Reading Between Sources
Stephen J. Cerulli, Hostos Community College
Bio
Stephen J. Cerulli teaches in the Behavioral and Social Science Department at Hostos Community College. He is a PhD candidate at Fordham University specializing in Italian diasporic history. He recently co-authored the book “Educating America and the Contributions of Italian Americans.”
Course Setting
Hostos Community College is primarily a commuter campus in the South Bronx that serves working-class, immigrant, and subaltern communities. I teach in the Hostos Lincoln Academy program, which awards an AA degree to graduating high school students.
Problem of Practice
I noticed that the same group of 4-5 students (20% of the class) participates in my class discussions. How do I support all students in analyzing and connecting the relationships between primary and secondary sources in discussion?Strategy
A major issue I encountered over the past three semesters was that students were refusing — and I mean refusing — to complete reading assignments. I began addressing this problem last semester by giving students 10 minutes before class to review and discuss primary sources.
This semester, I added two new components. First, I introduced PowerPoint lectures for the first 45 minutes of class. Second, I expanded group breakout discussions on primary sources to 20 minutes. Previously, I held primary source discussions before class; this semester, I moved them into class time and doubled the amount of time students spent actively engaging with the sources.
Documentation
Artifact #1
The front picture of a PowerPoint slide to generate a class discussion about the class readings. We spent a few minutes discussing this photo, then followed by a lecture on the topic.
Artifact #2
These are the discussion questions for this class, chapter 24.
Measuring Impact
Student Participation
At the start of the semester, about 5 students consistently participated. At the end, it was 13-15 on average. The class has 22 students.
Test Grades
No one failed the midterm. The average grade for the midterm was 78%.
Analysis
To be honest, I am still unsure how successful the strategy was. The final exams, which I will grade on Monday, should provide a clearer answer. The midterm grades were mediocre overall, though class participation did increase as the semester progressed. The midterm required mastering both primary and secondary sources.
In my opinion, I felt compelled to make the class easier by spending a lot of time reviewing homework readings in class. Next semester, I need to find a better way to encourage out-of-class reading so that we can spend less time summarizing texts and more time discussing and analyzing them.
The strategy seemed to produce mediocre exam results rather than stronger performance. For example, no one failed the midterm, which was a first; typically, around three students fail. However, nine out of twenty-two students earned Ds, which is also unprecedented in my experience. I am still unsure how to address this issue. That said, we did hold a study session for the final exam.
Recommendation
This is a difficult moment. I have been teaching this class since 2018, and I have seen a significant shift in student academic performance. In my first few semesters, some students were producing work at the level of fourth-year college students and seemed prepared for graduate school.
If this trend continues, more responsibility will inevitably fall on instructors. We may need to spend more class time summarizing and reviewing material than we did previously. At the same time, this strategy feels like a catch-22: While it reduced rigor in some respects, it also dramatically increased class participation.