Today's title comes from a Go-Gos song. (If you click on the previous rock group name, you will get to their video homepage where you find the drop-down menu on "playlist" and watch the "Vacation" music video.)
I turned in grades today and am done for the quarter. A few "chairy" things to take care of over break and I need to update my knowledge for the small groups class before next quarter.
It is SOOOO cold. Yesterday when I walked to work I was very pleased to have the beanie knit for me by Scott, the young man who performed the enjoyable persuasive speech about his hand made beanies. Obviously, the speech was a success. Actually, his beanies looked so good that I was half sold before the speech. A good product may be said to sell itself. As a speech teacher I really hate to admit that.
So, I bought some wool yarn at Gossamer and hired Scott to make a red wool beanie. He got it done before the day of the final. And I was so glad yesterday when I walked to school in the snow. That beanie kept my ears from falling right off!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Problematic Public Praise
My use of alliteration in the headline echoes the evocative speech assignment. In this last presentation students are supposed to use a rhetorical figure in a speech that evokes liking for a person special to them. They are to give a celebratory toast or eulogy for that person as if they are at a special occasion (wedding, funeral, birthday or anniversary party). Most people choose family members or mentors.
In my Tuesday/Thursday class the first speaker of the day gave a toast to me. It was a good speech, one that fulfilled all the requirements of the assignment. Nevertheless, it left me feeling uneasy. I want to take some time here to clarify my discomfort.
Public praise of a professor by a current student is always problematic because it raises questions about appropriate response and performance motivation.
When a student praises me in front of other students or teachers, I feel caught between two different ways of responding. Because I respect and really like almost all my students, I want to show my gratitude for the praise and respond in a friendly manner (smile, sparkling eyes, head nod, saying "thanks"). This response honors the work of the student and treats him or her as authentic and honest.
But what if the person praising is not honest? What if the praise is "merely" flattery? An attempt to get a good grade? If I respond publicly to flattery with kindness and a smile, will the people observing the interaction think I'm gullible? Or what if the praise is not only flattery, but mocking flattery? What if the student is trying to show that I'm an idiot and has set me up? (I imagine a conversation prior to the praise: "Hey, want to see her take the hook? I bet she'll believe it.") If I am being flattered or mocked, I need to respond by showing that I can't be taken in, that I can't be seduced so easily. I need to use a tone of voice that suggests incredulity. I need to use facial movements to emphasize my disbelief: a crooked smile and a single raised eyebrow.
But I'm not a good actor. Hard for me to contort my face on command. Impossible to raise a single eyebrow. I pretty much show exactly what I'm thinking most of the time. And I generally think of my students with affection and accept them as honest, decent people. So, I usually respond to praise with sincere thanks. Yet, because I know that some people ARE duplicitous and that I AM pretty darn gullible, I always feel uncomfortable when I'm praised by someone who owns less social currency (re: power) than I. (And yes, this includes newer faculty and staff as well as students.)
So, the key to becoming comfortable being publicly praised is clearly in learning to figure out what is motivating the praise. In other words, I need to be able to read minds. Hmm. I wonder if there's a community ed class I could take?
Confession:
My own history is riddled with stories of deep affection (sometimes inappropriate affection -- "yes reader, I married him") for teachers. I realized when I started studying Kenneth Burke and persuasion theory that my feelings of connection for my professors may actually have been a "survival" mechanism. All through my life in school I have tried to make most of my teachers have personal relationships with me. I am most probably a kinesthetic learner with musical/rhythmic intelligence. It's very hard for me to learn just from reading or listening. I have to engage teachers in personal interaction. In my youth those classroom relationships became inappropriately obsessive. [I had horrible crushes on my three high school teachers: Mr. Ridgely (English), Mr. Barrans (Latin), and Mr. Glasner (drama).]
Another aspect of my past that impacts my present is the fact that I shuttled between being an outcast and a leader and often a mixture of both from fourth grade until, well, now. Sometimes I was a scapegoat for others to blame and sometimes I was an entertainer people enjoyed.
Though not impossible, it's very difficult for someone to perform in an improvisational context like the classroom without drawing on his or her own personal history. Though in my mid-fifties and mostly sane, I am still Kakie Hanson. Thus, I am beset by doubts about the motivations of others when they are nice to me.
TMI? Perhaps. But I wanted to get it down.
In my Tuesday/Thursday class the first speaker of the day gave a toast to me. It was a good speech, one that fulfilled all the requirements of the assignment. Nevertheless, it left me feeling uneasy. I want to take some time here to clarify my discomfort.
Public praise of a professor by a current student is always problematic because it raises questions about appropriate response and performance motivation.
When a student praises me in front of other students or teachers, I feel caught between two different ways of responding. Because I respect and really like almost all my students, I want to show my gratitude for the praise and respond in a friendly manner (smile, sparkling eyes, head nod, saying "thanks"). This response honors the work of the student and treats him or her as authentic and honest.
