Month: November 2019

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yeDOwRHwGE05GZBh2szwJNWNkDxG6XeiMV56Kwe14Dg/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m0gTaFgCRKrHcNqube3JxUc5j-oAhDsYHqdnnBGHSNs

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15dZ0pq9xNrtrPmk0O9bYpkS5wxIXj3xXtQM4J9BjpDM/edit

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DMZmchTlAq4PImRjqX2_CVtk9IzLFgo4FJpx4luQKv4/edit

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11sBdo_QzfQM9VgWHr-jmvyREzZgKpPcRz7X0WUVPavI/edit

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xPpG7fwizCETU0p9T1yVcxrcvPy68UwkBKCY_Ndvn4s/edit?usp=sharing

Sean Redding 

Randall Cream

WRT120

November 7th, 2019 

                                                                        Final Draft 

            No matter where you reside, the criminal justice system is a prominent feature in each and every community in the United States. There is a vast amount of job opportunities in this field, from police officers, judges, and probation officers to FBI agents, blood spatter analysis, and criminal behavioral analysis, criminal justice jobs are a key component to any working society. As a criminal justice major, it’s hard to choose just one field to go into, and even harder to obtain all of the skills needed to go into the criminal justice fields. Luckily, our community has many opportunities for interactions that can help with this specific major. Students might be able to go on a ride-along, have internships, study the local news for crime in the area, and even sit in the local court room during open case trials.

            As stated by Freire, “One cannot expect positive results from an educational or political action program which fails to respect the particular view of the world held by the people. Such a program constitutes cultural invasion, good intentions notwithstanding.” (Freire, Ch.3). I believe that this quote is suggesting that one cannot expect to excel in a certain field if they only focus on the core requirements of the major but will succeed if they are familiar with other elements in the major.  Specifying this concept to a criminal justice major, something like a ride-along, or internship specific to a criminal justice student’s field of interest would be beneficial to their overall goal. By doing an internship, students are able to be placed in an environment similar to the real-world experiences outside of college. Internships would be a preparation for life outside of college, especially when it comes to criminal justice majors. Being prepared in the criminal justice field is important, as many jobs in this field require a vast knowledge of the job and subject before entering. 

            Another concept that relates to knowledge outside of a specific major comes from Walker Percy’s theories and works on education. Percy says, “A student who has the desire to get a dogfish or a Shakespeare sonnet may have the greatest difficulty in salvaging the creature itself from the educational package in which it is presented” (Percy, pg.4). In this quote Percy was stating that a student who is strictly restrained to the limits inside one specific major may have the most difficulty excelling in the major. For a criminal justice major, there are many very simple ways to explore and to get in touch with the community in order to benefit in their majors. One way could be simply to stay updated on criminal justice related news in the community. A student could learn a large amount about what a criminal justice job would be like in a specific community by familiarizing themselves with the typical happenings of the community itself. By learning and getting familiar with the typical issues and crimes in a certain area, students can prepare for what they would be dealing with after graduating and entering the criminal justice fields. If a student were looking to become a police officer in Philadelphia, reading Philly’s local news and seeing about the many on-foot chases officers in Philadelphia have to partake in may lead this student to conclude that they must work on being physically fit for that specific job. This would then put them ahead of a student who did not have this knowledge and had the same goals. 

            Another way a criminal justice student can learn outside the classroom is participating in a “ride-along” with officers in the local police department. Participating in a ride-along is definitely a great learning experience for those students who would like to experience the day-to-day activities of a police officer’s duties before committing to the job. During a ride-along, the student would be allowed access to sit in the passenger’s seat of a police vehicle and ride with an officer to see what police officers really encounter. Students in Criminal Justice that want to go into the police force can request to do this with local police departments within the community. In doing this, the student can get a taste of what it is like to be on the force and see what police officers actually do on a daily basis.  Freire stated, “The solution is not to integrate them into the structure of oppression, but to transform that structure so that they can become “beings for themselves’” (Freire, p. 2).  In this quote Freire talks about how education can often lead to oppression, and that the way to succeed in education is to have students experience things for themselves. By participating in a ride-along, students definitely are breaking away from the educational oppression that Freire speaks about.

