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This blog was originally posted on January 16th, 2013.
In the student-centered literature classroom, one of the skills we try to teach is the ability to evaluate other people’s claims about a work of literature. We can do this in a variety of ways, but one way I’m particularly fond of is based on an exercise that I found in Collaborative Learning Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty by Elizabeth Berkeley, K. Patricia Cross, and Claire Howell Major. Their exercise is called “Send-a-Problem,” and it asks students to answer a series of open-ended questions about theme and character development, and then evaluate a set of answers. Their version of the exercise calls for the instructor to write each question on the outside of a manila envelope. Students then work in small groups to answer the question, slide their answer into the envelope, and pass it along to the next group. Eventually, groups will have answered all but one question; upon receipt of the final envelope, each group will evaluate all the answers to that last question, a question they have not yet themselves answered.
Conceptually, I like this exercise. Logistically, I hate it. So I’ve adjusted it to suit my needs. I simply create a list of questions, print each on a separate sheet, and give each group all but one of the questions. Students take their time – often the bulk of a 50 minute class period – answering the questions as thoroughly as possible, then we redistribute and evaluate.
For example, I frequently use this exercise with James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues.” I’ve taught the story every year for the past 6 years, and I’ve taught it from a number of anthologies, including Ann Charter’s The Story and Its Writer and Abcarian, Klotz, and Cohen’s Literature: The Human Experience and I’ve drawn some of my questions from those authors. I also write my own questions, based on the themes that we’re talking about in class – essentially questions that ask students to define concepts based on the story.
Here’s how it works in my classroom:
Prep:
In class:
I like this exercise because it puts a lot of responsibility on my students. It also gives them time to wrestle with complex discussion questions without the pressure of having the whole class listen or while the impatient instructor (me!) stands waiting. Finally, I think it’s useful for students to examine how other people try to answer questions – it’s good for discussion and for their own written work for the class.
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