In Conclusion

It is very unusual to call an exam day - a day of conclusion. I probably had a final day with the FSD-3 Class at the Department. The day was also little unusual in the sense that I spent the whole time in the two departments (Org. Strategy & Leadership and Dept. of Theatre & Performance Studies) shuttling between the two places with hurried paces, holding breath under a fear of missing the appointed scheules. This BLOG post is different from the other posts in the sense that I intend to shed some light on my pedagogical method and analyse my personal MOTIVES, which came under certain amount of curiosity. I hope I am forgiven for this little show of self-interest. Here's an hour-by-hour description of the day.

1. 8.30 - 9.00 am: I first had a class with the Theatre Dept. where I met a number of students who wanted to work with me the issues of Lacanian Psychoanalysis - a particular Philosophical School that builds on the Freudian School of thought. This method explain the way we try to make sense of our world. 
2. 9.30 - 11.30 am: I rushed to the Org. Strategy Dept. and conducted the Semester Final Exam of FSD-3 course.
3. 11.45 am - 3.30 pm: I came back to the Theatre Dept. to work on the task I had given and we had a long 3 hour lecture and reading session on Jacques Lacan and his method of Psychoanalysis. 
4. 3.30 - 5.30 pm: I went back to the Org. Strategy Dept. to engage the students in a Sunday Reading Workshop session based on the reading of a chapter they chose for the session titled: "Perception and Individual Decision". 

In the meantime a strage thing happened - two students of FSD-3 class asked an identical question. First, it was asked by Tanzil at around 11.15 am when he had to leave for a presentation. The second time it was asked by Touhid at around 5.15 pm. The question, if I frame it in more general terms, would sound like this:

• What makes you so passionate about teaching?   

I am sure that I felt a little embarrassed on both occassions - because you would NOT know whether "Passionate" is a term of "Commendation" or "Concern". I secretly hoped that they expressed both - a praise and a concern. Here is my reasoned response to both of you: "Because I do not know how else to make my day more productive, more meaningful".

Thank you all FSD-3 students for giving me a chance to work with you. 

Sunday Reading Workshop TODAY at 3 pm

I am very happy to announce that today we are going to have our FIRST Sunday Reading Workshop. As per suggestions made by the students, the Reading Workshop shall make a CRITICAL reading of the 6th Chapter "Perception & Individual Decision Making". It would be very convenient if you carry your copy of the text into the class. 

Our Sunday Reading Workshop takes place today at 3 pm sharp.

Exam Tomorrow at 9.00 am

This is to confirm our exam time tomorrow Sunday.

1. Starts - 9.00 am
2. Ends - 11.00 am
3. No one will be allowed to leave before the exam is over. 
4. Read throuhg the BLOG. 
5. Review the Words
6. Prepare for Good Writing.
7. Do NOT WASTE Exam Paper Space
8. Turn off your Mobiles during exam.

2nd Saturday Writing Wrkshop Concluded

This Saturday we had our 2nd Writing Workshop with Raidah B. Akber conducting the session. She talked about a great many things that covers how to be a good wiriter, the ways of improving your writing skills, how NOT to be intimidated (frightened) by your textbooks, what makes a critical thinker, how to improve your critical thing abilities, the uses of your critical thinking in your professional life. Raidah also briefed the participants about how she managed her very demanding courses in her own institutions. As part of her degree program, she had to take lessons in Classical Latin, Russian, French language. I am sure that this will work as a great confidence boosters for everyone who will have to take a third languge in your next semester. 

Ms. Raidah divided her talk roughly into following themes:

• Think about it connect it, relate it with many other things. Creating link between 
• Using Metaphors for Critical Thinking
• disconnected thoughts is creativity.
• How NOT to use "I feel" or "I would" in academic Writing.
• While reading AVOID imagination
• While writing, USE imagination
• Take time to prepare for Exam
• Read - Read - Read method.

Ms. Raidah was very impressed with the quality and motivation level of the participants and especially mentioned their performance when we met the Departmental Chairman at his office. The Chairman was genuinely exicited about the Workshop activities and "honestly & sincerely" expressed his desire to join one such session, which he termed as "Creative Writing." He is also of the opinion that such writing experiences will significantly improve quality of writing among students. Hopefully, we will get a this distinguished Fellow as a workshop participant when we meet for creative writing.

In 2nd Saturday Writing Workshop, following participants took part.