                A huge influence and factor in every criminal justice system is the court. The court system is a way for citizens who may have committed minor violations to explain themselves and have chances at redemption, but also allows for criminals of society to stand a fair trial. All crimes committed in West Chester go through the Chester County courtroom, which would make the court room a great place for criminal justice majors to get a deep understanding for crimes and violations in West Chester. Students are able to sit on any open court case, and in doing so, can definitely learn a lot about the crimes in a certain area. Not only would students be able to physically observe and study the typical crimes through the courtroom, but they can also recognize the ways that judges may handle certain situations. Knowing how crimes and violations are handled in certain areas and societies is a huge part of understanding the society itself. As Percy states, “The great difficulty is that he is not aware that there is a difficulty; surely, he thinks, in such a fine classroom, with such a fine textbook, the sonnet must come across” (Percy, p.4). I believe that in this quote, Percy is stating that students have difficulty in certain fields because they simply do not understand the difficulty in the subject and do not go above and beyond outside of the classroom in order to understand their said topics. For example, students that simply show up to class, take the tests, and leave may be worse off than students who had taken advantage of their resources. Those students who had taken advantage of their resources would then be more experienced in the field, as they had already had the chance to explore, understand, and experience the subject first-hand. 

In conclusion, criminal justice majors have many hidden advantages in society, as they are able to acquire skills and excel in their fields just by examining their community. Students may take the opportunities to excel by participating in internships, a ride-along, physical research of a society’s crimes, and sitting in a court room during open-case trials. Not only do these activities allow students to gain knowledge on crime topics, but these also allow students to experience criminal justice jobs first-hand before graduating. With that being said, it is more important than ever for students to realize the importance of research and internships, as they can gain a vast amount of knowledge by participating in said activities and gain the upper-hand on those who have not had these experiences, as criminal justice fields can prove to be extremely competitive. Once students realize the sheer importance of these activities, students will excel and succeed in the criminal justice world.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17_WsEN_zE62Thyr1bBuE2MLdMLTmyc4Nj5DKJ9sOBoE/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nZyT8MGQpKwMEFw5YDRBpKALVrOG2YVlrC4HOkpRZ1c/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19S5hw0zC8SQAhM4XdFP22um_LxoWPx0p6WBkx57kVqc/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1duqy4xLT8MXVbFUmlVGoZBHqpkjVb-RwX7X1W7MUcSc/edit

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g4SbPPno8XYQsQtPLyF3oNjAI3Yq7mwM5w-cv2U5XSY/edit

