Response to Ashley

Ashley, in her post, talks about the Villanueva article, focusing in especially on community forums as a form of social intervention. Ashely says:

"The school Villanueva discusses takes that concept one (important) step further. Rather than simply suggesting that your child speculate on the effect their actions had on someone else, the child is forced to confront that individual and hear them express their feelings."

I'd just like to reiterate how important these kinds of interactions seem to the development of the kinds of students we want (read: need) in our FYC classes in order to make a lot of the pedagogical approaches we've discussed actually work. We need students who are not uncomfortable with communication, and who are able to speak freely in order to identify and optimize their own voices. It also disheartens me (as I'm sure it does many of you) when you ask students to communicate with each other in an effort to actively engage them in learning and they act like they've never had to speak with another human being before. I honestly think that this springs from an innate fear of confrontation instilled at an early age.