ASC 1 The Ins And Outs Of The Closet

Rani Saleh
ASC 1190
Pamela Antos
23 January 2015
Critical Reading Assignment #1

1. Do you think instructors and students need to know anything about each other's personal lives? Does it depend on what subject the instructor is teaching? Why or why not? I believe that the sharing of personal lives between instructors and students can be a great tool to better connect with the students. If the students know the teacher on a more personal level, they may view their teacher as someone they would look up to, be more motivated to learn, and more likely to pay attention. I also believe that it can be useful for the teachers because they can try to personalize ways methods of teaching per student so that they can better relate to the material and have a better understanding of what is being taught. There may be some limitations for how effective getting personal can be for every subject, but I believe that it is still a good thing to do because it provides a more comfortable environment for the class.

2. What did you think of the instructor sharing a room with a student on the field trip?
The thought of sharing a room with your instructor makes me uncomfortable with the situation, so I don’t think that it would be appropriate for an instructor to share a room with his or her students. I understand that there were reasons for it and that it turned out to be okay with the student, but most of the time it would be an uncomfortable situation.

3. Do you agree with the statement that "the vast majority of young people could not care less about the sexual orientation of their professors"? Explain. Yes, I do agree with this statement because it is a subject that shouldn’t matter. The students are there to get an education, not know about their professors sexual orientation. The sexual orientation of your professors doesn’t determine their ability to teach a class. I believe the personal connection would be a nice way to establish a friendly setting in the classroom, but there are boundaries to where it gets too personal and it becomes useless information.

4. Should the classroom environment go beyond "grading rubrics, research competency, and integrative technology" as the author says? Or should it be an impersonal learning environment, in which instructors and students discuss only the course material? The classroom is there for learning, I believe it would be nice to make it a comfortable setting to reduce levels of stress in the students. Outside of the classroom, it really depends on the students and especially the teacher if they really want to involve themselves into their students’ personal lives.

5. Based on this essay, would you describe Ian Houlihan as a critical thinker? Consider whether you see him considering alternative viewpoints or questioning his own assumptions in the essay. I would describe Ian Houlihan as a man of progress. At the start of the essay he was a very close minded teacher that would question a lot of things. As he got to know his students he realized that his sexuallity shouldn’t have an effect on his students and it shouldn’t matter. He became more open to the fact that he was gay. Ian Houlihan would be described as a dynamic character who evolves from what isn’t a critical thinker to what is a critical thinker.

6. When it comes to working with others (teachers or peers), what kinds of difference do you personally find most challenging? Feel free to draw upon your personal experiences throughout your education.
When working with your peers it is definitely more comfortable working with someone you get along with because you are more likely to agree on things. Working with peers that you don’t get along with can be troublesome but manageable. When you work with a teacher, sure you get individual help, but you also feel pressured and judged. But when someone is working with their peers I feel as though they are more laid back and easy going and more free to speak out and talk about problems and questions they might have.