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Online Assignment 6 Review of “The Journey to Red Water”
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See what happens when 5 friends do a road trip to New York City and love smacks a reluctant 30 year old right between the eyes.
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”Take out your pencils and scantrons.”
If there is a dreaded sentence in any student’s vernacular this one should be in the top five. Another would be the phrase Pop Quiz. If this brought back memories of feelings of anxiety for you, you can relate to your students fear when you utter these words. But how effective is the pop quiz? Are we giving our students a lesson in multiple choice test taking and fear? Is that our goal? Is the only way to assess learning through testing? Is this the only way to get feedback on the effectiveness of our teaching? Does traditional test taking give us the feedback that we need to help our students learn?
There are other ways to assess students, gain insight into our teaching, and it doesn’t have to involve that four letter word-test. Alternative assessment strategies are not a new idea but it is one that you may not be familiar. The aim of this article is to provide you, the faculty, with ideas on how to implement assessment strategies in your courses without a lot of prep time and to illustrate how they can be an effective teaching and learning tool.
What are Alternative Assessment Strategies?
Alternative assessment strategies are formative evaluation methods that serve two purposes. They can help you to assess the degree to which your students understand the course content and they can provide you with information about the effectiveness of your teaching methods.
When alternative assessment strategies are used consistently, they can have the following results:
For faculty
- provide day-to-day feedback
- provide information about what students have learned without a large time investment
- allow you to address students lack of understanding
- help to create good working relationships with students
For students
- help develop learning skills
- increase understanding the content
- shows your interest about their success in your course
The Muddiest Point
The Muddiest Point focuses on course knowledge and skills and takes almost no prep time.
| 1. Pass out index cards |
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| 2. Ask students to write down the topic or idea that they understood the least. 3. Collect the cards as the students exit. |
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| 4. Separate the cards into categories. |
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| 5. Review the Muddiest Point(s) at the beginning of the next class meeting. |
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Instructor reactions to activity
I’m a tenured Biology faculty member at Hillsborough Community College’s Ybor City Campus, and I conducted this activity in my Nutrition and Drugs course which meets twice a week for a 3 hour lecture and 2 hour lab. The class session is typically broken into two lecture portions each about 1 hour and 45 minutes long. The remainder of the time is used for a break. This course is designed for the non-science major. These students are those who are typically weaker in science skills then those pursuing a future career in the medical field and I am always looking for ways to meet their needs and make up for the deficit in their prior learning.
I found the implementation of The Muddiest Point easy; however, because it was something new to the students they were confused at first as to what expectations were required. I did modify the procedure somewhat and conducted two sessions of the activity; one at the end of the first portion of the lecture before the break and one after the second portion of the lecture before the lab. In the second application of the activity I provided the index cards to the students before starting the lecture and asked the students to write down the least clear concept from this portion of the lecture.
In the next class meeting I used the information gleaned from the student feedback to spend some more time on concepts identified as being the muddiest. I also provided students with additional resources for study on the top three muddiest points.
Student reactions to activity
Through observation and statements by the class it was clear that the students were somewhat uncomfortable with the activity at first. This reaction was not unexpected as none of the students indicated that they had encountered this type of process previously. More responses were collected in the second attempt than the first. I think if this is something that I had started from the beginning of the semester the students would be more comfortable with the process; it would be part of the normal routine of the class.
In the following class meeting I opened with the results from the activity explaining the top three concepts again and in more detail. The class was observed as being attentive and taking notes regarding the additional resources.
Overall, I found the activity to be very useful in helping me hone in on topics or concepts students were having trouble conceptualizing. I think it also made them think about which concepts they needed help. I do feel that the students need practice with the activity to become more comfortable with the process.
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The Importance of Bruner’s Referentiality
(Or lack of) in the film The Princess Bride
“Scaling the Cliffs of Insanity, Battling Rodents of Unusual Size, Facing torture in the Pit of Despair.
- True love has never been a snap” (Wiki Quote, 2007)
Film Summary
The Princess Bride (1987) is based on the book by the same name published in 1973 and authored by Simon Morgenstern, a pseudonym for William Goldman.
The film is framed around an ill grandson whose grandfather comes to visit intent on cheering the grandson by bringing a special book. The story, a fairy tale, contains fencing, revenge, redemption, true love, pirates, giants, torture, miracles, captures, and escapes. The grandson reluctantly agrees to listen to the reading of the story.
In the fictitious country of Florin, farm-boy Westley and Buttercup fall in love but as he is poor, he sets off to earn his fortune so that they may marry. It is soon reported to Buttercup that The Dread Pirate Roberts attacked Westley’s ship, and Westley has been murdered. Fast-forward five years and Crown Prince Humperdinck decides to marry Buttercup. She has but no choice to marry the cowardly prince as the law gives him the right to choose his bride without objection.
