It has been a crazy couple of weeks, most of it good but not all. I like the material on Ethics and Deb Tannen and how that went over. These seemed liked valuable experiences for the students and ones that I will repeat in the future. The Negotiation Paper was a basically a bomb. Only half have turned it in and of those only a couple really understood the assignment. Setting it up to run over vacation was a mistake (unless, perhaps, it were due the day we returned). However, no one used this opportunity to make it happen and seemed to lose the point of the assignment with the interruption. I need to make this better next time. I hope that the semester ends well. A couple of people are in the hole and it doesn't look that hopefully. But I have been surprised before and there are currently several who have been on shakey ground that have recovered effectively.

 
Well, we are heading down the home stretch. The Collaborative Negotiation Process paper is the next big thing. I like how this works and hope that the students think so also. I think I have some good lead-in materials for the students.

Having people go to the date rape program worked out okay as well. There was a range of reactions, some avoidance of the whole idea, some difficulty with the personal aspects of it, and everything inbetween. It served its purpose I think.

 
Boy, did I blow this. Never, never have I had test results like this. - 8 A's and 3B's (and two test to grade and another to be finished). Half of the A's were over 100%. This is good, I guess, but I am left to wonder. It was the extra credit that set the scale off. The grades without the extra credit were more midrange, no big problems but no off the scale. I can't tell if there is anything wrong here or is it all good. I will ask the students and see if they feel anything is amiss.

This unpredicted results brings forth a seed of insecurity about how the course is going. I have been very happy with it, as far as how it is working for me. For me, it is running much smoother than last time. It feels richer, more integrated and effective. However, this is about me, and I have been afraid that the course is too much about me. I talk too much. Sure there are interactive activities and these help but I can't really gauge how the students are liking it. I haven't asked them enough or involved them in creating a direction for the course. It seems as if they might have been expecting something different, not that they are complaining, but they might just be going along with the ride because frankly what are their alternatives. Maybe this is not the course that I thought it was. For one thing, I have not really built in enough - hardly any - reflection. No personal writing and connection making. The reflection is with the case studies or with the papers and these are either artificial situations or formulaic. What about them? How have I missed this? Now I don't feel so good about how it is going. I guess my standards are too high or even unreasonable. I want the course to make a difference in someone's life. Is this the case now? And why is this so important to me?

 
Well, we did the Couples in Communication stuff and as I watched the students watching it, it seemed as if it was engaging them. Sure some of it is hokey but I hope I was able to point out some pieces of it that might be useful for them. At least for them to understand intellectually. I really have been enjoying their overall enthusiasm lately and this motivates me to work harder.

Coming up I am thinking of actually reducing some reading and dropping one writing assignment. In large part because of the pace of this semester has allow for more depth and emaphasis. This leaves some of the upcoming work redundant. I think they are getting it and there is no need to pile on. Let's keep up the quality and reduce the quantity. Hope this works. Look for more thoughts about this later.

 
Fun doing "Win As Much As You Can" activity. This often makes for an interesting class.

And now we move to less conceptualizing toward more techniques of conflict resolution. Plus another test on the horizon.

It's so facinating to see how these ideas challenge the student's models of how interpersonal relationships work - and challenge me, too. I have encouraged them to be feisty and not to swallow anything that doesn't feel right to them. My goal is for us to wressle with the ideas and the techniques, not to simply relate to them on an intellectual level. I am really pleased with how they are critically thinking about things and starting to see the complexity of this topic. On the surface this course can appear rather simplistic (and could be taught this way, with, I think, poor results) but there is a lot of depth to be mined here. That's our goal, take an awareness of interpersonal relationships and communication to new levels of insight and behavior. Is this happening? I think so, but it's tricky to measure (and therefore grade).

 
Wow, the Ultimatum Game rocks. That worked better than I had hoped and seemed to serve as a way to pull the class together more (which is something that has been that has been worrying me).
I was somewhat surprised by the relatively lackluster response to the CRIP paper. Only a few people seemed to get it and profit from it. Partially this is an overreaction on my part because so many of them have come in late. However, as I looked at them more I think there are some good things to take away from them. Especially about the difficulties people had with writing about the "process" because there was no process. This is key because that is what this course is about, thinking of having a process, even it feels awkward and counterintuitive.

 
Been an okay week. I really like the CRIP approach and think that we got some good mileage out of it. There are still some problems with students being preoccupied with their own issues around conflict or that much of what we are doing is or feels like common sense. I was a little disappointed in how I set up the Jack and the Giant role-play. Some parts of it worked well such as having them work in small groups. But by setting up the different styles and not getting the arbitrators a clear role created some awkwardness. The students were good, very willing to try it out. But I am a little unhappy with myself. It should have worked better. I have found myself not feeling very well this week. Not a big deal, sore throat and headache, but this seems enough to throw me off. I didn't feel sharp and didn't anticipate and work things out as well as I could. It's wasn't bad but it felt somewhat like a missed opportunity. The vacation is coming at a good time to recharge.