I wish I could disagree with Debbie from Duluth. I have not been able to find any way to motivate (punitive or otherwise) my upper-level class to read a damn thing. They unapologetically hand in pop quizzes that have nothing more written on them than their names. They no longer even guess at answers or write cute little notes to make it appear they are filling in answers ("Gee, that's a great question, but I didn't have a chance to read the chapter for today. Sorry :)" ).But as you know, it doesn't end there: After quiz-time, they sit waiting expectantly for me to condense the day's reading into a tasty little milkshake. I'm beyond showing my frustration and disappointment with them as I proceed to explain each boldface item in the book to them and provide examples. I've stopped trying to make up new examples, because I know that I can just regurgitate the ones from the textbook and they're none the wiser. And at no point (once the obligatory quiz is over) does it occur to any of them to press pen to paper and record any of this. It's like they're in Sunday School--they sit in faux-politeness (because their parents told them to do so) while I teach the Golden Rule, but once my time is up, they go right back to ignorantly tugging on each others' pigtails in the church pews.
I did attempt Debbie's former practice of letting students individually lead discussion a couple of times during the semester. All it accomplished was getting each discussion leader to read about 12 pages (total) for the semester and to foster the sense of injustice that they're somehow "doing my job for me."
I realize that I'm hardly portraying myself as "Teacher of the Year," here, but they have worn me down. Are they young enough to never have seen "Dead Poets' Society"? Maybe next semester I'll just rip off some of that Robin Williams bullshit that turns a bunch of spoiled derelicts into independent thinkers in 90 minutes. So what if the most promising one offs himself in the final act?
