from Parker Palmer’s The Courage to Teach …
Learning demands solitude — not only in the sense that students need time alone to reflect and absorb but also in the deeper sense that the integrity of the student’s inner self must be respected, not violated, if we expect the student to learn. Learning also demands community — a dialogical exchange in which our ignorance can be aired, our ideas tested, our biases challenged, and our knowledge expanded, an exchange in which we are not simply left alone to think our own thoughts.
i read this & feel affirmed in many of my own decisions concerning the online discussion boards and the in-class roundtable discussions. Then Palmer goes on …
But there are forms, or perversions, of community that are inimical to deep solitude, that do not respect interiority and are invasive of the soul. When the group norm asserts, however subtly, that everyone must speak, or must speak in a common voice, then both speech and dissent are stifled, the solitude of the individual is violated, and no learning can occur.
i say yes to this, too, but … i tell my students that i expect them each to make the effort to speak in our class discussions … & i’m not too subtle about it either … here’s the rubric, kids … and at the bottom of the rubric i’ve appended a thought by k. silem mohammad … from his interview with tom beckett … (& kasey was not speaking specifically of a classroom context, so i’ve probably done some violence to his intentions) … he said …
Sometimes I think shyness is a cover-up for hostility. Our initial instinct is often to excuse people who don’t participate in group discussions, etc., on the basis that they’re sensitive souls who shouldn’t be prodded to step into the spotlight against their will. But that kind of sensitivity is like a wound that will get infected and potentially spread to others.
… which is an effect i’ve often experienced in group discussions & thus feel compelled to raise with the class … but which is at odds with Palmer’s “respect the interiority of the student” … a bit later he says …
I tell my students that much as I value dialogue, I affirm their right not to participate overtly in the conversation — as long as I have the sense, and occasional verbal reassurance, that they are participating inwardly. This permission not to speak seems to evoke speech from people who are normally silent: we are more likely to choose participation when we are granted the freedom to do so.
which leaves me stuck in the Big Quandry … what to do to encourage each student’s active participation …
the other day one student approached me after class, asking how seriously i was tracking participation in the big group … i said i’m watching & recording who speaks pretty closely … the student (who had not spoken in the group) then quickly blurted what s/he was thinking about the matter the class had been discussing …as if to “make up” for his/her lack of speaking then … to prove that his/her mind had been with us … and said s/he was used to raising a hand & being called on … said that this new practice of just speaking up was very difficult … all i could offer was a feeble “keep trying” …
so … i needs to ponder this some more
