It has occurred to me that (in my somewhat limited conversation with this student) he may have a traumatic experience in his past (e.g., perhaps he was raped). What I ended up doing was allowing him to write his paper based on what he has read thus far, comparing the two books, and telling me exactly why one was acceptible and one wasn't. I told him I will be looking for a thoroughly logical explanation, and not just that he was uncomfortable (I even threw in the "learning IS uncomfortable" statement). I stressed that he had better present me with a darned good arugument and that that will be a large part of what he is graded on. In this way, I feel that I accomplished several things. He is still doing the required amount of work, I am still grading him on his appreciation (or lack of appreciation) for the books, and yet I am giving him a chance to explain what he finds unacceptable about _Dry_. It seemed fair to me. My intent is not to bend him to my will, but to get him to think, and I believe such a modification will accomplish that. He could have bluffed his way through and let on that he read both books, so I think the fact that he discussed it with me says something (although I'm not sure yet what it says). Maybe I took a chicken way out--maybe I should have held my ground firmly, but as I said, I've not encountered this before and it caught me off guard. Next time I will know better how to handle such a situation. At the very least, I've found this whole thread to be quite interesting. Thanks again for all your help. Carol
-----Original Message----- From: Robin Abrahams [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 11:38 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] Re: Subject: Another question to ponder --- Rob Weisskirch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I've read the responses by several people and I can't help but think >that we're looking at this through our (dare I say it?) liberal eyes. >To me, the issue with asking for an alternative assignment is what is >the learning outcome of assigning Dry? ><snip> If a > student objects, why not accommodate the student's needs? Dry isn't >exactly a classic book. > > If the focus is on student learning, then can the student learn the > same information through a different route? > Rob-- Your comments are reasonable, but two objections: 1. You can't hold a good class discussion if everyone is reading a different text. Students don't learn just through reading, but through discussing what they've read. 2. These are not a student's "needs," but a student's *preferences*. Part of the educational process is teaching students to get beyond their wee comfort zones ("I like entertaining books about people just like me, written in short sentences"). We are teaching them not just the course content, but *how* to learn. How to grapple with texts that are difficult both cognitively and emotionally. I think most people have agreed that if there is a "need" issue (e.g., a rape survivor not wishing to read a graphic account of rape) we would accomodate that. Being uncomfortable with "the gay thing" is not a need. Robin Notices at the bottom of this e-mail do not reflect the opinions of the sender. I do not "yahoo" that I am aware of. ________________________________________________________________________ ____________ Want to start your own business? Learn how on Yahoo! Small Business. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/r-index --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang= english --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