Meghan Kidd and Samantha Pawluczyk
Randell Cream
Writing 120
08 November 2019
Teaching Without Teaching
In “The Loss of the Creature,” Walker Percy explains how the most effective way of learning is through the process of indirect learning. Students grasp a stronger understanding to the topic when there is an active discussion in the classroom, rather than having their professor lecture at them for the duration of the class. If a professor wants their students to truly learn a subject, they will try to create different ways of challenging their students into learning the topic inside and out. For example, at West Chester University, Microeconomics 112 is a three day class per week and consists of a teacher lecturing to the students for a fifty minute period. What if the agenda of the course changed: Mondays would be a standard lecturing day, Wednesdays would be an open discussion group with prompts created by the students themselves, and Fridays would be dedicated to fieldwork outside of the classroom. Requiring students to teach others outside of the classroom, lead class presentations inside of the classroom, partake in fieldwork once a week to give them real experience, and have a group discussion in the classroom weekly are all ways professors can help the students to learn without being taught.
The main goal of each professor is to have their students to understand their topic, to the best of their abilities, for the specific class in which they are taking. One way of indirectly teaching their students, the economics professor could design a mandatory project where students are required to teach at least three other students about their major. By doing this, it helps the student to learn the topic more because they will need to be able to break it down and explain it. Students will be instructed to get into groups where they will do a pair share activity which will assist them in understanding the topic. Each week, the groups will rotate in order to allow for different interactions between the students. When the students are put into groups, they will have the ability to voice their own opinions as the professor walks around to ensure that all students are giving input and hopefully earning more knowledge than they had before. With this assignment, students will work to ensure they know the subject inside and out because they will have to teach it to students who do not take an economics class at all. The goal of this is to teach the economic students how to break down the information and explain the topic to someone who knows nothing about it.
Aside from teaching students who do not take economics, another method teachers could use to intrigue the students in class is to have student-led classes. In order to be most efficient, it is recommended by the professor to work in groups of three or four. As students work in groups, this allows them to bounce ideas off one another which helps to indirectly teach each other. This course will be held three times a week and with that, there will be allotted time for each student group to lead a lesson at the beginning of each class. The groups will be in a rotation so each class has a new group presenting a lesson for about 20-25 minutes. This amount of time gives the students the ability to teach their lesson but enough time for the professor to give a revised lesson to the class. In Percy’s article he explains, “If we look into the ways in which the student can recover the dogfish (or the sonnet), we will see that they have in common the stratagem of avoiding the educator’s direct presentation of the object as a lesson to be learned and restoring access to sonnet and dogfish as beings to be known, reasserting the sovereignty of knower over known.” Here, Percy explains the idea of sovereignty and how it is the surrender of power to the experts. This connects to this idea of student-led lessons because the professor is surrendering his position in order to give that same power to his or her students.
Additionally, each week the students gather in a classroom on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in the early morning hours at 8:00am to learn about their intended course, Microeconomics 112. However, the question is, how much information are the students really absorbing during that time? This class is fifty minutes in length and consists of a group of thirty students that have grown tired due to the fact of an early morning class and a professor that lectures to them the whole time without holding any type of conversation. Therefore, every Friday class should be dedicated as a fieldwork day. If the students are given one day each week to have hands on learning in economics, they might be able to learn more because of the interactions they will be having. For example, in the beginning of the year the professor will have each student pick a local businesses in town to study how the store measures their supply and demand and other factors that keep the company in business. Additionally, they will be able to talk to the workers at the store and ask for advice about their future and their potential career in economics. In addition, the students will have to get a weekly form signed stating that they were present for an hour at the business of their choice to ensure that they were of attendance.
Furthermore, one last method that would indirectly teach students more about their subject would be to have weekly discussions between the students. The most effective way of holding these discussions would be to have a standard lecture on Monday, followed by the group discussions on Wednesday. The professor would give a certain amount of information on Monday and students would be required to come up with at least three questions regarding the lecture. This would help to get the students more involved in the lectures rather than going to class and zoning out. Students would have to submit their questions on D2L so when they arrived at class, they would be ready to go through the list of questions and converse. The benefits of this method of learning is to have students answer other students questions and teach one another. The professor would sit in on this discussion and chime in if there were any major questions to avoid getting off track. This is an effective way of learning because it is a form of teamwork which helps each student get a better understanding of the class.
Learning effectively in the classroom is sometimes hard due to some students just sitting at their desks inattentive and unfocused, while their professor is in the front of the room throwing words around that come natural to him or her, but are unknown to the students. However, if the students are required to teach others outside of the classroom, lead classes inside of the classroom, partake in fieldwork once a week to give them real experience, and have an open group discussions so that they have the ability to actually learn the subject. By changing the layout of the class schedule, students are being given the best possible foundation to succeed. Students are the future and should be given the best possible teaching methods to prepare them for their upcoming careers.

Education Beyond the Major/ Topic 1

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10KrM-QgnFgr192kWVaC_EJps3vLZwcR-xaqDpvHMZjI/edit?usp=sharing

Ruthie Lohmann

Dr. Randall Cream

Writing 120

17 November 2019

Teaching without Teaching

Throughout history, millions of teachers have instructed countless students. Many teachers have disgraced the name, and the honor of this occupation has long been forgotten. Other teachers, however, have made unforgettable marks on their students, and their names are still remembered today. So what made these renowned educators so remarkable? In reading Paulo Freire’s The Banking Concept of Education and Walker Percy’s The Loss of the Creature, I came to understand what constitutes good teaching. Based on these readings, how can an educator change the way in which they teach at West Chester University and give the leaning back into the hands of students? According to Freire and Percy, good teaching enables students to learn through ‘communication.’ Good teachers are ‘partners’ with students in the learning process, and good teaching ‘avoids pre-packaged direct presentation’ and gives space for a student to ‘struggle for himself,’ though ‘inquiry’ as they learn at a collegiate level. These are all incredible thoughts in theory, but how can a teacher implement these ideas in the classroom? I will describe four methods that could apply these theories of teaching. Teachers should have discussion-based classes instead of lecture-based classes. Teachers should become collaborators with the student by giving feedback on their assignments first and then give a letter grade. Teachers should teach indirectly by using “living books” written by experts who are passionate about the topic. Teachers must give students the chance to wrestle through the material for themselves and take ownership of their learning through writing papers and giving oral presentations. This kind of teaching separates a mediocre and ineffective teacher from one who leaves a significant mark on the lives of their students which, in turn, enables these students to leave a distinctive mark on the world.

