Hi everyone!I wanted to thank you, again for participating in Friday’s fishbowl discussion. As promised, I will sum up some of the points I made at the end of class. Please use this space to provide additional feedback, reflections, and observations on your experience with this activity.
In answering the question, What type of space did we create/participate in on Friday’s discussion section?, I proposed the following observations based on Elizabeth Moje’s article, “Powerful Spaces: Tracing the Out-of-School Literacy Spaces of Latina/o Youth:”
A space influenced by institutions: we are at the University of Michigan, which implies a relationship between UM and education/learning
A space influenced by time/temporality: our discussion section length (50 mins); but also, how did your observations/comments in class differ from what you may have thought at the beginning of the semester? Or, how have you changed based on your experience in this class?
A space influenced by things material/physical: your level of comfort varied (depending on whether you were in the inner circle or outer circle); differences between being an “observer” vs. being the “observed.”
A space influenced by identities: how was our space complicated by identity? Which identities did you prioritize? What assumptions were you making about other people’s identities? Which identities were less obvious or not really addressed?
A space influenced by power: your relationship to each other and to me (GSI vs. student); what other power dynamics did you observe? How do these power dynamics affect your participation in class?
Also keep in mind that these categories often overlap.
I look forward to reading your responses!
-Isabel
4 comments:
One thing that I noticed during this activity was the consistence of people who answer questions. Since the number of people to answer was limited, they had more opportunities to answer questions. Unfortunately, people who wanted to answer questions were again forced to only reiterate what was said or not say anything at all. Also, being an observer causes you to want to answer and when you get inside you forget that you have the chance.
BRL
I agree with Bianca. I also think that it was good to kind of shake things up by trying a new approach, but I wouldn't like to use this format for every discussion session.
I enjoyed this break away from the norm. The activity went along well with the topic of the week and made things a bit more clear to understand.
During this section I felt the environment to actually be more personal. The discussion was very guided and fast-paced, which kept a high level of input. Of course everyone in the center circle felt more obligated to be involved in the conversation. We all felt pressured to give input, but I really felt more comfortable speaking when I was in the smaller group. Aside from being observed, it's easier to give your own opinion when less people are available to give you feedback, positive or negative.
Veronica Blattner
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