Author: Meghan Kidd

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.

Meghan Kidd and Samantha Pawluczyk
Randell Cream
Writing 120
08 November 2019
Teaching Without Teaching
In Walker Percy’s, “The Loss of the Creature”, he explains how the most effective way of learning is through the process of indirect learning. This means students are able to grasp the concept of a topic when it is brought to their attention in other ways than having to sit in a class and being lectured at by a professor. If a professor wants their students to truly learn a subject, they will create different ways of challenging his or her students into learning the topic inside and out. For example, 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 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 and lead classes, partake in fieldwork once a week to give them real experience, and have a group discussion in the classroom weekly are all ways to get the students to learn without being taught.
The main goal of each professor is to get their students to fully understand their topic for the specific class in which they are taking. For example, a microeconomics professor works hard to break down economics in numerous ways to try to successfully have the students wrap their heads around how a business runs efficiently. One way of indirectly teaching his or her 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 forces the student to learn the topic more because they will need to be able to break it down and explain it. 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. However, this will not educate the other students who are not taking economics, rather the idea of this project is to teach the economic students without having to sit in a class and listen to their professor lecture at them day after day.
Aside from teaching students who do not take economics, another method teachers could use to get his or her student engaged 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.
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 make 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 and lead classes, 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.

Mark Twain once said, “Some people get an education without going to college. The rest get it after they get out.” In many ways, this quote pertains to the ideas of Percy. Percy sheds a positive light upon learning from experience and he believes that it is important for someone to teach in order to learn. However, in college it is sometimes hard to learn by experience because they are constantly in a classroom or a lecture hall being taught subjects that do not correlate to their major. Throughout the next few years of education here at college, students will be taking many different courses with the main goal of earning a degree in their major of choice. It is a requirement for all students to take courses unrelated to their major and it is often viewed as a waste of time, effort, and money because it does not focus on their major.
Percy explains how, in order to truly see the whole picture, we can not focus on one small detail. If students only had to take one course, they would not be seeing the whole picture. In today’s world, society is constantly worried about small details rather than the big picture. Being a well-rounded citizen means having knowledge and awareness of multiple subjects rather than having tunnel vision to what is important to that one individual. If a student is only learning classes that involve their major, they are unable to become a well informed student who is able to hold an educated conversation about any other topic. On the other hand, if a student is being taught a variety of subjects they are able to develop a stronger understanding of what goes on in the world around them. Throughout his article, Percy states, “The sightseer may be aware that something is wrong. He may simply be bored; or he may be conscious of the difficulty: that the great thing yawning at his feet somehow eludes him.” Referring to the quote, it is clear that Percy believes students will get out as much as they put in when it comes to their classes and the benefits of hard work. Applying this to the overall topic, if students are required to take extra courses, it may seem like a waste of time if they do not put in any effort. On the other hand, if they decide to take it seriously and truly apply themselves, they are allowing themselves to open up and learn a new subject. This will make taking the extra classes that much more beneficial rather than a waste of time.
Additionally, it is important that students learn different subjects because then they have the ability to become the teacher. For instance, by placing a biology major and a sociology major in the same class, both of these students have the ability to teach the other about their own major. This will require those students to think outside of the box in a way that will help to explain their major to someone who knows nothing about that topic. In the end each student will grow strong in the classes that refer to their major.

Team: Samantha Pawluczyk and Meghan Kidd

Thesis: Arts, Ethics, Humanities, and several others are all required and have the same end goal of earning a diploma after a long duration of education at West Chester University.

Every individual at WCU has to take classes that do not retain to their major in any way.
Everyone is required to spend more money than they need to in order to take classes that do not pertain to their end goal. It only takes roughly 40-60 credits to obtain a diploma, but every student has to take on average 125 credits to graduate.

2 quotes:

“The sightseer may be aware that something is wrong. He may simply be bored; or he may be conscious of the difficulty: that the great thing yawning at his feet somehow eludes him.” It’s up to us to make the most of our education so we get out as much as we put in.
“ For example, after a lifetime of avoiding the beaten track and guided tours, a man may deliberately seek out the most beaten track of all, the most commonplace tour imaginable: he may visit the canyon by a Greyhound tour in the company of a party from Terre Haute—just as a man who has lived in New York all his life may visit the Statue of Liberty.”

