Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Day 1 Reflection

For Monday I passed out the syllabus and ran through that. There were a few questions, but none that led me to believe that the syllabus was confusing.
I talked a bit about me, but kept it brief.
We talked about what people think of when they think of Native Americans and Native women. The responses were what I expected, for the most part, as many people think of the generic things like teepees, buffaloes, feathered headdresses, Pocahontas, high cheekbones, body art, long black hair, deerskins, babies, etcetera. However, I was quite taken with a couple of responses, particularly a couple of responses: they think of land, murder and tribal symbols.
Then, I talked about feminism. I had them do a freewrite about feminism and what their reactions/thought about it were. Then, using the Oxford English Dictionary, I gave them a definition and then broke it down a bit. Afterwards, we talked about "famous" feminists, many of whom the students seemed to recognize.
So far, participation seems great, students are willing to contribute.