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History of Harkness. Harkness refers to a method of teaching that was developed in the 1930s at the Phillips Exeter School in New Hampshire. The philanthropist Edward Harkness challenged Exeter with an offer: he would make a sizable donation of money to the school if they could originate and implement a radically student-centered method of teaching, and then use this method in all classes. Jack Harkness has been listed as one of the Media and drama good articles under the good article criteria.If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.
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Javic Piotr Thane[edit]
How do we deal with spin-off audio material of dubious canon? The Jack audio series recently revealed the character's real name but I don't know if it's worth mentioning in this article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 149.11.108.74 (talk) 15:52, 30 June 2017 (UTC)
- You can mention it in a description of the audio series under the Audio drama section. For example,
In [audio play], Jack's real name is revealed to be Javic Piotr Thane.
DonQuixote (talk) 16:01, 30 June 2017 (UTC)
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IMPLEMENTING HARKNESS DISCUSSION IN AN AP LANGUAGE COURSE
A personal narrative documenting one teacher's experience with teaching students new to the methodJodi Rice, September 2007
Day One - An introduction to a new discussion methodDay Two - How you read and write is just as important as how you speak and listen
Day Three - Preparing a more formal demonstration discussion
Brief interlude - Meet my classroom
Day Four - Introducing discussion tracking
With a fresh new crop of AP Lang students this year, and having had thepractice last year of implementing a Harkness model in my Lang class, Ihope this year to document some of the things that I do in order totrain students to use this model to become more independent leaders oftheir own discussion.
I've mentioned before how crucial this training is to havingstudents be successful in discussion. Too often we throw a discussionout to our students to pick up, and that often means that the moreconfident students take over, the insecure but outgoing students wastetime, the shy students retreat, and the disengaged students furtherdisengage. A good discussion has structure, and students should beconscious of what makes that structure work, whether you are using afull Harkness model, a Socratic seminar, or another model ofdiscussion. Taking the time to instruct students and debrief with themmay seem like taking time away from other aspects of your course, butit will pay itself back in more productive discussions later on.
DAY ONE - An introduction to a new discussion method
First, I let the students know during the course introduction that they will be moreresponsible for good discussion during the course, and that discussionhas a structure that we will be learning throughout the first part ofthe year.
In my first full class with them, we start by reading an article. Itdoesn't really matter what the article is about, although having atopic relevant to the art of communication is helpful. I use an articlecalled 'Not from where you're standing'. The article is about howoften we don't pay attention to what actually is being said, butunderstand the shorthand anyway, which greases the wheels ofcommunication, but is not in fact accurate communication (i.e. 'Do you have the time?' is not the same as 'Please tell me whattime it is.').
The reading itself is done in a method I learned from Larry Scanlon,called by him 'ghost reading'. I explain this method to the studentsbefore I start: I begin reading the passage; at a certain, fairlyarbitrary point, I simply stop reading. Anyone who wants to pick upthen does, reads until she wants to stop, then stops. The next personpicks up from there, and so on until the article is finished. There areno other rules, other than if two people pick up at the same time, theymust figure out who will continue. There is no rule like 'everyone mustread once before someone can read twice'.
After the reading, we debrief two things: the style of reading, and thecontent. In the first debrief, I ask students what it felt like to usethat method of reading. We make observations about what happened -- didanyone not read, did anyone read more than once, were there anypatterns, long pauses. Did the pauses create anxiety? Did this methodcreate more or less anxiety than other methods (teacher calling onpeople, etc.)? How alert did the students have to be? What role didbody language play? What happened when two people tried to speak at thesame time? And so on.
In the second debrief, I ask students to pair up and spend 5 minutestalking about the article using two focus questions: What does thisarticle reveal about the nature of communication? What do you considerto be important concerns about the ways in which we communicate? After5 minutes are up, I ask them to share with the table -- but I AM NOTGOING TO CALL ON THE SPEAKERS. They must figure out for themselves whowill speak, and use the same kind of strategies they used during thereading to know when to do so.
We discuss the article this way for about 5 more minutes, and then wedebrief again -- once again about the effect of this particular kind ofdiscussion, without my intervention. During the discussion, I have beentaking notes about points I want to raise in the debrief, and NOTlooking at the speakers. I ask them things like whether they felt theneed to look to me for confirmation of what they were saying, ratherthan make that connection with the other members of the discussion. Wetalk some more about body language, about language cues that makeconnections between points, or that invite others in, or that confirmothers' ideas. We evaluate whether any questions were asked. Weconsider whether agreement is the only way to make connections betweenpoints.
