Is it the Martians or the Venusians? Its of course the Venusians. But that is not the point!!!
By letting the Martians figure out what Venusians are trying to say, Martians are actually trained to be more sensitive to people's unspoken feelings and intentions, regardless of whether they are men or women.
In all, I feel the Martians should stop complaining and learn how to listen to people's thoughts.
But what you guys think?
Friday, January 28, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Response to Tannen's Teaching Strategies
Deborah Tannen basically tells us that males are generally more spontaneous and aggressive than females in terms of classroom participation, oppressing the females as a result. She suggested organizing small group discussions so as to allow those less outspoken to learn voicing out their opinions in front of people.
Tannen did a great job in explaining how gender differences lead to education difficulties. But I personally am not satisfied with the solutions she provided. So the following discussion would be focused on solution feasibility analysis.
Tannen suggested breaking the class up into small groups for discussion. Nothing new. What is new is that she arranged the group based on the student’s gender and other characteristics. And yes, she did identify certain group arrangement which elicited more discussions from the students. But I felt it to be pointless.
Education is supposed to prepare students for the real world out there. Very often, we have to work with people who don’t match our style. The point is to learn how to work with almost anyone. And this can only be done the hard way. Of course, we do not just leave the less outspoken ones to survive on their own in the group. One way is to encourage them to speak out and suppress the dominant group speaker/s. Nevertheless, her findings in group arrangement might be a breakthrough in knowledge on group social dynamics for leaders who want to put together effective teams of people.
Throughout Tannen’s article, it is so focused on how to encourage classroom participation that it was not mentioned that keeping quiet is also important. Because keeping quiet is the very first step to listening. In fact, by listening, a student is inter-comparing and analyzing the information he acquire. The bottom-line is that he is thinking with the information given to him before he can make an intelligent comment. However, this may run the risk of the students always trying to look for something better to say. To prevent this, if I am a teacher, I would ask specific quieter students for their opinions.
Tannen did a great job in explaining how gender differences lead to education difficulties. But I personally am not satisfied with the solutions she provided. So the following discussion would be focused on solution feasibility analysis.
Tannen suggested breaking the class up into small groups for discussion. Nothing new. What is new is that she arranged the group based on the student’s gender and other characteristics. And yes, she did identify certain group arrangement which elicited more discussions from the students. But I felt it to be pointless.
Education is supposed to prepare students for the real world out there. Very often, we have to work with people who don’t match our style. The point is to learn how to work with almost anyone. And this can only be done the hard way. Of course, we do not just leave the less outspoken ones to survive on their own in the group. One way is to encourage them to speak out and suppress the dominant group speaker/s. Nevertheless, her findings in group arrangement might be a breakthrough in knowledge on group social dynamics for leaders who want to put together effective teams of people.
Throughout Tannen’s article, it is so focused on how to encourage classroom participation that it was not mentioned that keeping quiet is also important. Because keeping quiet is the very first step to listening. In fact, by listening, a student is inter-comparing and analyzing the information he acquire. The bottom-line is that he is thinking with the information given to him before he can make an intelligent comment. However, this may run the risk of the students always trying to look for something better to say. To prevent this, if I am a teacher, I would ask specific quieter students for their opinions.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
"Can't We Talk?" (condensed from: You Just Don't Understand)
Status vs. Support.
Independence vs. Intimacy.
Advice vs. Understanding.
Information vs. Feelings.
Orders vs. Proposals.
Conflict vs. Compromise.
http://raysweb.net/poems/articles/tannen.html
This article is chosen because everybody would be able to give a response to it at a deeper level of understanding. May this blog be the response hub for the 1st article for WP2201C.
Understand man like you would understand a doctor. Like a doctor, a man's reputation(status)is very important to a him. A doctor is constantly gathering intelligence(information) on the latest technologies and patients' medical updates. A doctor bears the highest responsibility(independence) on the patient's health. A doctor is always ready to give solutions (advice) to his patients' problems. Some doctors dares to challenge(get into conflicts) the current practices and measures and that's how they learn and improve quickly. Lastly, no one 'orders' a doctor around because he is in-charge.
On the other hand, understand woman like you would understand a teacher. Most teachers like to garner 'support' from her student. In the process, she has to be sensitive to her students' 'feelings' and her students' opinions are important (intimacy). A caring teacher is always ready to give her students a listening ear (understanding). They are focused on resolving conflicts rather than creating them as harmony within students is important to them and there can never be harmony without 'compromisation'. Lastly, a teacher is always glad to hear her students' suggestions (proposal).
So...doctor vs teacher...what u guys think? :)
Independence vs. Intimacy.
Advice vs. Understanding.
Information vs. Feelings.
Orders vs. Proposals.
Conflict vs. Compromise.
http://raysweb.net/poems/articles/tannen.html
This article is chosen because everybody would be able to give a response to it at a deeper level of understanding. May this blog be the response hub for the 1st article for WP2201C.
Understand man like you would understand a doctor. Like a doctor, a man's reputation(status)is very important to a him. A doctor is constantly gathering intelligence(information) on the latest technologies and patients' medical updates. A doctor bears the highest responsibility(independence) on the patient's health. A doctor is always ready to give solutions (advice) to his patients' problems. Some doctors dares to challenge(get into conflicts) the current practices and measures and that's how they learn and improve quickly. Lastly, no one 'orders' a doctor around because he is in-charge.
On the other hand, understand woman like you would understand a teacher. Most teachers like to garner 'support' from her student. In the process, she has to be sensitive to her students' 'feelings' and her students' opinions are important (intimacy). A caring teacher is always ready to give her students a listening ear (understanding). They are focused on resolving conflicts rather than creating them as harmony within students is important to them and there can never be harmony without 'compromisation'. Lastly, a teacher is always glad to hear her students' suggestions (proposal).
So...doctor vs teacher...what u guys think? :)
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