Re: For Jessica
Posted by L. Swilley on 8/21/08
On 8/19/08, Jessica wrote:
I
> know that there have been some posts on here as to what
> they [Lit Circles] are, and in reference to their
efficacy....that is
> not my question.
[But isn't it. See your remarks below.]
> Additionally, what do they do IN the lit circle? I know
> that the idea is that they come up with questions and
> discuss,
*** but how can you be sure they are getting
> everything they should out of it? And how can you be sure
> that they are staying on topic and not wasting time??***
[my emphasis].
Answer: You can't. And consider:
Students have come to us ignorant of the knowledge we
want them to have. Lit circles presume that the students are
able to provide for themselves that knowledge. (If that is
so, why is anyone other than a clerk needed to maintain
discipline in the classroom?)
What is the teacher actually teaching in a class where Lit
circles are in progress? Is he/she teaching only how to
converse politely? If so, the lit circle can work (and the
teacher has become merely a disciplinary clerk for the
event), but if the *subject* of the conversation at the
tables is important, how can the teacher be assured *that*
is what is effected? How can he even be sure that common
sense is governing the discussion? Is the teacher able to be
a every table constantly? And even it that were possible,
what *exactly* is the student learning from his neighbor?
And isn't *exactly* what he is learning the very measure of
the course?
The teacher is a mind thinking about the subject in a way
that he should want his students to think about it. He does
not want his students to think WHAT he thinks, but HOW he
thinks about it, the advantages and limits of that HOW.
I will appreciate any discussion of the above points.
L. Swilley
2.
Posts on this thread, including this one
- Lit Circle Schedule and Structure, 8/19/08, by Jessica .
- Re: Lit Circle Schedule and Structure, 8/20/08, by Teri.
- Re: For Jessica, 8/21/08, by L. Swilley .
- Re: For Jessica, 8/22/08, by Teri.
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