W. Lee Humphreys

Narrative, Self-Assessment, and the Reflective Learner.

Being aware of the power of narrative as a formative way in which human beings make experience meaningful, we were also aware that students often tell us their stories in times and places less formal than the classroom?in the hallways, our offices, over coffee, in chance meetings. What if we planned a specific time and space in our classrooms for their stories? Our hunch (and hope) was that their sto ries of learning would allow them to make their experiences of learning meaningful, not only for themselves, but for others as well. Might narrative provide a mode and

The Tragedy of King Saul: a Study of the Structure of 1 Samuel 9-31

In the present form of the book of 1 Samuel the figure of Saul has been swallowed up first by Samuel and then by David. Rather than standing as the focal point of the complex of narratives that tells of his rise to kingship and subsequent destruction, he is made to appear first as a graphic illustration of all that is wrong with kingship from the point of view of Samuel and prophetic circles and then as the rejected king and a foil against which the elected king David shines. Yet, there are moments when the figure of Saul breaks through with a strength and compelling immediacy. The stern figure of Samuel. cannot wholly eclipse the appeal and vast potential of the young man when first met, nor can the attractive David overshadow the poignancy of Saul’s last days and the stature he attains in his death.

Patterns of parental reaction to student grades

Factor analysis of questionnaire responses produced by over 6,000 individuals revealed parental reactions to good and bad grades grouped themselves into five categories: (1) Grades are important to me; bad ones lead to negative consequences; (2) Good grades are important to me, but I will support you regardless of grade; (3) Bad grades make me mad; (4) Do your best, but there is more to life than grades; and (5) Grades are important; you will know how I feel on the basis of a joking comment. When these patterns were related to reports of specific student actions in college, such as getting good grades, dropping a course, or cheating on an examination, results indicated only a few significant negative correlations, and only for students whose parents reacted to bad grades in a negative emotional way; i.e., in terms of categories 1 and 3. More benign reactions - categories 2, 4, and 5 - did not correlate either positively or negatively with student actions or grades. Results were taken to suggest that parental reactions to grades are not only attempts at changing student behavior but also may be viewed as emotional responses expressing personal needs and values.