Blog Topic #6 Reviewing the Tape

The participation of the boys was varied this time.  Some hands shot up immediately and eagerly participated the whole time, while there were a few that we did not hear from at all.  All boys sat quietly, though, and listened to one another.

Right away the boys noticed that the picture was about a game about to be cancelled by rain.  I thought it was interesting that it wasn't until about half way through the discussion that someone actually identified the three central figures as umpires.  There was a fair amount of discussion about what was going on with the figures just behind the umpires and others noticed more players in the distance, although, rather than describing them as far away, they described them as small.

There wasn't much interaction among the boys in terms of linking, agreeing, or disagreeing this time around.  Most boys just offered their own observations independently of others.  Toward the end, one student identified the protective equipment that had previously been identified as perhaps a potato chip or a pork chop.  Reactions from the crowd seemed to indicate corroboration with this observation.

One thing I learned from facilitating this lesson, is to take all comments seriously with neutrality.  When the boys began identifying what to me was clearly baseball equipment as potato chips and porkchops, I was tempted to assume that they were just goofing around.  But upon watching the video, I think there was more sincerity in their uncertainty about those objects than I realized.  And they did succeed at providing visual evidence for their assertions, so fair enough, I guess.

I think I stuck to the question format fairly successfully.  I don't usually have too much trouble with that aspect of the method.  Watching myself on video, though, I can see the subtleties in my responses and my paraphrasing and how much of an impact that can have on the discussion.

I was surprised that I felt more nervous in front of the students than I have practicing with my peers.  I feel more pressure to really get it right for the boys than I do when with my fellow practitioners in training.  I was also surprised that some of the comments that seemed silly and off the wall were really more sincere than I realized.  I'm learning to follow their lead, and not the other way around.

I want to continue to work on my neutrality and not give the impression that some answers are more right than others.  I think I can achieve this by keeping an open mind.