Meghan Kidd and Samantha Pawluczyk
Randall Cream
Writing 120
October 6,2019

The Future of West Chester University

At West Chester University, the campus is divided into two major sections, academic and residential. This style of campus can be very effective as to how students and professors interact and learn from one another. Although, with this layout, students and professors are only able to see each other in class or for office hours rather than around campus and in common areas. According to Friere, society believes that professors can only teach students. Although, students have the ability to teach their professors inside and outside of the classroom and vice versa. Both of these groups shed light upon different lessons and create a more knowledgeable environment for one another. If West Chester was redesigned, adding multipurpose buildings, mandating on campus living for professors, and requiring all students to live on campus during their entire duration would make the overall experience more beneficial.
A coffee shop is defined as a cafe serving coffee and light refreshments. This kind of environment is a relaxing place that people of all ages can visit in order to unwind and destress. This kind of place is great for building connections between people because it is a relaxed and casual setting. If West Chester University were to redesigned their campus to center around a coffee shop, this could be beneficial for both students and professors. Having a coffee shop accessible to both students and their professors would help for them to see one another in a different settings other than the classroom. This shop would show professors what their students are like outside of class and they would see students with all of their sports equipment, instruments, tired eyes, and exhausted minds. On the other hand, students would see their professors with their graded papers, spouses, children, or with a friend. These two groups of people would have to understand that the opposite has many other challenges and priorities on their plate, besides in that one given class that they spend an hour and a half together three times a week. Supporting Freieres theory, professors and students will be able to have intellectual or casual conversations where they will ultimately create stronger bonds through teaching. This coffee shop would work to mold together a better university. It is important that students and professors share a different interaction in a public environment because it creates better relationships.
After creating this coffee shop, it would need a constant influx of customers. These customers would be the students and professors that are mandated to live on campus. During their entire duration at West Chester, all students and professors will be mandated to live on campus. The main point is to create deeper interaction between students and professors. By creating this housing rule, professors could change their office hours. It should be taken into consideration that professors have lives too, but if they have longer or more flexible office hours, they will be available to students more often. Perhaps, during the week before finals or major exams, students may want to ask questions at odd times and will need to access their professors. Some students any have night classes and are unable to meet with their professors at given times. However, if the professors lived closer to campus they would have more flexible hours to meet with students.
Along with professors, students living on campus while they attend the university will also help to create stronger relationships. It is common to see freshmen and sophomores living on campus, but after that most students move off campus. This means they are a bit further from common places like Lawerence, the Rec Center, and on campus eateries. Although, if it were a requirement for all students to remain on campus, it would create a new dynamic and possibly bring students and professors closer. By having all students live on campus, those who originally lived off campus would spend more time around campus and could help newer students get used to the community. This would help to mix on and off campus living and create stronger bonds. This would also help off campus students to be around campus more often where they would spend more time at places like the library, Lawrence, and dorm rooms.
Currently, West Chester University is divided into two major sections, academic and residential. If it were to be redesigned, adding multipurpose buildings and requiring on campus living for both students and professors would help to create a better environment. These few changes would help to bring West Chester’s community together, especially for students and their professors.

