{"id":18168,"date":"2014-02-14t08:50:23","date_gmt":"2014-02-14t13:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/?p=18168"},"modified":"2014-02-13t17:55:33","modified_gmt":"2014-02-13t22:55:33","slug":"students-as-producers-of-disciplinary-habits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/2014\/02\/students-as-producers-of-disciplinary-habits\/","title":{"rendered":"students as producers of disciplinary habits"},"content":{"rendered":"

by nancy chick, cft assistant director<\/em><\/p>\n

the cft\u2019s recent teaching visit<\/a> hosted by phil ackerman-lieberman<\/strong><\/a> illustrated our 2013-14 theme of students as producers<\/a> in a way that\u2019s different from our previous examples<\/a>.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>these other instances typically focus on specific course assignments that engage students in actively creating something, often directing their work toward authentic audiences beyond the professor (e.g., blogs, a children\u2019s book or film script, activism projects, service learning projects, videos). many of these assignments occur toward the end of the semester as capstone activities. phil\u2019s class embodies this theme in its fundamental approach to learning,<\/strong> positioning students in the role of producer of disciplinary knowledge and activities <\/strong>from day one.<\/p>\n

the first sentence in his introduction to jewish studies syllabus informs students that they will be \u201cdiscussing just what it is that scholars of jewish studies do.\u201d he goes on: \u201cusing brief articles from current scholarship, we will explore the methods and questions in the field<\/strong>; and we will read selections of primary sources from the jewish past in tandem with these articles to see how academic writers and thinkers integrate that past with scholarly trends in the present<\/strong>\u201d (emphases added).<\/p>\n

there\u2019s a name for phil\u2019s approach:\u00a0 signature pedagogies, or teaching in ways that get students to \u201cunderstand and practice disciplinary ways of thinking or habits of mind<\/strong>\u201d (chick, haynie, & gurung, 2009, p. 2). in the post-class discussion with his visitors, \"\"<\/a>phil confirmed that his \u201cvision of introduction to jewish studies\u201d revolves around the \u201cmethodologies of jewish studies scholars\u201d and the \u201cbig questions\u201d of the field. what does this vision look like? it’s the sum of many small but significant activities:<\/p>\n