But what if the person praising is not honest? What if the praise is "merely" flattery? An attempt to get a good grade? If I respond publicly to flattery with kindness and a smile, will the people observing the interaction think I'm gullible? Or what if the praise is not only flattery, but mocking flattery? What if the student is trying to show that I'm an idiot and has set me up? (I imagine a conversation prior to the praise: "Hey, want to see her take the hook? I bet she'll believe it.") If I am being flattered or mocked, I need to respond by showing that I can't be taken in, that I can't be seduced so easily. I need to use a tone of voice that suggests incredulity. I need to use facial movements to emphasize my disbelief: a crooked smile and a single raised eyebrow.
But I'm not a good actor. Hard for me to contort my face on command. Impossible to raise a single eyebrow. I pretty much show exactly what I'm thinking most of the time. And I generally think of my students with affection and accept them as honest, decent people. So, I usually respond to praise with sincere thanks. Yet, because I know that some people ARE duplicitous and that I AM pretty darn gullible, I always feel uncomfortable when I'm praised by someone who owns less social currency (re: power) than I. (And yes, this includes newer faculty and staff as well as students.)
So, the key to becoming comfortable being publicly praised is clearly in learning to figure out what is motivating the praise. In other words, I need to be able to read minds. Hmm. I wonder if there's a community ed class I could take?
Confession:
My own history is riddled with stories of deep affection (sometimes inappropriate affection -- "yes reader, I married him") for teachers. I realized when I started studying Kenneth Burke and persuasion theory that my feelings of connection for my professors may actually have been a "survival" mechanism. All through my life in school I have tried to make most of my teachers have personal relationships with me. I am most probably a kinesthetic learner with musical/rhythmic intelligence. It's very hard for me to learn just from reading or listening. I have to engage teachers in personal interaction. In my youth those classroom relationships became inappropriately obsessive. [I had horrible crushes on my three high school teachers: Mr. Ridgely (English), Mr. Barrans (Latin), and Mr. Glasner (drama).]
Another aspect of my past that impacts my present is the fact that I shuttled between being an outcast and a leader and often a mixture of both from fourth grade until, well, now. Sometimes I was a scapegoat for others to blame and sometimes I was an entertainer people enjoyed.
Though not impossible, it's very difficult for someone to perform in an improvisational context like the classroom without drawing on his or her own personal history. Though in my mid-fifties and mostly sane, I am still Kakie Hanson. Thus, I am beset by doubts about the motivations of others when they are nice to me.
TMI? Perhaps. But I wanted to get it down.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Monday Wednesday Finish Up
A few final comments about my Monday Wednesday class.
I forgot to mention that Jenna's speech on why we should get rid of the penny was an excellent presentation that made great use of source material. She also did a great job with her powerpoint visuals.
Today was the final and I had one student who chose to get an F in the course by not giving the make-up of his persuasive presentation. I feel sad about that. Of those who did do their make-up speeches, I was most impressed by Melissa's energy in her speech on recycling as a way of fighting global warming. She had great eye contact and dynamic gestures. She also wore a green shirt to go with her green emphasis.
Another student asked if I would mind if he'd take another class I was teaching.
"I know I'm a terrible student," he said.
I really don't like that concept. There is no such thing as a "good student" or a "bad student." There are students who make choices that aid them in getting good grades or in learning and there are students who make choices that don't aid them. I told this student, "You make choices that I wouldn't make."
The only students that I would think of as "bad students" are those who hurt other people intentionally. I don't mind when people choose against their own academic success. I respect those choices.
I forgot to mention that Jenna's speech on why we should get rid of the penny was an excellent presentation that made great use of source material. She also did a great job with her powerpoint visuals.
Today was the final and I had one student who chose to get an F in the course by not giving the make-up of his persuasive presentation. I feel sad about that. Of those who did do their make-up speeches, I was most impressed by Melissa's energy in her speech on recycling as a way of fighting global warming. She had great eye contact and dynamic gestures. She also wore a green shirt to go with her green emphasis.
Another student asked if I would mind if he'd take another class I was teaching.
"I know I'm a terrible student," he said.
I really don't like that concept. There is no such thing as a "good student" or a "bad student." There are students who make choices that aid them in getting good grades or in learning and there are students who make choices that don't aid them. I told this student, "You make choices that I wouldn't make."
The only students that I would think of as "bad students" are those who hurt other people intentionally. I don't mind when people choose against their own academic success. I respect those choices.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Persuasive Speeches
We've come to the end of the persuasive speeches for the quarter. Oh, yeah. Except for the make-up speeches by people who for reasons of illness or slacking didn't get their act together and need to give their speech in the final exam period.
