Ideas for long comp-lit class?

[Larimar]

Hello fellow Comp and Lit folks,

I'd like to ask for some ideas for in-class activities for a course I will be teaching.

Here's the situation: one of the classes I'm scheduled for in the Fall is a lit-based second-semester comp class. I haven't taught this in 4 years. I just found out this morning that the classroom we will be in is not a computer lab. OnlyGameInTown CC where I teach is on a quarter system with 3 hour class periods. Usually I have comp students work on writing assignments during the second half of class. Since this class is not in a computer lab, this is not feasible. They'd have to do it longhand, then type it up later to turn in. They would loathe this, and I have no intention of inflicting in on them.

I have a couple of films I can show them when we get to the drama unit, but not for unit on fiction short stories. I have checked, but most of the stories we're reading aren't on film, and for the couple that are I may or may not be able to get my hands on the films.

In short, my question is: what literature-related in-class activities have worked for you for long class periods?

Thanks,

Larimar

[mamselle]

Well, this is just me, but there are good sources for colonial and later gravestones, which constitute a formative, significant, and often ignored source of texts worth studying and comparing with other works.

They can be brought up on screen, discussed, and compared with, say, photos of pages printed in that time period, giving a more dimensional view of written (carved) text and its connections to life of the times.

Likewise, there are many easily online digitized sources for both earlier manuscripts (in English, French, Latin, etc.) and civic documents like bills of exchange, property deed transfers, and probated wills.

I can send some direct comparisons (gravestone/probated inventory of an early teacher; pharmaceutical 'receits,'/gravestone/known homesite/handwritten documents by an early college president; gravestone for an ancestor of Nathaniel Hawthorne, and stones for those whose story formed the basis for the House of Seven Gables, etc.) if you like, by PM.

There are similar resources for European studies, whether in English or other languages (in translation) as well.

Just for fun!

M.

[the_geneticist]

Hello fellow Comp and Lit folks,

I'd like to ask for some ideas for in-class activities for a course I will be teaching.

Here's the situation: one of the classes I'm scheduled for in the Fall is a lit-based second-semester comp class. I haven't taught this in 4 years. I just found out this morning that the classroom we will be in is not a computer lab. OnlyGameInTown CC where I teach is on a quarter system with 3 hour class periods. Usually I have comp students work on writing assignments during the second half of class. Since this class is not in a computer lab, this is not feasible. They'd have to do it longhand, then type it up later to turn in. They would loathe this, and I have no intention of inflicting in on them.

I have a couple of films I can show them when we get to the drama unit, but not for unit on fiction short stories. I have checked, but most of the stories we're reading aren't on film, and for the couple that are I may or may not be able to get my hands on the films.

In short, my question is: what literature-related in-class activities have worked for you for long class periods?

Thanks,

Larimar

Could you borrow a cart of laptops?  Can students borrow from anywhere on campus?  I know that thanks to the pandemic more students now have a laptop than before.  If you tell them to bring their own and have some available to borrow that might be one way to make this work.

[fishbrains]

Maybe see if you can take them to the Library (assuming it has computers) or if there is an empty lab somewhere on campus (my CC maintains a room availability chart that is about 68.3% accurate). I've trudged over to an open Math lab or the campus Writing Lab more than once (along with some bribery donuts).

Like the geneticist, I'm wondering if most of the 2nd semester students don't already have laptops of their own, or ones they can borrow (some of my students borrow the Chromebooks their kids are issued by their schools).

[hungry_ghost]

Some suggestions:

Push hard for a room change. Give reasons why. I would definitely not count on students to supply their own devices.

A 3-hour class: is that actually 180 contact minutes? or 150 contact minutes? (at my institution, a contact hour = 50 minutes)

I would divide each 3-hour class into 3 1-hour chunks, with a short 5 minute break between chunk 1 & 2, and maybe a slightly longer 10 minute break between 2 and 3. OR, one 10 minute break halfway through. I would have 3 completely different activities for each 3-hour period. (or 2) For a 150-minute class, I'd do 70min-10min break-70 min.

I would have them read together and annotate, and in small groups, answer discussion questions and report back to the class. Put them in groups of 3-5 students. Assign groups (to relieve them of the social anxiety of having to find a group) and switch groups up every 2-3 meetings.

