_ CATEGORY

| form.

To lose points:

E -1; Your essay contains more than three misspelled words. i
F -1: You write in incomplete sentences, using Siaaies instead of conect punctuation. : #
G -2: You throw in a lot of responses which are irrelevant to the question.
Note that I grade not so much on content as on achieving an organized structure of expression.
The first essays are terrible; and I always have at least one student who panics, says he/she can’t write,

cries, argues, or drops. But by the end of the semester, a remarkably high and consistent level of performance
is achieved, in particular among those convinced they couldn’t doit.

 

When I return their essays, I also return my own “answer.” For example, this is my reply to the above |
questions: a |

Trephination is a type of surgery involving the removal of a piece of bone from the skull (from
Greek trypan, to bore). The film made a brief, passing reference to its being done to relieve
headaches (but given the film’s lack of ethnographic sophistication, I wouldn’t accept that expla-
nation at face value), It is acceptable to use contemporary ethnography to suggest reasons for
customs in prehistory (for example, Australian aborigines interpret the handprints in prehistoric

cave paintings as instructions for creeping upon the animals also portrayed in the painting), and |
indeed the trephination we see in paleopathology ‘may have been done to relieve headaches; but
contemporary evidence is suggestive only. We have no way of proving whether or not the guess |
is accurate. Also, to argue for such a connection between past and present implies that techno-
logically primitive people never change, an assumption which is not valid. |

 

     

The students are responsible for reading these answers and comparing them with their own; questions relevant _
to the content or intent are included in future exams. ;

Thus, not only does the film essay train for analytic, active observation of film material and reinforce learn-
ing and memory of existing course content, it also provides a context in which useful writing skills can be —

developed. Past students have commented on its lasting usefulness. One student said, “The word ‘essay’ used —
to terrify me; I didn’t know how to begin. Now I start with a definition, decide what angle I'm going to take, |
apply the definition to concrete data, summarize what I've done, and get complimented on my clear, organized {
thinking.” aie

While the film essay will certainly not replace more elaborate research papers, it may be used in aoa |

  

of ways to stimulate active response in a classroom setting, to encourage analytic engagement with standardize
material, and in general to exercise a faculty which seldom gets sufficient attentipn-critical thought in weet
DOUGLAS coLLece |
ARCHIVES

  
 
 
 

‘Susan Parman
Department of Anthropology/Sociology
Santa Ana College

 

For further information, contact the author at Santa Ana College, Seventeenth at Bristol, Santa Ana , CA 92706.

 

 

 

— > $$ ——___-____—- ne

_ Suanne D. Roueche, Editor
October 5, 1984, Vol. VI, No. 26
INNOVATION ABSTRACTS is a publication of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, EDB 348, The University of Texas at Austin,

 

Austin, Texas 78712, (512) 471-7545. Subscriptions are available to nonconsortium members for $35 per year. Funding in part by the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation and Sid W. Richardson Foundation. Issued weekly when classes are in session during fall and spring terms and monthly during the summer.
© The University of Texas at Austin, 1984 rane
Further duplication is permitted only by MEMBER institutions for their own personnel. ISSN 0199-106X

ny
!