The newsletter of the Student Association of Graduates in English (SAGE)
at the University of Kansas

SAGE Advice

Spring 2004

Inside this issue:

Hooked on Reagan: Just Say No
to Over-Enrolling
By Emily Wicktor

While the title above risks raising the early-80s drug culture mantra, I find Nancy Reagan’s oft-touted catch-phrase, “Just Say No,” translates beyond anti-drug rhetoric into academia. In bell hooks’ Teaching to Transgress: Education and the Practice of Freedom, she explains:

If classes become so full that it is impossible to know students’ names, to spend
quality time with each of them, then the effort to build a learning community fails.
(204)

I never thought I’d directly link Nancy Reagan and bell hooks, but their paired ideologies work well: Just say no to over-enrolling classes. Call them a wacky-cop-team-oddball-buddy-match-up that’s “so crazy it just might work.” According to Reagan and hooks, it’s in everyone’s best interest to say no, and I agree. Call me a cruel GTA, unwilling to listen to student requests for closed-class openers or drop/add cards, but here are a few reasons why I dare to say no to over-enrolling my classes.

1. Pleas from students who claim this is the last class they need to graduate are met with my own rationalization that I, too, am a student trying to graduate, and
managing 60 students is plenty while I maneuver my own academic route to
graduation. Plus, I’ve a responsibility to the 60 degree-seeking students already enrolled; adding further students lessens individual time with students (see hooks above).

My answer: No.

2. Students who explain that they’re currently enrolled in another course but don’t like the genre, time, teacher, etc., and want to switch to a different section, don’t realize that they’re affecting their own situation by being one of the people who fill a class to capacity (making all unable to enroll in a full section online) while they “shop for” a new section. Call me jaded, but I don’t like “auditioning” for section- shoppers (even if they offer me suspect flattery and praise).

My answer: No.

3. The very real possibility that any student added to a full course may prove to be a
“difficult” case of constant problems—involving technology or family or personal issues or work—keeps me from adding to those already lurking on the roster. Again, see hooks above.

My answer: No.

4. When teaching 60 students, regardless of the human and personal relationships established, numbers this large inevitably translate into the number of papers or exams, divided and subdivided ad nauseam, required to grade each day in order to
stay sane and healthy while getting all the work done in a reasonable time frame.
Each student over the university-approved class-cap adds to an already demanding GTA workload.

My answer: No.

5. Class projects, conferences, and in-class presentations must be completed within a finite amount of time. Accommodating extra students will take away from class time originally designed, and needed, for meeting class goals.

My answer: No.

Clearly, the scenarios I’ve detailed above are subjective, and folks may disagree with my “Just Say No” route to building strong, effective learning communities. Nevertheless, I’m addicted to creating positive classrooms by replying to requests for over-enrollment with a negative.


Upcoming Classes
By Shelley Manis

Iris Fischer is offering a performance studies seminar this coming fall, and it promises to be fascinating and engaging. I’m currently enrolled in her Performing American Culture course, and it’s constantly surprising. Iris encourages open exchange and independent thinking that is grounded in an awareness and understanding of theoretical background. She’s a terrific teacher, it’s a mind-stretching subject, and I HIGHLY recommend anyone remotely interested in performance studies (whether from a theatrical, literature, feminist, American studies standpoint) to consider enrolling in this seminar. You won’t be disappointed. Here’s what she has to say about it: "This seminar would build on my current English 767/AmSt 808, Performing American Culture, so while there would be some repetition of materials, the discussions would be framed differently. The seminar would presumably satisfy the methodology course requirement in American Studies, and possibly other departments."

Enhancing the English Literature Classroom through IDS Technology
By Geneva Diamond

Editor's Note:  I often show clips in my classes, but am always frustrated by having to switch tapes, fast-forward, etc., in an effort to find the exact clips that I want my students to see.  Recently, Geneva shared with me her experience with IDS in creating a playable DVD that she could use both in the classroom and in conference presentations.  Here's what she had to say about the process:

John Rinnert is the Media Producer for IDS (Instructional Development & Support) over in Burge. To create a playable DVD recording from a single or several sources, students need to make an appointment with him. He will set up the equipment at IDS for the appointment (capturing clips from VHS or DVD may require different equipment, so telling him exactly what you want to do will make your appointment run more smoothly). At your appointment, John will train you on the computer equipment and program, and work with you to create the project you desire. At subsequent appointments, you can work alone at the computer or with John, although he is "around" for questions if you run into a problem while working alone.

