One way to think about your lecture or mini-craft talk is to think about it as a cycle you move your students through. One example of a complete and satisfying learning process includes four parts: Concrete Experience, Reflective Observation, Abstract Conceptualisation, and Active Experimentation. This is a tried and true educational theory, established by David Kolb in 1984.
When I am planning a lecture or learning activity, I determine what I want my learners to know and/or do by the end of our time together. In this example, I want my learners to understand the aesthetic and rhetorical power of repetition in a poem. This is a simplified version of an activity I do in my introductory class:
- Concrete Experience: Read a poem together that features repetition.
- Reflective Observation: Before judgement or assertion of opinion, students describe their reading experience of the poem, and then I’ll ask questions that focusses on shifting a pre-existing notion about repetition as a device.
- Abstract Conceptualization: Learners begin to pose their own theories about repetition and poems, including answers to the questions: How does repetition in a poem effect your reading? What happens when the repetitive elements are removed from the poem? Why would a poet choose repetition as a device?
- Active Experimentation: Learners write a poem using their own words, but borrowing the repetitive structure from the model poem.
I’m a big fan of this learning process, because it feels very satisfying for students to draw on what they already know, connect this to new knowledge, and apply that knowledge. It also gets students actively engaging with the messy work of learning. The more thoughtful and considered the questions I pose are, the more connections students are able to make.
One challenge I face is trying to tackle a subject that is too unwieldy. This learning process also reminds me to keep things simple and straightforward.
There are lots of resources in the lounge, and in my office (E458) if you’re interested. In the meantime, I recommend perusing these sites for great learning activities and prompts:
Prompts: https://www.pw.org/writing-prompts-exercises
Discussion Pedagogies: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/speaking-listening-techniques/
Have fun and good luck!
Sheryda