Reflection on the Meeting of April 20

 

I will give myself a C for the way that the meeting was run today. The reason why is that I deviated too much from my plan and I planned too much for the meeting.

 

I Splitting the Groups

I did not confirm the members of the different groups. Terrible!

 

II Presentations of CLGs:

My explanations could have been simpler and I think some of the participants are not so clear about how they should contribute to MMCE. Basically, I have to clearly define exactly what I expect them to do.

For example, some groups did not seem to understand that they were supposed to present a country of interest. I thought that this exercise would take around 15 minutes but it took a half-hour and we did not even finish!

 
Choose a country that your group members cound not identify. In the next class please give us some essential information about the country's geography, history, and people. Also, please tell us something about the country that you find interesting.

 

I should have probably given them concrete instructions such as:

 

Another problem was that some of the information appeared to be factually incorrect. I should have asked some members to clarify what they said

- I think that we all need to practice the art of communication which entails

  a) asking the speaker to rephrase his/her statement if you don’t understand

  b) asking the speaker to clarify a statement that is not clear

  c) helping the speaker to clarify a statement

  d) the speaker asking for help to clarify a statement

 

Information is never transmitted effortlessly between listener and speaker. If members are not willing to struggle to take chances and take risks, we will be limited in what we can accomplish.

 

III  Presentation of the Syllabus

Another problem was the syllabus. I spent a lot of time conceiving the syllabus but spoke about it for too long. I did not talk about how we will learn and what we will learn　(Parts IV and V of the syllabus). Next year, I will have to make the syllabus shorter. I think that the overview, concrete goals, and knowledge products will suffice.

 

IV Material World

We did not get to the Material World activity today that could have been a blessing in disguise. I was too skittish today to facilitate that activity well.

 

V Future Issues

-         Give members concrete instructions on what they should contribute to MMCE

-         Have North America and Africa present!

-         No more typos on handouts!

-         Confirm what Aline meant by “Mortality Rate”

-         こだわり means “be crazy for”

-         MMCE members must speak more and JH should speak less!

 

VI Final Comment

Although today’s meeting had its ups and downs, on the whole it was a good experience. One, I now have a better idea how MMCE activities should be planned and I understand the learning styles of the MMCE members better. I predict that we will have more success in the future!