Touhid Hasan

Moshabbir Khan

Shahab Uddin

Rejoun Sharif

Shaikat Dev

Ebne Al Maruf

Ayasha Siddika Binti

Kazi Noor AHmed

Saimum Sairus

Shaonti Dev

Sadia Islam

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

I was thinking that the 2nd Saturday Writing Workshop might be our last workshop in this semester. However, all participants demanded that there should be at least ONE MORE Workshop to discuss how to read a Long+Difficult chapter from textbook materials. In response to this I will conduct a Final Saturday Workshop on 27th April. No new application for participation will be possible. And participation without prior approval is discouraged. 

A lot of thanks to Ayasha Siddiki Binti for coordinating a number of essential things on behalf of the workshop. 

Saturday WORKSHOP | Our Co-host Raidah B. Akber

We had our first Saturday Writing Workshop on 6th April. Our 2nd Saturday Writing Workshop will be held this Saturday at 4.00 pm because I understand that there is a Mid-tern exam till 3.30 pm. I am expecting all the Original Participants and two new participants Shaonti Dev and Saimum Sairas.

This Saturday's Writing Workshop (20th April) will be Co-hosted by Ms. Raidah B. Akber, currently a student of B.A. English at the Mount Holyoke College, Massatusetts, USA. She is currently in Dhaka on leave. She recently completed a Summer Program on Comparative Religion at the Oxford University, UK. She has extensive interest in Writing and had been part-timer at the world famous Emily Dickinson Museum located at South Hadley, MA. I hope you will enjoy her talk. She is interested in the following items. Please forward me any question from the list below, so that I can forward your Questions to her.   

❏ Writing, ❏ Critical thinking, ❏ Public Speaking, ❏ Peer counselling, ❏ Correspondence

❏       Communication, ❏ Teamwork, ❏ Budgeting, ❏ Management

Writing a Report

Here is an item on which we shall write a report. For your convenience, I am putting in some subheadings -

1. Date and ocassion , Organizer's profile
2. Speaker and Topic
3. Area Definition
4. Participant's Questions
5. What the participants came to know

Our WORKS Today

We shall work on the following items today.

1. Vocabulary - Business & General [selections from Newsp
2. Understanding Reality
3. Writer's Loneliness - based on Rachel Carson's comments
4. Report Writing
5. Announcement of the REPORT on Annual Students' Gathering - submitted by Sanjay and Ayasha
6. Introduction to Reading 3 Novels

• Old Man and The Sea Link Here
• Moby Dick Link with Word Meanings
• My Antonia LINK

Old Man and the Sea is a very short Novella of about 47 pages by Earnest Hemingway, who received nobel price for his Novels. This can be your first reading as it will take less than 3 hours to read. 

This post is primarily about On the Question of REALITY: ment for Saimum

Saimum wrote me a short mail and began with asking "How do we define reality?" He attempted to answer this Question by elaborating on some of the topics such as 'Brain-signals', 'Five sense', 'fish in an aquarium', 'Universal Reality', 'really exist or not.' When a person starts thinking about these categories, it is an indication that the person is thinking critically. Saimum's situation is more like Saira Banu in PADOSAN. Now, to make the matter worse, here is a Bengali article on the question of What is Reality? The example is taken from famous Hindi Film Padosan. The article was published in PROTHOM ALO literature page. 

প্লেটো-ও-পাড়োসান ”প্রথম আলো”-র লিঙ্ক 

In this Bengali article the writer gave reference to "Epiphany", "Appearance of Reality", "Gazing at Truth", Plato's Allegory fo the Cave etc. A MUST-read for those who are interested in finding out Where are We?

There is a brief description of Plato's Allegory of the Cave on page 76-77 in Sophie's World. However, the description is hugely summarized. So, the FULL coverage can be found HERE. So, what will happen when Bindu (Saira Banu) will come out of her cave of "perceived reality"? (1) Well, according to Philosopher Kant, she will NOT see the original thinker or "Thing in Itself". This is something we can imagine but can NEVER find. (2) Philosopher Heiddegar might say that Bindu will transform into "Being" because unless you are completely changed, you cannot see the TRUTH. (3) According to Philosopher Foucauld, Bindu will enter the house but will not see the actual singer - she will cast her "Gaze" on Vola and only gradually turn her "gaze" on Bidyapati, the actual singer.

