Appendix C: How to organize city as Text[TM].

Appendix C: How to organize city as Text[TM]. 1 Decide on site and theme. The theme and site should be linked insome intellectual way. What specific issues will the group investigate?Why choose this particular location for the inquiry? 2 Provide some introductory material to read before meeting as agroup in order to ground the issues in some way. These resources shouldrelate to the theme to be explored but should not include too muchinformation. Introductory materials could include articles, bookchapters, movies, or short books (novels, autobiographies, etc.). 3 Divide the exploratory area into separate locations--variouslocations on campus, various neighborhoods of a city, different parts ofa museum, etc. These can be simple geographic boundaries, depending onthe theme, but dividing the area into diverse neighborhoods eachrelating to relating torelate prep → concernantrelating torelate prep → bez��glich +gen, mit Bezug auf +accthe theme in a different way typically produces moreinteresting intellectual results. The areas should be clearly delineated de��lin��e��ate?tr.v. de��lin��e��at��ed, de��lin��e��at��ing, de��lin��e��ates1. To draw or trace the outline of; sketch out.2. To represent pictorially; depict.3. and should not overlap so that the small groups (cf. #4 below) do notrun into each other and form larger groups. 4 Divide participants into sub-groups. This works best withparticipants who do not know each other very well and who are fromdifferent disciplines. Each group is assigned to investigate one or twoareas. The most important thing to do is not to tell them what to doother than to provide them with the four City as Text[TM]strategies--Mapping, Observing, Listening, Reflecting--as detailed inAppendix D. Participants often come back with observations, insights,and experiences the organizers never considered. Individuals in smallgroups thus have the freedom to learn on their own and from each other,but they also become educators when they report to the larger group. 5 Each group has a certain amount of time to investigate. Peoplefrom different disciplines notice different details, and this sharing ofthe experience helps all the participants notice their own blinders blind��er?n.1. blinders A pair of leather flaps attached to a horse's bridle to curtail side vision. Also called blinkers.2. Something that serves to obscure clear perception and discernment. orfilters through which they see the world. They discuss and reflect intheir small group, and one or two members prepare a short oral report togive to the larger group. 6 Meet for large group discussion or debriefing de��brief��ing?n.1. The act or process of debriefing or of being debriefed.2. The information imparted during the process of being debriefed.Noun 1. with each sub-groupgiving its report. This should create a layered discussion showing anunderstanding of the theme explored. One or two relevant experts may bebrought in for the larger group discussion. But rather than giving alecture, the expert(s) should listen attentively to the groups'reports and briefly react to what the participants saw and answer theircuriosity-driven questions. 7 Individuals prepare written reflections. Participants shouldreflect on the day's experience as self-conscious observers andconnect their thoughts to the themes explored and discussed. Someexamples of written assignments are given in Appendix E. 8 A final component of this methodology is the recursive See recursion. recursive - recursion element oflearning. Essentially, a true City as Text[TM] experience is nevercomplete with just one round of exploration and essays; it continuesthroughout the semester. During the course of a semester, students mightshare written reflections out loud, exploratory groups might beredistributed re��dis��trib��ute?tr.v. re��dis��trib��ut��ed, re��dis��trib��ut��ing, re��dis��trib��utesTo distribute again in a different way; reallocate.Adj. 1. , areas of exploration can be expanded or focused in otherways, and more experts might be brought in for class interactions. Theidea is that learning is bottom up, not top down. Individuals and smallgroups gather information themselves and have many questions. Semesterprojects can then be developed to explore unresolved or complexquestions raised during the discussion.