Collaborative Projects
in English
by Bonny Bryan
Panel Presentation No.
1
Introduction:
The panel presentations will provide an additional framework
for our class discussions of the elements of poetry. The purpose
of the panel presentation is to expose you to a particular element
of poetry and provide you with alternate points of view, insights,
and critical perspectives surrounding a single poem. Discussing
the poem as a group and a class will help you clarify and defend
your own ideas while exposing you to other possible interpretations.
Assignment:
Each panel will have approximately twenty minutes to share its
critical interpretation with the class. The focus of your discussion
is determined by your assigned chapter (you may include other
poetic devices in your discussion). You may want to explore
connections between your section and others. The possibilities
are endless.
A group presentation involves collaboration.
Divide up the responsibilities of the group in any way you like,
as long as everyone feels the arrangements are equitable. For
instance, one member may enjoy working largely behind the scenes,
researching, preparing visual aids, etc. Another may prefer
leading the discussion, summarizing the discussion, or answering
questions. You may decide to divide the work up evenly with
each member doing a bit of everything.
In developing a plan, consider how
best to enable your audience to understand and appreciate the
poem you select. Address not only what the poem is about (content)
but also how it is written (form). You may want to be imaginative
by involving your audience, giving a "quiz," having
students work in groups, interviewing characters, incorporating
props or visual aids, etc. It's up to you as a group to decide.
The goal is to present your poem to the rest of the class: teach
us something.
- Try to anticipate questions the class may
pose. If your group is
confused about some aspect of the poem, it is likely that others
will share this confusion.
- Be creative. You may use the board, visual
aids, or anything else
you like to make your presentation lively and interesting.
Evaluation:
Your group will be evaluated on the content and form of the
presentation and will receive a group grade for the group effort.
The required length is twenty minutes.
Panel Presentation No. 2
- Panel presentations:
This is one of my favorite assignments. I divide the class up
and assign each group a section of text. In English 110, I assign
each group a chapter from the novel. In English 111, I assign
each group an element of poetry, and they select a poem that
illustrates that particular element. They then decide how they,
as a group, will teach the text to the class in an interesting
and effective way. The results are often creative-game shows,
talk shows, courtroom dramas, skits, and press conferences.
They often include props, instruments, and video clips. Part
of their task is to involve their audience-which they do in
a number of entertaining ways. In other disciplines, panels
could be used to present particular historical events, key individuals,
concepts, ethical dilemmas, significant quotes, and time periods.
See attached assignment sheet.
- Freewriting-
writing nonstop, as quickly as possible, free from concern about
editing, for a specific amount of time to generate material,
and quick writing-informal writing enabling students
to record their initial thinking about a prompt. I often have
students freewrite in response to a prompt and then use their
writing as a way to focus our discussion. They can "piggyback"
freewrite: they pass their writing to a peer who then freewrites
in response to that original freewrite (on the same sheet),
enabling students to start a conversation and helping to build
a sense of community. As a few volunteers read aloud (their
own or their peers' responses to their own), I jot down key
phrases on the board to spark class discussion.
- Questions:
I often have students generate questions about the assigned
reading (reminding them that the quality of their questions
reflects the quality of their thinking about the text). Sometimes
I have them swap questions and respond in writing to one of
their peer's questions.
I divide the class into groups and have each
person pose one of his/her questions to the group. The group
then decides which question to pose to the class for discussion.
Students generate questions in class, which
I list on the board. I divide the class into groups and the
groups pick which question(s) they will address.
- Focus on the text:
I break the class into groups and assign them a particular task.
For instance; in English 100, they work together on sentence
combining skills by generating noun phrase appositives or verbal
phrases in response to photos that appear in their textbook;
in English 110, they quote, paraphrase, and summarize from an
assigned section of text following MLA (Modern language Association)
guidelines; and in English 111, they locate and explain the
use of symbol or metaphor in a given poem.
- Peer-response:
In all of my classes, students take part in peer-response sessions.
They conduct these sessions on the days the drafts of their
essays are due. They break into small groups to read and respond
to each other's essays. This provides them focused feedback
from their peers who share the same context-exposure to the
same readings, class discussions, grading criteria, etc.
- CAI Lab:
Students often work in pairs as they conduct and compile research
using the Internet or Proquest. They work together to evaluate
web sites.
- Extra Credit:
I often offer extra credit to students who attend SBCC events
(and submit a written response)-lectures and performances as
well as community events relevant to our class. They often attend
in pairs or small groups. They bring back to class what they
have gained and they make connections between what they are
doing in their English class and what is happening in other
disciplines and their surrounding community.
Rarely does a class session slip by without some collaborative
activity. Part of my task is to foster in them a sense of "buy
in." The more connected they are to each other and the more
they feel a sense of community, the more they feel accountable-to
their peers, to the material, and to the class.
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