The use of books in class is tricky. Most students don't/won't read
them if there is a general assignment...and many faculty in one's department scoff; books
are not 'scientific' enough; books are a cheap way to fill the hour; books are inefficient
ways to cover the material...one would have to read twenty books to cover the 20 chapters
in the text...and omit much material. TR Young
Yet books, poems, plays, movies and songs provide rich sources with which to develop the
sociological imagination.
If the goal of a Intro class is just that, to develop a sociological imagination, these
arguments against books fade and fail.
There are ways to incorporate books into the knowledge process which one may wish to
consider...and which relocates most of the time spent/used outside the actual time/space
of the class hour... and which sharpen the focus of responsibility while offering rewards
commensurate with effort/results.
Set a limit of five-person teams per book.
Set a point scale for the team leader who schedules meetings, writes scripts, moderates
reports, leads discussions in team meetings. I set a point value at 10% of total grade for
such producers/directors of the report.
Set a point total of around 5% of total points available. say 5 pts per team member.
Set a teaching/report time for the group to bring back ways in which the book illuminates
the 'sociology of it all.' ...with each person in the group reporting/connecting the book
to the concepts/ theories of given chapters/topics.
I set the first 10/15 minutes of a class for reports/soaps/videos created by such teams.
One can down-load a 'guide-sheet' for soaps which can be
converted to book reports.
The teacher, TA or ATA leads discussion of each chapter sequentially week by week.
Two student-teams rotate responsibility for two chapters per week over, say a five week
life for the discussion group.
Set a 5% point value for attendance; 5% per report for a maximum of 10% of final grade per
student per book.
A TA, ATA, or teacher can run three such groups per year.
I would invite students who have been through such a class to sign on as ATA the next
semester and thus increase the number of books/groups available to students.
I permitted ten persons in each of two classes to sign-on for a tutorial on two of his
books and completion of a worksheet from notes taken at his presentation in Ira Allen
Chapel. These opportunities are rare in smaller campuses but common in larger.
I gave the tutorial an hour before he was scheduled to speak. I provided each of 20
students with a list of basic concepts/ideas on 'Inventing Reality' and upon 'Make-Believe
Media.' The tutorial presented the basic idea behind each concept. The worksheet asked the
student to report on how Parenti developed his concept. I set a limit of five
concepts/ideas per student for a 10 pt. total [of 200 pts possible in the course].
Parenti was at his best and, as I suspected, worked with concepts developed in the book.
This might not always be the case.
In my menus, I set a 50% limit for point total for menu items. The other 50% of point
total must be earned on objective tests over course/text content. I set a limit of three
sign-on's for any given student for any given menu item. Students must select among a
variety of menu items for out-class work.
Such menu items are interactively rich; permit choice among diverse interests found in any
class; relocates the knowledge process from class/text to work team/books. And...they
diffuse criticism from those faculty who scoff at such use.