lauren's post

I guess I'm in the minority here when I say that I don't much like teaching 102, although that might just be because I haven't settled into a comfortable routine yet and my timeline for the researched position paper feels way off ... I am happy about the sequence of assignments leading up to the paper, but there doesn't seem to be enough time to teach them what they need to know, or at least I haven't been able to figure it out yet. we talked about what my book calls TRACE (text, reader, author, constraints, exigence) for a day or two in relation to nickel and dimed, and then I had them write a paper exploring how class functions in their lives; then we had two big discussions on class and politics, of which only a third of the class participated (dilemma: should I force the silent ones to participate? should I say to myself, they're the ones paying the money, so if they want to not participate, it's their loss? I gravitate towards the latter, but I don't know). I managed to squeeze ethos, pathos, and logos into one of conversations but not very successfully. I suppose I had it in my head to have a couple abstract discussions on class just to get them into the idea, but according to my syllabus they'll soon have to pick a topic and start digging around in source material. I consider myself something of an unimaginative teacher in that I don't often do (am not often able to think of) "fun" or interesting exercises--I sort of structure the class period in terms of what I like best, just a big, fat, fun, heady discussion, but that doesn't seem sufficient in 102 and I'm not sure how to handle that...