Downloads & Free Reading Options - Results

How does one create a class where the theoretical concepts emerge through classroom practice and engagement? This is the question that Mariaelena posed to herself when taking over the position of Director of the Interpersonal Communication course at the University of South Florida. In this essay we describe how we worked through a new way of teaching--and doing--interpersonal communication that captures Carey's (1989) focus on the centrality of process over product. We did so by way of some important tools of what is alternatively known as critical or process pedagogy (e.g., Elbow, 1986; 2013): an interpersonal dynamic that includes ongoing grading, writing to learn, and the portfolio method. This semester-long, process-oriented portfolio assignment is effective and beneficial because it facilitates an important shift in the power dynamic of the classroom by disrupting students' expectations for evaluation and shifting the learner's orientation from product to process. We share our portfolio method because we believe it can be adapted to fit the unique cultures and needs of other humanities and social sciences courses, instructors, and institutions.

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert