Alternative sources of information and ideas
One of the best ways of making ourselves more aware of how something works is to consider alternatives.
We have a chance to do that right now, because in at least two cases this term we've seen alternatives to our Playgoer's Companions -- once when Patrick Toner's class at UNBSJ prepared one for Black Comedy, and once when Len Falkenstein's company expanded their program beyond simply information about the producing company and the cast to offer background context for Fanshen from their point of view. To give everybody an opportunity to think about how these things work -- or, perhaps, how they're intended to work -- I want to take some time this morning to look at some examples of alternatives.
To structure that, I'll set up some groups and put a couple of copies of five documents on each group's table.
When you've been through all of them, discuss them at your table and create a list of points worth making. They should be clear enough as statements that they're comprehensible by themselves, but they don't need to be paragraphs. Sign the document to indicate that you think the points are in fact the ones you think worth considering.
For the last half hour or so of class we'll have reports from each of the groups saying what you found.
For next Wednesday: thinking about demonstrating and illustrating learning
I've said I want to help people write the best possible learning reflection.
On Wednesday I'd like to do some looking at a range of good examples of
people identifying their learning, and discuss -- as we have with the examples
of effective writing about reading scripts and attending productions --
what makes them good.
We'll do that in a similar way.
What we'll read this time is entries in learning journals. Read them beginning with the name below yours in the listing on the Table of Learning Journals, and continue reading with the next name down, and the next column when you get to the bottom (and when you're on the last column, go back to the top of the first one). Read through the most recent entries in each blog, looking for a passage in which the writer identifies something concrete she's learned, and offers an example or some concrete evidence supporting how and when she learned it. You may find that some people haven't made many entries, or haven't made very many thoughtful ones: read quickly, skimming until you find someone who has.
For some ideas about what you're looking for, what might make a description of learning "good" (persuasive, concrete, useful), you should look back at the documents I posted earlier -- "help in documenting your learning" and "help in reading your own (and others') learning reflections" -- which are linked from the main course page.
When you find one, copy the passage -- it might be a paragraph or so; it probably won't be very long -- and paste the text into a file. You don't have to identify it; when we discuss these in class they're going to be unidentified. Below the text, say in a sentence or so what you think makes the passage a strong evidence of learning. Then keep on going quickly through learning journal entries. When you've found two or three such passages, pasted them into your text, and explained why you chose them, copy and paste the works into an email message and send it (as usual) to russell.hunt@stu.ca.
Do this before Tuesday morning. We'll talk about them in our last class meeting, on Wednesday, when I'll also have a prompt about finishing up the course.