October 26

Tonight we reviewed what McAndrew & Reigstad had to say about body language. After listing common features of body language on the board (gestures, posture, facial expression, distance and etc) we developed some lists of the particular features of body language that can indicate comfort or discomfort. As we made this list we noted that the same feature - for example knit brows, or direct eye contact - can have different interpretations depending on the other cues it is associated with. Knit brows can mean anger or confusion; and direct eye contact can indicate engagement - but it is also associated with dominance.

After listing features of body language that might connect to being comfortable - we posed a research project where a tutor might be examining whether or how direct v indirect tutoring methods affected student comfort levels (and the success of the session). We made a list of features to look for to describe whether the coach was using directive or nondirective strategies. For directive, we listed that the coach might talk more (both more "turns" and longer talk), that the coach's talk might contain "you" statements, or imperatives (such as "do this"), and so on. Laura (thank you Laura!) then volunteered (sort of) tutor me in a mock session.

I played the role of a student who was extremely uncomfortable with non-directive methods. I needed LOTS of support, and could not/would not respond to open-ended questioning. Only when Laura provided part of the language/idea was I able to respond. You took notes - and hopefully you noted specific features of our body language (NOT whether we were comfortable or uncomfortable - but whether we were looking at each other, who spoke and for how long, who controlled/initiated conversation - and how the student responded in terms of body language and talk). We then discussed your notes - and how we might further refine our research question in light of observations from this session. We considered the possibility that it was not always lack of domain knowledge that made students uncomfortable with nondirective methods, but rather the demand to answer a question they had not yet thought through. In other words - they chose NOT to think out loud and risk saying something they were not yet ready to say. We might observe future sessions with this tentative, more focused hypothesis in mind - and see what they might add to our ideas.

You then did some writing to plan how you might take notes for your unfolding/in-process ideas about your projects. In this writing you stated your (tentative) focus; made a list of what you would need to observe to explore your idea; and then listed specific features/actions/behaviors that would serve as evidence of what you are observing. For example, if you wanted to observe how goal setting in the "first five minutes" affects the outcome of the session you would need to identify how goals are set - you would need to notice who introduced the goal that was actually worked on; whether it was introduced with or without prompting by the coach; the clarity of the goal; whether & how much the goal changed; the degree to which it was worked on - etc. AND you would need measures of "effectivenss" - probably including what the student's body indicated about "satisfaction" along with a completed student feedback form for the session.

For Wednesday:
Read: Newkirk, "The first five minutes: Setting the agenda in a writing conference
Blog 12: Continue writing for your plan for data collection