From: Jerry Levy (Gerald_A_Levy@MSN.COM)
Date: Fri Nov 17 2006 - 09:05:22 EST
> Don't you prepare your lectures before you go out and actually > lecture and don't you plan your lectures step by step before you > put it into practice? Dogan, I don't. I have lecture notes for my classes but I don't plan my lectures step by step before putting them into practice. To begin with, I like to have a certain flexibility in the classroom. Often my (incomplete) plan is changed to accommodate the interests of students and the unpredictable dynamic of discussion in the classroom. I don't expect that the class will proceed in an entirely planned and predictable manner. I don't think that the implementation of a lecture plan in a step-by-step sequence is a particularly progressive forms of learning either. Furthermore, it doesn't take into account the 'learning by doing' process whereby one learns about teaching through the praxis of teaching and the interaction with students. One has to also recognize that contemporary events outside of the classroom can change the 'lesson plan'. Too much planning of lectures and -- worse yet -- a rigid application of the lecture plan makes for dull classes, imo. Unplanned 'digressions' can also enliven a classroom: e.g. if students are having a good time, engaged, and laughing then they are much more likely to be attentive and learn. > It is essential to dialectic approach. I guess I must be non-systematically dialectical. The dialectic approach, as it is applied to theory, must take into account some contradictory realities associated with presenting theory. To begin with, regardless of the conception that one has about how it all fits together, the actual process of writing and exposition often leads to a modification of the original theoretical conception. Also, the process of research is an ongoing process and this affects the presentation of theory. For instance, when one is writing one learns about more sources and empirical data and this can lead one to alter the final 'architecture' of the theoretical 'house'. In solidarity, Jerry
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