Now, here is a graphic representation of the Cave. I hope you will like it! And Saimum, please go through the page No 198 of Sophie's World, where Descartes says that it is not proper to trust our own senses. And thank you for provoking me to wite this post.

10 Reading Comprehension Strategies (Reading Time: 15 min) - Melissa Kelly-র লেখা এই অনলাইন প্রবন্ধটিতে FSD-3 এর জন্য প্রয়োজনীয় পরিবর্তন করা হয়েছে

"They don't understand what they are reading!" laments the teacher.

"This book is too hard," complains a student, "I'm confused!"

Statements like these are commonly heard in classrooms, and they highlight a reading comprehension problem that will connect to a student's academic success. Such reading comprehension problems are not limited to the low level reader. There are several reasons that even the best reader in class may have problems understanding the reading that a teacher assigns.

One major reason for a lack of understanding or confusion is the course textbook. Many of the content area textbooks in middle and high schools are designed to cram as much information as possible into the textbook. This density of information may justify the cost of textbooks, but this density may be at the expense of student reading comprehension. 

Another reason for a lack of understanding is the high-level and content-specific vocabulary (business, psychology, science, social studies, etc) in textbooks, that results in an increase in a textbook's complexity. A textbook's organization with sub-headings, bolded terms, definitions, charts, graphs coupled with sentence structure also increase complexity. 

The same can be said for the wide range of reading for students in English classes that contributes to low reading comprehension. Students are assigned reading from the literary canon including works by Shakespeare, Hawthorne, and Hemingway. Student read literature that differs in format (drama, epic, essay, etc). Students read literature that differs in writing style, from 17th Century drama to the Modern American novel such as Great Gatsby.

This difference between student reading levels and text complexity suggests increased attention should be given to teaching and modeling reading comprehension strategies in all content areas. Some students may not have the background knowledge or maturity to understand material written for an older audience. In addition, it is not unusual to have a student with a high Lexile (vocabulary) readability measure encounter problems with reading comprehension because of his or her lack of background or prior knowledge, even with a low Lexile text.

Many students struggle trying to determine the key ideas from the details; other students have a hard time understanding what the purpose of a paragraph or chapter in the book may be. Helping students increase their reading comprehension can be a key to educational success or failure. Good reading comprehension strategies, therefore, are not only for low level readers, but for all readers. There is always room for improving comprehension, no matter how skilled a reader a student may be. 

The importance of reading comprehension cannot be understated. Reading comprehension is the result of many different mental activities by a reader, done automatically and simultaneously, in order to understand the meaning communicated by a text. These mental activities include, but are not limited to:

1. Predicting the meaning of a text;
2. Determining the purpose of a text; 
3. Activation of prior knowledge in order to...
4. Connect prior experiences to the text;
5. Identify word and sentence meanings in order to decode the text;
6. Summarize the text in order to create new meanings;
7. Visualize the characters, settings, situations in the text;
8. Question the text;
9. Decide what is not understood in the text;
10. Use strategies to improve understanding of the text;
11. Reflect on the meaning of a text;
12. Apply understanding of the text as needed.

Reading comprehension is now thought to be a process that is interactive, strategic, and adaptable for each reader. Reading comprehension is not learned immediately, it is a process that is learned over time. In other words, reading comprehension takes practice. Here are ten (10) effective tips and strategies that teachers can share with students to improve their comprehension of a text. 

01

of 10

Generate Questions

A good strategy to teach all readers is that instead of just rushing through a passage or chapter,  is to pause and generate questions. These can either be questions about what has just happened or what they think might happen in the future. Doing this can help them focus on the main ideas and increase the student's engagement with the material. 

After reading, students can go back and write questions that could be included in a quiz or test on the material. This will require them to look at the information in a different manner. By asking questions in this way, students can help the teacher correct misconceptions. This method also provides immediate feedback.

02

of 10

Read Aloud and Monitor

While some might think of a teacher reading aloud in a classroom as an elementary practice, there is evidence that reading aloud benefits university students as well. Most importantly, by reading aloud teachers can model good reading behavior.

Reading aloud to students should also include stops to check for understanding. Teachers can demonstrate their own think-aloud or interactive elements and focus intentionally on the meaning “within the text,” “about the text,” and “beyond the text” (Fountas & Pinnell, 2006. These interactive elements can push students for deeper thought around a big idea. Discussions after reading aloud can support conversations in class that help students make critical connections.

