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A class united
by community effort
By Avianta Robertson
Special to the On-line Forty-Niner
Erica Fuller, a
black studies professor at Cal State Long Beach, became frustrated
when the students in her language skills and composition class,
failed to take their education seriously.
They were not doing the reading assignments and participating
as she thought they should.
"After a couple of quizzes, I realized that they were
not putting the effort into it," Fuller said. So she
decided to challenge them by uniting them.
She put her students through a process she called the "rite
of passage." The students were pledging to succeed academically
just as people pledge to be in sororities or fraternities.
They had to work as brothers and sisters in order to achieve
a common goal.
"Our goal for this class is to become highly proficient
writers and critical thinkers, and in doing that, there's
a lot of work involved. Working as a unit ... with a clear
purpose, helps to achieve that goal," Fuller said.
One of the challenges the students had to face was arriving
to class on time. If one student were late, the rest of the
class would be marked late. Each student was accountable for
his or her classmates. Fuller had wanted to avoid people being
late for no reason, or just not showing up. If someone weren't
showing up, the rest of the class would ask the person why.
"We worked around it," said Chantel Vaultz, a first-year
English student. "We would let her know so-and-so is
having car trouble."
Raven Thompson, a freshman majoring in communications, said
she learned to be concerned about others.
"It was teaching us to be responsible for one another,"
she said. "It taught me to be concerned about more than
just myself."
Another challenge was writing a 25-page paper as a midterm
project. Only one paper was to be turned in, but all of the
students had to contribute to it.
"It's a lot easier to understand a concept when you have
25 minds working together to discuss the issue," Fuller
said.
Based on their performance as a group, the class received
one grade on the paper.
There were also certain facts that the students had to know,
in case Fuller randomly called on them. Vaultz explained a
goal statement they had to memorize, "You must be academically
and mentally prepared in order to pass this class. The superior
student, however, excels in each regard."
Originally, if one student did not know this statement, the
entire class was penalized, but that did not happen because
all of the students worked together.
Another part of the right of passage was creating nicknames
for each student in the class.
"We got to choose our names," said Ozodimma Ihenachor,
a freshman majoring in biochemistry. "They were little
funny names that described who we were."
Some of the nicknames included Xena the Warrior Princess,
Mufasa, Hollywood and Birdie.
By making her students work together, Fuller hoped to develop
a community within the classroom, something she thinks society
is lacking.
"Society teaches us to be individuals, which is fine
to a certain degree, but what we lose, the African-American
population in particular, is the core value of community,"
Fuller said.
The majority of students in Fuller's four classes are freshman,
so the process helped them adjust to the new college atmosphere.
"This class is a good experience for adjusting to college,"
said Ronald Green, a first year business student. "I
had a really big problem before with working with other people
in class."
However, he said working with his classmates helped him improve
his social skills.
"We're like a big family," Green said.
Not only did they work together in the classroom, but they
also interacted outside of the classroom.
"One of our students was in a major car accident and
we all knew about it instantly," Fuller said. "We
were able to offer our support and we brought him back the
next week."
Vaultz added that they still hang out together and call each
other if they have questions about assignments.
Even after the classes gained the right of passage and were
given the option of working as individuals, they chose to
remain as a community.
On the other hand, not all of Fuller's classes were successful.
"There were those who chose not to be as involved and
that brought the community down," Fuller said, "What
I was more concerned with was them realizing how individuals
can break down a community."
She also wanted her students to realize that individuals can
help to uplift a community.
All of her classes have gained the right of passage and one
class has chosen to celebrate by having a social gathering.
Fuller said she plans to introduce the process to her students
next semester.
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