Just a few days before the nuptials, the future Princess is kidnapped by three former circus performers; Vizzini the self noted ‘brains’ of the operation, a man of small stature with an even shorter temper from Sicily, gentle giant Fezzik, and an alcoholic former master sword fighter from Spain, Inigo Montoya. Inigo is determined to avenge his father, who was murdered by The Six Fingered Man when Inigo was a boy. It is Vizzini’s plan to murder the Princess and leave her body in the neighboring country, Gilder, in order to start a war between the two countries, Gilder and Florin. Inigo and Fezzik are reluctant participants in his scheme.
The kidnappers make off with Buttercup but are followed by The Man in Black (MIB). The MIB catches up, knocks the Inigo unconscious in a duel, beats Fezzik in hand to hand combat, wins a battle of wits against Vizzini and kidnaps Buttercup himself. By this time, Prince Humperdinck and his evil partner-in-crime, Count Rugen, are tailing them hoping to rescue the princess.
Buttercup soon learns that The MIB is really The Dread Pirate Roberts inhabited by her true love Westley. The reunited pair escapes into the fire swamp and is faced with three previously un-survivable terrors: The Flame Spurt, Lightening Sand and R.O.U.Ses (Rodents Of Unusual Size, which are the size of a very large dog). Amazingly, but not without encountering peril, they survive to be captured on the other side of the swamp by Humperdinck and his men. Buttercup negotiates the safe return of Westley to his ship by agreeing to return to Florin and marry the prince. The Prince instructs Count Rugen to take Westley and throw him into the Pit of Despair where Westley is tortured until he is mostly dead.
Inigo and Fezzik have reunited and Fezzik tells Inigo of The Six-Fingered Man, Count Rugen. Inigo decides they need The Man in Black to help plan his revenge. The two companions rescue Westley from The Pit of Despair. Because of Westley’s mostly dead state they seek a miracle. They seek out Miracle Max, who retired after being fired by Prince Humperdinck, on hearing that Westley is Buttercup’s true love, makes a chocolate-coated miracle pill to bring him back to life.
The revived, but still weakened, Westley comes up with a plan and the three of them storm the castle. Inigo finds and kills The Six Fingered Man, Buttercup ties the Prince to a chair, Fezzik finds four white horses for their escape and they all ride off, happily ever after.
Definition of Bruner’s Narrative Feature: Referentiality
Bruner writes that “Narrative ‘truth’ is judged by its verisimilitude rather then it’s verifiability” (Bruner, 1991). He speaks here of providing the correct balance of ‘truth’ in a work of fiction so that an audience will identify with the story and characters.
Analysis
The Princess Bride is a film that is dependant on the audience knowing the rules of a fairy tale so that Goldman and the director, Rob Riener, can use them to parody the fanciful nature of this type of narrative all the while getting the audience to applaud the ending.
We look at the common elements of a fairy tale which include:
- A good character
- Westley, Fezzik, Inigo
- An evil character
- Prince Humperdinck, Count Rugen, Vizzini
- Royalty and/or a castle
- Prince Humperdinck lives in a castle
- Magic is an integral part of the plot
- Magic Max and the miracle chocolate covered pill that brings Westley back from being mostly dead thus allowing the storming of the castle.
- Initially the audience is lured into believing that the problem is the kidnapping and potential marriage of Buttercup to Prince Humperdinck, but actually the problem resides within Buttercup and the audience. The problem is to first convince the Princess of true love, and for the audience to believe in it as well.
- Three heroes
- Three villains
- Three perils in the Fire Swamp
- Three identities of Westley: Farm-boy, The Man in Black, The Dread Pirate Roberts
By using the common, or referential elements, of the fairy tale narrative, albeit in a humorous, over-the-top way, the films creators develop a world and characters that audiences expect to encounter. The parody of the fairy tale narrative lends to suspend the audiences cynical nature, which leads to the moral of the story: True Love conquers all. Even being mostly dead.
References
The Princess Bride (film) Retrieved on June 9, 2007 from http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride_%28film%29#Taglines
Bruner, J. Autumn 1991; The Narrative Construction of Reality; Critical Inquiry Vol 18; The University of Chicago; Chicago, IL
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“Take out your pencils and scantrons.”
If there is a dreaded sentence in any student’s vernacular this one should be in the top five. Another would be the phrase Pop Quiz. If this brought back memories of feelings of anxiety for you, you can relate to your students fear when you utter these words. But how effective is the pop quiz? Are we giving our students a lesson in multiple choice test taking and fear? Is that our goal? Is the only way to assess learning through testing? Is this the only way to get feedback on the effectiveness of our teaching? Does traditional test taking give us the feedback that we need to help our students learn?
There are other ways to assess students, gain insight into our teaching, and it doesn’t have to involve that four letter word-test. Alternative assessment strategies are not a new idea but it is one that you may not be familiar. The aim of this article is to provide you, the faculty, with ideas on how to implement assessment strategies in your courses without a lot of prep time and to illustrate how they can be an effective teaching and learning tool.
What are Alternative Assessment Strategies?