03

of 10

Promote Cooperative Talk

Having students stop periodically to turn and talk in order to discuss what has just been read can reveal any issues with understanding. Listening to students can inform instruction and help a teacher to can reinforce what is being taught. This is a useful strategy that can be used after a read aloud (above) when all students have a shared experience in listening to a text. This kind of cooperative learning, where students learn reading strategies reciprocally, is one of the most powerful instructional tools.

04

of 10

Attention to Text Structure

An excellent strategy that soon becomes second nature is to have struggling students read through all the headings and subheadings in any chapter that they have been assigned. They can also look at the pictures and any graphs or charts. This information can help them gain an overview of what they will be learning as they read the chapter. The same attention to text structure can be applied in reading literary works that use a story structure. Students can use the elements in a story's structure (setting, character, plot, etc) as a means of helping them recall story content.

05

of 10

Take Notes or Annotate Texts

Students should read with paper and pen in hand. They can then take notes of things they predict or understand. They can write down questions. They can create a vocabulary list of all the highlighted words in the chapter along with any unfamiliar terms that they need to define. Taking notes is also helpful in preparing students for later discussions in class. Annotations in a text, writing in the margins or highlighting, is another powerful way to record understanding. This strategy is ideal for handouts. Using sticky notes can allow students to record information from a text without damaging the text. Sticky notes can also be removed and organized later for responses to a text.

06

of 10

Use Context Clues

Students need to use the hints that an author provides in a text. Students may need to look at context clues, that is a word or phrase directly before or after  a word they may not know. Context clues may be in the form of:

1. Roots and affixes: origin of the word;
2. Contrast: recognizing how word is compared or contrasted with another word in the sentence;
3. Logic: considering the rest of the sentence to understand an unknown word;
4. Definition: using a provided explanation that follows the word; 
5. Example or Illustration: literal or visual representation of the word;
6. Grammar: determining how the word functions in a sentence to better understand its meaning.

07

of 10

Use Graphic Organizers

Some students find that graphic organizers like webs and concept maps can greatly enhance reading comprehension. These allow students to identify areas of focus and main ideas in a reading. By filling in this information, students can deepen their understanding of the author's meaning. 

08

of 10

Practice PQ4R

Four steps: (1) Preview, (2) Question, (3) Read, Reflect, Recite, and Review.

Preview has students scan the material to get an overview. Question means that students should ask themselves questions as they read.

The four R's have students read the material, reflect on what has just been read, recite the major points to help learn better, and then return to the material and see if you can answer the questions previously asked.

09 of 10 Summarizing

As they read, students should be encouraged to stop periodically stop their reading and summarize what they have just read. In creating a summary, students have to integrate the most important ideas and generalize from the text information. They need to distill the important ideas from the unimportant or irrelevant elements.

This practice of integrating and generalizing in the creation of summaries make long passages more understandable. 

10

of 10

Monitor Understanding

Some students prefer to annotate, while others are more comfortable summarizing, but all students must learn how to be aware of how they read. They need to know how fluently and accurate they are reading a text, but they also need to know how they can determine their own understanding of the materials. They should decide which strategies are most helpful in making meaning, and practice those strategies, adjusting the strategies when necessary.  

Self-TEST your Understanding of Reading Strategy

Here is a short self test for you.

5minute self test What do you find difficult about reading at university? Tick the boxes below:

 Finding enough time and energy
 Maintaining concentration
 Improving speed
 Managing vocabulary
 Selecting what to focus on in texts
 Understanding new, theoretical or detailed information
 Identifying main points and arguments
 Evaluating evidence
 Identifying similarities and differences between texts
 Reading texts that assume background knowledge & experience
 Reading different types of text (case studies, reports, literature reviews etc.)

It is very much POSSIBLE that you TICK all the above areas. I am giving you the Reading SKILLS Improvement Link to the ORIGINAL document that gives you some great advice on Improving Reading Skills. Believe there is not 27 - BUT only ONE way to improve writing ability - by WRITING regularly!

Saturday WRITING Workshop | More Announcements to Follow

 

This Saturday (6th April), a Writing Workshop was held in Room No 9064 with eight participants. Among other things we discussed the follwoing:

1. Art in the Age of Industrial Reproduction (in connection with modern men's ability to focus on fast-moving images)
2. Sleep-wakeup-breakfast cycle
3. Food Box for students who spend full day-time out of home
4. We worked on a couple of Writing Exercises
5. We also discussed a few films where men and women working under modern ecnomic systems are discussed - all these films are Directed by Satyajit Roy. 
6. The participants received Note-books with the compliments from Expolink Resources Ltd. The note-books are specially produced for Expolink's YES (Young Entrepreneurs' School) initiative.   
7. We have also decided that there will be at least ANOTHER Writing Workshop in this month. 
8. The second workshop will specifically focus on Presentation Skills and Professional Writing. 
9. We had Refreshments as well!

