When I reported this teaching seminar, I bet you thought I was kidding, didn’t you?
Jeremy began to breaking us into groups. He then gave each one of us a “culture” and a “belief system” to represent.
We had to work with our groups to best explain our “belief systems” while being “sensitive” to everybody else’s “belief systems.”
Don’t groan until you hear the “belief system” I got. Ready?
I was from Moldirania, where we believed that all women with red hair were witches and would fly up into the air if they jumped out the window.
Now you can groan. Get it out, because it gets worse.
First, though, let me try to explain what this was like for me. I’m an empiricist, a decision sciences geek. Again, I found myself fighting the nearly overwhelming urge to ask what the hell happened to these peoples’ brains.
Fortunately for me, Jeremy hadn’t thought out the time constraints, and we ran out of time before I had to explain my “belief system.” So I can’t tell you what I did–and instead, will tell you what one of my group members did.
I don’t remember her name, but she was this lumpy pigeon-toed neo-hippie grad student from the English department, doing her PhD minor in Education. I don’t recall the “name” of her “culture,” but she was given as a “belief system” that interpretive dances purged the viewers of spirit toxins–and in order to “explain” her “belief system,” she had to incorporate her interpretive dances.
You know, I had no classes or office hours on that day. I could have been doing something really productive, like clipping my toenails or giving the dogs a bath.
I’ll call our English PhD student Clara for brevity. Clara was really into doing this little activity. Enthusiastic or bubbly doesn’t begin to cover it.
She had drawn the first spot, so she had to work up her “explanation” for all of us, remaining “sensitive” to our “cultural belief systems” in the process (the ultimate goal was to writhe about interpretively for the whole roomful and do so in a “culturally sensitive” manner).
So we watched as Clara did two or three different “interpretive dances,” each one designed to purge us of a different “spirit toxin.” Several group members stopped her from time to time because she wasn’t being “sensitive” enough.
“The way you are moving your head, there, that’s offensive to my belief system!”
That sort of thing. I just sat there, trying very hard not to laugh.
Not only did Clara “explain” her “belief system” by prancing about in front of a whole roomful of people, but Jeremy gave her props for being so “sensitive” about it. And a week or so later, Jeremy forwarded a message from Clara, saying that she had used her “interpetive dance” technique in class to great success, and her students had loved it.
Apparently, this sort of drivel has caught on in the primary schools (hat tip to the Instructivist for the link):
In Leah Coffey’s kindergarten class, learning to read means breaking a sweat and getting your hands dirty.
One morning last week, Coffey put in a CD with infectious drumbeats and pupils repeated the names of different instruments. “T-T-T-Tambourine,” they sang as they danced and smacked invisible tambourines.
Later, Coffey and four pupils dipped their hands into a can of clay. First, they molded the letter T. They then flattened the clay into discs.
“T-T-T-Tambourine,” they said and tapped the clay tambourines against their hands.
Westcott Elementary School, 409 W. 80th St. on the South Side, has joined 17 other Chicago public schools in implementing a curriculum from Reading in Motion, a Chicago agency that uses music, drama and dance to teach reading.
Coffey is sold on the concept. “I think that every lesson should be put to music,” she said.
Reading in Motion is one of several organizations supported by Chicago Tribune Holiday Giving, a campaign of Chicago Tribune Charities, a McCormick Tribune Foundation fund.
See? I was serious. I wonder if Leah Coffey was in that teaching seminar?
dragonlady474 says:
Oh my God…lololol. I would have spontaneously combusted from trying not to laugh. Oh my God.
November 21, 2006, 10:21 amOh MY GOD! « Dragon’s Den says:
[…] Right Wing Professor has this great but shocking post up about some nutty, feel-good teachers and seminars they attend. Oh my God. […]
November 21, 2006, 10:23 amFatWhiteMan says:
My sister is persuing her Masters in Education. She actually had a class where everyone had to play a calming tune with everyday items like ripping duct tape or slapping their butt. Yes, a masters class where they all slapped their butts. Now she wonders why I am not that impressed with her Masters Degree. I don’t want to name the school, but it is in South Eastern Ohio in a town called Rio Grande. Its initials are Rio Grande University. What a joke.
November 22, 2006, 1:05 pmRight Wing Nation says:
[…] Other education articles: Not Enough Homework, Dancing Queen!, Projects and Activities, Academic Groupthink, Words Matter, But It’s Peer Reviewed!, THIS Is What’s Wrong With Education, High Tech High, (co-written with Ken DeRosa, on Edspresso), And In The Spirit Of Postmodernism And Idiocy, Math Aptitude And Sex, Er, Gender, Navigating The Group Work Maze, Diversity Destroys Education, Reality Check For Fuzzy Math Fans, “Qualitative Research” Is Neither, Test Tips. Or click here for a complete list of all my education articles (click here for math articles). […]
November 26, 2006, 11:56 amRight Wing Nation says:
[…] Interpretive dance! — and you can get a graduate degree! […]
January 26, 2007, 2:23 pm