Teaching has gone wrong this semester. I do not need to wait till the end of this semester to write my usual self-assessment; this semester has been a disaster. Two of my three classes are dead in the water, drifting aimlessly; my students and I are locked in a fatal embrace of disinterest and mutualContinue reading “Teaching Gone Bad: Reflections On A Semester Gone Wrong”
Tag Archives: class syllabi
The Shock Of The New (Entry On A Class Reading List)
Teaching a new entrant on a class reading list is always a fraught business. It is especially so when the entrant is a well-established member of analogous canons and you have come late to the game. You are dimly aware you’ve ‘neglected a classic,’ and thus rendered your education–in several dimensions–incomplete; you are well awareContinue reading “The Shock Of The New (Entry On A Class Reading List)”
On Becoming More ‘Confessional’ In The Classroom
A few weeks ago, in the course of a conversation with a colleague here at Brooklyn College, I remarked that over the years I had become more ‘confessional’ in my classroom interactions with my students. When gently pressed to explain what I meant, I said that I had become more unguarded there, in that space–inContinue reading “On Becoming More ‘Confessional’ In The Classroom”
Stepping Up To The Plate For Another Fall Classic
Around mid-August or so, my normal ‘auto-chattering’–the monologues I have with myself as I walk around the streets of New York City–picked up pace. I began rehearsing dialogues with an imaginary audience, holding forth, declaiming, answering questions, parrying objections–the whole package. The reasons for this are not hard to find. The 2015 fall semester beginsContinue reading “Stepping Up To The Plate For Another Fall Classic”
Getting Philosophy Syllabi Right
Student evaluations can be flattering; they can be unfair; they can be good reminders to get our act together. A few weeks ago, I received my student evaluations for the ‘Twentieth Century Philosophy’ class I taught this past spring semester. As I read them, I came upon one that brought me up short, because itContinue reading “Getting Philosophy Syllabi Right”
Samir Chopra 