Group Pedagogical Project

What It Is

Each of the groups we created during the first week of classes will be responsible for teaching to the rest of the group for at least one hour of their class period some aspect of the relation between the assigned reading for that class period and earlier discussions of works by that same author.

What It's For

It's a truism that you don't really learn something until you try to teach it to someone else, but there is nevertheless a good deal of truth to this cliche. Being responsible for teaching anything makes you pay a lot more attention when you're learning it, since you'll be in the position of setting goals for the hour (at least) of class time you'll be running, designing questions and activities, and trying to anticipate and to answer your peers' questions. And because this particular project is not just an individual endeavor but something you have to work on with others to make it work, there's an added dimension of cooperative learning and decision-making in the mix, as well. Given that you all are relative newcomers to the study of Faulkner, Erdrich, and Gaiman, I thought each group would better understand where the sources of confusion or frustration might be, as well as how to communicate the key ideas and issues, probably much better than I would. Hence, you all have the opportunity to "peer teach" in a way that could well be more effective than my own teaching at times. At the very least, you all will be exposed to a variety of teaching styles and methods over the course of the semester and, when teaching, have the opportunity to draw on what you feel are the most effective and appropriate teaching strategies for the material you all will be wrestling with.

To put all this another way, let me remind you of the main page's statement of course goals, "ENGL 426 is designed to help students develop their abilities to (1) recognize and analyze relations among an author's characters, settings, and plots in a variety of works--gain a critical perspective on an author's fictional 'world'; (2) recognize and analyze relations among an author's use of form, theme, and narrative strategy in a variety of works--gain a critical perspective on an author's strategies of storytelling and 're-vision'.... Students will typically try to fulfill goals (1) and (2) in class and listserv discussions, critical essays, and group pedagogical projects." In short, the group pedagogical project is one place for you to develop a critical perspective on both an author's fictional "world" and his or her strategies of storytelling and "re-vision"--and to figure out how to design a class session so that your peers may understand and respond to your group's critical perspective(s) on these topics.

How To Do It

As the above section indicates, your group's ultimate goal is to help your peers develop critical perspectives on your author's fictional "world" and his or her strategies of storytelling and "re-vision." This will typically involve examining how an author's later work offers a "re-vision" of his or her earlier work and sheds new light on his or her fictional "world." Ultimately, it is up to your group to decide how best to proceed--what you want your peers to consider and learn, what ways you want to interpret the above goals, what "methods" you want to use (lecture, open discussion, small-group work, debate, game, etc.) to reach the goals you set and the overarching goals required by the assignment, how you divide the teaching work among yourselves during the class meeting you'll be leading--all of this after planning with each other and consulting with me.

At least two days before your teaching segment is slated to begin, your group must meet with me for feedback and advice on your ideas and plans. This means that your group must meet even earlier than that to generate some preliminary and not-so-preliminary plans. When your group meets with me, you all should have a good sense of your goals for the class meeting during which you will teach, a fairly good sense of what methods you want to use to reach those goals, and questions about particular readings or concepts that you need answered in order to firm up your plans on your goals and methods. I'll give you an overview of how I see the readings fitting together and feedback on your plans. You may meet with me as many times as you like before your teaching session, but that first meeting must take place at least two days before the day your group is scheduled for, so be sure to meet early as a group and make use of email to exchange ideas and plans before that.

After each group pedagogical project is completed, I will distribute a questionnaire over the course listserv for people to fill out and email back to me directly. Class reactions to the projects will be a component of your total grade for the project (see below for grading criteria).

At most one week after the conclusion of your teaching segment, your group must turn in a 500-1000-word group-authored reflection on the experience of planning and teaching about your chosen interpretive strategy. In this group-authored essay, you should describe the planning your group did, explain and justify your original lesson plan, comment on what actually happened in the class, and comment on whether and how you'd rethink any aspect of the pedagogical project in light of any differences between your plans, expectations, and experiences in it.

As well, each group member must also email me a 250-500-word self- and group-assessment of the relation between the actual teaching experience and your group's plans and expectations, and of your own contributions to both. This is meant to be a more informal, individualized email in which you assess how well your group worked together in preparing for the pedagogical project, how well your group dealt with the unexpected during the project, and how well you contributed to both.

With the permission of the instructor, you may substitute an oral interview for these written reflections and self-assessments.

Grading Criteria

Your grade for this segment of the course will be based on a combination of factors: my overall assessment of your group's lesson plan, teaching effectiveness, and commitment to working collaboratively; the quality of the group-authored reflection on your planning and teaching; the honesty and thoughtfulness of your own self- and group-assessment; ratings by your peers of the effectiveness of your group's teaching; and my overall assessment of your individual contributions to the group's efforts and success.

ENGL 426: Major American Writers, Summer 2004
Created: 6/29/04 11:22 am
Last modified: 7/19/04 12:33 pm