Comments for Rhetorically Speaking

Comment on Social Media Musings by Heather (Fogt) Garcia

Heather (Fogt) Garcia — Sun, 02 May 2010 17:59:56 +0000

From what I’ve seen, today’s teenagers seem to be using more privacy options than many people my age (23). When I first got on Facebook as a freshman, if someone was in your Baylor network, you could see their information. When they created the option for more privacy, most people didn’t care enough to go change their settings. But now, with a lot of younger people I can see little to no information on their pages unless I am their friend.

My theory is that instant messengers and Myspace and Facebook came out so quickly that parents weren’t sure how to deal with them. They weren’t aware of who all their children were interacting with online, and so they couldn’t guide them toward a good, healthy use of these new things. Once that initial shock was gone, parents learned more about the dangers and how to protect their kids using privacy features. And they seem to be catching on. I could be wrong, but that just seems to be the trend from my observations.

Comment on Challenging the Impossible by Robert

Robert — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:04:24 +0000

Good stuff, DB. Of course that student could have accessed that material. They access far more challenging stuff on a daily basis — sometimes in the middle of my lectures. The computer age has given some of them a universe full of new excuse to cover up for a Thursday night full of partying, Sing performances, and video-game tournaments. Apparently, someone is buying those excuses, because the same ones keep coming up. As I learn more about the technology, I’m getting wiser to them. And I think they respect that. Most kids want to know where the lines are drawn. That’s some of what college is about. Then they go about doing their business…

Comment on To Engage in Learning or Drift by Heidi Marcum

Heidi Marcum — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:35:52 +0000

I do the exact same thing when I read evaluations – I can get 99% excellent reviews, but I beat myself up over the one that reads that I should never be allowed to teach (I’m left wondering what I did to so upset the student!). It is so true that my yearly evaluations by my Chair are based almost exclusively on student evaluations. So, my choice it to (a) dum down the class, and make everyone succeed (and get great evaluations), or (b) keep the bar high, keep high standards, and accept that some students simply will not be happy. One option lets me keep my job – and get a raise. The other one punishes me. Hmmmm.

Comment on To Engage in Learning or Drift by Robert

Robert — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:26:30 +0000

We can look at this two ways, I guess:
1. I can’t “reach” every kid (especially those who don’t want to be reached) any more than I can save every beached starfish after a violent storm. My responsibility is to save who I CAN save.
2. Beat yourself over the 1 lost sheep even after the 99 other sheep are safe in the pen.
The sad thing is, lecturers and adjuncts CAN be hurt by a nasty comment like that from a lazy student on their evaluations. There has been much discussion about the value of Baylor’s current teaching evaluation format. This incident further confirms the widespread perception that it is fatally flawed.

Comment on Why tell your story? by Gardner

Gardner — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:14:05 +0000

I love Watson’s quotation from Holmes. Perfect. And what better way to train ourselves to notice what we see than to tell a story about what we see? I never know what I think until I see what I’ve written, and I never fully understand why things matter to me until I’ve told someone else a story about them….

Comment on Why tell your story? by Mona Choucair

Mona Choucair — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:45:05 +0000

Debra, I love what you wrote on the power of story, and (I did what you said and obviously read your blog!!) I am actually writing a book because my friends tell me that my stories are so funny–they must be written down! I don’t know about that, but I do believe that expressing our emotions through personal narratives is important. *My composition students often say, “I have nothing to write about, Miss!” Yes, you do, I reply. Tell me about your life. Tell me about this or that. I really believe that everyone has a story. The best writers will tell you: write what you know.

Comment on Why tell your story? by Debra Burleson

Debra Burleson — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:18:50 +0000

I could envision a session where students journal (or blog about a story that moved them to change, to act, or just disrupted their viewpoint or perspective. Maybe a lead in such as “I’ll never forget the time….”

Comment on Why tell your story? by Robert

Robert — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 18:20:35 +0000

Good stuff, Debra. I do entire lectures in virtually all of my writing classes on Story, story-telling, The Hero’s Journey. For instance, even in the non-fiction classes, the most powerful non-fiction articles are the ones where 1. The relate how one of the interviewees was changed by what has happened and how they’ve responded and 2. (more rarely) How the writer has changed by what has happened and how they’ve responded.
From a teaching standpoint, they must believe this before they can graduate to telling Stories That Matter.
My task is to figure out a way to incorporate them into a conversation on this topic, rather than simply lecturing on it so that the “own” the information.

Comment on Connectedness in Learning by Bob

Bob — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:48:22 +0000

Well said, Debra! “Embrace the momentum of technology” indeed. I talk about this stuff to my colleagues in other departments (not so much in journalism, they’re all behind it) and the responses range from “It doesn’t apply to MY discipline” to “This is terrible. This will destroy modern higher education.” A curious range of responses, virtually all negative. As I think I’ve mentioned, educators are proving themselves to be among the most reactionary people I’ve ever met.
It reminds me of the old joke:
Q:How many Amish (or Baptists) does it take to change a light club?
A: Change?!?!?!? (said with genuine terror/anger)

Comment on How we deliver the goods by Robert

Robert — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:31:37 +0000

Re: “the person who does the talking does the learning.”
I know I’m a better writer for having taught writing for so many years. It has forced me to break down exactly what it is I do intuitively and spell it out in a coherent form.