Well! I just had a lesson fail. And it is such an important topic! And I really worked hard on it! And I find the subject so interesting! I am discouraged and feel I will never have the time (and guts) to approach that concept again. The concept is QFT. You can read about it here:
http://hepg.org/hel-home/issues/27_5/helarticle/teaching-students-to-ask-their-own-questions_507
What went wrong?
- There were 100 students in the class, in 20 groups of 4.
- I found 20 interesting things to spark questions.
That is went wrong. Too much! Looking at this list now, I can see so clearly it is just too confusing! Too tempting. I dislike going to The Cheesecake Factory restaurant because of the voluminous menu. I get overwhelmed! If I am honest, I’ll say I got overwhelmed by this list, too, on that day. Even though each group was only supposed to engage with just one item, the list itself buries the idea in a mass of stuff. The students had to negotiate that list. And Amy, Christina and Andrew. 20 groups of sound and video is a lot to manage!
Ugh! I am reminded of a wonderful professor I had in Library School at the UW, Mae Benne. (She was great for a lot of reasons, AND she had been a librarian with Beverly Cleary, so…). She would tell me again and again, ” It is better to have the 3 best resources on a reading list than all the possible good resources.” She must have recognized that part of me that says, “And this! And this!” I also have a tendency to doubt what IS best and want to add more just in case. In my defense, all of these links are the best. And how does one choose between Hogwarts and Machu Picchu?
Back to the drawing board. This lesson needed a good editor.