Post on 13-May-2015
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The One Thing
Steve KleinProfessor Emeritus/Journalism
George Mason Universitysteve.klein@cox.net
The One Thing/Steve Klein
Next class …
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… ask your students …
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What’s the one thing you remember
from your last class?
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And that's what each student has to figure out!
Just one thing!
The One Thing/Steve Klein
If you're familiar with the movie "City Slickers" starring Billy Crystal and Jack Palance, you may remember this bit of dialogue:
Jack Palance (Curley): "Do you know what the secret of life is?"
Billy Crystal: "No, what?"
Palance: "One Thing, just one thing. You stick to that and everything else doesn't mean sh*t!"
Crystal: "That's great, but what's the one thing?"
Palance: "That's what you've got to figure out."
The One Thing/Steve Klein
The ONE THING has been a signature feature of my teaching method and style at George Mason University.
The idea comes from a short scene from the 1991 movie, "City Slickers.”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101587/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k1uOqRb0HU/
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For every class, I would hope that each student would learn at least ONE THING worth remembering (OK, so hopefully more!).
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Students keep track of the ONE THING by posting each comment in the appropriate class discussion folder.
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Each entry should be cleanly written in AP Style and reflect a specific point from the previous class.
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No texting or tweeting style writing.
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The exercise is platform agnostic.
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I prefer Blackboard's discussion forum because George Mason University prefers that instructors keep correspondence with students within university platforms.
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But any discussion forum will do. For example, you could create a Google+ circle for every class, or a wiki, a Facebook page or a Twitter hashtag.
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If a student misses class for a legitimate reason, they still monitor the discussion and can make a comment for credit.
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I can learn almost as much about a student's writing from a short comment as I can from a full story assignment.
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The exercise provides students with consistent feedback and reinforcement throughout the semester.
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And the exercise provides the instructor with feedback on what the students are hearing.
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Given that students rarely take notes these days, THE ONE THING provides students with an exercise that helps reinforce learning.
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