tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10727233.post6887075849344311323..comments2023-10-17T05:09:09.069-05:00Comments on <center>Lanny on Learning</center>: Inadvertent IntimidationLanny Arvanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05597426421997599777noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10727233.post-68634411921207999202010-05-06T08:39:21.091-05:002010-05-06T08:39:21.091-05:00On the quiet student front - I believe the problem...On the quiet student front - I believe the problem is systemic. It will likely take some time to establish that proposition, but if it is true then it requires a systemic response. I should also say that on the flip side, some of my most talkative students also showed a good deal of insularity in their behavior. In my class they were all women and self-possessed as to ignore their peers to a large degree. So that insularity needs to be addressed as well. <br /><br />Also, I think there are some cultural aspects to the above. Many of the Asian-American students were quiet. Among the women in that group, they showed a persistence and a willingness to endure some hardship or indignity that I didn't see in the other students. Among the talkative students, one had some Latin American culture in her background. The others were white and I believe none were themselves immigrants or children of immigrants. (My mom was an immigrant and my father's parents were immigrants, so I'm referring to kids like my children or those with even longer lineage in America.) I believe the notion of entitlement is greater with these students. It may be too strong to say that our culture has a tendency to spoil these kids, but perhaps it does force them to compartmentalize their lives much more so than when we were growing up.Lanny Arvanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05597426421997599777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10727233.post-84206612286354870092010-05-06T05:55:34.360-05:002010-05-06T05:55:34.360-05:00Wow, Lanny, what a post! I'm delighted to have...Wow, Lanny, what a post! I'm delighted to have contributed to your stewing (heh-heh) over the problems of choice and entitlement, exclusivity and accomplishment. I welcome your thoughtful questioning of my new endeavors and website--you do indeed push my thinking, and that is a good thing.<br /><br />First off, on the subject of teaching quiet students--a couple of nights ago a former student of mine--an exceptional though exasperating student in that she kept all her learning to herself, refusing to utter a word in class--called to talk about a class she is teaching at UCLA. She can't rouse them to engage actively in class, and in their work outside of class they do not seem particularly motivated either. What to do, what to do, she asked. I said that all she could do was to maintain her own modeling of passion for the subject, for learning, for learning within, yes, this notion of reciprocal apprenticeships. If she had spent time designing a course that had ways in for all kinds of learners, if she had insisted that the students orient themselves to the course from their own experience--sitting on that suitcase before stepping through the threshold of the class--and if she had spent time on nurturing the community of learners, helping them to see that they each had something to teach, something to learn, then she had to let them take responsibility for the experience. Some classes have bad chemistry, but that does not make them bad classes.<br /> <br />We have no idea what students are really learning or when they will learn. Tests, simulations, essays capture the immediate grasp of concepts and skills (within whatever context we have thrown them). Passive learning can be powerful for those who lack confidence and the central skills (see Etienne Wenger's work on communities of practice, on how some of the most creative, interesting ideas come from the edges, among those who are seemingly disengaged). Perhaps what she needed to do was to allow students to <i>express</i> their learning in more ways than she had offered. <br /><br />Ah, you're saying, too much choice. No, I'm saying, thoughtful choice--every choice my students made about what and how they learned and contributed had to be argued for within the context and confines of the subject and the semester. Choice tied to the learning. Choice that includes failure.<br /><br />As for my views on food and opening up our narrow sense of the local, I'm not talking about promiscuous eating. I'm talking about moving out of our own narrow experiences and perspectives of the world through the powerful learning terrain of food as culture. We all have views on food, and so it's a topic that naturally invites everyone in--what you rightly point out, is whether I can pique the interest of those who do not want to spend much time thinking about what they eat. As far as breadth and depth of topic--food is tied to history, politics, economics, health, science, literature, art--you name it. <br /><br />I have lots more to say on the topic, and will over at my blog, when I can get out of the early-season garden. For now I just want to thank you for shaking the tree and expressing your doubts and concerns.<br /><br />~bgBarbarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03276770410690953730noreply@blogger.com