Hendrickson – Lovett – Martin
Module 4 Group Lesson Assignment
Objectives:
- Improve student’s writing and thinking skills
- Improve digital photography skills
- Enhance computer skills through use of blogs
- Analyze the value of assumptions and judgments students make
- Analyze value of non-verbal communication
- Consider whether someone’s environment, family, and physical belongings contribute to who they are as a person
Activity: “Where I'm From”
Students will be assigned into pairs by the instructor. Before communicating with your partner, take some time to consider the things in your life and environment that make you who you are. These things can be people, places, things you own, animals – anything that contributes to who you are as a person. Then, choose five of those things to photograph. Send those five photographs to your partner with no additional communication.
Once you’ve received your partner’s photographs, study them carefully and develop some assumptions about the person who took them. What is important to them? Who influences their decisions? What do they spend their time doing?
Use these assumptions you’ve made to write a poem about your partner. The type of poem you write is up to you, but it must have enough information to describe the type of person your partner is.
Once you’ve both written your poems, share the poems with each other. Discuss the assumptions you made about each other based on photos. Did the photos send a clear message about the person? Were your assumptions about each other correct? Were there some incorrect assumption made?
Together, write a brief summary of what you each learned from this activity. Give your opinion about whether or not a person can communicate who they are through photos. Both partners are expected to contribute equally to the written part of this assignment. Your group summary should be at least 300 words.
Post your photos and corresponding poems, along with your written summary on the course blog. Be sure to look at the other groups’ postings and make thoughtful comments on at least two other projects.
Evaluation / Grading
- 1. Overall quality of poem (Individual) - Each poem must be 100-250 words in length. Students may use any form of poetry (ie. free verse, rhyme schemes, etc), but it must conform to the pictures they were given. (40 points)
- 2. Meeting Deadlines (Individual and Group) - Each person must send his photos to his or her partner no later than one week after this assignment is given. Students will acknowledge receipt of these photos in an e-mail to the course instructor. The group must post their final project on the course blog two weeks later. (25 points)
- 3. Final Summary (Group Grade) - The instructor will grade each group presentation on the blog in three areas:
- a. Pictures from each member (5 points)
- b. Poems from each member (10 points)
- c. A summary from the group that addresses the questions raised in the assignment (10 points)
- 4. Commenting (Individual) - Each student must read and comment on the postings of at least two other groups. Address the following questions in your comments: (10 points)
- a. Did the poems help you understand the life of each student better?
- b. Were the poems interesting to read? Why or why not?
- c. How did the project turn out different from the one you worked on?
The total points available for this project are 100.
2 comments:
This looks like a really fun assignment that could help create community in an online class! I would guess this would be for a writing class, is that correct?
This is a very creative idea. I love that you have the students give no additional information about themselves when handing over their pictures. I wonder if it could be done in a group larger than twos, to have more of a group collaboration?
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