I wish I could take credit for the idea of breaking the class into discussion groups for our presentation, but in reality it was a joint effort. Early on, we decided that the game-show format of presentations was a nice way to engage the class, but that we wanted to do something different. As the class progressed it became clear that at least part of the problem was the inability to ensure our classmates had watched the film; our group wanted to create an environment where our classmates could be comfortable answering questions and participating, even if only a few of them had watched the film. We debated for a long time how to do this.
All in all, my role in the group was pretty much limited to “organizer.” I e-mailed my group regularly to make sure everyone’s ideas were being shared, and we came up with our “areas of expertise” fairly quickly. This list changed after we decided on our group discussion format, and everyone’s topic was discussed beforehand to make sure we were comfortable with it.
The concrete things I did contribute to the group were the structure of the presentation and the role of Shinto in Spirited Away. The structure was actually the result of a collaborative brainstorm, but I do like to think writing it down for later study and e-mailing it to the group helped a bit. The role of Shinto in Spirited Away was my special contribution; if you don’t know what Shinto is, the movie makes less sense, and I like to think that the little tidbits I revealed helped the class understand the cultural background.
As the class progressed it became clear that at least part of the problem was the inability to ensure our classmates had watched the film...
ReplyDeleteYes. This problem stemmed at least in part from the lack of an accountability mechanism to insure that the majority of class completed the required readings and viewings. I have found this to be a significant difficulty in 312.
I had wanted to set things up so that each presenting group would be able to introduce its film and/or book its own way, without having to follow on the heels of a quiz or other such assessment device. In other words, I had wanted to count on collective enthusiasm to carry us forward, rather than quizzes or other "gotcha" mechanisms. I now question the wisdom of that decision.
Alternately, I could have required a weekly blog posting or brief response paper from every student regarding every text and film, but I shied away from that due to, of course, workload reasons.
In any case, the problem has been acute in 312, and I have wracked my brain to structure my next 312 classes differently.