Second seminar-- 9/12

At the beginning of the second seminar, I asked students to take out their seminar papers and their textbooks and open to the text. I also asked if they would like me to interrupt if they strayed off topic or allow them to handle it themselves; they said they would prefer to be gently guided back to topic. This reminder and discussion at the front end seemed to emphasize the importance of both staying on topic and remaining close to the text. They succeeded on both accounts and made very good connections and observations. It was wonderful to observe, and again I am amazed at what students are capable of if given the opportunity to shine on their own without constant hovering.

Denise and I had talked about the last seminar debriefing and decided it was just plain awakward. Students talked around things and ended up dwelling on topics a little removed from the text's main points with one student trying his darnedest (is that a word?) to get them to see what they were doing. We decided a big part of the problem was the awkwardness of the large group size (20) and how that made some students hesitant to talk and other students all too willing to fill the void. We discussed and determined it was important to us to have students spend some time in individual writing (that did not go well, but I think it was because Denise and I created some sort of a distraction...perhaps just me. I don't specifically recall what happened). Then we asked students to break into their clans and get with a clan they had not been with at 8 a.m. Then, the two small clans together would have to share with each other the highlights of what happened in their seminars. This was ideally what we wanted to happen last time too. Instead, it actually happened this time.

But something unanticipated happened too. Two clans took too much pride in what they had accomplished in seminar and seemed to battle it out over who had the "right" approach. The funny thing is at 9 a.m. when Denise and I got together, we talked about how our different groups had done and bragged on each one a bit to talk about what they had talked about. We were pleased with the different topics covered and thought that sharing all of that would give students more to talk about. We never dreamt it would be divisive!

It's kind of like when two kids fight over who loves mommy more. On the one hand, the mom is upset because they are fighting. On the other, she's pleased that she's loved enough to be fought over. I'm glad that the students are taking pride in what they accomplish in seminars. I'm exceedingly glad with what they are actually learning and the connections they are making in the seminars. The next task is to try to get that to transfer over to the paper writing.