Every week and Everyday — Discussion Partners

This is a part of my larger post here. Here I describe the background and minutiae of the project, but you can find the class overview by following the link.

Or as I titled this project in the handout for my students: “Discussion Project — Making Friends and Talking about Shit.”

“Okay! Find a partner. Say, ‘Hello, partner! I’ve missed you.’ And ask them _____? Be ready to share your partner’s answer.” These words greeted my students every morning as I walked into the classroom at least 2 and as many as 10 minutes late. Discussions ranged from random thoughts I had walking to class (“Why does your handwriting look the way it does?”) to quick debates (“One person is Pepsi. One is Coke.”) to more standard TOEFL type questions (“Where is your favorite place in your home country?”).

Because we study 4 hours each day together, I let these warm-ups last 10 to 15 minutes and made sure it was the norm for everyone to share their partner’s answers with the class. This was a wonderful and simple way to increase conversational fluency, and my students approached speaking tests with far less anxiety than their peers in other classes.

But I wanted to deepen this activity for my students. I wanted students to revisit and research these conversations and get to know each other better.

While at Michigan, I took a seminar with the venerable Ralph Williams called the Literature of Friendship. It was structurally quite different; we met for 1.5 hours 3 times a week. But a key component of the class was our Havruta partner. While this class had little to do with the Rabbinical study of the Talmud from which Havruta originates, it proved a flexible method. Each week, we would write a page or two long letter to our partner, cc’ing Ralph. We were encouraged to share how our week was going and to discuss that week’s readings. In short, be friends. During one class meeting each week, we would respond to each other’s letters in conversation for half the class.

It seemed ripe to graft that method with the warm up discussions my students were already used to. I paired them with permanent partners they would talk to every morning, and, after each week’s discussions, they each write a letter to each other. I encourage them to write it like a letter to a dear friend telling them how their week was and asking about their partner’s. In the letter, they recall one of the discussions from the previous week and talk a little more about it. They reflect on if their opinion changed based on the conversation, do some research, and tell their partner about what they found. Alternatively, they can share their thoughts on the reading for the week.

My students were intimidated at first by writing a page double spaced each week, but, as the semester has gone on, ~90% of students turn these letters in every week. They email them to each other and cc me on the email. I tell them that I don’t read the letters and that they don’t have to have perfect grammar. This is just about confident production and deepening their daily conversations in class.

At the end of the semester, I’m going to ask them to write a short reflection on the experience that will be a little more scrutinized, but this project is as simple as doing the work without the anxiety of getting everything right.

Update

April 15 — This project hasn’t changed throughout the semester. I’ve been really pleased with the quality of the letters and my students’ rate of completion.