Re: [OPE-L] marx's conception of labour

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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