tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-641443496612927441.post2980888591202482745..comments2023-09-11T05:46:29.728-03:00Comments on Novel Readings: Best Doctor's Note EverRohan Maitzenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12111722115617352412noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-641443496612927441.post-61104708927460753532009-03-04T22:39:00.000-04:002009-03-04T22:39:00.000-04:00I think I'm going to move this discussion up into ...I think I'm going to move this discussion up into a proper post. I'd be happy to collect ideas from other people about writing assignments, and I can pass along a link to the Writing Across the Curriculum book that gave me the model for the letter exchange.Rohan Maitzenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12111722115617352412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-641443496612927441.post-34178851081209792452009-03-03T20:06:00.000-04:002009-03-03T20:06:00.000-04:00I'm also interested in alternatives to traditional...I'm also interested in alternatives to traditional lit-crit papers. The letter-exchange assignment sounds interesting. Many of the assignments I use in my classroom are probably not suitable for college classrooms. However, I do have a class blog and a class wikispace. I've heard that some college classes have blogs. Has anyone here experimented with a class blog or a class wikispace?Ludwig Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17145442092958521609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-641443496612927441.post-57793666070494202242009-03-03T12:39:00.000-04:002009-03-03T12:39:00.000-04:00This is an interesting thread--not the one I expec...This is an interesting thread--not the one I expected! I would never doubt the value of having students write about their reading, but I do wonder about trying to get them to do micro-versions of the kind of criticism academics do. For several years I experimented with a letter-exchange assignment in my 19thC fiction class which I thought did a pretty good job mediating between academic-critical Rohan Maitzenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12111722115617352412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-641443496612927441.post-7702377305318488142009-03-02T20:35:00.000-04:002009-03-02T20:35:00.000-04:00"Should we be differentiating (but how can we?) be..."Should we be differentiating (but how can we?) between those who would be fine with taking notes on literary history and being led through some (hopefully stimulating) close reading--and then taking an exam--and those who need or want to learn to generate their own analysis?"<BR/><BR/>As a teacher of struggling high school readers, I've given some thought about how young people develop their Ludwig Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17145442092958521609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-641443496612927441.post-56182672508701187542009-03-02T11:08:00.000-04:002009-03-02T11:08:00.000-04:00When we are teaching literature courses to student...When we are teaching literature courses to students who are not English majors, we have a special challenge. However, literary analysis and criticism are, I think, transferrable skills that students can use in other disciplines. For that reason alone, I think we need to continue challenging all of those students, including the most resistant and the least promising. <BR/>With respect to your R/Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07791522136032565027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-641443496612927441.post-70148965567907663622009-03-02T09:14:00.000-04:002009-03-02T09:14:00.000-04:00Craig, I agree that something of the sort may be t...Craig, I agree that something of the sort may be the problem underlying this bit of unintentional humour--and I agree that notes of this sort (or notes of the generic "This student saw me in my office and reported being unwell" variety) do very little to winnow out those who really need our additional support and accommodation from those who are playing the system. I always tell students that Rohan Maitzenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12111722115617352412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-641443496612927441.post-9708199907608156172009-03-01T18:02:00.000-04:002009-03-01T18:02:00.000-04:00At least your reading-and-grading experience inclu...At least your reading-and-grading experience included some comic relief. My long weekend included reading student papers that demonstrated that they obviously had read versions of Hamlet and A Midsummer Night's Dream with which I am unfamiliar. Perhaps I read the wrong assignments. At any rate, I would have preferred some doctors' notes rather than the students' cockeyed attempts at analysis. R/Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07791522136032565027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-641443496612927441.post-30056143950710678422009-03-01T14:04:00.000-04:002009-03-01T14:04:00.000-04:00Does this not remind us of the professional sports...Does this not remind us of the professional sports teams that do not want to reveal their weaknesses to opponents, and so they report injuries as generically as possible?<BR/><BR/>I know this is not really the purpose of your post -- highlighting, again, the unintentional hilarity of some M.D.'s "professionaleeze" -- but I am troubled by how right to privacy intersects with what Kate Flint once Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02119232326941865253noreply@blogger.com