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Happy Black History Month Everybody!

Started by Valmy, February 01, 2016, 12:10:00 PM

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Oexmelin

Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 08, 2016, 11:13:23 PM

I say separate them, and roll the Haitian Revolution in with the other great Maroon insurrection and independence movements of Jamaica and Surinam, and even the Seminole Wars, their influence on Vesey, Turner, Prosser and John Brown, etc. 

Slave revolts?  Unconventional warfare?  Men of color achieving autonomy, if not outright independence, through force of arms?  That's a semester's worth of scaring the living shit out of creepy ass crackers right there.

It is not a bad idea, though would have to discuss with the colleague teaching Jamaican history. And though I understand, of course, the pedagogical value of the American comparison (and the  influence of the HR cannot be overstated) some part of me wants to tell students that not every global event in history has to be about the bloody USA.
Que le grand cric me croque !

LaCroix

if you call it "atlantic history," you can maybe trick people into thinking it's mostly about USA

Eddie Teach

People who feel like they've been "tricked" into taking a class aren't likely to get much out of it.
To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

LaCroix

doesn't matter. professor has high enrollment numbers = win for department; chair is pleased -> professor is happy

Admiral Yi

He'll have to do some fast talking until add/drop is over.

LaCroix

take home final or promises to provide students the exam questions pre-test ("I'll just pick 10 of the 50 questions")

the latter was some of the only times I ever read the assigned readings back in college. such a brilliant teaching method

garbon

Quote from: LaCroix on February 09, 2016, 03:29:34 AM
take home final or promises to provide students the exam questions pre-test ("I'll just pick 10 of the 50 questions")

the latter was some of the only times I ever read the assigned readings back in college. such a brilliant teaching method

No, the latter is not a brilliant method at all. I had a class like that where it just meant before the final that we had different members of the class meet to come up with the answer to the essay questions and then we all meant to talk through them all. So one week of 'learning' that I immediately let out of my head after the exam.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

grumbler

Quote from: garbon on February 09, 2016, 03:43:29 AM
No, the latter is not a brilliant method at all. I had a class like that where it just meant before the final that we had different members of the class meet to come up with the answer to the essay questions and then we all meant to talk through them all. So one week of 'learning' that I immediately let out of my head after the exam.

If a student is determined to forget everything he or she learns in a class after the exam, no exam can change that.

I always provide the possible essay prompts before the exam, and even let the students bring notes.  If they can answer all of the essay questions before the exam starts, the exam has already served its purpose, and the students have gotten everything they can get from the course.  Nothing can stop willful ignorance.
The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.   -G'Kar

Bayraktar!

garbon

Quote from: grumbler on February 09, 2016, 07:38:13 AM
Nothing can stop willful ignorance.

Which is why I don't think it really conveys the benefit that LaCroix mentioned 'the latter was some of the only times I ever read the assigned readings back in college. such a brilliant teaching method.' That's really just how he reacted to that method but intrinsically I can't see why it would make you more likely to read the assigned readings.

Note, I should be clear that I don't have anything in particular against the method (though I suppose I do question what benefit filling out the essay at the test itself would have if I've already filled out all the essays in advanced by myself) but it is the supposed brilliance of it that I take issue with.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Lettow77

 It wouldn't be February without a solemn look back at a man who fought against European hegemony when the world was young and the sins of the colonizers were yet undone. He struggled for the brotherhood of man, and saw his brother's head pitched before him. He saw with great vision the course of the oppressive imperialists, and it cost him an eye.

It may be that no man before or since has brought such fear to the hearts of white oppressors. No eulogy could be enough for this proud African warrior, but his memory lives on.
It can't be helped...We'll have to use 'that'

grumbler

Quote from: Lettow77 on February 09, 2016, 08:25:55 AM
It wouldn't be February without a solemn look back at a man who fought against European hegemony when the world was young and the sins of the colonizers were yet undone. He struggled for the brotherhood of man, and saw his brother's head pitched before him. He saw with great vision the course of the oppressive imperialists, and it cost him an eye.

It may be that no man before or since has brought such fear to the hearts of white oppressors. No eulogy could be enough for this proud African warrior, but his memory lives on.


Nat Turner never wore a hat like that!
The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.   -G'Kar

Bayraktar!

Octavian

Quote from: Jaron on February 08, 2016, 03:39:16 AM
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on February 08, 2016, 01:44:07 AM
Those who can't legally operate guillotines, teach courses on the French Revolution.

Au Revoir, Felicia

Straight out of Utah... On a friday
If you let someone handcuff you, and put a rope around your neck, don't act all surprised if they hang you!

- Eyal Yanilov.

Forget about winning and losing; forget about pride and pain. Let your opponent graze your skin and you smash into his flesh; let him smash into your flesh and you fracture his bones; let him fracture your bones and you take his life. Do not be concerned with escaping safely - lay your life before him.

- Bruce Lee

viper37

Quote from: Oexmelin on February 09, 2016, 01:51:09 AM
some part of me wants to tell students that not every global event in history has to be about the bloody USA.
You should have tought of that before signing on to teach in an American College :P
I don't do meditation.  I drink alcohol to relax, like normal people.

If Microsoft Excel decided to stop working overnight, the world would practically end.

viper37

Quote from: Oexmelin on February 08, 2016, 05:51:50 PM
Quote from: Barrister on February 08, 2016, 05:38:23 PM
Except I think that's wonderful advice for people of any colour in dealing with misbehaving authority figures.  Don't argue with the man holding a gun.  There are ways to seek your redress later on.

Except that arguing with an officer - which is something I would suggest can happen, out of the sheer sense of injustice, when you know you are innocent of any wrongdoing -  when you are white can send you to jail. Arguing with an officer when you are black can send you to the morgue.
do we have stats on that?  'Cause I think lots of white people end up dead in that same situation too, in the US.
Maybe white people are less likely to protest arrest because they feel it's racism, though.
I don't do meditation.  I drink alcohol to relax, like normal people.

If Microsoft Excel decided to stop working overnight, the world would practically end.

Valmy

Quote from: viper37 on February 09, 2016, 10:48:25 AM
Maybe white people are less likely to protest arrest because they feel it's racism, though.

It is complicated. But we do do crazy shit like create anti-government militias.
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."