Teaching Journal #13/14

I knew the class before Thanksgiving break would pose a challenge, and I was right. On Monday, the 19^th of November, my class and I discussed Jonathan Alexander’s “Transgender Rhetorics: (Re)Composing Narratives of the Gendered Body.” Things started off promising; I had the students take Kate Bornstein’s Gender Aptitude Test, and the results showed that the students were fairly open to questioning the traditional gender construct. However, while the test results showed that students were willing to an alternative gendered reality, they certainly were not as willing to discuss it in class. I tried asking them some of Pat Califia’s writing prompt questions that Alexander cites in his article, but they were at a loss there as well. They kept asking if they would still have their own brains, if they would still be “them.” I asked them to what degree they think their genders define them, but they were not willing to engage for whatever reason. I was finally able to get them to talk about gender stereotypes by having them analyze the student narratives in groups. I think I need to utilize more group work as a way to foster conversation, especially this late in the term, when they seem to become less motivated daily.

After break, we discussed Cixous’ “Viewpoint: The Laugh of the Medusa.” During this particular class meeting, my students seemed inclined to undermine me at every turn. First a girl tried to argue with me on the correct pronunciation (she insisted the Americanized “knee-chee” was correct.) I did not engage with her at the time, explaining to her that I was not going to waste class time looking it up. However, I did take the liberty of playing a video of the correct pronunciation as I took attendance during the next class meeting. A couple of boys in the back also seemed particularly chatty, but it didn’t distract me, so I talked over them until the chatter subsided. The synthesis activity I made worked out pretty well. I displayed quotes on the board and asked the students to explain the quote and synthesize it with some of the other readings we have discussed. However, I had to resort to calling on people to answer in an effort to make sure everyone was paying attention. I might have been better off turning this into a group activity.

Wednesday’s class was dedicated to all things related to project 4. I spent the first third of the class giving the students an overview of the remaining elements of project 4, and then explaining them in detail. In an effort to get the students thinking about their reflective/analytical essay, I had them write individually about what they think has changes about their writing as a result of this class, and what scholars they think have had a hand in shaping or changing the way they think about writing. I then broke them up into groups of four, where they discussed what they wrote and looked for common themes. I asked them to discuss the conversation around their chosen theme. I then went around the room, wrote whatever common theme they chose to discuss on the board, and listed relevant scholars underneath. I think this activity was fairly helpful, though I had to circle the room quite often in an effort to make sure the students stayed on task.

           
Friday’s class covered Anzaldua and Lunsford. We started off the class with a discussion of mosaics and metaphors. My students were totally lost as to what the “tiny fish in the Pacific ocean” metaphor was trying to hint at, but I found out later this was probably because only a handful read the interview from which the metaphor came. In any case, I read the passage aloud and some of my students were able to identify meaning behind the metaphor. In an effort to get their creative juices flowing and shake up the class a bit, I had them individually write metaphors for their own composing processes or draw mosaics of their identities as writers. I do not think my students enjoyed this foray into creativity, though one student did share a mildly humorous comparison of writing to the act of changing a dirty diaper.