Talking about absences, something interesting happened: on Thursday, almost the end of the fourth week, I still had not had one absence and so I talked about it in class. I said, "I want to thank you for making the effort to come to class every day. I really appreciate this and know it is not always easy because you may be sick, tired, or overwhelmed with school and work, and sometime the weather is really bad too. If you never miss a day of class, I'll give you extra credit at the end." And on Friday, two students were missing and half of the students came in late! So, I did make a little comment about the fact that being late three times equaled being absent once... but when I think of last semester and how many students already had 4-5 absences, I feel very lucky! (In fact, one student in particular was always late or absent to class, last semester. Last week, I went to a game of cricket where he was playing and he arrived late for his first game and was not able to play. Some things never change!)
This week is also the first time that I felt some frustration--not much, but a little, on Tuesday. Last week, I spend several days talking to my students in individual conferences in my office about their research topics, their ideas, and their questions. We discussed several ideas, and even with those who seemed to know exactly what they wanted, I tried to make sure that they knew where they were going and how. I also discussed about several options, trying to find the best one, explaining how "academic" this research had to be and why some topics would be harder to research than others... And I thought that by the end of the week, everyone was set and knew what would work or not and what they could do or not. This week, I had the students fill out a second form that would help them narrow down their topic, look at it from different perspectives, and phrase their research question exactly. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week, I had the students come to class by groups of four or five and write on the blog (seems very difficult), share each other's research ideas, show me their form, and talk to me about their specific questions and concerns. Turns out, about a third of them had already changed topics or hadn't filled out the form so they still had no idea what they were doing or where they were going. On Tuesday, I was particularly frustrated by the fact that we hadn't had class on Thursday and Friday of last week and that this week, they also had two days off, but a few students still had not thought about what they wanted to do. That is something I really must remember: giving the students time off to work on their own does NOT mean that they will do anything. Many will just take the time off and do nothing. For Friday, the students had to write a second outline, and a few people still managed to change their topics. I know this is normal and I guess I can spend as much time as I want talking to them, explaining how to find good research topics, and giving them as much time as they need to talk to other classmates, think about their topics, try and change their minds, this will always happen. It is funny to see how I become so used to everything working very well with these students that the slightest little problem becomes a frustration! If only THAT had happened a year ago (and even a semester ago), I would have been so happy!
So, on Thursday we discussed about the different kinds of questions one could ask and the different ways to find answers. We talked about report papers, reviews of previous research, papers that advocate or defend a point, papers that analyze causes and effects, and field research. I had the students discuss with one another to try and ask different questions about their topics and think about the different papers they would write this semester: an expository paper, summaries, a literature review (comparison/contrast), an interview report, and the final paper in which they will defend a point, prove a point, argue a point. We also talked about their outlines. I want them to start thinking in terms of main ideas, and for their next paper, they need to address four ideas: 1. introduce the topic they want to research; 2. explain why this topic is interesting to them and an audience; 3. describe their personal experience with this topic and how they became interested in it; 4. argue their plans and defend their research questions. The fourth point is the most difficult for them to understand, I am not sure why.
On Friday, we talked about organization and how to work from an outline to a final draft. I had the students write 5 main points: 3 things they had done during the winter break, and 2 things they had not done. Then, they passed their paper to the next students who expended their points into small paragraphs. The next students then combined the 5 paragraphs into 2 large paragraphs and worked on the flow of ideas by using transitions and making sure the ideas were working well together. The next students wrote a conclusion to this "body." And finally, the next students wrote an introduction to this "paper." I explained that the next step would be proofreading. I haven't read the stuff they wrote but I hope it helped them realize what steps they had to go through with all their papers. It was a fun little activity, which also allowed them to be a little creative and laugh at what their classmates had developed with their initial ideas.
So this week wasn't too exciting but hopefully, a good foundation for the future of the semester was laid down. I know I am frustrated with a few students, but overall, most students are working hard and are a pleasure to have in my class.
