Individual consultations

Today I met with some students who weren't here last week. I explained how we were going to approach things from now on and everyone seemed happy enough about that.

Everyone should now have a copy of the Individual Learning Schedule (I gave that out last week). This may, like the best things in life, be a bit organic - ie. the details on specific tasks may change as we go. For example, you'll see from your schedule that I have put in a discussion on photographers for the 1 April. However, having talked to folk over the last couple of weeks, I might change the focus of that discussion a bit and instead focus it more on what you need to do for your presentation and your written evaluation. This seems to be the things that folk are concerned about. A discussion is a good platform to work some of these things out.

Most folk have now done a short talk on a source of information. Some have submitted their written evaluation on that. I am presuming that others are working on the second evaluation of a source. I asked everyone, for this second piece, to follow the sample one that I did on the extract from the Ansel Adams entry on Wikipedia. The main thing is that you focus on a text, or extract from a text, that can be summarised down to about a quarter or third of its length (around 200/300 words). That means that the original needs to be in the region of 800 to 1200 words.

Hope all of this makes sense. Again, there are links on the side to Skillswise which is a useful resource on various reading and writing skills including summarising. If you have any queries, get in touch. I'll see some of you next week and all of you the week after.

Organising individual learning schedules

We started off today with another short talk on a source of information used in research. Again, the point came out that the internet provides a lot of information on certain aspects of a photographer's work (mainly critical evaluations). However, the internet, it was observed, is often a poor resource when looking for more obscure or less well-known aspects of a photographer. What's more, and this came up before, the internet is not proving very useful in finding much out about particular photographer's techniques.

After talking to folk last week, having a look back at attendance patterns, and chatting to Tony, I think we've agreed that a more individualised and flexible approach to this class may be more suitable.

So, with that in mind, I devised a list of activities that need to be completed as part of the communication unit. Attendance is mandatory for some of dates. I handed out this list today in class and with some blank spaces for completion dates. As everyone is at slightly different stages, then these Individual Learning Schedules (for want of a snappier title) allow you to choose, up to a point, your own deadlines. I say "up to a point" as there are final deadlines for everything - but it does allow you to prioritise your time a bit more.

I hope this makes sense. If you weren't in today and are a tad confused talk to someone who was here today and they'll be able to fill you in.

Also, get in contact with me (see contact details on right-hand side) and I'll email you a copy of the Individual Learning Schedule.

And, as promised, here's the link to the film that I started off today's class with: http://en.tackfilm.se/ (This will probably only make sense if you were here).

More talks and a piece of writing

Thanks to all who made it in today. We had three very interested talks on some sources that are being used for reserach: two websites and one book. Thanks for doing these - they were focussed and well-structured.

One of the benefits in doing this type of activity is that we start to share information with each other.

At this stage, I'd like you to write up your talks using the questions I gave you. You've delivered an oral evaluation of a site or book. We now need to see how that looks as a written piece. I gave out an example today of the kind of thing I'm looking for. Again, a lot of what we are doing is associated with critical thinking.

Finally, I mentioned the SEC method for critical thinking. SEC stands for Statement-Evidence-Comment and it forces us to go beyond the general ("that's fantastic" or "that's crap") when communicating our thoughts about a piece of writing or, for that matter, a photograph (or, even better, anything really). I've put up a separate post on this (see post below).

The SEC method of Critical thinking

Everything sensible that you will say in Higher English (or, come to think of it, life) will, more or less, use the SEC (Statement – Evidence – Comment) method in some form or other.

You make a statement
Back it up with evidence
Then, and this is the crucial part, link the two by commenting on both.

For example;

Make a statement

I think that Sparklehorse have re-invented country music for a new generation

Back it up with evidence

For example, they will often use banjos and sampling in the same song

Comment on how the evidence helps to support your statement

The use of traditional instruments like banjos shows that they are indebted to the country music heritage. Yet, they re-vitalise a very traditional genre of music by their incorporation of samples: a technique that is associated with cutting-edge music.

Now just put all the bits together:

I think that Sparklehorse have re-invented country music for a new generation. For example, they will often use banjos and sampling in the same song. The use of traditional instruments like banjos shows that they are indebted to the country music heritage. Yet, they re-vitalise a very traditional genre of music by their incorporation of samples: technique that is associated with cutting-edge music.

The paragraph above looks like the type of paragraph that you would expect to see in a Critical Essay paper.

Your Critical Essays should follow the SEC method throughout. In fact, all persuasive and argumentative essays will also be built around statements, evidence and comments.

In Close Reading analysis and evaluation questions the “Statement” part is often provided by the question itself – all you need to do is provide evidence and comment (remember don’t skimp on comment; that’s usually where the marks are hiding).

As I have said, the statement-evidence-comment method is not just something that you should learn and then quickly forget for Higher English. All academic essays will require you to use this method in some form or other. As you progress in your education you will find that what changes (or should) is the level of sophistication and subtlety of your statements, evidence and comments.

Indeed, SEC is something that we do at every level of “argument”.

Take the scenario of a mother reading her favourite story from her childhood to her child, again:

Young child: This is boring! (Statement)
Mother Why do you say that?
Young child Because we’ve read it lots of time before. (Evidence)
Mother And?
Young child And I’m bored of reading the same thing over and over again. You like it, but I don’t. (Comment – neatly linking statement and evidence)

Once you look, you start to see SEC everywhere.

A final point. You may have noticed that the comment bit is the most challenging. It is quite easy for us to make statements. Think about people you know who react to a new film, a book, or a band with the comment "that's crap". When you ask them why they say that (ie. you want them to provide evidence and comment) they will often struggle and, eventually, merely provide you with the rather juvenile and completely unsatisfactory answer "because it just is". Then they'll possibly provide you with another range of negative statements (ie. "it's really crap; "I hate it", etc.). What they are struggling to do is to analyse and evaluate through evidence and comment. If they could provide evidence and convincing comment for their statement ("that's crap"), then we'd start to take their opinion seriously.

These are the skills that are at the centre of almost everything you do in Higher English.

Enough of that. Now, sit back, relax, and enjoy some ............ Sparklehorse