HW for Thu (9/12): Post Responses Here

Pick one of the following prompts and write a paragraph response to it (here, on the blog, under this post).
1. In “The Discovery of What it Means to be an American,” James Baldwin mentions the “hidden laws” that govern all communities.  It occurs to me that our class at City Tech constitutes a unique community with its own laws—hidden and not.  It’s still the beginning of the semester and we are in the process of figuring out what these “laws” are—and, more broadly, what the “community” of our class should be like in order to maximize learning.
  Respond below with a description or a list containing descriptions of what you want the “learning community” of our class to be like.  You can (but don’t have to) respond to any of these questions: What will help you learn in this class?  What might prevent you from learning?  What are the “hidden laws” of City Tech?  Are there any “laws” or rules that you think we should uphold in our in-class community?  Be honest!
2. Baldwin’s essay “The Discover of What it Means to be an American” leads us into an “educational experience” he has after he moves to Europe.  This experience leads him to a more complicated understanding of what the word “American” means (and doesn’t mean).  Write about Baldwin’s new understanding of what it means to be an American—and, perhaps more specifically—how living in Europe alters his sense of race and class.  You might also write about an educational experience you had while traveling to (or living in) a different place: how did this experience change your perception of the two places—the one you began in and the one you traveled to?

13 thoughts on “HW for Thu (9/12): Post Responses Here”

  1. An ideal learning community for me would be a community that

    – respects people opinions

    – just

    – united

    – well spoken

    – Acceptance

    – understandable

  2.  First, most importantly, every student should at least know someone’s name in the class and phone number.I think at the beginning of the class, student should be paired up to discuss homework or what each student did not understand from last class. by doing that they could help each other out, students should feel comfortable in the classroom like being able to express themselves without fear of other student criticizing them for their answer or opinion.

    a teacher should have time to connect with each student and help them on the lesson that they are struggling with, I had a professor who emailed me saying to meet with her so she could help with an essay and correct my mistake. teachers should praise and encourage student because some don’t have confidence in academics.(me)

    1. Thanks ChanChan.  I’d love to follow up with you in class about your ideas for connecting with other students in the room—and with me.  They’re both good lines of thought that are worth talking about with the whole class.

  3. Learning can be easier through group work because when it’s working well, it’s working great. In the sense that your classmates can correct your essay while you are correcting theirs. Also if it’s groups of 4-5, then essays can be swapped even more and have multiple corrections and multiple point of views. It’s really efficient, but I think the knowledge of the professor should also be provided as well. As far as classroom “laws,” there should only be one. Don’t be rude.

  4. I would like to start off talking about how it feels like for me being a student in city tech. Apparently the transition that I came through from high school to college was never been so easy. The first and very early  stage was making the decision about where I wanted to study. City tech was one of the colleges I was looking up to. I was always being obsessed about learning quoting and stuff, and right in a moment I was sure that I would come here for my associate. Something I really liked about the class is grouping 4-5 people and get the feedback to improve the writing. It’s a great way to work with different people and create a family and fit in the class. Also I think it’s important for the people have the kindness for each other’s though out the whole semester and it’s going to be on of our “law”. 

  5. As, mentioned in the second prompt,  in Baldwin’s essay, “The Discover of What it Means to be an American”, it leads readers like me to learn about his educational experience and the difference between the two as he moves to Europe. Baldwin’s move to Europe obviously complicated a lot of things but, mostly his understanding of the word “American”. Anyhow, Baldwin’s educational experience reminds me one of my own. I came to America as an immigrant at the age of only seven years old. I was young but, I knew my parents brought me here for better opportunities. School in Africa and America is totally different, and I came to learn that when I started attending school in America. In Africa, the school system was basically trash and we didn’t have laptops, computers and other useful sources we could’ve used in our classrooms. In America however, they were things like that and even more. Coming to America, not only gave me better educational opportunities but, also showed and taught me many other things, I wouldn’t have learn in Africa. 

    1. Thanks Aissatou—as you know I’m interested in the specific differences you’ve noticed between education in Africa and education in the US.  Was your experience retroactive like Baldwin’s?  In other words, did you only realize something about your education in Africa AFTER coming to the States?

  6. In Baldwin’s Essay “The discovery of what it means to be an American”he speaks about the changes he went through trying to find his role in society as being a black American writer, which at the time society was racially dominated by whites.He talks about how difficult it was trying to find himself, when it was as if he was trapped within the prison of racial consumption.He basically then talks about how he runs away to Europe to then start a new journey in finding his role.

    In Europe Baldwin discovers how “free” he felt when he was able to talk to anyone ,he even befriended other white American authors and felt as if he was in control of himself instead of being oppressed by the racial barrier.

    When I lived in Jamaica as a kid, the  country began progressing ever so slightly, one thing that was always common was majority of the Caribbean people that were born on the island would be so enticed by tourist that would come to the island and would break their backs to help any person of lighter skin complexion (this would be their first assumption that you’re from a different country).This was very interesting because when I came to American no one seemed to even care if your briefcase fell and papers fell out, not even supermarket store workers would look happy to help you.This was entirely different.Might I include the education system was much more rigorous and challenging than the one in Jamaica.

  7. I believe that we should all find a way to know each other to feel confortable and not be embarrassed to speak.   We should be able to have someone to text if you miss class one day and need the notes.  Something that will help me learn in the class is using a variety of learning methods.  Everyone learns differently. And the assignment that may be assigned to all is most likely  someone weakness, and they should have the chance to prove them self’s in other ways.  For example not everyone is good at writing essays, therefore I believe it’s not fair for an essay assignment to determine if you’ve been paying attention in class or not.
    Something that may prevent me from learning is if we are reading an article or book that is not interesting.  I believe this will make us lose interest in reading the book and also lose motivation to continue the task

  8. It’s still the beginning of the semester and we are in the process of figuring out how to maximize our learning.There are many ways in which I could learn in this class; receiving constructive criticism and feedback on my writing assignments will be of great help. Attending the writing center and taking advantage of the free tutoring offered at city tech will expand my knowledge in grammar, writing skills, and in my assignments. 
    There are also many ways in which I can jeopardize my grades and my academic standing in city tech. Among the many, is not attending and participating in class and not completing my assignments on time. Also sitting in class on my phone or laptop on websites that are not related to the class material will jeopardize my grade and will result in failure. 
     
    I believe there are laws that we should implement and uphold in our in-class community of which include, the encouragement of open class discussions in which everyone will feel comfortable in giving their feedback/opinions. There shall be no criticism regarding anyone’s

  9. I agree with my fellow classmates, I think that we should have open discussions in which we can give constructive criticism. I also believe we should make sure we have someone else’s contacts just in case you miss class, this way you can be filled in on what you missed. I also think that group work is a better alternative than working as a whole class because its less people that you have to keep track of and everyone is most likely to go at the same pace as you, also you will most likely build a great friendship with the people In your group which can make the class experience less tense. Also, talking about more important things like world wide problems would help increase my focus during class. For example, Global warming is a very big problem that affects all of us and we should be able to talk about it and give our opinions over the situation. These are things that I believe would make a better class experience at-least for me.

  10. An ideal learning community for me would be a place where I feel as though our opinions or input matters as well as a space where people encourage others and are willing to lend a hand if needed.

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