Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Tipping Point

I think my students in Women's Lit are reaching a Tipping Point. I still think I need to revise the class so that it has more unity and clarity of purpose, but in the last couple of class sessions, after reading Glaspell, Loy, Hall, and Bonner, I think the students are starting to really "get" some of the problems of gender identity, definition, and politics. Their comments are becoming more insightful, and there is a greater level of "play" as they grapple with the texts.

I think they are learning!

5 comments:

Ink said...

Hooray! That must be a great feeling. Way to go, GEW.

TKW said...

I think that's great! That's always a good feeling. And I am curious, what *is it* that has suddenly illuminated for them? What concept/worldview finally resonated? Sorry, we fellow teachers have to examine the very details of your glory, because, as we know, they are few and far between. Awesome!

The Steel Magnolia said...

Learning?! Well, imagine that! Your post is a reminder of why I can hardly imagine any other profession.

This Ro(a)mantic Life said...

Wonderful! It's so exciting when things start to click and you get to see the light bulbs slowly coming on over their heads. It's like they're on dimmer switches that are slowly getting ratcheted up, no?

Good Enough Woman said...

Ink, Thanks for the cheers!

TKW, Thanks for stopping by! I don't know what suddenly changed. I think it actually was a gradually awakening or understanding. But it seems as if they finally got beyond (almost) the response of "Well, that's just the way the author wrote it." Or, "Well that's just how girls are." Or, "There are just all kinds of women." They didn't seem to want to admit that certain portrayals of women were either representative or significant. Now, they are starting to read significance in the relationship between, shall we say, the signifier and the signified.

SM, Yes, well, just the other day, I felt like quitting because of an online student that told me I was lame and censoring him. Perhaps I will post about it . . .

CT, Yes!