconceptions they have when they
walk in. I assume that there will need to be some debunking of
common myths. The frustration has to do with two things: (1) how
much class time gets soaked up with the debunking, limiting the
time we can spend going beyond the basics, and (2) ways that
students think about history that similarly limit our progress in
the class.
I assume you do have the routine of giving the lecture and then
allowing X fixed minutes at the end for questions, encouraging any
really detailed ones to be postponed to conversation with you during
one of your standard office hours?
Not everyone teaches solely or primarily by lecture -- especially not
teachers who wish to discourage students from approaching learning as
"sitting there with their empty hands held out who will take any
information that comes their way and stick it in storage until they
need it for the test." (Alas, sometimes they have no choice -- like
when there are 200 students rather than 20 in their class.)
Sharon
--
Sharon Krossa, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Resources for Scottish history, names, clothing, language & more:
Medieval Scotland - http://MedievalScotland.org/
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