At West Chester University, the campus is divided into two major sections, academic and residential. This style of campus can be very effective as to how students and professors interact and learn from one another. If West Chester was redesigned, adding multipurpose buildings and mandating on campus living for both students and professors would make the overall experience more beneficial.
A coffee shop is defined as a cafe serving coffee and light refreshments. This kind of environment is a relaxing place that people of all ages can visit in order to unwind and destress. This kind of place is great for building connections between people because it is a relaxed and casual setting. If West Chester University were to redesigned their campus to center around a coffee shop, this could be beneficial for both students and professors. Having a coffee shop accessible to both students and their professors would help for them to see one another in a different settings other than the classroom. This shop would show professors what their students are like outside of class and they would see students with all of their sports equipment, instruments, tired eyes, and exhausted minds. On the other hand, students would see their professors with their graded papers, spouses, children, or with a friend. These two groups of people would have to understand that the opposite has many other challenges and priorities on their plate, besides in that one given class that they spend an hour and a half together three times a week. This coffee shop would work to mold together a better university. It is important that students and professors share a different interaction in a public environment because it creates better relationships.
After creating this coffee shop, it would need a constant influx of customers. These customers would be the students and professors that are mandated to live on campus. During their entire duration at West Chester, all students and professors will be mandated to live on campus. The main point is to create deeper interaction between students and professors. By creating this housing rule, professors could change their office hours. It should be taken into consideration that professors have lives too, but if they have longer or more flexible office hours, they will be available to students more often. Perhaps, during the week before finals or major exams, students may want to ask questions at odd times and will need to access their professors. Some students any have night classes and are unable to meet with their professors at given times. However, if the professors lived closer to campus they would have more flexible hours to meet with students.
Along with professors, students living on campus while they attend the university will also help to create stronger relationships. It is common to see freshmen and sophomores living on campus, but after that most students move off campus. This means they are a bit further from common places like Lawerence, the Rec Center, and on campus eateries. Although, if it were a requirement for all students to remain on campus, it would create a new dynamic and possibly bring students and professors closer. By having all students live on campus, those who originally lived off campus would spend more time around campus and could help newer students get used to the community. This would help to mix on and off campus living and create stronger bonds. This would also help off campus students to be around campus more often where they would spend more time at places like the library, Lawrence, and dorm rooms.
Currently, West Chester University is divided into two major sections, academic and residential. If it were to be redesigned, adding multipurpose buildings and requiring on campus living for both students and professors would help to create a better environment. These few changes would help to bring West Chester’s community together, especially for students and their professors.

Topic 1:

Team Selection: Samantha Pawluczyk, Haley Meyers, Meghan Kidd

Thesis: At West Chester University, the campus is divided into two main sections: residence halls and academic buildings. The academic buildings are all located next to each other, whereas the residence halls are all next to each other. This divide separates living versus learning. Although, if this separation was eliminated minds would be able to creatively collaborate with professors and students like never before.

“To that end, it enables teachers and students to become Subjects of the educational process by overcoming authoritarianism and an alienating intellectualism; it also enables people to overcome their false perception of reality.”

“The capability of banking education to minimize or annul the students’ creative power and to stimulate their credulity
serves the interests of the oppressors, who care neither to have the world revealed nor to see it transformed. ”

Laura Mcgroary, Mike Tresoikas, Meghan Kidd, Sam Pawluczyk – Leader

There is always a debate between how someone can learn and consume more information, whether it be in the classroom or outside in the real world. Today our discussion group agreed that learning from real life experiences is more valuable than sitting in the classroom and being told to memorize and retain specific information. The benefits of learning from real life experiences include many ideas. For example, when dealing with someone’s own experiences they have the ability to make mistakes and then at some point, they have the ability to change their approach and correct their mistake. Another huge benefit includes hands on learning. Many people are able to consume or information if they are doing it themselves, as opposed to visual learning. Finally, in classroom settings not everyone has the ability to participate. Some people are quiet and shy and therefore will not raise their hands or have the confidence to answer a question. In contrast, if they were dealing with their lives and a problem formed, they would be able to handle it as they please. It makes more sense to learn from real life experiences, rather than in the classroom.

Caitlin Mangini, Amanda Regan, Sarah Veneziali,Seamus Corkery, Sabrina Lindley, Haley Clark, Olivia Vearling, Ava Hill, and Meghan Kidd

This week the discussion group I participated in focused on the fact that students are just supposed to consume information from teachers and be able to spit out the answer on demand. I agree with this statement, when it relates to the student and teacher relationship. Teachers tend to randomly call on students during class and expect them to answer their question immediately. Many teachers usually use some type of powerpoint to center their class around. During these powerpoint, teachers usually will call on students unexpectedly, without warning, and expect them to voice out an answer. It is very difficult for students to do this even when they are paying attention. Sometimes nerves or fear of embarrassment takes place and the student is left upset. I believe that if students have to be put through this kind of treatment, teachers also should be. Often times when students have questions the teachers will exclaim that they will get back to them. This is unfair and should be eliminated. No one should be told that they need to give an answer immediately after receiving a question on command.