IDS uses a Mac with a movie program that captures and edits material from VHS and DVD sources. (Hint: having your VHS cued up to the scene you want will save time.) You can then construct the "movie," montage, or clips that you want, and even include special effects like "fade in" or "black" between clips. (Plus a lot more special effects that are just nutty!) Once you've finished your movie project, the

computer program burns that project to DVD. Important note here: take in your blank, recordable DVD with you to the appointment, and be sure to buy DVD-R. DVD+R will not work in the IDS computer, and, apparently, may not play in DVD players. IDS will save your project to folder, if you want, so you can check the finished DVD in a player somewhere. If need be, you can return for another appointment to make repairs or revisions to the project. IDS will delete your saved project either when you tell them that you are done, or at an agreed upon later date (say 2 weeks after the appointment) so you have time to check the project.

I am hopelessly technologically illiterate--I can't even program my own cell phone!--but the program was easy enough that even I could work with it after the first appointment. It's basically a point, click, and drag program to edit clips together, and capturing the inital image is also intuitive. The personnel at IDS are great to work with, and John Rinnert in particular was extremely helpful and patient.

Graduate Student Profile: Greg Brister
By Mindi McMann

Recently, I got Greg Brister to sit down and reveal all of his dark secrets to me. Or at least he answered the following questions.

MM:  What is your favorite porn?

GB:  "Leda and the Swan," or anything without Ron Jeremy.

MM:  What are your guilty pleasures?

GB:  MTV2, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, TV conversations, self-flagellation, etc.

MM:  What is one thing you hope your students take from your class?

GB:  Really, I'd like my students to realize that English isn't irrelevant or just about reading "great books"--that strategies of critical reading are needed to "defend against the seductions of eloquence" they encounter on a daily basis.

MM:  What is your favorite text to teach?

GB:  Picture of Dorian Gray, "Hills Like White Elephants" and advertisements.

MM:  What is your most embarrassing teaching moment?

GB:  On the first day of classes during my second semester at KU, I taught an early class and the room was locked. I guided the class into an empty (open) room and started going through the syllabus. Of course, it wasn't long before the class scheduled for the room began filing in. I had to move my class out again. I finally found an empty room, but by then, I felt like I had pretty much lost any sense of authority or credibility I had as a teacher. In retrospect, it wasn't that big of a deal; then, however, I thought it was a nightmare.

MM:  Is there one book that changed your life, for better or worse?

GB:  As I Lay Dying and The Last Temptation of Christ (for the better). I don't think I have read any book that wasn't helpful to me in some way.

MM:  Who is your hero?

GB:  John Garfield. The Hollywood Ten. Oh, and Oscar Wilde.

MM:  If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

GB:  I have a superpower. It is an amazing resistance to learning foreign languages. Different verb cognates bounce off of me like bullets on Wonder Woman's bracelets. I would also like to be able to, when I wish, exist outside of ideology.

MM:  If you had a theme song that played every time you entered a room, what would it be?

GB:  Theme: "Brass Monkey" by the Beastie Boys. Obviously.

MM:  What is your favorite word?

GB:  Hymn, Liquefaction, Moxy, Pixilated, Curmudgeon. Shazam.

MM:  What is your least favorite word?

GB:  Whatnot, Assuage, Ameliorate.

Note: You may recognize some of the following questions from the final segment of Inside the Actor's Studio. It's hard coming up with insightful questions.

MM:  What turns you one?

GB:  Wilderness camping, smart women, film noir, Barbarella, used book stores, post structuralism, Starsky.

MM:  What turns you off?

GB:  Wescoe, Sundays, cell phones, musicals, grading papers, wet socks, chartist poetry, Internet research, postmodernism, Hutch.

MM:  What sounds do you love?

GB:  Strings in rock music, Hopkins' poems, bottles being opened, the coffee maker beeping.

MM:  What sounds do you hate?

GB:  Cell phones, "You've Got Mail!," Any songs sung by children, house music.

MM:  What profession other than yours, would you like to attempt?

GB:  I'm still attempting mine!

MM:  What profession would you not like to participate in?

GB:  Any kind of business, sales, marketing, advertising, marketing of advertising, you get the idea.

MM:  If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?

GB:  Camping! (In the BWCAW)

MM:  What is your favorite John Hughes's film?

GB:  Instead of John Hughes, I'd say Heathers: the Smiths-listening fan's alternative to 80's films. Or Ferris, of course. Does anyone say Fresh Horses?