I then ask them to take notes about the most important points aboutdiscussion strategies as I summarize and list them. Then I give them 5minutes at the end of class to choose 2 and write about them for their own reference (Iwill ask them to go back to these notes later on in order to reflect ontheir progress).
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DAY TWO - How you read and write is just as important as how you speak and listen
Buildingdiscussion skills isn't just about building speaking skills. It's alsoabout giving students the tools to bring discussion matter to thetable. To this end, I spend a good deal of time on annotation andfocused analysis skills with them.
I'm lucky in that theteachers of the Grade 10 classes that feed into my Lang class spendtime throughout that year teaching annotation. The last book they studyin that year is Pride and Prejudice, and the teachers model anddirectly instruct a ton of annotation strategies for comprehension,vocabulary, character indexing, and so on. I capitalize on theirknowledge, but I let them know that annotation is one of the skills Iexpect as part of their daily preparation for class. 'In this class,' Itell them, 'read' is synonymous with 'read and annotate'.'
Their homework for today was to read the website 'How to Mark a Book'and to read (and annotate) E. B. White's essay 'Once More to the Lake'.There's really no need to use this particular essay; I use it becauseit's nostalgic for the author's childhood summers, and the students arejust returning to school, already nostalgic for their own. Also, Whiteis a consummate stylist, his personal narrative is layered, hasfamiliar memoir elements (they also studied memoirs last year), andfeeds nicely into our first major essay, which is also a personal essay.
Istart the class by asking them about their own strategies forannotation. For this discussion, I go back to the familiar format ofcalling on them when they raise their hands -- they've had enough forthe time being of trying out the new method, and we'll come back to itlater. They share their strategies -- all of which are valuable, andvariable, depending on the nature of the student. I tell them that Iwill never dictate to them how to annotate, because they mustfind something that will work for them. Instead, I will sometimes tellthem what to annotate, and, in general, expect them to annotate as muchas possible. (I do warn those who like colour-coding that on the APexam, no coloured pencils, markers, or highlighters are allowed, sothey may want to find alternative strategies.)
Then we talkabout the website. What surprised them about his discussion ofannotation? What seemed to them to be a good idea? What did they thinkof the image of his annotated page?
Next: pick up your pens andpencils, your highlighters and post-it notes... we're going to walkthrough how I would annotate the first paragraph of White's essay! Iread aloud, and ask them to shadow my annotation. (Note: some people dothis kind of thing on an overhead, but I find that when you do that,students pay less attention to what you're saying and spend more timetrying to copy exactly how you're annotating, down to the colours youuse. So instead I just ask them to follow along on their page,listening carefully and using their own annotation strategies as theysee fit.) I vocalize each and every annotation as I read. I go over theparagraph twice. I talk about circling, underlining, connecting, what Ilike, what catches my eye, why, what I'm writing in the margins, myprocess of finding the words I want to describe what I see...
Bythe end of just that first paragraph, they have so many annotations onthe page you can barely see the original text! I tell them to take abreath, sit back, and look that over. Compare it to the image of theannotated page on the website. Now, I have practice in annotating andcommenting on texts, so it's not really surprising that I can mark atext up to that degree. But I don't expect them to start out that way.However, if each person were to bring one different point to talkabout, and we got to discussing and taking notes of everything that'ssaid, it's entirely plausible that the collective annotation would bedense indeed! The students agree that this is much more reassuring thanthe expectation of having a densely-annotated page on their own rightoff the bat.
I give them five minutes to annotate the second paragraph individually.Then, in pairs, they compare notes, adding to their annotations.Already their pages are looking nicely marked up. We then spend sometime discussing how to turn those annotations into nicely-composedsentences (using a model I construct, letting them emulate in theirpairs based on their annotations, then workshopping a few examples upon the board/screen).
The process of annotating the text is acrucial one when teaching students the expectations for discussion.Students must understand that what they see in the text willform the foundation of the discussion itself, but that unless theybring those observations to the table, the discussion will falter, orrevert to depending on a teacher-based interpretation or Socraticquestioning session. Only this level of engagement with the text willallow them to come up with points for discussion, questions forclarification or deeper investigation, and a familiarity with the textwhen called upon to support their assertions. Practice withtransforming their observations into actual points is the next level,which we will continue to work on. Following that is the ability tostand up to the teachers' challenges to their assertions, using thetext, and then the ability to challenge one another's assertions ontheir own -- constructively, of course.
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DAY THREE - Preparing a more formal demonstration discussion
Untilnow, much of the introduction to this method of discussion has beeninformal, and fairly tentative. As we move forward with some of thematerials the students have prepared over the summer, though, I will beexpecting them to take control of a full-fledged discussion, which Iwill chart and they will observe and evaluate for themselves.