Teachers should utilize discussion as the primary means of teaching instead of lecturing the students. As the saying goes, “the one who teaches is the one who learns.” If we know this to be true, why do we still insist on lecture-based teaching? Recently, I experienced an instance in one of my classes at West Chester University that reinforced the reason why dialogue among students and teachers is so important and effective. My anthropology class began with a lecture and ended with a discussion. As soon as the lecture morphed into a conversation, a palpable shift took place in the room. Almost everyone became relaxed, and laptops and phones were ignored. Questions were being thrown around the room. The teacher sat on the desk in the most relaxed manner. At the end of class, he commented on how every class should be like this because, in most of his classes, the students just blankly stare at him as he talks. Freire says, “…a teacher can not think for the student, nor can she impose her thoughts on them.” Teachers can transition from a lecture-based classroom and incorporate a “dialectical movement” within the class by posing thought-provoking questions related to class subject matter and by equalizing the seating arrangement. Allowing time in the classroom to logically discuss ideas and opinions gives the students a chance to think about the subject instead of passively listening to taught material. It is in the thinking that students become personally engaged with what they are learning. And when they are personally invested in something, they tend to truly remember it. Furthermore, desks should be placed in a circle with the teachers sitting at a desk with the students. Facilitating discussions around this circular seating arrangement balances the dichotomy between the student/teacher relationship. When students feel physically equal with their teacher, the relationship functions more like a friendship, which in turn creates a more relaxed academic environment where uninhibited learning and understanding can occur.

Teachers should give feedback before giving a letter grade. Unfortunately, for better or for worse, grades are the tool universities and teachers use to track educational progress. This has led to many problems for students because they become more concerned about the grade and less concerned about what they are learning. Teachers must stop feeding into this unhealthy obsession with grades that leads to the breeding of automatons, and they should help the students learn for themselves. Percy says, “The highest role of the educator is the maieutic role of Socrates: to help the student come to himself not as a consumer of experience but as a sovereign individual.” If an educator’s role is to help the student learn for themselves, teachers need to recognize the individuality and humanness within each student by assigning homework which taps into the heart and mind of their students. Assignments should include personal reflections alongside necessary subject content. When teachers collaborate with the student over completed homework assignments, it gives the opportunity for reflection and improvement instead of quickly looking at the grade and moving on to the next assignment. Once the teacher receives the homework assignment, they should write positive and constructive feedback in the margins, and then, a few days later, give a letter grade. This way of grading removes the unhealthy focus on letter grades and puts the emphases of education back into the proper place- personal progress.

Teachers should present lessons indirectly by using “living books” written by experts who are passionate about the topic. Freire says, “Verbalistic lessons, reading requirements, the methods for evaluating ‘knowledge,’ the distance between the teacher and the students, the criteria for promotion: everything in a ready-to-wear approach serves to obviate thinking.” The last thing teachers should want to do in their classroom is to create automatons who cannot think for themselves. Teachers want to create critical thinkers who will become future leaders and not be forever fixed as “consumers receiving an experience-package” in the form of direct presentation. There are three ways this can be accomplished. The first way a teacher can teach indirectly is by reading a well-written, “living book” book in class and allow the content of the book to engage with the student, followed up by them writing a personal reflection on the content. Another way this could be implemented is by reading a longer passage of the said book, pause, and allow the students to turn to a classmate and narrate what they just heard. This puts the learning into the hands of the student as they reflect on what they just heard. Secondly, teachers should have students give an oral presentation on their reflections of assigned books. After the presentation, there should be an opportunity for questions, disagreements, thoughts, and time for students to share their opinion on the presentation. Lastly, teachers should assign topic-relevant books for homework and have students write an essay on what they learned from the book and how they felt about it. Instead of teachers giving direct assignments that look for specific answers, they should instead allow the student to discover through indirect learning as they engage with the material through writing personal essays, oral presentations, and written narrations.

Teachers must give students a chance to wrestle through material and take ownership of their learning.  Percy says, students should “enter into a struggle to recover…sight.” Teachers need to create a classroom in which students can invent, create, play, fail, recreate, and, in the end, hopefully, succeed in order to gain academic sight. I read about a school that was structured in this way. The school designated a classroom for inventive science, filled with all sorts of science books, microscopes, lab equipment, and supplies for every imaginable experiment. Science teachers were in the classroom overseeing but never directly teaching. One of the students wanted to make a vodka distiller. The teacher provided the supplies and gave the student time and space to accomplish it. Over time, and through trial and error, he did. The lessons learned through that process were innumerable. Teachers at universities could organize a classroom for this sort of process learning to take place, and designate times in class for hands-on experimental learning. This could be in the form of an inventive science classroom as I mentioned above, an outdoor experimental garden, or a woodworking shop which concentrates on student design and implementation from start to finish.  If student sight is the “maieutic role” of the teacher there is another, much simpler way, to allow for this to happen in the classroom. Educators should not directly answer the students’ questions, but, instead, ask them a question back, give them time in class to research it for themselves, or give them extra credit if they research the question outside of class and email in their discoveries. When information from the teachers is quickly given, it is quickly forgotten. Teachers should allow the students to discover and fail. This breeds curiosity, and this kind of curiosity morphs into hard-to-forget knowledge.

