Text 2748, 38 rader
Skriven 2004-09-29 21:39:04 av Ed Connell (1:379/1.6)
   Kommentar till text 2678 av FRANK SCHEIDT (1:123/140)
Ärende: Re: A good read
=======================
Hey, FRANK.

 SH>> The Candidates, Seen From the Classroom

 SH>> The New York Times
 SH>> September 24, 2004
 SH>> By STANLEY FISH

 SH>> CHICAGO - In an unofficial but very formal poll taken in my freshman
 SH>> writing class the other day, George Bush beat John Kerry by a vote of
 SH>> 13 to 2 (14 to 2, if you count me). My students were not voting on the
 SH>> candidates' ideas. They were voting on the skill (or lack of skill)
 SH>> displayed in the presentation of those ideas.

 SH>> The basis for their judgments was a side-by-side display in this
 SH>> newspaper on Sept. 8 of excerpts from speeches each man gave the
 SH>> previous day. Put aside whatever preferences you might have for either
 SH>> candidate's positions, I instructed; just tell me who does a better
 SH>> job of articulating his positions, and why.

 EC>> Excellent!

 EC>> I regularly tell students that if they cannot explain something
 EC>> clearly,  they don't understand it.

 FS> I think one of the best ways of displaying understanding is the
 FS> ability to paraphrase it successfully.

Exactly right.  On a test with questions asking for explanations, I tell the 
students that first they need to say true things, but then the one who 
expresses it the most clearly gets the best grade.  Contrary to Gary and 
Suzanne's fertile imagination, I am not interested in Office or Orifice or 
anything remotely like that in my classes.  Perhaps they think that the 
height of computer science is efficient use of Exel. <g>


--- Fidolook Lite FTN stub 
 * Origin: Bush, "Let's roll."  Kerry, "Let's rollover." (1:379/1.6)