I think that the miscommunications can be funny. I had a great reminder of the diconnect between students and teacher tonight. I was talking to my perception students about diagnosing glaucoma with a "puff of air". A student in the back raised her hand and very politely asked me to say more about "papa bear" and glaucoma. I was initially confused by her question because I was pretty far beyond talking about pressure and the optic nerve. Everyone, the questioner especially, laughed when we finally figured out the "puff of air" / "papa bear" connection.
The laughter wasn't mean spirited. It's been a stressful, even painful semester here in New York City. Many of my students have done great jobs. But, we're all ready for the break and we take humor where we can get it. It's not mean. If the student had been upset and anxious, we all would not have laughed. At 12:47 PM -0800 12/13/01, Don Allen wrote: >Hi All- > >I think that there's another aspect of the "blooper" issue that we need to >consider. I think that "bloopers" are a good reminder that our clear >thoughts and brilliant phrases get attacked by evil aliens as they are >beamed to student ears & brains. This was brought home to me once again >then semerster when one of my research Methods students came up to me >after class and asked what the word "Fenciting" meant. I was rather taken >aback and said that I knew of no such word & I knew that I had never used >it in class. She pointed to her notes & said, "Sure you did. We were >discussing Likert-type scales and you said that one consideration was >whether to use an even or odd number of divisions. You said that the >advantage of an even numbered scale was that it prevented 'fenciting' >(fence sitting)." When I read student "bloopers" I am always made more >aware that the correlation between the thoughts in my head and the notes >made by my students is far from +1.00. So, I don't see these "bloopers" as >a slight against students, but rather a reminder that the thoughts in my >head have a long and hazardous journey ahead of them. > >Damn those evil aliens! > >All the best, > >-Don > >******************************************************************** >Don Allen email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Dept. of Psychology voice: (604)-323-5871 >Langara College fax: (604)-323-5555 >100 W. 49th Ave. >Vancouver, B.C. >Canada, V5Y 2Z6 >******************************************************************** > > >--- >You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] phone: 914-738-1147 fax: 914-738-1078 --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
