Description
Book SynopsisWhat is the purpose of education? The answer might be found in a Shakespeare class at a small liberal arts college. In this engaging account of teaching a Shakespeare class at a small liberal arts college, Gayle Greene illustrates what is so vital and urgent about the humanities. Follow along with Greene as she introduces us to her students and showcases their strengths, needs, and vulnerabilities, so we can experience the magic of her classroom. In Immeasurable Outcomes, Greene's class builds a complex human ecosystem that pushes students to think more deeply and discover their own interests and potential, all while recognizing the inherent dignity in other people's views and values. Grounding her analyses in half a century of teaching, Greene pushes back against the demand for measurable student learning outcomes and the standardization imposed on K-12 schools in the name of reform. Instead, she draws her conclusions about education directly from the students themselves. Alumni tes
Trade ReviewGreene's book is fun.The point of Greene's performances and those of her students is not to present a final view of any of Shakespeare's characters, still less of his plays. Rather, it is to show what jargon-laden course outlines cannot encompass. It is to show that over the course of a semester, students who are willing to follow a trained, dedicated teacher develop finely tuned reading skills and link what they read to their lives.
—
University World News[Greene's] defense of the humanities is as philosophically rigorous as it is affectingly impassioned....an important contribution to today's education debates and a sterling example of the intellectual virtues it valorizes...edifying and inspiring.
—
Kirkus ReviewsA spirited work in defense of a heartfelt humanist approach to teaching and learning....This book argues for the human touch in education....A tour de force in terms of capturing a hugely complicated process on the page.
—
ForbesAn impassioned manifesto to revive quality, democratic education that redeems college teaching and re-seeds enlightened, disaster-averting voters.
—
Nation of ChangeDelightful.K-12 educators will find a great deal of common ground in Greene's book and, overall, a largely shared understanding of the goals and value of a liberal arts education, as well as a keen evaluation of contemporary problems in education more generally.
—
ClassicalEd ReviewGayle Greene's
Immeasurable Outcomes: Teaching Shakespeare in the Age of the Algorithmoffers a provocation: Good teaching matters, but it can't be measured. No one has recently captured as well as Greene the experience of being a humanities professor—what we hope to do, what happens (and doesn't) during our classes, what gives us joy, and what makes us sad. The classroom is threatened by false understandings of what can and should be assessed, by online education, and by the world's distractions. It needs to be protected.
—
Chronicle of Higher EducationTable of ContentsIntroduction
Chapter 1. First Day
Chapter 2. Once Upon A Time In The Twentieth Century: How The Humanities Took A Great Fall
Chapter 3. What's Trust Got to Do with It?
Chapter 4. "The Reading Thing": Attending, Remembering, Connecting
Chapter 5. The Play's The Thing: Taming Of The Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Chapter 6. Teaching Is an Art, Not an Algorithm
Chapter 7. De-grading the Professors: Outcomes Assessment Assessed
Chapter 8. Growing Up Human: Hamlet, King Lear
Chapter 9. Ask a Graduate
Acknowledgments
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index