Teachers have a unique opportunity to sit in the front seat as students emancipate themselves from passive learning and become individuals who learn for themselves. The job of an educator is not easy or straightforward. Today, there are layers of methodology and state mandatory tests to quantify and regulate learning in students. Some call this accountability, but Freire calls it “necrophilous.” There is so much pressure for both teachers and students to perform and track progress that it extinguishes the life in relationships and learning. An educator can rise above this by becoming a guide and friend to students as they implement discussion based classes, collaborate with student in how they give feedback for assignments, teach indirectly by using thought-provoking and well written books, and by giving students space in their classroom to wrestle through material for themselves.  An educator who plays this discreet yet powerful role—by helping students gain academic liberation—becomes a teacher who leaves indelible marks on the minds of their students.

Education Beyond the Major

If a student at West Chester University is majoring in physics, then why should they have to take an art class.  It would seem to be a waste of time, unless there is a justified reason. Students seem to moan at the thought of taking a class they don’t feel is necessary to their degree, but in reality it could help them in the long run. Walker Percy is an author who talks about these topics of education in his passage called The Loss of the Creature.  Even though Percy never directly writes it down, he is pushing this message of education beyond a students major.  West Chester is no exception. Most of the students time at West Chester University are spent outside their major because it helps them learn indirectly through mistakes, challenges them in ways they aren’t used to or familiar with, helps them find weaknesses to fix and puts them in unfamiliar situations.

Humans learn from their mistakes than from their successes; because of this, students should take courses beyond their major in order to increase their opportunities to productively make mistakes.  When a business major takes a public speaking course they might fail because they aren’t used to speaking in front of large groups or have stage fright, but from that “F” they received off of a project comes learning and understanding.  One day they might have to present a sales pitch in front of their boss and this time they won’t mess up. In Greek mythology a phoenix is a bird who once is dead, will be reborn better than before. There is a saying that in order to succeed in life you have to fail first.  A physics major might find math and science easy, but when you give them a paint brush they might struggle. Percy says, “If the failures are “wrong” enough, as these are, they might still be turned to account as rueful conversation pieces”(Percy 3). This means that just because you fail doesn’t mean you are a failure.  The art class is going to be a different type of hard for the physics major student, which will help them deal with situations like that for the future. Taking classes outside of the major prepares the student to not learn the material, but knowing how to deal with situations they are not used too. At West Chester, students need to take more classes to they are not used to open them up to failure and from that failure comes success and knowledge.  Without these courses outside of the students major, the student might not be challenged enough to learn.

When a student is used to a certain type of learning from the same subject and gets thrown into a new environment and type of teaching it can be challenging for them in ways they aren’t used too.  The student who majors in math can struggle trying to write a paper. It challenges them to use a different part of the brain they aren’t used to using. It almost forces them to adapt to new obstacles which can help everyone.  The content does not have to be hard, it can just be a different way of learning that is difficult. Percy says, “The great difficulty is that he is not aware that there is a difficulty”(Percy 4). This means that people should always expect and prepare for the worst but hope for the best.  When that physics student walks into that art class with a bad attitude then they are going to end up with a bad grade. If someone thinks lightly of any class then they are going to be surprised with the difficulty level compared to if they prepared properly. All students fall to this statement at some point in their educational career.  Every student is not perfect in every subject and in every class. The reason to take classes outside of the major is to find those weaknesses and work/fix them.  

Every student has a weakness.  It could be anything as small as they can’t tie their own shoes, to a big as they can’t study for more than a minute.  A lot of students have bullshitted their way through high school. They never studied or tried because they didn’t have too.  They never challenged themselves by always taking easier classes. I also take fault. If someone never failed, then how can they fix or improve upon the past.  No struggle means no improvement. At West Chester University students are forced into these classes they need to study for and that is a defining time in every students life.  It shows the students true colors and work ethic by throwing them into a class they aren’t used too. For the students who then fail those classes, they need to take a look at themselves and fix their mistakes.  For the students who flourish in these classes, they should feel pleased about there work/study habits. Percy has his own opinions on education that are unique and unlike most. Although, he would agree with the statement that people would become better students if they succeed and overcome classes they didn’t want to take or thought were to hard to take.  No one likes being put outside of their comfort and especially at school while paying lots of money.