While you cannot have them work on finalizing writing in class, you can have them do other pencil & paper activities that will improve their writing:

1. Short, low-stakes informal responses (short, half-sheet of paper) warmup question, like "what did you think of [character /plot twist/some aspect of the reading?" OR "Write one question you had about the reading/current unit." (NOT "did you have any questions?", since then they'll say "no") 10 minutes to scribble. Mark for completion, check-plus if it's awesome. This will get them thinking, get them used to writing on the fly and expressing ideas in writing, and will also double as a reading check. You can look at their responses as you pick them up and then you have discussion prompts!

2. Make worksheets for them to work on the "guts" or content of their writing assignment. For example, let's say the assignment is a 5-paragraph thesis essay. Part 1: write several possible thesis statements (and workshop them!) and practice identifying good, strong thesis statements vs bad ones. Part 2: write several "sub arguments" and list evidence from the reading (or whatever allowable sources are) etc.  Making a good worksheet is time-consuming but once it's done you can keep using it. Start with what you want the finished essay to look like and move backwards.

3. Have them bring a completed essay draft to class (tell them "as close to final as you can get it on your own" so they don't bring crappy essays), give them rubrics, and have them do a peer-review workshop. Tell them that the goal is to help each other get their essays really good before you read them. Have every student read and comment on 2 other papers and then have them score their own work. After they have seen other essays, they will be able to read their own work more critically. Tell them to be helpful to each other, not "nice".  A goal: teach them to revise their own work.

Just a few thoughts...

[Larimar]

Thank you, everyone. You've all been helpful.

Yeah, I can't count on the students having their own computers. OnlyGameInTown is a CC where some students are coming from not so great situations. I also don't think I can borrow computers en masse. The college is not flush with money and probably doesn't have them.

Taking the class to the library is a good idea. And I do have some old worksheets I can redo to give them more depth and have them work in groups. I'm also going to do my best to add to my discussion questions and make them more engaging.

Asking for a room change is worth a shot. They put me in a hy-flex equipped classroom, of all places, even though this will be a face to face course. (If I can't get out, I will have to take pains to make it clear that the students CANNOT just Zoom in to class.)

Until classes start, I'm going to be working as hard as I can on this and trying not to freak out. There's a new textbook I'm required to use that is even more ghastly than the last one. "The Model's Assistant?" Really? And if I'm going to teach Poe, there's no way I'm replacing "The Cask of Amontillado" with "The Black Cat"! *Sigh.* I just have to keep going, and hoping that it all won't be for naught anyway because when I checked this morning, only 5 students are enrolled, which means the class is at risk of being cancelled sometime in the next couple of weeks. And I still have stuff to do for my other upcoming class, assuming I don't lose that one too to a full-timer.

I definitely don't get paid enough for this.


Larimar

[AvidReader]

I've taught lots of extra-long comp/lit classes in rooms without computers.

I always ask how many people do have access to laptops. In many schools, more than 50% of students will bring their own. My community college library used to have ones that students could check out for a few hours. My rural Southern pays-less-than-dirt uni had an office where students could borrow laptops for a week at a time. Teaching students to look for these can be useful for other classes too.

Pre-COVID, I had mine do a lot of handwriting, whether they had laptops or not:  Write a claim about the reading -> Swap with a neighbor, and add one piece of evidence to your neighbor's claim -> Swap with someone else and think of a counter-argument OR a second piece of evidence -> Gather in a group and talk about how you would approach each topic in an essay. Or I would pose a discussion question, then have them write a claim and list evidence on a sheet of paper. I used to walk around and look over their shoulders; if you don't want to get that close, you could have them email you. Or assign a short activity for them to handwrite or print out and bring to class for discussion / peer review.

If you have a few days that really need labs, ask about reserving one, or take them to the library, or see if a colleague will swap with you, or ask them specially to do everything they can to bring a laptop on those specific days. If I can schedule 3 or 4 computer lab days in a comp class, I actually really prefer to teach in a traditional classroom, which I find much better for discussion and interaction.

AR.

[Larimar]

More good ideas! Thanks, AvidReader.