We decided that rather than a final exam we’re going to do presentations of the literature reviews. They’ll break into two separate groups (a mix of topics) and share for 10 minutes and discuss for 4. They’ll also upload their abstracts to the course wiki so that they can see what others have written.

They also decided on the grading scheme. They will get an A in the course as long as they complete all the assignments. I have to post what they’ve done on Blackboard (haven’t done that yet). They will also reflect on their learning in the last chapbook entry and will hand in their chapbooks on the last day of class. That won’t give me time to read and comment. I’ll just be able to read. I think that’s ok. I don’t have to comment on everything.

I had alloted only 15 minutes to discuss the Thompson article (Tiffany, Friend of People of Color), but our conversation went on for a long time. This group has good inquiring minds. We didn’t get to the Young book. Next week.

We ended with a brief sharing of their dialect study. I want to do more with that next semester. Not just accents, but also grammatical and lexical differences.

Next week we’re also going to workshop the personal narrative. I wanted to take them to the Teen Empowerment presentation at 6:30, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. There’s just too much to do. The strange thing is, class is almost over. Between me being gone for AERA and them attending capstone night, thenn two nights of presentations (personal narratives, literature reviews) there are many meeting nights left.

Crazy. The semester went really fast.

There is much I want to change in the course to make it work for me, but in hindsight, I’m glad I did it this way. It helped me to see what does and doesn’t work for me. It also gave me a greater appreciation of what a great group of students I have. They’ve really rolled with things.