Being put in an unfamiliar situation is tough for people.  Maybe you are by yourself and don’t know anyone or you’re lost and and can’t ask for help.  These situations are anxiety endorsing for most people. The first day for West Chester is set up to help the freshmen because there are no upperclassmen, but it’s still tough being in a new and unfamiliar place.  Once classes start all hell breaks loose. Students now have the most freedom they have ever felt in their lives and are also the most scared they have ever been. Taking hard and new classes are already enough pressure for students.  Percy feels that most learning happens outside the classroom. If a group project is assigned for homework then that forces students to go beyond their comfort zone. Even if they are researching an insignificant topic they are still learning and improving their research skills.  A math major working with an art major may come up with some new and interesting ideas never thought of all just because people in both majors required the same class. Taking different classes outside of a major is a great way of getting comfortable with people unlike yourself.

Most of the students time at West Chester University are spent outside their major because it helps them learn indirectly through mistakes, challenges them in ways they aren’t used to or familiar with, helps them find weaknesses to fix and puts them in unfamiliar situations.  Learning through mistakes is a great way to improve upon the past. Challenging yourself can help you overcome obstacles. Finding your weaknesses is a great way to get better at school. Being put in unfamiliar situations can help you learn new things about yourself. Most students don’t understand why they are taking the classes they are enrolled in, but some of those classes can actually be more important than the ones that correspond with there own major.

team – Sarah Veneziale and Cait Mangini

Education Outside of the Major (topic 1)

Millions of people attend college every year, hoping to gain a successful job in the field they are studying in. Yet, majors only actually require 40-60 credits, leaving the student to take most classes outside of their chosen field. These additional classes lead the student to become more successful in their major than they would be if they weren’t going to take any courses other than their major. In The Loss of the Creature, written by Walker Percy, he highlights two major problems. One of the difficulties is that students feel disempowered by learning, or what Percy terms as a loss of sovereignty; the other issue is the difficulty of understanding the information being taught, also known as the educational package by Percy. Education outside of one’s major will enable them to fight those problems. By taking other classes not necessary for one’s major, they will become successful in learning through learning, learning through recognizing the  difficulty of each course, learning through the expertise of a professor in their field, and learning through the possible failure of certain courses. 

The first advantage of taking classes outside one’s major is that the student will become an excellent learner. By taking a majority of courses besides the 40-60 credits in a major, it forces the student to sit in several classes. The student may not necessarily remember every detail they learn in every class, but they will know how they learned. With so many opportunities now given, the student will have the chance to truly learn how to learn. Walker Percy wrote, “It is only the hardiest and cleverest of students who can salvage the sonnet from this many-tissued package. It is only the rarest student who knows that the sonnet must be salvaged from the package” (Percy 4). The many-tissued package is also called the educational package, which is the information being taught to a student with several media involved. Medias such as surrounding noises, technology, and the teacher can all affect how one grasps the idea. Percy believes that if a student can remove all the media, then they are learning. This is a challenge and does not come easy.  Students must practice and through experience, will ultimately achieve it. The classes that may be deemed unnecessary or pointless, are potentially helping the students on becoming expert learners, and eventually experts in their field. A person never stops learning, no matter how old or experienced they are, and this is why becoming a learner is so critical. 

Several incoming college students know what they want to pursue. Their major is most likely something they were successful in in high school or a hobby they love. Yet, the difficulty that comes with each course is something that no student is prepared for. Courses that aren’t in a student’s major, in general, prove much more difficult than courses in the major. This difficulty comes from several factors.  One factor is that some students might not have the motivation to care about courses outside the major. This is because they will be busy focusing on classes that have to do with their major directly, which they think is more important. Most students pick majors that reflect their strongest abilities, leaving areas of weakness outside the major. Also, most students have little or no scaffolding in courses outside the major, meaning difficulty has little support or rationale for students. For example, an art major may have to obtain the highest concept of calculus, but the learned skill will never be useful after completing the course. Dealing with difficult classes that are not relevant to a student’s major is definitely a challenge, but students need to learn to buckle down and keep going, regardless of the reason for difficulty. Recognizing the difficulty of each course benefits the student by knowing they have to work hard at everything they do. Percy states “The great difficulty is that he is not aware that there is a difficulty; surely, he thinks, in such a fine classroom, with such a fine textbook, the sonnet must come across! What’s wrong with me?” (Percy 4). This quote shows that recognizing the difficulty in the classes that are specifically not for your major is important. Originally, the student may think that since they have all the needed materials, they will succeed in the class. Having the best professor or the best textbooks for the class sometimes doesn’t help, it’s all about the student and how they prepare themselves for the course. This is especially true for subjects not in a student’s major because if they can’t understand it, they need to use their resources to try and make sense of the material being taught. This makes them more well-rounded as a student and as a learner outside of their major.  

