Reflection on Winter 2009 - AASP (fall/winter both)

I taught Advanced Academic Speaking for the first time this year and worked as coordinator at the same time. Fall term is basically 8 classes of presentation skills and Winter term is 8 classes of discussion and debate skills.

Fall Term AASP

What was good?

• My class rocked! The traditional syllabus was largely usable with some good improvements. The group presentation project gives the course a sense of purpose and intensity. In only 8 class meetings, we need to form groups, choose topics, teach outlining skills, teach presentation skills, do rehearsals, do the final presentations for two classes, and do some reflection and self-analysis. It is a very busy class, but very rewarding. I think almost all of my students liked how it went, with only some frustration about putting together a research-based presentation as a team with so few meetings.
  
• One minute speeches each week help students get used to being on their feet and communicating without any notes. The last one of the one-minute speeches gets videod for a self-analysis, which the students seemed to find very beneficial.
  
• The "no reading" rule for the final presentation was important. Most groups had good presentation styles, even if their content was not strong.
• Got videos of all of the group presentations and distributed them on the net via email links.

What needs work?

• The course is too short for a fully researched, thesis based presentation and I don't want my students using up the limited amount of energy they can spare for this lab course digging up detailed research. The presentation topic/content needs a template or a few templates that can be followed. This idea came up from veteran teachers of this course, but I didn't follow through due to a lack of time and just let my students fight it out with "Choose any topic you like". I propose a survey based presentation focusing on one aspect of ICU life. No library research should be required. Coordinators should make a sample with one or two focused but meaningful research question such as "What are ICU students' perceptions of the SEA program? How can it be improved?" That will lead to a thesis and an outline that describes and analyzes the data obtained from interviews.
• Systems for dealing with delinquent group members are needed.
• A clear breakdown of grading would be nice so that students know what is expected.
  
• Getting OYR students or other guests (students from other AASP sections?) to listen to the presentations or some other "audience" system (put on web?) is needed to make the presentation an authentic experience. Making a video and making the room presentation face-to-face should BOTH be required.
  
• Making the videotaping a standard part of the curriculum, with a system that is doable for teachers of all tech proficiencies, and making sure students do self-analyses. We want students to build confidence by seeing themselves improve step by step in their oral communication ability, like a portfolio.
• Getting feedback from students. Need to pass out paper questionnaires on the final class - web based feedback through email doesn't get enough response (Don't they check their emails?)
• Phrases, skills, more web-based materials, hopefully for a unified curriculum used by all teachers.
• Going to individualized presentations is also one possible direction.
  

Winter Term AASP

What was good?

• Homework was very light-probably just right for a CS class, which is a lab class and technically is supposed to have less than one hour of preparation for each class. I am absolutely sure that no student can complain of having too much homework in that class. Just a few worksheets for preparing a short opinion about a bioethics issue or a short dialogue to think about how to facilitate a discussion.
• Many students mentioned that the course supported their efforts in ARW well. The P&Ds we did in class helped them get ready for their presentations in Winter Project.
  
• P&Ds are an excellent way to maximize speaking time (15 minutes per student for presenting/facilitating, 30 minutes for participating, 15 minutes for observing a peer to give feedback). No student can say they didn't get enough speaking time in AASP.
• Debates were very popular with my class. They were being challenged, obviously needed the practice, and many of them requested that we spend more time for debating, which is excellent practice for critical thinking and deserves a bigger position in the ELP curriculum. All students should be able to see issues in terms of pros/cons, arguments for/against a proposition (thesis).

What needs work?

• With the current P&D based class curriculum, there is little time built in for the teacher to demonstrate useful phrases and oral communication skills. A least a little bit of this should be built in to each class. Most lessons already have a list of useful phrases, so it is just a matter of deciding what the teacher should do with them. Ideally....there should be a short video that shows the phrase or skill in action and it should be available on the web. Easier said than done. Need to put together a team of teachers to do it week by week.
  
• Need a system for teachers to give individual support/coaching. With P&Ds, it is easy for the teacher to end up with nothing meaningful to do--reading a book in front or just hovering meaninglessly from group to group. Instead, the teacher should work on a set schedule to shadow the P&D of each student at least once, purely for developmental purposes (not evaluative). The problem is the logistics of such a system. If a teacher sits through 4 P&Ds per hour, it will take 5 classes to shadow a class of 20. If the term only has 8 classes, it won't work. So...either shorten the P&D times to 10 minutes, which will allow 6 shadowings (groups of 6?) and get things done in 3~4 classes...but the only problem is that 10 minute P&Ds are not really satisfactory discussions...Hmm...but the focus is presenting/facilitating/participating, so maybe it is OK. The teacher will a RECORDER as well, using the new VADO - This will facilitate self-evaluation early in the term.
• Lesson 1 - Overview, Lessons 2,3,4,5 practice P&Ds (with instructor or peer shadowing), Lesson 6 rehearsal, Lesson 7 final eval, Lesson 8 -reflection/analysis.
  
• Topics should be debate-like. In other words, the facilitator is given a Proposition Card by the teacher such as "Surrogacy should be legal in Japan" or "The death penalty should be abolished in Japan"and then, after a few minutes preparation, gives a little background (a sheet is given), takes a position, and starts a discussion. In the discussion, the participants should split into pre-agreed sides and go at each other. The facilitator should try to mediate? or defend the position? Advanced preparation should not be needed. But...the problem with that is 10 minutes is not a satisfying debate time. Hmm...more thought is needed on this. How can debate be built into the class with good cyclic, weekly experience and practice. Not preparing for a big debate, but doing small size debates over and over.
  
• More discussion on this in the summer...