1001 Tales update: Scaffolding the Workshop, Making it Real

More education. Less schooliness.

1001 Tales update: Scaffolding the Workshop, Making it Real

Collaboration is wonderful. Chris and I podcasted a brainstorm last week about ways to improve the peer feedback in the 1001 Flat World Tales project–and make it learner-managed instead of teacher-managed–and we came up with (and quickly implemented) a four-column table on the wiki with these headings:

1. “Feedback Stars”: exemplary critics (photo source)

2. “Too Nice to Be Helpful”: the “Great job!!!” kind of “contributor.” (photo source)

3. “This Felt Mean”: for those who think tact is something used to mount maps on walls. (I actually had a student write “feedback” to a complete stranger from another country to the effect of, “After reading your story, I wanted to grind you into little balls of meat.” Interesting thing was, the student was just trying to be witty. So he’s living and learning.) (photo source)

4. “Hellooo? Where’s your feedback?”: I love this one. It says it all. You know the type. Students who hit this column 3 times will be “fired” from the project. Better they lose their first job over PlayStation now than later. (photo source)

–Learners simply enter the names of any peer-collaborator who falls within any of these categories.

We also entered a table called the “Writers Hall of Fame.” Since 130 students are writing on the wiki, and reading and critiquing each other weekly in rotating cycles, their fingers are closer to the pulse of this project than ours. So we hope to see them placing names (with links) to the exemplary writers in the table, so other students can learn how great writing at their age-level can be. We’re only into the second revision so far, and already there are some pretty impressive literary talents emerging from this group of young writers.

Finally, we’re putting out calls for participating students to interview for positions on the student editorial board that will select stories from the project for publication in the 1001 Flat World Tales “blook”–and any other publication formats that might emerge as this project continues to grow. They will do what all publishers do: sit around a (virtual, Skype) table and reach consensus on which stories merit publication.

There’s more to share, but it’s late. More later. (And apologies to the photographers on Flickr. I’ll try to find the credits and add them later.–Update: credits posted under photos.)

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