Thanks so much for your thoughtful engagement with my piece! Really enjoyed your analysis and am glad it resonated. Pretty much everything you articulated was exactly what I was going for. I probably should’ve added a little more context about the lesson that comes before this in the module, but I think that omission actually led to some great insight I hadn’t considered. I’m a big fan of making sweeping calls for the transcendent power of reading, writing, and the humanities, BUT I also think (to your point) it’s vital that those pronouncements are packaged with examples and applications that make them feel *real.*
I’ve worked with folks who can speak about language and literature in beautifully poetic terms, but struggle to structure classrooms where students feel that potential. It makes for great choir preaching, but does little to invite new believers into the fold—which feels particularly important in our age of AI and frictionless technology.
I am very much in agreement that alternative grading is a necessary but not sufficient step to engage students in the "why" of learning. One of the ways that I will often try to pitch learning to students is inspired by the UDL concept of multiple means of engagement: We know pretty well that it is quite difficult to learn without engagement, motivation, and interest. I tell students this, and then say, "Here are a few reasons why you might want to learn what we are looking at right now - it might be inherently interesting to you, you might find it instrumentally useful for something, like a job you want to get or an event you want to organize, it might help you understand or navigate a situation outside this class that is important to you etc. It could be something I've never though of before, because we all have different interests and motivations - the point is to draw on your own unique interests and passions and connect to what we are doing here." I have found that students respond pretty well to this pitch, and over time will share some of the connections they make with me. Thanks for inviting this discussion, I love all you posts Emily!
Thanks so much for your thoughtful engagement with my piece! Really enjoyed your analysis and am glad it resonated. Pretty much everything you articulated was exactly what I was going for. I probably should’ve added a little more context about the lesson that comes before this in the module, but I think that omission actually led to some great insight I hadn’t considered. I’m a big fan of making sweeping calls for the transcendent power of reading, writing, and the humanities, BUT I also think (to your point) it’s vital that those pronouncements are packaged with examples and applications that make them feel *real.*
I’ve worked with folks who can speak about language and literature in beautifully poetic terms, but struggle to structure classrooms where students feel that potential. It makes for great choir preaching, but does little to invite new believers into the fold—which feels particularly important in our age of AI and frictionless technology.
Thank you, Trevor! I’ve gotten a lot out of your writing on these and related subjects.
I am very much in agreement that alternative grading is a necessary but not sufficient step to engage students in the "why" of learning. One of the ways that I will often try to pitch learning to students is inspired by the UDL concept of multiple means of engagement: We know pretty well that it is quite difficult to learn without engagement, motivation, and interest. I tell students this, and then say, "Here are a few reasons why you might want to learn what we are looking at right now - it might be inherently interesting to you, you might find it instrumentally useful for something, like a job you want to get or an event you want to organize, it might help you understand or navigate a situation outside this class that is important to you etc. It could be something I've never though of before, because we all have different interests and motivations - the point is to draw on your own unique interests and passions and connect to what we are doing here." I have found that students respond pretty well to this pitch, and over time will share some of the connections they make with me. Thanks for inviting this discussion, I love all you posts Emily!