Group Guidelines

For the service learning experience (you all are growing to LOVE -- or tolerate), you will be doing your individual placements and working with a group for a final anthology. We will talk about the individual placement guidelines and expectations, but for now, lets figure out how to work with your group.

You had tentatively signed up to a group based on an issue interest. Most of the groups have around 4 people. A couple groups have cross-class aspects, which is great. Ideally, the group needs around 4 people, absolutely no more than 5 and preferably not less than 3.

Your mission for the semester is to choose an audience based on the general issue you have selected and create an anthology for that audience. Those of you who chose Children and health probably are going to address sick children, but then again, you might choose to address parents of sick children or health workers who deal with sick children....are you following me?

Once you have selected the audience you want to focus on, you will find out as much as you can about the audience, get to know people in your audience, try to get a real understanding of who they are and what their circumstances are. Then, your group is going to talk about the audience and think about what kind of texts would touch, help, enrich, [choose your word] that audience. You will think about what the function of literature is and try to place literature in a context for your audience. Then you will select texts to include and create a fabulous anthology to present to the class and to your audience.

To accomplish this mission, your group will need to do the following: Exchange phone numbers, email addresses, and schedules Set up regular meeting times in which you discuss the project Determine early what audience sounds like a good focus Discuss the ways your individual placements will help the group Establish roles for each of you (such as note-taker, organizer, material collector...) Start bringing in possible texts to review and discuss Establish guidelines for how you will determine whether or not to include a text Establish a guideline for the number of texts to be included (this guideline will also be discussed and determined by the class as a whole) Determine who will be responsible for getting me the contract and updates throughout the semester Set some guidelines for collaboration and expectations so you dont end up wasting each others time or allowing one or two people to do all the work for the group

These are just basic guidelines, but I encourage you to do as much as you can to establish group parameters early in the semester in order to make this a productive and useful assignment.

In class I will give you time to exchange phone numbers and other information. You will periodically have opportunities in class to meet with your group, but dont count on those times to be even remotely sufficient for you to complete this project.

February 4: Group Contract due

February 23: Group Update #1 due

March 9: Group Update #2 due

April 6: Group Update #3 due

April 20: Table of Contents for Group Anthology due

May 4: Group Anthology Presentations