Taking multiple classes can, and most likely will, lead to failure in some. A student chooses a major because they are either interested or already good at that specific field or skill. However, when taking classes outside of one’s major, a student may be placed in a class they aren’t particularly good at or interested in. Failure in those courses brings a stronger sense of self. No one is an expert in everything, so by failing some classes, it only shows that the student can take the unnecessary course off their plate. There is no need for the stress that comes with trying to succeed in every class, and by overcoming that need, the student will become happier with their chosen major. The strength of not caring will ultimately lead to more success and focus on the student’s intended field of study. Walker Percy wrote, “ The loss of sovereignty takes this form: as a result of the science of botany, trees are not made available to every man” (Percy 6). This quote describes perfectly that not every course is made for everyone. A student has to be willing to focus on every subject in order to succeed in every field, but some fields aren’t made for them, just like Percy explains that not every tree is available to everyone. By taking extra classes, the student becomes more interested in their major, knowing that is the field of study for them. Failure in classes causes the student to love their major, gaining control of who they want to be. 

The loss of sovereignty is a huge part of Percy’s message in his essay. This can be described by a loss of power and control of your own self. In taking classes outside of a student’s major, they would have more control of their sovereignty than they do when taking classes in their major. This is because students give more of their trust in the professor in their major since they want to learn as much as they can from the “experts.” In a class not in their major, students may not care as much to know about that particular topic, so they have more power over their learning. The student will not lose their sovereignty in this case because they aren’t as worried about becoming an expert on something they know they aren’t interested in, so they give more attention to their major. The student is strongest when they are not giving in to all of one professor’s ideas and expertise. In that case, the student is becoming the professor, not themselves. Walker Percy wrote, “A sovereignty of the knower—instead of being a consumer of a prepared experience, I am a sovereign wayfarer, a wanderer in the neighborhood of being who stumbles into the garden”(Percy 5). Percy shows that sovereignty is not in the prepared experience like a student’s major, but in the student being a wanderer, meaning the classes outside of their major. Noticing that students lose their sovereignty in classes in their major makes the student know that they really care about the field of study they choose and that they really want to pursue it in the future.

Without much thought, it seems unnecessary for any student to have to take and, more importantly, pay for classes that aren’t included in a major. But, the advantage is clear. A student that takes the courses outside of a selected field will have a more successful education. The student will become an excellent learner, a skill needed for the rest of their lives. They will recognize that not every class is going to be easy and that they need to prepare for it accordingly. Students will learn that failure is a reality, and they will see they need to problem solve in order to succeed. Lastly, students will realize their loss of sovereignty in classes in their major and will focus on becoming themselves in their career choice. In classes outside the major, students will be in control of their learning and will be able to dictate their own accomplishments. Overall, it is clear that classes are beneficial in several ways and should never be taken away or taken for granted. The success is undeniable when taking unexpected classes. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1THpYgo_kr5nXVTLLJOJ-zVNP0RsWJVMCRonnNtY5B6s/edit?usp=sharing

Samantha Weitzel, Katherine Sola, Leann Carroll

Kyle Owens

Topic 4 – project 2 

Teaching without teaching 

What exactly is good teaching? This is a question that has gone unanswered for quite some time. Walker Percy and Paulo Friere; authors of The Loss of the Creature, and The Banking Concept of Education, have spent much time trying to answer this question. Although Percy and Freire both value the role of the teacher, they caution against the act of teaching. Freire states “The people subjected to domination must fight for their emancipation”(1968) . In this case the students have to fight for their education. From a students point of view I agree with many of the ideas of Percy and Freire. Professors should be able to cater the lesson plan to the specific needs of the students. As Percy identified, the educator can do nothing for the student. In order to achieve teaching without teaching at West Chester University, classrooms need to become student based and incorporate styles of learning that benefit the students individually. Some ways real student learning can be implemented include project based learning, student led classes, personalized learning environments and experiential learning. For me, the most concrete idea that came to mind was implementing project based learning in the classroom. 

