Class #10: Tuesday March 6, 2018

Collecting Work

When collecting the assignments, I noticed she made it obvious that she recognized that students had not submitted the papers, but did so anonymously. She said,  "Two of you didn't submit the paper... you know who you are." I liked this strategy for adult students. I think it keeps them accountable, while also allowing them to remain independent and not making it a big deal out of them missing deadlines. Students will miss deadlines. It happens for a complex number of reasons. It is important to let them know that you have noticed and it isn't acceptable, but it can be done in a low key way.

Viewing the Film

I think that the students really liked viewing the film on a day that the paper was due. I think it is helpful for both the students and the teacher to periodically have a relaxing class day. I think I want to keep this in mind with my future syllabi. Something I did wonder about with viewing this film in such a relaxed way was whether students would be able to focus on the film in an analytical way that would allow them to later reference it in their papers. I think that having the students be calm and happy on the day their first paper was do was ok to prioritize though.

Writing About Controversial Issues

We also talked a little about different controversial issues in this class and what made them controversial. I think it is a great idea to write about controversial topics because they are great opportunities for creating debatable theses. As we spoke about the controversies we were guided by the questions of "Where's the controversy?" and "Why doesn't everyone believe_________?" I think that these are good questions for writing conferences too to get students to build stronger theses.

In general, I like that this assignment incorporates current events. I think that current events are always an attention grabber and are a great thing to have students read as they become more active members of society as young adults. I would like to think about how current events can play a part in any class I teach.