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• These field notes come from the second meeting of a Comparative Literature class
• Course is taught by Professor Reynolds*, a Classics professor who also teaches one course in Comparative Literature
• There are about 25 students in the class
  • College sophomores, juniors, and seniors
  • About ¾ female and ¼ male
• Class began by the teacher bringing up a key question and asking the students to answer using one of the readings as a guide
  • Discussion was technically student led, but it was interesting to see how Professor also shaped the discussion
    • With certain points made by students, Professor Reynolds continued to ask questions (either to that individual student or the entire class).
    • With other points made by students, Professor Reynolds would just nod or say okay, and then call on another student
      • What determined which points/comments were elaborated?
        • I assume Professor Reynolds pre-determined a direction for the conversation to go and addressed points that fit that mold.
        • Professor Reynolds could have also highlighted comments that she felt were particularly insightful or interesting
        • She didn’t say any one’s comments were wrong or irrelevant, but did not fully acknowledge them
        • How would this method work in a classroom with younger students?

In working at a kindergarten, I do literacy activities with small groups of students each morning revolving around a short poem or song. These are notes (based on recollection) are from three groups of ten minutes each, with three or four students:

This week's poem is "The old woman who lived in a shoe". The activity on the lesson plan, which I can change, invovled something that I knew would make the kids too silly and would not be helpful, so I skipped to the next day's activity, a type which is normally more successful. As always, we read the poem together (with me reading each line first if the group is not yet reading). With some groups, it takes a lot of time to get started because the students are acting in a silly way: usually several of the same students, although today was a good day for two of those. The reading goes unexpectedly well for the second group, as this is usually where it's most difficult to get started. 

Thesis meeting: Jan. 25, 2013 (10:30am)

Sorry that these notes are a bit dense, but it was my only other academic event other than my other ed. class that occured between Thurs. and Tues. 

Observations

-All assistant teachers arrived on time.*

-Teacher was very exact about how class should be handled.*

-Not allowed to scold, punish, or correct in stern voice? Interesting...*

-Students begin to enter classroom with their parents. All students seem pretty happy until they see our new faces. Some students are more welcoming than others. Many stay away..

-As we begin the activity, students get more comfortable with new teachers. Some smiles!

-Circle Time is very hectic. Not much order, students jumping out of their seats, a lot of calling out, hard to make much progress. Are students learning much?*

-Snack time WAY more orderly than circle time- maybe students were hungry? 

Observations and Notes

In the beginning of the party, Bryn sat in her seat. However, just a few minutes later, she kept standing up and sitting back down. Over time, she then began to move around her seat causing Mrs. G to tell her, "Please sit down." This continues for some time as Bryn's classmates are presenting their book reports. Eventually, Mrs. G makes Bryn to go next for her presentation. During the presentations, one could notice the distraction of Bryn standing up and down in her seat, as well as the shifting and moving of her body while at her chair. This caused a distraction to the other students sitting on the floor while they trying to pay attention to their classmates' presentations.

Knowing How to Wait

           Last semester I was placed again at School A, my placement since Spring of 2011. An advantage to this is that I can continue to build a good relationship with the students and faculty and I even get to see the students grow, literally. Being a part of a school means you begin to really get a sense of the person behind the image of a student. You can predict how some students behave if they are having a good time in school and also how they will react if they are having a hard time. As a teacher, building good relationships with your students is a continuous goal. Your reaction to a student in certain situations can either propel your relationship toward the positive route or the not-so-favorable way.

               This is an excerpt from my field notes last semester that highlights one particular moment:

Your souvenirs:

Icelandic horse carving, fleece sleeping bag, hardback

Which left me longing for a translation that doesn’t exist;

What to do with a text I can’t read?

Old book Ritsafn, old tee-shirt soft,

The paper shines; signed by Fra Sigurdardottir a Hlodum.

She was a writer of fairy tales and poems married to a carpenter,

Ever after farmers.

We are the writer and the carpenter;

My caretaker, I shall translate into the genitive case romantic.

Book and word are English cognates of the Icelandic language,

Word list and word lust.

I learned enough Icelandic;

Now let us make like old people and read in bed!

1/25/13: Part I: Before (written at 11:10AM)

Last night Students for a Livable Future had an almost-two-hour planning meeting over dinner for a 1.5 hour teach-in today during lunch at the dining center. (Wouldn't it be amazing if teachers could do that? Though on second thought, that degree of planning would probably prove tiresome and unnecessary for experienced educators.) We are calling our event a climate justice teach-in but really it is all about our campaign for Haverford to divest its endowment from fossil-fuel companies. (Is that misleading? Will people be upset? Or will no one come at all? We advertised quite heavily with posters hanging from trees, tons of Facebook posting, etc. I'm pretty nervous about it all right now.)

            Economics is a patriarchal social science. It aspires to dominate society by imputing value on goods that it finds important or relevant, and therefore manipulates perceptions of social value, and controls social welfare. Because of this, there is an abrasive intersection arising between economics, ecology, and ecofeminism. Marilyn Waring, author of Counting for Nothing, believes that there is a need for value to be imputed on unpaid women’s labor, but believes a fiscal approach would be inefficient and “totally dysfunctional”. The core of her argument is that economics has been designed to economically repress women, and that excluding women’s unpaid domestic labor from calculating national income is harmful in addressing the progress of our economy. Because the patriarchal nature of economics does not allow for a true imputation of value on opportunity cost women’s domestic labor, it cannot be considered a true measure of national income, and if remained unaddressed, will be detrimental to modern day society.