Note Taking - Strategies - Try to incorporate these in your NOTE-taking Practices

How WORDS Operate

WORDS operates on two different planes. Words can identify either a CONCEPT or an OBJECT. This identification is done through SOUND or SIGN. Notice the illustration. Here, Coffee is the sign. But this cup of Coffee can also identify "Our Memories". Coffee denotative, Memories is connotative.
So, every word has TWO sides of a meaning - (1) Denotative / Literal, (2) Connotative / Metaphorical

So, when you look up a word in a Dictionary, you are only looking at the Denotative. But when you are reading a TEXT, you often find something with an INNER / Connotative meaning. On Page 362 of the book Organizaitonal Behaviour, you will find the following sentence. "What Cochran did next—hit the Send key—seemed so innocuous." The word "innocuous" is a Medical term which means "harmless". The original denotative meaning is the "Condition of the body under a particular "antigen" which makes the body able to survive against a foreign microbial invasion." ডান পাশের ছবিতে দু’টো অর্থ - (১) এক কাপ কফি, (২) কফির কাপে ঝড় - এখন বলুন কোনটা Denotative / Literal আর কোনটা Connotative / Metaphorical ?

Late Submissions of First Assignments

I received 8 late submissions of our First Asignments which was given at least 3 months ago. I understand that everyone had a problem to take note of. I am veyr sympathetic to your problems. However, if this becomes a habit then you become victim of your inactions in a moment of emergency. The writing took a total of 40 min. These are handwritten as well. So, if you are unable to submit through e-mail - submit through a hard copy. The following students Submitted Morning Walk assignment as Classwork. 

1. Zihad Bhuiyan
2. Nahidul Hasan
3. Mostafizur Rahman
4. Touhid Hasan
5. Shuvo Deb
6. Rejoun Shorif
7. Marwa Kazi Mohammed
8. Md. Zayadul Islam

May I request you to submit your assignment on Free Market Economy as corrosive influence on your morality? I am aware that you are busy preparing for the exam - but preparing this assignment will help you with Writing and Critical Thinking - and will help you in your EXAM performance.  

Letter to the Non-conformists

Dear Student,

Subject: Regarding your failure to submit all 3 assignments given so far in FSD-3 course over the past two months  

I hope you are fully taking advantage of FSD-3 Course. Under this course you are required to submit as many as 5 assignments. Three (3) assignments have already been given in the class. Unfortunately, you did not submit any of the assignments, nor did you give any acceptable reason for non-submission.

Under the circumstances, you will not receive any score out of 30 (10+10+10) in three assignments. There will be 2 more assignments that will carry 20 marks. If you fail to submit any of the five assignments, you will not be allowed to take part in the forthcoming FSD-3 Course Final.

I really want you to take good note of this letter to you. If you face any difficulty in writing this assignment, explain it in the following part of this page. Separate this part and submit immediately in the class.

Best wishes,

Shahidul Mamun

FSD-3 Course Teacher

Department of Organization Strategy & Leadership, DU

"

Submit this part to the Course Teacher

Name & Roll of Student:   ……………………………………………………………………………..

1.     I could not submit any of the 3 assignments because …

2.     For writing the assignments, I need help in ...

Urgent Notice for Students Failing to Submit Assignments

Following students failed to send me ANY of the THREE Assignments given in the Class. They are required to meet me in person after class on Wednesday in the Department Office. Failing to submit any assignment will result in a FAIL in FSD-3 Course. If you FAIL to submit all 5 Assingments will will NOT be allowed to participate in Course-Final Exam.

1. Md. Shahadat Hossain
2. Rakib Rana Masud 
3. Md. Maruf Hasan
4. Nure Alam Rifat 
5. Asraful Islam
6. Tahsin Ahmed
7. Sumaiya Zafreen
8. Md. Rifat Molla
9. Marjan Akter
10. Md. Ebne Al Maruf

Those who submitted just ONE Assignment, are immediately required to submit others as well.