Monday, October 7, 2013
The Principles and Goals of Harkness Critical Conversations Going Forward
Today we used the Harkness Method officially for the very first time. We will use it regularly going forward during this year. At the beginning of the class, we mentioned focusing on three points: 1) Posture, 2) Engagement, and 3) Looking at the Class. Given that we will be using this method and now that you've had a chance to begin to use it as a group for 20 minutes, please reflect on what principles and "rules" (i.e., posture, engagement, etc.) you think that you as an individual and the group as a whole must focus and develop to make our critical conversations even more effective? Please respond by offering THREE thoughtful ideas about what you think you AND the group must do together to improve our work in class even more. You can respond in bullet points, but if you do make sure they are complete sentences with a clear explanation of what you mean. Avoid using the things we focused on today (the three I named) unless you want to offer another level of reflection on them.
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I think that, as a class, we should work on directly answering other people's points in order to form a more discussion-like atmosphere, rather than merely stating our own points. I think we should also work on bringing up new points in every comment, so that we aren't just agreeing and reiterating other people's comments. Personally, and also as a class, we/I should work on coming up with more comprehensive, targeted ideas that pertain directly to the conversation, rather than going on tangents that don't directly relate to the topic at hand.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that we need to work on is probably having more participation. I think that part of the reason people didn't participate is that it didn't seem like we had that much time to talk about all the things we wanted to talk about.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that we could work on was elaborating more on the points we were talking about. Some if the things that were said weren't very clear and it seemed confusing.
One thing that I probably needed to work on was one of the things that we talked about which was eye contact. It is hard to make eye contact with different people in the class since I'm used to talking to the teacher. It's different than normal but something that is good to work on.
One thing that I know that I need to work on is participation. In order for the conversation to be successful, everyone has to contribute. This is something that the entire class needs to work on as well. It cant be just a few people talking throughout the whole discussion. As a class, I think we should work on being engaged. Even if you don’t have anything to say, you should still be following the conversation and actively listening. I think we should also have more concise, direct responses, instead of one general and drawn out response. As we do these more and more, im sure we’ll get better and more comfortable.
ReplyDeleteSeeing as it was our first attempt at the Harkness Method as a group, it is understandable that it would start out a bit rocky. I believe posture is something I personally always need to work on, but as a group, I think we made a good first effort. Engagement can be tricky, and I believe the best way that we could improve, as a group would be to make sure that everyone is talking and involved in every conversation. It can be difficult to insert comments when you’re not used to the method, but I believe that once we get used to the system, as a group we will successfully increase participation. I would also say that we could improve the clarity and decisiveness of our statements and with these improvements, it would be easier for everyone to get involved and would allow us to be rid of confusion. I believe that we could improve some with our eye contact, but eye contact goes hand-in-hand with engagement, so I believe we will be able to simultaneously improve both of these points.
ReplyDeleteI thought overall that the discussion was interesting. Of course, there are some things we can work to develop. Firstly, participation from everyone in the class is critical in order to ensure a well-rounded discussion. However, secondly, this participation may be agreement with a previously stated point, but instead of simply saying, "I agree," we should strive to offer another point or perspective to back up the point. Thirdly, if a point is started, we should strive to continue developing that point and building off of one another using clear, pointed ideas. As we continue to discuss in this style, we'll continue to become more comfortable and improve the discussions.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the Harkness Method in class today. I thought it was a great way to discuss and debate without too much structure. One of my personal issues in this discussion was the fear of being repetitive. Many people would bring great ideas to the table that I agreed with but I didn't want to just vocally agree with them and waste time. I definitely think it was expected that people would be quiet because it was the first time we had tried this, but everyone contributing and talking is crucial in my mind. In order to have more interesting and heated debates, people need to make solid points. This specific topic was broad, so I wasn't able to completely pick a side, but everybody having a definite opinion could make the discussion more interesting than people being indecisive. Something else that could make the Harkness Method discussion better could be reacting off of each other more. I think we were pretty good at talking off each other but it still felt like the other discussions that we've had. Some people made their points more to Gregory than in a group discussion.
ReplyDeletei think that this method requires an argument to work. today in class it was easy to say nothing because there was no controversy or real argument. in order for the Harkens Method to work i believe that a better and more controversial topic needs to be selected. because this was the first time maybe the participation levels were a fluke, but i felt i did not have ti talk because i agreed with everything and did not want to waste time just agreeing. almost all of Paideia students are democrats and todays question boiled down to republican vs. democrat with more pointed and better questions i think this method will work better.
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Personally, I think I could have spoken up more, except today I found it was difficult to do so because my opinion was similar to other people's opinions. I think a key factor that is important to focus on is looking at one another and listening to the points made by other people. Also, I think it's very important to respect people's opinions and views but not be hesitant to disagree. I think when the group feels as a whole we have fully covered a certain topic, we should be able to start debating a new topic as opposed to sitting silent or dragging on the same topic and repeating the same points. As we do the Harkness Method more often, siting text or giving examples to help prove a point are very effective ways to support statements and claims made.
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ReplyDeleteSomething as a group that we need to work on is elaborating on peoples responses and answers the actually prompt more direct. I feel like a lot of the times, the conversation goes onto a whole never subject and we never got to answer the actual question given. Another thing we need to work on (as well as myself) is participation! It’s definitely the same people every time giving out the points and talking during class. And as one who doesn’t talk much in class, I do sometimes have the urge of wanting to say something but my points always become taken, so overall, if more voices were heard and new opinions from different people would make the discussions much more effective. Also, a lot of the times, people are just repeating exactly what someone else had said but in a more negative way (if that makes sense). For instance, if we’re having a debate and one person give an opinion, and then after that, another person gives an opinion. The two sides of the story from each person are pretty much the exact same, so I think something we really need to work on is how the question is being answered. I think it’s great that people are throwing around their ideas, but for me sometimes I feel like we’re in a constant wheel, going back to where we had started not really getting anything else out of it.
ReplyDeleteThe Harkness Method was enjoyable today, but there is certainly plenty we can improve upon in order to have more meaningful discussions. First, I think it would be great to get active participation from every single member in the class. This way we can get the full spectrum in terms of views, because everyone sees things differently, and I think it would be great to hear everyone's opinion. For me personally, I think that I should listen attentively to everyone’s comments intently so that my rebuttals are as intelligent and well guided as they can possibly be. Overall, I hope we can use this method again, because I think it brings out the best in everyone’s opinion.
ReplyDeleteThe method that we tried is something that I enjoyed because it encourages participation from all students, though I think there are things that I need to work on, and there are things the entire class can work on. I need to participate more as an individual because this is only a productive exercise if everybody participates. I think that the exercise can be more productive if the topic is set and stayed on; sticking to answering the question is better than straying off topic. Finally, I also think that this exercise should be a way for every student to be able to think and say what the think honestly, and every opinion should be respected and listened to by everybody.
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