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Mortimer Adler stated in one of his essays that there are two ways you can own a book just as there are two ways to own a steak. You can purchase the steak and put it into the freezer, so you can claim it as a possession, or you can eat it making it a part of yourself. Mortimer argues that books must be absorbed into your bloodstream to do you any good. I have applied Mortimer's rhetoric to ideas.
Since I have been a member of the Ricks College English department, I have taken Mortimer's comments seriously to get ideas into my bloodstream--thus, into my classroom. I'm afraid I have become notorious for ingesting others ideas, sloshing them around, mixing them together, and coming out with something that will work for me. I suppose it is my nature to utilize established things as opposed to creating new ones because I find myself continually using this approach. I make a better meal combining leftover tidbits into something tasty for supper than starting from scratch with a new main course. As a mother, I made my three girls more attractive dresses from hand-me-downs than starting with new fabric. Since utilizing seems to be my natural talent and this is an idea swap, I am assuming recycling behavior is acceptable at this retreat. I am presenting the combination of two different authors ideas that, in combination, have been wonderfully successful in what I think is imperative in the classroom--critical thinking through interaction with the material and other students.
The first idea comes from Stephen Reid's Purposes and Processes starting on page seven. He describes the value of a pre-reading activity, followed with a first reading activity, and a second reading activity. If I steal his idea of ! ? X wavy line for reader response, change the wavy line to a $ sign, and incorporate it into a Dialectical Journal idea presented by Kay Baker in the March 1993 Impact, I have a wonderful tool for students to use when preparing assigned reading for class discussion. I then require students to bring this Annotated Journal to use in collaborative groups as discussed in Stephen Reid's chapter. While in the groups, I require students to make a post comment on the feelings of the group. This method has to be taught. The first time it is used the collaboration is marginal. The second time is much better, and the last one is terrific. My handout includes copies from the sources of my idea. All I did was slosh them together. The combination works well.