A couple of years ago, I had my senior English class spend two days thinking about what “English 2012” should look like at St. John’s. The idea was to start from scratch (not based on adapting a current course) but not in a vacuum (still with St. John’s students in a St. John’s culture). The results were interesting and somewhat unexpected, but what stuck with me was an approach to thinking about English teaching that has permeated many conversations with colleagues since. One idea that has resurged is the idea of low-stakes assessments; another is the idea that perhaps English classes, particularly in the growing absence of a literary consensus, should be based more on communication than anything else. Hence the following idea:
Heard some excerpts from NPR’s “three-minute fiction” yesterday, and I think that would make a cool low-risk assessment. Everyone starts with a sentence they’re given and records a story that takes off from there as a three-minute audio.
Here’s what I like: creativity but common starting line (for those who flounder without some structure); telling a story with words, but instead of word limit, a time limit–so the manner of telling the story (pauses and so on) becomes important; opportunity (if teacher wants) for storyboarding (verbal outlining, effectively) or not; opportunity to practice a different kind of wordsmithing or presentation from “powerpoints” or “class discussions/presentations” that still holds onto words, which are probably the major emphasis of ELA communication focus (in spite of “videos”).