mccomas, July 25, 2002 at 5:01:53 AM CEST

Field Notes: July 23, 2002

I'm behind on my field notes. Last Wednesday we had our first real discussion about Social Action. I handed out copies of the principles and asked people to read them. Then I talked about how we hoped people would find a focus/problem/issue by the following Monday. I made the point that the morning writings were designed to help them narrow the field and that they might want to work from those writings to a final decision.

There were lots of questions and one of the things I really liked about this discussion was that I felt perfectly comfortable telling them that we didn't really know the best way to introduce them to social action, that we were simply experimenting. I remember saying something about knowing that people probably need introduced to social action in small doses and that, not being mind readers, we weren't actually sure of what size doses to be giving them. What really struck me was how people didn't seem to realize that they had problems and issues already in mind. They didn't see their concerns as valid material for inquiry. As I listened to people talk I tried to help frame the questions I thought I heard them saying, and I know that was enlightening (at least I think I know based on non-verbal expressions) for a couple of people. By stating the questions I thought I heard I was validating their problems/issues/concerns and showing them they did have real questions worth pursuing, I think. I left the writing project with plans for them to work on the changing your mind assignment on Thursday.

I was gone Thursday-Monday and arrived late on Tuesday morning (and out of sorts, not prepared and not rested). While I was at the doctor's office that morning with Christopher, I started doing a morning writing since I had missed that and I wrote about my difficulty with re-entry. When I arrived at writing project, finally, Doug was in the middle of his demonstration (an amusing one, at that, about stupid laws). In my notes I have written "Betty Gail?" because I noticed she wasn't there. Later I was to find out that she had "changed her mind" and decided not to finish for personal reasons. I simply couldn't seem to get into the swing of things, but at 11:00 we broke into our response groups. Doug, Beth, Diane, and I went outside the library and began talking.

We're all having trouble seeing what this project looks like, what shape it should take, what form it might be. Beth is noticing interesting things that people are thinking about and she spoke for a long time about Marlene. Clearly Beth's interest is sparked by Marlene, but I didn't sense that she was that convinced of the idea we had earlier (that I had actually and shared with them the night before writing project started) about selecting an individual to study. As I listened to Beth and as she talked about herself and her discoveries, I kept thinking about what she had said at Border's. She wondered how two teachers who had not "done" social action in their classrooms could actually figure out how other teachers could come to understand social action in their teaching practice.

Doug said he had ranted to Beth and shared some of that. Then he said, "I'm not much of a social action person." This sparked a lot of conversation because I disagreed with Doug's perception of himself. In fact, I believed that if he was ranting about something in the school system that meant he found something to be unfair or inequitable in some way and that is social action fodder! We talked for a long time and these words were written down in my notes: socialism, capitalism, ownership, motivation.

Diane talked about empathy and tolerance.

Marlene: Wonders why only two students out of many entered a writing contest. Wonder why students hate writing/school/English.

Tonda: Interested in ways to encourage students to be open to others; fairness (I note the words "tolerance and respect")

Vickie: Interested in finding ways to find similarities among students (I note Thomas Merton--Union and Division.)

Jeanette: How do we get kids to not be mean to each other?

Bethana: How to help students take pride in who they are and the work they do.

Martha: Bad behavior in the classroom (I ask questions and write in my notes: How to reduce....[bad behavior in the classroom])

Toodie: How to be more authentic and how to increase student responsibility

Amy: How to genereate intellectual patience in students (I have in my notes: use writing to deal w/ issue...power [unclear what I meant by this])

Beth: Roller coaster emotions...confidence, competence/power...multi-genre approach

Doug: Schools not preparing students for the outside

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bethdarby, July 25, 2002 at 3:35:58 AM CEST

Social Action Why 7/24

Why are my roller coaster emotions, my levels of confidence and competence, problems in the classroom? The first thing that comes to mind is these interfere with community. No... what is more important to me than that is... I feel awful. I worry about class, am nervous before entering the classroom. I always take notes with me to class and refer to them often. I love teachers who don't use notes in class, who seem to move with ease through the subject knowing what they're talking about. If I'm more at ease, perhaps my students will pick up on this. Why are the issues of power and participation problems in my classroom. I hate looking out on a sea of dead faces. I hate being responsible, deciding for everyone in the room what we will be reading and writing. I want to feel connected to more students, not just 2 or 3.
The issues of classroom structure and participation is a problem for my students because, as freshmen, they are facing a new experience and, if they're anythin like I was, they're afraid. Afraid maybe of speaking in front of others. Participation by everyone in a respectful environment would mean the facing of those fears in a safe place. Hopefully, the more students face their fears the less afraid they'll be. The issues of roller coaster emotions/confidence and competence levels are problems for my students because these factors influence the focus of the class. Soemtimes students who are talkin in class are talking about the subject matter, not about what a boring teacher I am. Cell phones are a distractions, but I don't want distractions to deter what I think my main focus should be. Where I'm going is... I think low confidence and competence have something to do with my tendency to focus on the negative. Students playing internet pool, classroom chatter, late assignments, etc. are only minor problems and not where I want to focus.

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