Hi Rob,
As I wrote to Marc, this is what I do in class, but perhaps I make it more of a skein, the sharing going both ways. If I don't learn as much from the students as they learn from me, I always feel something's not working. This is the kind of class organization that I used at Nova Scotia (when David Askevold was teaching there) and it tends to work well. There are always issues today, though, around adjunct - the students come into the classroom at first having no idea who I am, why they should listen to anyone at all, particularly when it seems that other teachers are telling them that humanities are irrelevant. So I'm put at times in the uncomfor- table position of having to 'contradict' studio bias. When I've taught adjunct elsewhere, the situation was better. This is my fourth 'stint' at SVA, and it's always been uphill. I wouldn't say what I'm teaching is a skill or skills, although the ability to think critically is part of it. Skill usually implies method- ology. I don't think the students I work with are intimidated at all - that comes in the studio areas. On the other hand, I do think I reach them by emphasizing the confused planetary ecology and its potential futures - this is something they (and I) can relate to. It's a kind of moral imper- ative, which I'm always suspicious of myself. (I don't want to sound as if I don't know what I'm doing in the classroom - I do; I'm concerned about filling out or modifying the confused skein of identifications that form the core of the course. I was handed this course to teach - it's not my choice of subject-matter - so I'm trying to find ways to approach the subject/s.) Thanks greatly, and I hope I'm not taking up too much of list-space on this. - Alan On Wed, 30 Dec 2009, Rob Myers wrote: > On 30/12/09 13:19, marc garrett wrote: >> In respect of my own experience when teaching - supporting, advising, >> and sharing information with students is one of the most important >> aspects of connecting with others. > Yes. People can read books anywhere, and if they can't afford the latest > theory tomes then there's always the internets. What people can only get > somewhere like an educational institution is the experience of working > through this knowledge with other people who are learning how to do so > and with people who are skilled and experienced in doing so. Even for > knowledge-based courses, what's being taught are *skills*, the skill not > to be intimidated by new ideas or bodies of knowledge. The skill of > inhabiting a body of knowledge and being able to extend and critique it. > >> . As soon as anyone is >> informed of anything it changes their own position, but without >> knowledge and responsibilities of why and how to use it, they are merely >> drones following mannerisms rather being empowered, in understanding the >> bigger picture. >> > > Yes. The thing people always wanted when I was teaching at the CEA was > *context* and *reasons". *Why* are they being taught this, *what* is the > point of it, and *how* does it relate to the rest of the course? When > people know that you can ask them to take responsibility for their > learning and they can provide feedback and guidance on the course that > helps you learn as well. > > "Praxis" is a useful word, I've since learnt. ;-) > > - Rob. > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > == email archive: http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ webpage http://www.alansondheim.org sondheimat gmail.com, panix.com == _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
