do no harm:


idit dobb-weinstein: "teaching is action and thinking at once. What I try to guard against most when I teach is not speaking as if my answer were conclusive, so as to avoid (to the extent possible) any kind of dogmatic appropriation. It is understandable why students might wish to imitate their teachers, but there are different modes of imitation. I try very hard to avoid the mimetic appropriation that is immediate, passive, and occludes thinking. One other reason is that if I made clear what my views were, and my views appeared as if they were final, it would preclude the possibility of first, students challenging me and second, learning from my students. The relation between the student and teacher is, to me, a dynamic relationship . . . Teaching and learning is a movement that occurs between. In other words, we are at once both agent and patient, both teacher and learner. If we are not very careful, we can do a great deal of harm. And that, too, I have learned from my teachers, Maimonides especially.

I believe my task is to provoke students to think and to engage them in genuine dialogue and questioning. To paraphrase a rabbinic saying, 'I have learned from my teachers, and I have learned from my peers, but I have learned most from my students.' And that is a continuous process of learning."

Friday, 3 September 2010

fie foul fiend

in many situations, a mere  gesture can get you kiled . . . a mere look . . . so it is only natural that evolving languages would be full of land-mines.

i am going to study hate speech for my next project.

why words like jew, nword and b------ are hate words.  and why they hurt.  and what is achieved in the utterance.  like keening or the ancient imprecation against darkness, the primitive chanting before black metal.  why do we let imprecations fly?

for my old drama coach bart whiteman

for showing us beckett
one flew over the cukoo's nest
equus
and so much shakespeare

and for dead poet's society
bc
the last thing you need is your favorite teacher cursing
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