Blogging Around 3

I first commented on Dylan's post about his ideal discussion/class environment, which would include teachers asking students to share whatever is on their mind, whether or not it pertains to the pieces of discussion. I know that homework and school would always be on my mind. Anyway, here is my response to Dylan's What If post:

Dylan, I completely agree with Margot that this would be a great idea, especially for a group with a class environment similar to the Academy. However, I don't think this type of discussion would be suitable in the current school system. Moving forward, I think that Mr. Allen already tries to apply this frame of mind to his lessons. When he realizes that someone hasn't participated in a while, he calls on then. Trying to keep the pressure to a minimum, he asks him or her to share anything about the text or whatever is being discussed. I think of myself as a planner; therefore, I think or write everything out before I say it. However, when Mr. Allen goes on a random selection streak, I get very nervous, probably because I am one of the usual victims. All that previous thinking goes out of my brain and I go into panic. Overall, I think you introduced a very interesting style of teaching that would benefit students in the long run, but at the start, it would only interest for the students that really like to speak up in class. This was a really great writing piece and I think it connects well to English class.

After I wrote this review, I realized that you were probably talking of just a more open discussion with less direction or focus on a specific topic or text. I think Margot and I were getting at how Mr. Allen would lead the discussion. Sorry!

Lauren

Next, I commented on Kyle's post about our analyzation of Cathedral. He wrote about the varying length of sentences and how his thoughts were different from those of the class. Kyle brought up some very important questions such as, "But it raises the question how much of this is intentional by the author? Is he writing the prose, or in someways is the writing working through him. " Here was my reaction:

Kyle, I thought this blog post was really insightful. Your original idea makes just as much sense as the ideas from class. Although the beginning of your Best of Week was awesome in class, I appreciated the questions at the end of your blog the most. Sometimes after class discussions I wonder if the author of each piece of text we read actually thought of all the ideas we came up with, especially since some of them are very disconnected from the original literature. I know that when I write, I have an idea and I run with it. I don't always wonder what the reader is going to take away from the craft. Because of this, I sometimes have disbelief that English class is completely truthful. Don't get me wrong, I love all of the great discussions that come from English, but sometimes I think we unnecessarily beat pieces to death. Your blog was the perfect balance for me of desired writing (the beginning of the post) and reality (questions at the end). You have some wonderful insights there and this post was well written.

Lauren

Everyone's blogs this semester have been great!