CPS Partner Preparation - September 2008
Partner with their backs to each other
and playing the
change game
After a round of introductions, Dr. Parker-Katz facilitated a game called the "Change Game" in pairs. Partners needed to change five aspects of their appearance, and see if the person they were playing with could guess what changed. The game aimed to help partners think about the notion of change. Partners talked about how there is need to observe and look systematically and carefully at what we see. We do things in a routine based on our paradigm of beliefs, some concluded. Alex Lichtenfeld and a few other partners mentioned the worth of using the change game with students as well to point out the same ideas -- that we change, that it's oh-so-hard to see, and that change, while difficult, can become routine over time. We need to keep working at it, the group suggested. Observing carefully may be key to changing our teaching practices to support student learning. Observing carefully, as one partner suggested, includes being open to seeing what has happened and what has changed rather than expecting something to change!
Partners then worked in pairs to look at an expository text and a) think about what they think students might find difficult with that text, and b) consider two or three specific students and what those students might find difficult in that text. While sharing their thoughts on this, partners pointed out how perceptions as teachers truly do differ from those of our students. We may think they are very similar, but that may not be something we can take for granted. One colleague suggested that "It might be interesting to survey some students to find out what they like or dislike about a given text."
Partners facing each other to identify changes they made
Partners look at an expository text in groups