Welcome to Geraldo de Sousa!
By Becky Miller
You may have recently noticed a new, yet vaguely familiar, face in the department. A native of Brazil, Geraldo Sousa first appeared on the KU campus in 1977 as a graduate student in the Master's program. Here on a Fulbright, Sousa remembers his first semester as an especially tough one, with classes led by Bergeron, Hirsch, and Butler. After stints as SAGE Vice President and co-editor of Penumbra, a now-defunct graduate student scholarly journal here at KU, he completed his PhD. He has fond memories of his early years here, particularly of the camaraderie and support that existed within the English graduate student community.

After two short teaching assignments at Iowa State and KU in the 1980s, Sousa accepted his first tenure-track academic appointment in 1989 at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he rose to the rank of full professor. At Xavier, he honed both his teaching and professional skills. When asked about his major academic interests, he replied, "Shakespeare, Shakespeare, and Shakespeare!"

One of Sousa's current projects is a book-length endeavor

 entitled Habitual Pleasure: Shakespeare and the Art of Living, a study of habit and tragic experience--how they are intertwined and how they inform each other.

While Shakespeare study does take up most of his time, Sousa's academic interests are varied, including Chaucer, Spenser, Milton, drama from all periods, and "19th-century travel anything!" An avid collector of books on travel to Brazil in the 19th century, Sousa is currently teaching an honors proseminar entitled "Journeys of Discovery," a look at the experiences associated with journeys and the concepts of "place," dwelling, and identity. His advice to harried graduate students trying to juggle both study and teaching
is simple: try to incorporate something from your fields of study into the classes that you teach.  The enthusiasm that results is often infectious.

Please stop by and welcome our newest faculty member, Geraldo de Sousa, back to KU!

Alternative Teaching Methods: Sink or Swim
By Ann Volin
Joe Sommers began teaching high school English shortly after graduating from college for a school with an pressing vacancy. Besides his self –termed “inadequate preparation to teach high school English,” the students in his particular classes were categorized at-risk. They were seen as being unruly, reprehensible, and unteachable.

Joe initially didn't know what approach would help the students achieve any type of success. The teaching frame that he chose was "how can I teach them?" not "they can't be taught." He decided literary materials tied to the students' generational interests, such as music lyrics and rap poetry, offered an effective way to reach them. Instead of studying tragedies, a subject too often associated with their lives, they studied comedies.

In addition to using materials tied to the current culture, he found that removing external teacher/student barriers created a closer bond. Joe said, “I didn't ask them to call me "Mr. Sommers," a label that could create distance between us. I had them refer to me as "Sommers," thus breaking down the "Mr./Mrs." Hierarchy.”

Because he was close in age to the students--at 21 years old--and shared their music and other cultural interests, Joe was granted status as a "comrade." The concerns that they faced were similar to those he had recently gone through, and that transfer created a useful repartee. They would approach him if they saw him as someone they wanted to talk to, for they believed that he could identify with their problems.

Joe’s “sink or swim” experience worked as the students achieved more than they had initially been thought capable of. He has adapted the teaching criteria that he developed

 working with those students to his university-level, mainstream students.

Joe’s Pedagogical Points:
  1. De-mystifying to create individual identification. The emphasis here is on the teacher: What are my strengths? How do I place myself? I want the students to see the teacher as someone that they can talk to, an individual with strengths and weaknesses and not an icon.
  2. Context-based course material. As with the at-risk students, current literary materials can be adapted to fit the class needs.
  3. Start low, end high. With this approach, I need to take students where they are at, but push very hard and fast in order to reach a high-end result.
  4. I'm human, I'm going to make mistakes. As I expect to be less than perfect, so too my students will be given that grace. We learn from our mistakes, and constructive learning opportunities beat a punitive stance.
  5. Technical language is a crutch. Although there is a need for terminology, paraphrasing is how we create knowledge. I don’t apologize for speaking at their level, which can be a more enjoyable way to communicate.
  6. Lecture by proxy. Let the students talk more. It may not be where my pre-set plan was going, but the students will have journeyed further along the educational path than when they started the day.
  7. Think how I would have liked to be taught at their age. That needs to be tempered with my knowledge, the teaching setting, and the responsibilities that the university requires of me.

Upcoming SAGE Events

The SAGE Creative Reading has been scheduled for Saturday, April 3, at 8 pm. Any interested readers should contact either Mindi (mindi@ku.edu) or Beth (blagaron@juno.com) as soon as possible.

Elections for 2004-2005 SAGE Offices will be held later this spring.  If you are interested in a position, please refer to the office descriptions as outlined in the SAGE Constition.