When Activities Don't Go As Planned

I thought the Durst chapter 5 was so interesting because it showed real-life examples from the classroom and brought to light some of the things we will struggle with. I found the group role-playing activity on sex education the most interesting. What Sherry is trying to do is (especially because she is not the traditional type of teacher) is help her students move beyond “safe” topics. Where she is trying to move past the politically correct, public school approved topics her students are fighting her. They are clinging to what they have learned for the past twelve years and so discussing sex education for them is more of a light-hearted funny topic. They do not see the serious discussions and implications behind the topic. Durst discusses this lack of maturity in the chapter. Where many instructors just have students write about controversial topics Sherry took it a step farther, with less than encouraging results. I think in Sherry’s defense this was an even better way to approach controversial topics because it makes the students speak out loud and assigns them rules instead of making them show their true feelings. If each character is researched well enough the conflicts on the topic will still be present, but those who are not comfortable expressing their true opinions on the topic do not have to do so. I think it all comes back to the idea of what the student thinks the teacher wants to hear. On controversial topics students, as Durst says, hold back their ideas and thoughts on a topic. If students, however, is not too familiar with the instructor they most likely are subduing their opinions because they don’t, at the very least offend the instructor, and, in their worst-case scenario receive a bad grade because of their opinions.

I’m glad Durst did relay the story of the disastrous group role-play because it shows that Sherry is at least trying new and different approaches with her students. It also shows that while this experience may have been less than adequate, it is still a learning experience for Sherry and the students. The students even responded as to why they didn’t think the activity went as planned. The best thing was Sherry did not miss a beat and tried a new activity the next week. Not every project, paper idea, or activity is going to be a success, but, as Durst shows, it is not necessarily the fault of the teacher or the students, and there will always be a new project or paper the next day.