Well, the first CASW session was certainly a learning experience. One thing that I realized was how important it was for the key question to be framed carefully. Only then would the discussion go in the direction planned and answer the question one has.
Giving the samples of student work to the participants beforehand would also have been much better than handing them out in the session itself. I found that it wasn't very practical for the participants to read the student work (especially as it happened to be a fairly long one) and address questions on it as well during the session.
The student work I'd chosen was one of the best pieces of work in class. Though this was a suggestion given in the tuning protocol handout, one of the participants felt that there could have been a sample of work from the bottom end of the class too. I agree, as only if you have a sample from a weaker student as well, would it give a clear picture of student performance. This would also have given greater scope for discussion to the participants when answering my key questions.
I really liked Mr. Shibu's question - 'Did the poet mean all this?' I think it's going to come in handy in all my literature classes because sometimes, you do not know what exactly the poet means and at other times, you see more meaning in the poem than even the poet had intended. Recently, I've been consciously pointing it out to the students that any interpretation of a piece of literature would be acceptable as long as it was supported by the text and the argument was logical. A good piece of analytical writing, I guess, is a combination of free thinking and clear, precise expression.
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Dear Archana
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting the reflectiosn on your CASW session. I am glad you have had some insights about the key questions and their crucial role in getting the most out of a session as well as the advantages of presenting student work at different levels of achievment.
It would have been interesting to have read about the nature of the participant discussion and the suggestions that emerged at this session.
Tara Kini
Yes, key questions are of prime importance and perhaps it is a good idea to discuss these questions prior to the session with us or with some colleagues as I mentioned to you when we met. I am glad you found this a worthwhile process and I hope you will use it as a tool to further your professional practice. A little more detail on the process would have been helpful to visualise the proceedings. Good effort.
ReplyDeleteDharma