

Group Pedagogical Project

What It Is

Each of the groups we created during the first few class meetings will be responsible for teaching a given mode of literary criticism or literary theory to the rest of the class for at least one hour on Thursday of the week devoted to that interpretive strategy/theoretical concept. Each group is responsible for helping the rest of the class better understand the interpretive strategy/theoretical concept and for guiding the class through a consideration of its value and stakes.

What For



How To

Each group's main goals are to 1) help its classmates understand the concepts and arguments for the interpretive strategy or theoretical movement in general and the variations on it and the key arguments of the critics/theorists who propose them in particular, and 2) to help its classmates consider the strengths and weaknesses, the pros and cons, the value/utility, and the stakes of the general interpretive strategy or theoretical movement and its particular variations. If you go during the first part of the semester (pre-spring break), it is strongly recommended that your group use Keats's poem, Marcos's essay, and the critical essays on Keats and Melville to help it achieve these goals, but ultimately it is up to your group to decide how best to proceed--what you want your peers to consider and learn, what topics/texts/contexts/concepts/methodologies/debates you want to emphasize, what "methods" you want to use (lecture, open discussion, small-group work, debate, game, etc.) to reach the goals you set and the overarching goals required by the assignment, how you divide the teaching work among yourselves during the class meeting you'll be leading--after planning with each other and consulting with me.

At least one week before your teaching segment is slated to begin, your group must meet with me for feedback and advice on your ideas and plans. This means that your group must meet even earlier than that to generate some preliminary and not-so-preliminary plans. When your group meets with me, you all should have a good sense of your goals for the class meeting the following Thursday, a fairly good sense of what methods you want to use to reach those goals, and questions about particular readings or concepts that you need answered in order to firm up your plans on your goals and methods. I'll give you an overview of how I see the readings fitting together and feedback on your plans. You may meet with me as many times as you like before your teaching session, but that first meeting must take place at least a week before the Thursday your group is scheduled for, so be sure to meet early as a group and make use of email to exchange ideas and plans before that.

After each group pedagogical project is completed, I will distribute a questionnaire over the course listserv for people to fill out and email back to me directly. Class reactions to the projects will be a component of your total grade for the project (see below for grading criteria).

At most one week after the conclusion of your teaching segment, your group must turn in a 500-1000-word group-authored reflection on the experience of planning and teaching about your chosen interpretive strategy. In this group-authored essay, you should describe the planning your group did, explain and justify your original lesson plan, comment on what actually happened in the class, and comment on whether and how you'd rethink any aspect of the pedagogical project in light of any differences between your plans, expectations, and experiences in it. You may turn this in over email or bring a print-out of the essay to class by the Thursday after your pedagogy project.

As well, each group member must also email me a 250-500-word self- and group-assessment of the relation between the actual teaching experience and your group's plans and expectations, and of your own contributions to both. This is meant to be a more informal, individualized email in which you assess how well your group worked together in preparing for the pedagogical project, how well your group dealt with the unexpected during the project, and how well you contributed to both.

Grading Criteria

Your grade for this segment of the course will be based on a combination of factors: my overall assessment of your group's lesson plan, teaching effectiveness, and commitment to working collaboratively; the quality of the group-authored reflection on your planning and teaching; the honesty and thoughtfulness of your own self- and group-assessment; ratings by your peers of the effectiveness of your group's teaching; and my overall assessment of your individual contributions to the group's efforts and success.


ENGL 345: Critical Reading, Spring 2004
Created: 1/30/04 2:51 pm
Last modified: 1/30/04 2:51 pm