Part of the summer assignment involved selecting two 'literary' memoirs from a list of four: On Writing by Stephen King; Reading Lolita In Tehran by Azar Nafisi; Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell; and The Autobiography of Malcolm Xby Malcolm X and Alex Haley. All I required of them while they read wasto keep an eye out for places in the text where the author or otherpeople encounter increasing awareness or self-awareness, and to markthem for later reference. Now that they're back in school, I find outwho has read what, put them into groups of approximately 4 or 5 aroundeach book, and give them more specific instructions: they are to focuson their assigned book, and find and bring to class two or threepassages of approx 2-4 pages long, in which the author writes about hisor her increasing awareness of voice, audience, him or herself as acreator or audience with a purpose, or the importance of language,reading, writing and/or communication.
Once in class, they workin their small groups: they share their passage choices and narrow themdown to one passage for the group. In cases where I have two groupsfocused on any given book, the different groups need to ensure thatthey are all choosing different passages. Once the passages areselected, each group provides me with a photocopy of their passage,making sure it is clean of any annotations. Each student in the classwill get a package that contains copies of ALL the group's passages.Each student is to read and annotate the entirety of that package.
Thepackages form the basis for formal discussions that I set up over thecourse of about two upcoming classes. I'll lay out the framework here,though, so that you can see where I'm headed with it.
Eachdiscussion lasts approximately 15-20 minutes, and is followed by aclass debrief. The discussion groups themselves are composed of thecore 'discussion leader' group, who has chosen the passage under discussion for that session, plus 4 or 5 additional participants,chosen from amongst the rest of the class. I don't reveal who thoseparticipants are until the day of the discussion, so each student mustprepare as though she is to be a part of the discussion.
Therest of the students -- those who are not directly participating --have roles assigned to them when they arrive in class, also. Some trackthe course of the entire discussion, using a variety of Harknesstracking sheets I acquired from the Exeter Humanities Institute (Iexplain to them how each is used, and they choose which they want touse, making sure that different ones are used by each student). Otherstrack individual students using a fishbowl tracking sheet, alsosomething I adapted from an EHI document. The fishbowl tracking sheetsallow observing students to provide individualized feedback to thediscussion members in a private way, while the other sheets allow amore global type of feedback. I also track the discussion as a whole,and run the debrief at the end of each discussion. Some of the trackingsheets may be found here and here.
Thediscussion leaders are responsible for making sure the discussion runssmoothly, but they are not to dominate the discussion. On the contrary,they must make sure that everyone gets a chance to contribute, and thatthe discussion remains organic, yet relevant and focused. I tell themthat to an outsider, it should appear as though there is no differencebetween the discussion leaders and the other participants. Becauseeveryone has prepared the same passage, and the focus is on thatpassage, it should make no difference if someone has read the entirebook while someone else hasn't. Everyone can get into the discussion tothe same degree.
Note: Last year I had one student -- a very good one -- who, early on, forgot toprepare for the discussion she was in charge of. I required her toparticipate regardless. At the end of the discussion, during thedebrief, I asked her how it felt to be unpreparedand still required to participate. She said she was able to pick up onsome things and thus contribute a little bit, but she felt reallyregretful that she hadn't been prepared, because everyone else was soengaged and she felt left out. Seems a no-brainer to us teachers, butfor a student to articulate this understanding is significant. The morestudents come to realize this important connection between meaningfulpreparation and active learning and come face-to-face with it throughexperience and the instruction/debriefing process central to learninggood discussion technique, the more they internalize it and drivethemselves to do it IN ORDER to have fun, stimulating classtime -- acarrot, rather than a stick.
I will write more about these formal discussions (I call themRound Tables) fit into the overall process in a later entry. My actualRound Tables are scheduled for the first week of October (right now itis September 15). September for me tends to get broken up by variousabsences (mine, for the Jewish High Holidays; the students', because oftheir roles as leaders in several beginning-of-year outdoor edprograms), making it hard to develop groupwork consistently untileveryone is back in class for good.
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My classroom: The result of a parent-association curriculum-materials grant:
DAY FOUR - Introducing discussion tracking
Trackinga Harkness discussion serves several purposes. For one, it gives thestudents a strong visual representation of many important principles,like equal participation, types of contributions, patterns in speakingorder, length of 'stage time', etc. It can also be a useful tool for ateacher trying to gauge how well students are adapting to the process,and whether there are gaps or students who are dominating thediscussion or falling through the cracks of it, so that such issues canbe addressed either with the class as a whole or individually withthose students.
