Head to Head

         Behind the Scenes        Head to Head        Postmodern Riff         

In Fragments of Rationality, Faigley writes, “[the] teacher’s role as guarantor of authority—providing the “metanarrative” that gives coherence—is disrupted when a class makes extensive use of electronic written discussion” (185). I think this is at work in John's class as they react to the disruption, not necessarily personally to their teacher.

As we build our own narratives that help us to understand what is going on around us we often look for a central feature which we can start from. I’m interested in what a cubist perspective might entail…where “central” themes diverge and meld with other perspectives. Those perspectives might entail asking other kinds of questions than those we are most likely to ask. I might begin by identifying the stakeholders and the narratives I wish to employ and then seeking other narratives that I might otherwise ignore.

Certainly students within a classroom are stakeholders. Perhaps grade grubbing students who want assurances that they will get what they want are seeking a narrative that should - from a teacher perspective - be disrupted. I can spin the story this way, but I am not always comfortable doing so.