Class reply 9/21

For me, being the only student who was unable to be at the lunch with Terence, Kelvin and Dave Coogan hearing it from different perspectives other than the class notes was very interesting

  • We opened with comparing Dave and Professor Dolson’s teaching styles. It seemed that Coogan seems to have more of an intense role within the teaching process, and although this can be helpful, it can also lead to feeling like you are being hovered over and are not as able to have your own ideas.
  • Professor Dolson seems to teach with more of an aim of having you be able to learn how to do something on your own, and working through the process with you more than just assignments without much guidance.
    • also that Coogan was adamant about ideas that Professor Dolson could be doing for our project next semester, but Prof was telling him thank you for the ideas but not necessarily going to use them
  • When professor Dolson asked about any discomfort during it all, everyone seemed to have picked up on the same thing.
    • Kaylee discussed what she had said, and explained that her question about social services sounded insensitive because of the way it was conveyed, and also because there was no context to the situation.
      • That if possibly she would have told him she grew up in a similar situation it would have been different, but an assumption was made about Kaylee’s life due to stereotypical misconceptions
      • I really appreciated Kaylee’s willingness to share her story and trust in us to do so.
  • Julia also mentioned the way Coogan acted around Terence and Kelvin. I perceived this as Coogan continuing to sort of be more of a “helicopter teacher” with them and treat them more like children. But also it could just be because they have a good enough relationship to a point that can healthily have that dynamic.
  • Social services conversation
    • that Terence did not necessarily think that the services provided by social services were inadequate, just that he didn’t like the connotation that came arround it, and the assumption that Terence’s family NEEDED social services, that it was offensive coming from the outside.
      • we then discussed how it felt when someone insulted a member of our family, how it was offensive and felt targeted towards us, even if it was correct.
        • an example, I was not sure who but someone had the opportunity to tell police that a family member was abusive yet choose not to.
  • We discussed how the University can effect people of color/visitors, how one can already feel discomfort when they are not welcomed or represented on campus. So Prof does everything she can to try to make them feel welcome, even though inherently it can be hard to manage
  • How Prof shared her personal story of how she is a mother and food is how she helps to take care of and welcome others, this lightened the mood with Terence.
  • Question to international students with american culture
    • Angelos mentioned Greece being more homogenous, and how more diversity within the United States left room for a lot more assumptions/stereotyping different groups
    • Wesley mentioned how the culture of China and US are very similar, and that life styles are very similar
      • I also thought it was funny, when Wesley said they were similar I noticed Chang looking at him in suprise
    • My mother was also an international student from Colombia, and one of her biggest cultural shocks was the sense of time, organization and generally the culture of people being a lot more intense in the US
  • How story telling can be messy or uncomfortable, but that being authentic is when genuine connections begin to form
    • makes me think about my job back home, I solely worked with children and what I enjoyed about it so much was how authentic kids are, and that they would never try to lie or cover something up, or be embarrassed of something because of social expectations like you do as you grow up
      • creates the most genuine connections
  • How the beginning of the printing press led to the end of oral story telling, and that it had its strengths and its weaknesses
  • Later we discussed class focus, and reflection questions that Will posted that we answered the end of class