language & interpersonal communication
[supplementing the UMassWiki]
Our first reading assignment is by Seth Gore, The Buzz Buzz Boom.
I have posed some questions to begin to guide students through a process of discovery. Beyond the initial reactions, what more can we learn through careful consideration, asking & answering critical questions, and thinking together about the meaning potentials in any and every act of communication?
- Who is in this story? (Name all the characters)
- What are they doing in this story? (You may read this question as, “What are they doing in this story” or “What are they doing in this story.” Or both.)
- How are they doing that in this story? (“That” being whatever you answered in Q#2 .)
- What have you already learned from this story? (Keep in mind the topic of our course, which is ________________________________________.)
- What does your intuition suggest you can learn more about by thinking for a longer time, more deeply, about this story?
- What questions does the story raise for you?
A total of three sets of questions need to be considered, in addition to this first one, before students draft thoughtful responses. These are listed at the course wiki. The second set involves the possibility of connection between the students as readers, and either/both the author and/or real persons with similar characteristics as the fictional characters in the story. The third set engages theory – what are the different ways a person can interpret the meaningfulness of the story, particularly if we take the interpersonal communication among characters as the point of focus?