Anxiety, silence, hustle, and gamesmanship--so much goes on in college classes so it is stunning when there is also joy. At the end of every General Education humanities course, my classes take a group final where I offer a question and they discuss it without me and a student's name is chosen from a hat to answer for the class. It is always a compelling experience. It breaks down the I-just-care-about-my-grade college experience. Last year I asked, "How is it that we created so much joy in this class together?"
I am interested in joy through the struggle of being a student, but I want to share students' experiences in making a creative education for themselves, those who make creative responses to school activities even as they have jobs and full lives outside of college. I hope to share their stories here.
One way students make
their own meaning is through connections to their “outside” of school discourse
communities (as Gerald Graff might say in "Hidden Intellectualism.") For example, Sidney is in
my Humanities 101 class on ancient cultures.
She works at Herbs Etc. in Mt. Pleasant.
Here is a bit of her response to our class (used with her permission) in week two where she tells
us about her job and Egyptian oils on the online forum:
I wanted to bring this to light
because there are some very specific blends that have been named after several
Gods and Goddesses. One of which is the essential oil blend Tjet. I know what you’re
thinking. What on Earth does this have to do with this week's topic? Let me
explain. In Ancient Egypt there is a Goddess known by the name of Isis (not
that Isis)…
Oh struggling but joyful students out there, how do you connect your job or hobbies to your college learning?
