"And the Horse You Rode In On"
Just back from the celebrations...yes, celebrations, was anyone surprised?...for Drs. Ludwig and Spangler.
Interesting afternoon, and one of the best I've had at ISU...two dissertation defenses in one day...made me realize this English Studies thing is...well...kinda successful.
In one room from 2-3:00, Jeff defended his dissertation beautifully...Charlie wondered if (and this is my paraphrase) "these things you see in the texts, are they really there or are you only seeing them because of who you are and what you know?" A sort of "choose your gods" question that I find is more satisfyingly answered with at simple "yes." I like both approaches, but maybe that means I'm just not too smart.
A great defense...at one point Jeff was going great guns answering a tough one and he hit the wall:
"I forgot what I was saying." pause "and now I'm thinking."
A good meta moment that we all later filled in with our own comments; to wit: "And now I'm *&itting my pants" (Susie) and "And now I'm wondering what a heart attack feels like" (Lori).
Move to the next room one short hour later and Susie is simply introducing us to her research. And it was like that...she was just taking time out of her schedule to let us know what she's done and what's next.
A tough question from Becca about "Social" something...how did it relate to her research, and the perfect answer to the unknown, "well, could you tell me a little more about that theory." And then the right answer: yes, it's all about power.
Of course, Susie did a cultural studies diss, examining the "fear factor." No, really, if you have a better way to describe what affects perfectly reasonable student teachers when they bow to the more conservative practices of their cooperating teachers, she'd like to know it.
So it's regression or accomodation or acquiesence.
My question: what do we do with the fact that we--with our (pre-Patriot Act II) academic freedoms--just expect student teachers to defy the system, to bite (or at least sniff suspiciously) the hand that feeds them. Easy for us to buck the system: the system won't buck (choose your first consonants) us.
Anywho, it's been a good run, and this was a great night.
Thanks to the Drs.
:)
Interesting afternoon, and one of the best I've had at ISU...two dissertation defenses in one day...made me realize this English Studies thing is...well...kinda successful.
In one room from 2-3:00, Jeff defended his dissertation beautifully...Charlie wondered if (and this is my paraphrase) "these things you see in the texts, are they really there or are you only seeing them because of who you are and what you know?" A sort of "choose your gods" question that I find is more satisfyingly answered with at simple "yes." I like both approaches, but maybe that means I'm just not too smart.
A great defense...at one point Jeff was going great guns answering a tough one and he hit the wall:
"I forgot what I was saying." pause "and now I'm thinking."
A good meta moment that we all later filled in with our own comments; to wit: "And now I'm *&itting my pants" (Susie) and "And now I'm wondering what a heart attack feels like" (Lori).
Move to the next room one short hour later and Susie is simply introducing us to her research. And it was like that...she was just taking time out of her schedule to let us know what she's done and what's next.
A tough question from Becca about "Social" something...how did it relate to her research, and the perfect answer to the unknown, "well, could you tell me a little more about that theory." And then the right answer: yes, it's all about power.
Of course, Susie did a cultural studies diss, examining the "fear factor." No, really, if you have a better way to describe what affects perfectly reasonable student teachers when they bow to the more conservative practices of their cooperating teachers, she'd like to know it.
So it's regression or accomodation or acquiesence.
My question: what do we do with the fact that we--with our (pre-Patriot Act II) academic freedoms--just expect student teachers to defy the system, to bite (or at least sniff suspiciously) the hand that feeds them. Easy for us to buck the system: the system won't buck (choose your first consonants) us.
Anywho, it's been a good run, and this was a great night.
Thanks to the Drs.
:)
posted by Lori O @ 5:47 PM
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