A Typical Class with Student-Selected Texts

If you’re used to organizing class around the discussion of an assigned text, it can be hard to imagine what you would do in a class in which everyone is reading something different. Below are some examples of things I do with a full class in my courses, organized according to particular moments in the semester. If you find strategies that work in your courses and want to include them here, please get in touch!

At the start of the semester

Before the class begins, I send students an e-mail introducing myself and explaining how the first assignment will work. This lays the groundwork for the first class meeting:

I’m excited to meet with you in Harugari Hall next week when our class officially begins. For most of this course, you will be reading stories you’ve never read before. But we’re not going to do that right away. As we get started, you’re going to select a story that you’ve already read (or watched or played)–one that prompted a memorable experience. I’m writing now to give you a heads up about our first assignment because there might be a book, film, video game, or album that you want to track down before heading to campus. You don’t need to decide now what you’ll use, but I encourage you to think about it and come to campus with some options that might work. You will need to be able to quote from the thing you choose to meet the requirements for this assignment. Please let me know if you have any questions!

• As students introduce themselves during the first class meeting, I invite them to share whatever they feel comfortable sharing about one of the stories they might use for the first assignment. Some might not want to share much and that’s okay.
• During the second class meeting, students are invited during class to look through the glossaries and try to identify at least one experience that they’ve had with a creative work and one technology they’ve encountered in a creative work. I invite students to share an experience they’d like to have and a technology they’d like to encounter.
• Sometime in the first week or so (usually after I introduce the idea of “the station”), I devote class time to helping students apply for a library card or decide what bookstore they plan to use to purchase the things they want to read during the semester. In an ideal world, this activity is accompanied by a trip to a local public library so students can finalize the sign-up process and learn how they can use online apps like hoopla or libby to access books during the semester.

When students have started reading, but haven’t yet submitted a draft

• Students arrive and open their laptops to add to our shared document one feature (quotation or paraphrase) from the creative work they have selected and, if they want, an experience they had with the creative work.
• All students are invited to bring their examples into class conversation, collaborating with classmates to understand the complexities of the focus for the day (“was your experience prompted by the way your story was narrated ?” or “what is allowed and what isn’t allowed in the storyworld you’re encountering?”).
• Before the end of class, students open their devices and complete a discussion reflection to post on our course website (setting it to private or sharing with classmates).

When students have just drafted a post

• Students arrive and open their laptops to add to our shared document one feature (quotation or paraphrase) from the creative work they have selected. This might be the same one they added the previous class, but it might also be something new or revised.
• Devices are put away.
• Two students share their full draft with the class in a revision workshop. I like to determine the two students in advance, usually by writing specific students and asking if they’d be willing to workshop their draft. Though they’re hesitant to volunteer, they’re often willing if I explain how much the class will benefit from seeing their approach to the assignment.
• All students are invited to bring their examples into the discussion (accessed through the shared document since devices are still away).
• Before the end of class, students open their devices and complete a discussion reflection to post on our course website (setting it to private or sharing with classmates).

When students have started revising their post but it isn’t yet submitted

• Students arrive and open their laptops to add at least one story-experience-technology-feature grouping from their draft to our shared spreadsheet. This often prompts questions from students who hadn’t yet selected a specific experience or technology term. I leave more time for this activity, talking directly with students who haven’t added something to the shared spreadsheet. I also ask students to take note of something in the spreadsheet they’d like to bring into discussion and flag it with a comment.
• Devices are put away.
• I show students how to filter the spreadsheet and sort by experience terms and technology terms for discussion.
• All students are invited to share their thoughts about the process of classifying experiences and isolating technologies at work in their stories. I draw on the comments if students are hesitant to speak.
• Before the end of class, students open their devices and complete a discussion reflection to post on our course website (setting it to private or sharing with classmates).

When students have completed a creative assignment

• Students arrive with a draft of the creative activity they’ve started in advance. They open their laptops to add to our shared document information about the specific narrative technology (reality shifter, I voice, plot twist, etc.) they’ve decided to experiment with and their goals.
• Devices are put away.
• Students bring their ideas into a full-group discussion about the challenges of the creative activity.
• Students work in pairs to test what they’ve drafted.
• Volunteers have an opportunity to share sections of their draft with the full class in a revision workshop.
• Before the end of class, students open their devices and complete a discussion reflection to post on our course website (setting it to private or sharing with classmates).

When students have gotten feedback on their post

• Students arrive and open their laptops to revise the story-experience-technology-feature groupings they’ve added to our shared spreadsheet. I often give significant time for this because they now have my feedback on the classification decisions they made in their post and have lots to consider.
• Devices are put away.
• Students bring their experiences into a full-group discussion about the challenges of classifying their experiences with creative works.
• WonderCat “Enter an Experience” demo, inviting students to do this when they’re ready.
• Class discussion about the experiences, technologies, genres, authors, and periods students want to experience for the next assignment.
• Guided exploration of WonderCat, WorldCat, and other non-proprietary discovery tools.
• Before the end of class, students open their devices and complete a discussion reflection to post on our course website (setting it to private or sharing with classmates).