Week of December 7, 2010

Where has this Semester gone? I can't believe I'm about to lose you all--one of the most interesting and inspiring groups I've had to teach over the past 39 years. I can usually tell how a class is going by when I start to count down to the end...the earlier I start, the more eager I am to move on. This time, I've deliberatey avoided thinking about endings as long as I could. You've been great fun, 99% of the time. I think you for that.

This last week and a helf we're going to try working just a little differently. Respect has always been at the background of our thinking--respect shown to people across class lines, people who deserve respect but seldom get it, people who have their greatest trouble with a lack of self respect. Now we look at aspects of respect differently, by facing it more directly through the work of the six persons I've called Exemplars--the subject of Sarah Lawrence-Lightfoot's book of that name. As we do this, I'd like everyone to begin by listening to Bill Moyers' interview with Professor Lawrence-Lightfoot before next Tiuesday's class.

We'll then proceed with class discussion led by the groups, two per class session, in the sequence the characters are introduced in the book. Normally I post "prompts"--study ideas for the class to consider as they read the material. This time around you'll notice these are missing, initially. I'm asking the groups to invent their own "prompts" or ideas for thought and discussion. I'm going to act as secretary in this process, and post them here as soon as I get them.. I want these last three classes to be yours as much as possible. I'll be here to cheerlead and pitch in as necessary.

II. Healing Johnye Ballenger

Lighfoot 57 - 89

Johnye Ballenger is in action, a woman on the move. Even when she is still, her face is in motion; grinning, frowning, scowling, exclaiming. Her talk is punctuated by laughter and shrieks as she pokes fun at herself and at the humor and absurdity in the world she inhabits. Her high energy is infectious, fueling the drama that she creates around her. It is through her acts, her gestures, and her energy that Dr. Johnye Ballenger, a pediatrician, communicates respect for her young patients and their families.

III. Dialogue Kay Cottle

Lightfoot 93 - 116

Kay Cottle, a teacher of middle and high school students sees the mutual trust that is so crucial to teaching and learning. Her students begin to learn how to question, listen, and receive, when they feel safe enough to begin to take risks and to make themselves vulnerable to one another, when their ideas are offered as “dreams,” not to be possessed by anyone, but as a way to explore and connect

IV, Curiosity Dawoud Bey

If most of us think of photographers with a camera held up in front of their faces, using their equipment as a mask or barrier, hiding out while they expose others, then Dawoud Bey stands in defiant contrast