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From: RJurczyk <RJurczyk@aol.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov>
Subject: [NIFL-FAMILY:1312] xpost: quite students
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The following is crossposted from NIFL-Workplace in response to a post on that
list. The suggestions may be something you may want to try in your program
with "quieter" students.
Robin Jurczyk
NIFL-family list moderator
rjurczyk@aol.com
***********
There is a presumption in Alan Rodgers' question that the goal is to create
highly verbal students. That fallacy has often CREATED educational
difficulties
for introverted and/or risk aversive students because they have been told over
and over and over that they aren't smart because they aren't highly verbal.
(Additional problems develop for second language speakers who aren't highly
verbal in English.)
Penn State, by the way, has an excellent program for highly reticent students,
and there are a number of things that can be done to help a student who WANTS
to
become more verbal to do so.
In most adult courses, however, the real questions ought to be, how can an
instructor
a) teach effectively without relying on verbal responses to measure learning,
b) teach in a way that is effective for students who prefer to consider their
thoughts carefully before participating in public discussion and
c) undo some of the negative effects these adults probably face as a
consequence
of limited teaching methods in the past.
There are a number of cultures and subcultures that do NOT value the quick,
superficial, highly verbal interactions that represent the Anglo=American
political/business model. To presume that students are "inadequately
prepared"
because they don't conform to that set of communication norms is to further
prevent their education.
dale cyphert
university of northern iowa
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