Re: Lovers and Fools and Seething Brains

Latisha LaRue (kfischer@keller.clarke.edu)
Mon, 24 Mar 1997 11:33:26 -0600


Tracey,
I have been wondering the same thing this past week. Since I tend
toward "it's showtime" when I present, not a fact I am proud of but a fact
nonetheless, I think you raise a good point here. Same as in the
classroom. When I started teaching in 1973, I could still use a film or
video clip with students and they'd actually watch and listen. I noticed
long about the middle to late 70's though, that the minute the projector
or the video deck went on, their eyes would glaze over. I am not
qualified in pop culture to suggest that it was MTV which did this, too
much Big Bird and too little Fred Rodgers, but I noticed that my students
no longer responded to "entertainment." Often, too, I have felt they
resist the call to actually think. I often wonder if all the razzmatazz
did them in over time. Good luck on your diss committee!
Katie

On Mon, 24 Mar 1997 tjohnso8@wvu.edu wrote:

>
> Katie Fischer wrote:
> those readings whre it seems that the reader, him/herself is
> >no longer interested in the topic, those readings filled with
> >words-to-impress rather than words-to-mean -- those are my Lilliputian
> >days when I wish I had the power to shrink and trickle out under the
> >doorway.
>
> Katie, ever witness the exodus of audience members at an NCTE session? I
> don't know which is more painful -- sitting through a session like the one
> you describe above, or the embarassment, and sometimes pain, I feel when
> those with educations walk out on a presentation. Personally, I _loathe_
> being read to, but if the *reader* presents well, as you discussed earlier,
> then I learn quite a bit in the session.
>
> At what point do we confuse *learning* and *entertainment* in conference
> sessions? I know I'll probably get flamed for this question, but as a
> conference presenter and educator, I wonder how to achieve the quality mix
> that serves both ends of teaching and entertaining. [And flame away at me,
> folks -- I defend my dissertation in a month, so I need some
> hide-toughening! :-)]
> Tracey J. Johnson
> tjohnso8@wvu.edu
>
>


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