I'm much happier with Thursday class. Again a strong discussion, (this class rocks, I don't have to deal with inhibited, disengaged people which is nice) but it seemed to have more form and reach a greater sense of conclusion.
Today I have been doing planning, anticipating next week and posting new material to the coruse web site. Included here are the three formal writing assignments. It's good to get these figured out. Also in my planning process I have now swung from feeling as if I didn't have enough curriculum developed to having the feeling of too much - feeling overwelmed a bit and the task now is to shape it and identify some sort of sequence and layering that maximizes the opportunity for connections and learning. Each day with this class I learn more and am feeling more confident about our direction and purpose.

 
I don't feel I was an especially good teacher in today's class session. There was a lively discussion and some good things came out of it but it felt disjoined. The energy came from the students more than my prompting - not that it is so important that I always be in charge - but I don't feel I was able to ground things, make connections about their insights. This feels partially because of my inexperience in teaching this course and being a little unsure what students would be interested in and find relevant about topic. Well, today I certainly learned alot about that. We did hit on some deep questions about how to reach someone who appears unreachable or unreasonable. It will take some time to unpack these ideas and in the end our results may all be for naught - sometimes you just can't reach someone.

 
Monday's class was nothing special. We did the 1-20 counting game which was fun and then talked (I talked) about course syllabus, website and other details. Not too exciting. We still do not have everyone who is signed up attending and this makes it a little hard to build any momentum. But the students have been great - positive, active and open.
Wednesday we will look into the reading and try to generate a multidimensional view of conflict. The trick of this course, like I say that students are experts in communication, is helping them find the nuances of something they already have alot of experience in. I guess it's find the shades of gray.