James Thrall: Class discussion with a purpose
James Thrall, a doctoral student in the Graduate Program in Religion, won one of the Deans Award for Excellence in Teaching, given to a graduate student. He has taught "Religion of Science Fiction" and other religion courses.
The annual distinguished teaching awards sponsored by Trinity Colelge and the Center for Teaching, Learning and Writing were awarded Wednesday, April 23, at a ceremony at the Washington Duke Inn. Below, James Thrall, one of the graduate school winners, discusses his teaching philosophy:
Students can be their own best teachers, learning skills of assessment, debate, cordiality and compromise in the process of discussing with each other. I prefer the teaching role of "master of ceremonies," therefore, using questions to move discussion in particular directions, but happiest when the student dialogue develops a life of its own. At the same time, I struggle, not always successfully, to avoid the pitfall of pursuing discussion for discussion's sake. In the end, dialogue should amount to something, if only the articulate presentation of specific points of view. While not all class discussions can or should be summed up in conclusive teaching points, as a rule I try to restate the main assertions I believe have been voiced, if not immediately at the end of a class session, then at the beginning of the next session.
By the end of a course, students should have learned specific information they never knew, but, even more, they should have confronted theories, approaches, and possibilities for thinking about a subject they had never considered. The latter experience of entertaining unfamiliar points of view, I believe, can have ongoing positive effects on students' abilities to comprehend, assess and participate in new forms of discourse. My film classes, for example, include mass market productions that can still be used to challenge assumptions about what religion means and how it might be represented. In classes introducing religious studies and the psychology of religion, we read texts that present unfamiliar and often conflicting understandings of religion as personal and social experience.
Since this kind of open-ended learning can be hard work, I stress variety in the topics I cover as well as in the organization of each class period as a way to earn students' interest and effort. I often seek student feedback on the length, difficulty and interest level of assigned texts, perhaps most successfully when I posted a survey online to be filled out anonymously after each class. Because I want to create a comfortable classroom environment for students who have different learning styles or levels of confidence. I often begin larger classes with students divided into small groups to permit initial, less threatening discussion. By varying the amount of assigned work according to expected crunch times in students' semesters I also try to achieve a balance between rigor and realism. When much is asked, much is usually given, I have found, but much should not be asked all the time. At the same time, I feel I fail my students if over the course of a semester I have not pushed them to push themselves always to write and speak a bit more clearly, concisely, persuasively.
Teaching Awards
The David and Janet Vaughn Brooks Award
The Robert B. Cox Award
The Howard D. Johnson Award
The Richard K. Lublin Award
Naomi Quinn, cultural anthropology
The Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching (Graduate School)
Renan Levine, political science
The Duke University Award for Excellence in Teaching Writing