The Powerpoint Anthology of Literature

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• Good feedback to hear, Bobby. Students who are "bright" can make great connections during a lively class discussion, but that typically happens only after the students who know the subject matter have brought up enough topics. Your quiz, which is designed to test recall and analytical ability, would probably result in a better classroom discussion. Students who pay more attention to the texts because they don't want to bomb the quizzes may not notice that, as a side result, on days when they are prepared, they contribute more to, and get more out of, the class discussion.

• Dennis, I remember how much pride you claimed whenever a student said, "You work us too hard," like a badge of honor. I experienced that feeling yesterday when I gave a quiz to Dr. Preston's "The Novel" course as part of my mini-lecture. I asked students to read Doyle's "The Final Problem" and then read a certain scene from the graphic novel, "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" so my quiz only contained two questions:

  1. Number these events in the right order from Doyle’s “The Final Problem” (5 points)

  2. Tell me five specific differences of events between the waterfall scene in Doyle’s text and Moore’s graphic novel (5 points).

  Apparently, my quiz proved difficult because not only were students shocked to know that I designed it, but Dr. Preston said "I think I'm being too easy on them" after reading my questions =)

• Amen, brother.

• Dennis, I imagine there are more slides to these works than the ones being shown. I extremely dislike Cliffs and Spark Notes because some students read those instead of reading the actual text, but if I used this "anthology," then I would do worse on a quiz about any of those selections. It seems like there is no substitution for good attendance and paying attention.