So, what I'm going to do in this entry is talk about the most memorable speeches rather than going over all permitted performances.
Monday/Wednesday Class
Laura's presentation about why we should start saving for retirement now took a dry subject and made it real to the young audience. She proved that social security is collapsing and showed us through her visual aids how much money we could have if we put something away every week. (The audience in the M/W class is largely very young.)
In that same class Tylor showed up in a suit and tie. I love seeing students dressing up in a speech class. When I took speech way back in 1971 we were required to dress up. But the culture has become much more casual. Tylor also spoke with great energy and sincerity. He has a lovely natural style and I think he could become an excellent presenter.
Brian did a good job walking the line between the pro-choice and pro-life believers in a speech in which he tried to convince us that the wording of the abortion laws could lead to confusion in other laws. It was a new argument to me and I thought I would never hear any new arguments in the overwrought abortion debate.
Tuesday/Thursday Class
Andrew's speech about animal cruelty was well adapted to his audience and well structured. He did a good job referring to his source material. He spoke with energy as he told us how we could support PETA.
(An aside: Whenever I think about PETA, though, I gotta tell you that I think about what they would members would say or do about my fur coats. I received a "look" from a young woman on campus last week who asked me, eyebrows down, "Is that a real fur?!?" Yup.)
I was deeply impressed by Ryan's arguments against gun control. He spoke with passion, offered plenty of supporting evidence, and made some excellent points about the necessity of citizens owning and understanding guns. I say this not because I too believe in the importance of an armed citizenry but because he did the work required by the assignment. The speech re-convinced me that all liberals and gays (my people) should definitely be armed and train their children to be capable of handling guns. I'm a big believer The price of freedom is eternal vigilance as Tom Jefferson said. And yes, I have a Deschutes County permit to carry a concealed weapon, just in case you're wondering.
Acacia's speech on homelessness in Central Oregon made excellent use of local statistics. I really love when students choose topics that aren't national and stick to our area. She quoted from governmental sources and gave us the names of organizations we could support, like The Shepherd's House.
What else?
Almost everyone in both classes has improved their delivery over the quarter, which is as it should be. I have been a bit surprised at times when people have chosen not to follow directions and turned in poor outlines. A few folks have turned in essays rather than outlines which, as the directions state, is an automatic zero. But I figure that these folks made their choice to get a zero or made their choice to avoid reading the directions. (I mean, like, there are gigantic arrows pointing to that particular rule!)
So, what I'm going to do in this entry is talk about the most memorable speeches rather than going over all permitted performances.
Monday/Wednesday Class
Laura's presentation about why we should start saving for retirement now took a dry subject and made it real to the young audience. She proved that social security is collapsing and showed us through her visual aids how much money we could have if we put something away every week. (The audience in the M/W class is largely very young.)
In that same class Tylor showed up in a suit and tie. I love seeing students dressing up in a speech class. When I took speech way back in 1971 we were required to dress up. But the culture has become much more casual. Tylor also spoke with great energy and sincerity. He has a lovely natural style and I think he could become an excellent presenter.
Brian did a good job walking the line between the pro-choice and pro-life believers in a speech in which he tried to convince us that the wording of the abortion laws could lead to confusion in other laws. It was a new argument to me and I thought I would never hear any new arguments in the overwrought abortion debate.
Tuesday/Thursday Class
Andrew's speech about animal cruelty was well adapted to his audience and well structured. He did a good job referring to his source material. He spoke with energy as he told us how we could support PETA.
(An aside: Whenever I think about PETA, though, I gotta tell you that I think about what they would members would say or do about my fur coats. I received a "look" from a young woman on campus last week who asked me, eyebrows down, "Is that a real fur?!?" Yup.)
I was deeply impressed by Ryan's arguments against gun control. He spoke with passion, offered plenty of supporting evidence, and made some excellent points about the necessity of citizens owning and understanding guns. I say this not because I too believe in the importance of an armed citizenry but because he did the work required by the assignment. The speech re-convinced me that all liberals and gays (my people) should definitely be armed and train their children to be capable of handling guns. I'm a big believer The price of freedom is eternal vigilance as Tom Jefferson said. And yes, I have a Deschutes County permit to carry a concealed weapon, just in case you're wondering.
Acacia's speech on homelessness in Central Oregon made excellent use of local statistics. I really love when students choose topics that aren't national and stick to our area. She quoted from governmental sources and gave us the names of organizations we could support, like The Shepherd's House.
What else?
Almost everyone in both classes has improved their delivery over the quarter, which is as it should be. I have been a bit surprised at times when people have chosen not to follow directions and turned in poor outlines. A few folks have turned in essays rather than outlines which, as the directions state, is an automatic zero. But I figure that these folks made their choice to get a zero or made their choice to avoid reading the directions. (I mean, like, there are gigantic arrows pointing to that particular rule!)
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