Alternative assessment strategies are formative evaluation methods that serve two purposes. They can help you to assess the degree to which your students understand the course content and they can provide you with information about the effectiveness of your teaching methods.
When alternative assessment strategies are used consistently, they can have the following results:
For faculty
- provide day-to-day feedback
- provide information about what students have learned without a large time investment
- allow you to address students lack of understanding
- help to create good working relationships with students
For students
- help develop learning skills
- increase understanding content
- shows your interest about their success in your course
The Muddiest Point
In this scenario we will focus on an alternative strategy called The Muddiest Point. This strategy focuses on course knowledge and skills and takes almost no prep time.During last few minutes of class period, ask students to use a half-sheet of paper, or pass out index cards, and write down “What I understood least today.”
After collecting the papers from the students review them separating them into related piles. Review before next class meeting and use to clarify, correct, or elaborate. If many students indicated they had the same problem, try clarifying with another approach.
Instructor reactions to activity
Dr. Susan Miletta, tenured Biology faculty member at Hillsborough Community College’s Ybor City Campus, conducted this activity in her Nutrition and Drugs course which meets twice a week for a 3 hour lecture and 2 hour lab. The class session is typically broken into two lecture portions each about 1 hour and 45 minutes long. The remainder of the time is used for a break. This course is designed for the non-science major. These students are those who are typically weaker in science skills then those pursuing a future career in the medical field.
Dr. Miletta, always willing to try new ideas, found the implementation of The Muddiest Point easy however because it was something new to the students they were confused at first as to what expectations were required. She did modify the procedure somewhat and conducted two sessions of the activity; one at the end of the first portion of the lecture before the break and one after the second portion of the lecture before the lab. In the second application of the activity Dr Miletta provided the index cards to the students before starting the lecture and asked them to write down the least clear concept from this portion of the lecture.
In the next class meeting Dr. Miletta used the information gleaned from the student feedback to spend some more time on concepts identified as being the muddiest. She also provided students with additional resources for study on the top three muddiest points.
Student reactions to activity
Through observation and statements by the class it was clear that the students were somewhat uncomfortable with the activity at first. This reaction was not unexpected as none of the students indicated that they had encountered this type of process previously. More responses were collected in the second attempt than the first.In the following class meeting Dr. Miletta opened with the results from the activity explaining the top three concepts again and in more detail. The class was observed as being attentive and taking notes regarding the additional resources.
Overall, Dr. Miletta found the activity to be very useful in helping her hone in on topics or concepts students were having trouble conceptualizing. Dr. Miletta does feel that the students need practice with the activity to become more comfortable with the process.
References
Angelo, T., Cross K. Classroom Assessment Techniques; Retrieved from: http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/assess-1.htm on March 1, 2007
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What types of stories are you gong to tell?
The story that I will use throughout this process is an instructional story. This instructional piece will be one piece of an overall training unit for community college faculty that informs them about alternative assessment strategies for the classroom.
In which genre will I be writing?
I will be working with a faculty member since this project is by faculty for faculty. Part of the project will be completed through interview; however it will not appear to the audience that this technique is being used. The interview technique will be employed when I have the faculty member describe the results of the assessment strategy. Another part, where the faculty member will be describing the process of the assessment strategy, will be scripted when text is changed to audio. Observation will also be used in the classroom while the assessment strategy is being performed.
Why are you choosing these particular types of story to compose?
Instructional stories are the area that I will work with the most and I would like to practice in this format since I am new to instructional design.
What is your purpose of your stories?
The purpose of my story is to inform community college faculty in a concise but engaging way.
Who are your intended audiences for your stories?
My intended audience will be community college faculty of various ages, technical backgrounds and experience.
What is the method of focalization you will employ?
The method of focalization will be first person narrative with the first person being the faculty member I am working with to complete the learning segment or story.
How will your story be temporally arranged?
An overall picture of the assessment strategy will be presented first; a global view. Then the process will be presented sequentially. At the end of the story the global view will be presented again as reinforcement.
How will this story be shaped by media through each subsequent pass?
Media elements used will be digital photography, audio, and Camtasia outputting a Flash movie file to be distributed via a web site. Paper instructions will also be available for audience members can print out. I expect for the finished product to have little or no text at all except for the printed instructions.
What types of stories will you be producing for passes 2 through 4?
I will be using the same story throughout the assignment.
What do you anticipate the challenges will be in this project?
The challenges I anticipate are putting the overall, finished project together. I have a specific idea formulated on how I want to present the final product to my audience. I have never attempted something like this and I think time management is going to be something I will have to pay attention to.
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This has been floating around the Internet for a while but I really got jazzed when I first watched it.
The machine is us/ing us on You Tube.
Besides the video being just so cool and interesting, I find the idea of constant worldwide collaboration and connection as being so big, exciting and I think, the future of everything.
I also would love to study it further and apparently I can at Kansas State University. So much for stopping my formal education after these last three classes, huh?
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