Differences between Prof. Dolson’s teaching style and Dr. Coogan’s

  • Dr. Coogan – more rigid, get an assignment, turn it in, get feedback, and rework.
  • Prof. Dolson – more of a flow, not specific

At what points did the discussion feel awkward?

  • Kaylee – when she asked about social services.
    • Terence asked if anyone had been in a similar situation as him, and he noted that there were no black people in our class. Kaylee actually did grow up in a similar situation to him, she wasn’t asking from an outside/above perspective but actually, she just wanted to hear his opinions because 
    • Context plays an important role when asking these questions
  • Julia – witnessing the dynamic between Dr. Coogan and Terence and Kelvin, him “shushing them.”

What did Terence view as bad with social services?

  • Its just so different of a service now vs. when it could have affected him.

What is the assumption/cultural views about white women when it comes to black men?

  • Bad things can happen, for example, the woman calling the cops on a man just watching birds.
  • Karen – a stereotype and narrative in our culture
  • Prof. Dolson and her friend on parents telling them what to do if they ever got lost.
  • “If you get lost find a policeman” vs. “go and find an older woman.”
    • Completely different scripts
  • Prof. Dolson was having a hard time making Terence feel welcome because he took what she was doing as hovering. She told him however that she is a mom, and she makes people feel welcome by feeding them, and he started laughing and understood why she was doing what she was doing.

When we share a personal story, it sets a different tone and a different level of trust.

  • It allows for a different kind of conversation.

Family

  • Your family is still your family.
  • They put out things about their family exactly as it is
  • Nick – if someone calls out one of your family members since you identify so closely with your family, it then feels like they’re calling you out.

Identity – your family is such a big part of your identity, and once you start college you get away from that part of your identity and you get a chance to view that part from a different perspective.

Do you (international students) have thoughts/questions about American culture?

  • Angelos had a bigger culture shock coming here compared to when he went to Singapore when he was sixteen
    • He saw a lot of ignorance and privilege, which led to a lot of assumptions and stereotypes leading to his culture shock
    • Greece is much more homogenous, whereas people in the US feel they are already diverse simply because they are around different cultures
  • Wesley doesn’t consider himself a typical Chinese, he uses a VPN to access information that a lot of Chinese don’t; ways of entertainment are different, but lifestyles are very similar between the two cultures.

When we were telling our stories from our childhoods in the first week, the goal was to get to know each other and create a level of trust. We’re going to go back to that with our memoirs, 

  • Personal storytelling – We are going to “work up” one of our stories, we will pick one of our childhood stories and expand on it

Realness

  • Mitch – Since they chose what to put in their story ten years ago and now, we got to hear from them in real life with no filter it was so much more real, and even their talking about it couldn’t be everything they wanted to share.
    • You can only say so much, but they were so animated and loud
  • Javier – They commented how much more there was to their lives, but they kept them out because they didn’t want it to become embellished.

What was important about having the opportunity to tell their story and then come talk to us?

  • It’s real it’s messy, uncomfortable, and sometimes funny; you feel good when you make a connection
  • We are so privileged that when reading written text, we can lose the power of oral storytelling
  • Looking for shaping and impact → close textual analysis
    • Why is that an academic discipline? 
      • Brice – It helps you to connect your own world and personal experience/perspectives to other things
      • Mitch – science is much more rigid whereas English is a lot more interpretive, free form, less boundary
  • WOWO was a nonfiction memoir
    • It is a memoir, it is a book, but it’s not a novel because it’s not fiction
  • In the past priests were taught to read so that they could pass down the knowledge of the bible or religious text so they would tell the stories and interpret them for the people
    • When the printing press happened people could get the book for themselves and have their own interpretations but people also stopped telling the stories orally
  • Collegiate Gothic

Our class focus going forward:

  • Focusing on language and our interpretation of stories
  • Learning from experience, peers, writing, and reading
  • Our portfolios will be process portfolios
  • Several pieces where we’ll quote ourselves about a certain quote.

Reflection Questions:

  • Look at the number next to my name in the blog, how many times have I written to the blog? What were those like? What are some other opportunities to contribute to the blog that I will have in the future?
  • Have you gone back and read the class notes yet? If so when? How might it be helpful to read them?
  • Have you read other people’s prep notes? Is that something you would want to do? What would be the effect of doing that? Have you commented on someone else’s prep note?
  • Thinking about the assignment instructions for the analysis essay how many times did you read them?
  • Thinking about the content of the class, what interests you the most? Is there something you might do to pursue that further?