Project based learning can be beneficial to many students, specifically those who struggle with standardized tests. Replacing standardized tests with projects, students will be able to essentially teach and learn themselves. Students will be able to work at a pace that is most beneficial to them. Freire and Percy views would strongly support this idea. As stated previously, although Friere and Percy value teachers, they believe in “avoiding the educator’s direct presentation of the object as a lesson to be learned.” (1975) Students would be more inclined to work on their own schedule in a way that is most productive to them. In addition, students should have both options of working in groups or working independently, as each student benefits from these options differently.  When only one option is offered some students are at an advantage, while others are put at a disadvantage. I believe that this is essential for this topic, all students know how they learn best. Project based learning is a large part of the marketing class for my major and I have seen positive results. Percy believes students do not all benefit from the same premade lesson plans and class rules that have been used for years. I believe giving the students some leadership and responsibility in the classroom will solve this problem.

Good teaching without teaching should include input from the students on how the course content is delivered, as all students have their own unique ways they learn best. Student led classes will give individuals at West Chester University more leadership in the classroom. This can be done by implementing student led discussion groups and speeches into the curriculum. The way the class would be managed  would stem from the thoughts and beliefs of the students themselves. Students do not learn from a prepackaged idea that the teacher creates, students have to think for themselves. As Percy has identified,‘”For there is nothing the educator can do to provide for this need of the student, everything the educator does only succeeds in becoming, for the student, part of the educational package.”(1968) In order to achieve teaching without teachers at West Chester University classrooms need to become more student led by incorporating styles of learning that benefit each student individually. Students will better relate to each other when in a learning environment that personally fits them. Percy further explains this by stating “The educator is well aware that something is wrong, that there is a fatal gap between the students’ learning and students’ lives.” ( 1968 )College students have been taking classes for 12+ years and are able to identify what learning styles will be most beneficial to them.

Another idea to encourage good learning through teaching without teaching includes letting students learn with others who share their same needs and preferences to create a more personalized learning environment.This can be executed through a number of surveys to find strengths and weaknesses, and the best learning strategies of each student. These different classes would include the same workload, however they will be presented in a different manner. Classes with 200+ students sharing the same lesson plan seems non authentic. Percy reiterates this by stating,“It is now apparent that as between the many measures which may be taken to overcome the opacity, the boredom, of the direct confrontation of the thing or creature in its citadel of symbolic investiture, some are less authentic than others.”( 1975 )This would specifically benefit my large marketing class. In this overcrowded classroom some students are succeeding while many others are falling behind. I believe students find it easier to become non engaged when the student to teacher ratio of about 1 to 150.

Lastly teachers can keep students engaged while teaching without teaching by implementing “experiential learning”. Experiential learning is the process of learning through experience, and is more specifically defined as “learning through reflection on doing”. Hands-on learning can be a form of experiential learning, but does not necessarily involve students reflecting on their product. An example of this would be the professor of my marketing class taking students on a field trip to a marketing firm. This would give the students a hands on experience in the marketing world. Experiential learning may also include internships, studies abroad, field research, and service-learning projects. This can be implemented at West Chester University if the institution is able to partner with local businesses. This would be beneficial since Percy does not believe the professor truly knows what life is like for the students. Percy emphasizes this when stating  “the educator whose business it is to teach students biology or poetry is unaware of a whole ensemble of relations which exist between the student and the dogfish and between the student and the Shakespeare sonnet.” (1975) This quote further proves the teachers are out of touch with the minds of the students. Experiential learning would personally benefit me as I am a marketing major who learns best by doing. 

In conclusion although Percy and Freire value teachers, they believe in “avoiding the educator’s direct presentation of the object as a lesson to be learned.” (1968)These ideas show that students themselves have more to offer in the classroom. The students should be a part of the teaching experience just as much as they are a part of the learning experience. By implementing project based learning, student led classes, personalized learning environments, and experiential learning students are able to receive a much more beneficial education. Project based learning will help kids who struggle with test taking succeed. Student led classes will give students a much more in depth understanding of the topics being taught. Personalized learning environments will allow students to learn at a pace in which best fits their needs. Last but not least experiential learning will benefit kids who learn best from hands on experiences. If teachers can begin to give students a voice in the classroom they will be able to relay what teaching techniques work and which do not. Although this is mainly beneficial to the students this will help professors gauge how to teach future classes. Overall Friere and Percy make great points  to show why and how students can take control of their education. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xSuxhJyq6PiRF-tVXs0icWzCYjYxj2iOteUxzfmW2aU/edit

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eD0It7VdbWVKThajKI0K89C_7H3MjKZFL7BMqzaxSjw/edit