The classic Harkness diagram is the one you can find in this article, (with pen marks in blue). The ovalrepresents the table, with the participants seated around it, and linesextend from each participant to others around the table in an evendistribution. Obviously, a real discussion won't look like this, butit's the ideal. There are other ways of charting the discussions -- you can develop whatever works for you.
First, though, I formally outlined my expectations for class discussions.I have to say, this was definitely one of the most boring ten minutesI've had so far in this class. Too much of me talking! But it's a quickway to summarize and make explicit some of the things I have beentalking about and modeling over the last few classes.
Once wehave those clear, I show them some sample charts, representing pastclasses. The oval chart I show them is probably indicative of a'B'-graded discussion. I don't tell them that, though. Instead, I askthem for their observations, and they point out things like the lack ofparticipation of one member, the fact that much of the discussion isclustered on one half of the oval, that most, but not all students madepage references to support their points. Explaining that a grade for adiscussion would be based not on individual achievement, but oncollective achievement, I asked them whether they thought thisdiscussion was an 'A'. Universally, they decided that it wasn't. 'It'sgood, but it's not ideal,' explained one student. I asked them whatthey'd rate a 'good', then -- a 'B', apparently. 'C' got described as'could be good if...', and we had to find a more reasonable descriptorfor a 'D' than 'miserable failure.' We settled on 'definitely lackingsomething.'
After talking about the oval, we talked about acouple of the other charts -- what they can and cannot show,observations and criticisms and assumptions about the discussions theyshowed. Then I told them that we would be having a discussion... andthat four intrepid volunteers would be charting it. Two eagerlyvolunteered, while two more followed suit after thinking about it for amoment: would they get more out of participating, or charting? Did thecharts look too daunting? There was a bit of laughter around the tableas the students commented on how complicated it all looked. But Ireassured them that whatever method they found worked for charting,they should use. It would quickly become clear to them just what theycould manage.
The class had been asked to read a four-page scene from Saint Joan,so they had some material prepared. I participated in the discussion,which I don't usually do, but I wanted to model some strategies,including taking notes and requesting page references. I probably onlyspoke about three times, though. The rest of the discussion was handledby the students, who, once they got going, didn't want to stop, evenwhen I tried a couple of strategies for bringing the discussion to aclose. For example, after a small lull, I asked if anyone would like tosummarize the main points of the discussion. That summary remindedsomeone of a point they wanted to bring up, and the discussion pickedup again. We didn't have a ton of time for debrief.
Butdebrief is one of the crucial steps, so I ended up forcing a close tothe discussion to give the four observers time to give theirobservations. Some brief comments of note:
- there were some definite 'hubs' of conversation -- people around whom the discussion often centred
- therewere a couple of students who had trouble getting in on the discussionand had some false starts and times when they were passed over
- only one student challenged the interpretation that had gained initial currency around the table
- therewas a lot of repetition where people agreed with one another or gave asimilar interpretation worded differently, but didn't necessarily sayanything new
- the students who sat out were frustrated by not being able to join in
- thestudents who sat out also noticed things (the things they noticedabove) that they hadn't noticed when they were paying more attention towhat they wanted to say
Andthat last point is part of the reason why the debrief is so important.We will have more of these 'training' discussions over the next coupleof weeks, and each will give the students the opportunity tointernalize strategies that move them from where they are now --hovering between a 'C' and a 'B' -- to where they want to be -- theideal 'A' discussion.
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* * *
A video in which a teacher (not me) explains Harkness learning to her class.
Excerpted from 'Harkness table' at Wikipedia:
TheHarkness table refers to a style of teaching wherein students sit at alarge, circular table with their teachers, in use at many Americanboarding schools and colleges. It encourages classes to be held in adiscoursive manner. The name for the method comes from the oil magnateand philanthropist Edward Harkness, who presented the schools with amonetary gift in 1930. He described its use as follows:
What I have in mind is [a classroom] where [students] could sitaround a table with a teacher who would talk with them and instructthem by a sort of tutorial or conference method, where [each student]would feel encouraged to speak up. This would be a real revolution inmethods.Harkness tables are usedmost notably by Phillips Exeter Academy, which highlights the tables'use in its curriculum on its website, as well as other Americanindependent schools, [. . .]
Harkness learning can vary [. . .] There aregeneral principles and goals, however, that go along with this method.The main goal is to encourage students to come up with ideas of theirown and learn good reasoning and discussion skills. Depending on his orher style, the teacher may interact very little, interjecting only toguide the discussion.
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