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January 23, 2005
tj 205: plansketch
here's what it looks like at the moment:
- unit 1: 2-week mostly-individual project wherein students research & write about their own names (1st, last whatever) and/or the particular naming practices of their families, cultures, etc.
- unit 2: 4-5 week pairs (how many students do i have NOW & do i force a group of 3 or let s.w. work on his own since that's what he wants to do anyway--my inclination heavily leans toward the former) project researching & writing about one of the following:
- one of the events or issues raised by kennedy that they want to know more about, beginning with one of his sources
- a word whose history they think of as interesting/culturally relevant that they want to do a smaller-scale version of his work with nigger on, imitating his approach(es).
- unit 3: 5-6 week primarily individual project researching & writing about a topic of the student's choosing, preferably related either to an issue sparked from kennedy's text or a linguistic issue/concern they see existing in their major field.
- unit 4: 2 week group project writing a collective, reflective analysis of their experiences, gains, and frustrations as researchers over the course of the semester.
details forthcoming, i can only hope...
but that way i mix it up--they work sometimes collaboratively, sometimes w/partners, sometimes alone (or at least w/others' help on individually-defined projects); they have short, quick assignments and longer ones w/more development allowed/required; they have opportunities to do both guided and unguided topic-selecting: lots of room here for a wide range of learning experiences & for them to do a LOT of the work of defining & guiding our foci--my favorite! now i need to figure out a) a timeline for all of this, b) when & on what schedule to assign the craft of research (we'll do kennedy the 1st week of unit 2), c) how & where i'm working presentations in, since i'm sure they're required, d) what role blackboard is going to play, & e) what i'm going to expect/demand in terms of portfolios of informal work. i want to see some of it and interact with them about it, but do i need to grade it? is it enough to give them some feedback (maybe verbal) about what they're doing? can i handle that entirely in conference conversations and/or in the classroom while groups are working on other things, and never take huge stacks of their process-work away with them & home with me?
this is me, giving uncertainty a a GREAT BIG HUG.
Posted by ttobryan at January 23, 2005 05:33 PM