American Perspectives
TEWWG Teacher’s Guide Project
Self Evaluation and Reflection
Directions: Download this form, type your responses under each question (single-spaced is fine). Save it to your files at home or at school. Print a copy for me and bring it to class Wednesday, November 4th. Late reflections will not be accepted (last day of quarter). If you have been ill and need extra time, be sure to see me or write me in advance. Self assessment responses should be one paragraph each. Reflection responses should be 2-3 paragraphs each.
Self Assessment
1. Now that you have viewed other voicethreads and, if necessary, revised or improved your own, how would you rate it on the rubric? (exemplary, proficient, developing, insufficient) Explain, using specific support from your voicethread and the rubric, why you place your voicethread in this category.
2. Now that you have viewed other webpages and, if necessary, made improvement or revision to yours, how would you rate your webpage on the rubric? (exemplary, proficient, developing, insufficient) Explain, using specific support from your webpage and the rubric, why you place your webpage in this category.
Reflection
1. Compare and contrast the interpretation of the novel in your voicethread to the interpretation of the novel in the voicethread of another critical approach. For example, if you interpreted Janie’s development at the end of the novel using the Marxist approach, you might compare and contrast that interpretation to the interpretation revealed in the Post Colonial approach. Be sure to incorporate and analyze supporting examples from your voicethread and from the second voicethread you choose. (If you did a theoretical introduction for your voicethread, choose one aspect of the theory to compare—just be sure to use supporting examples from the novel.)
2. Many readers discover that one of the difficulties in using these critical approaches is the temptation to “bend” the text to get it to fit a particular critical approach—or conversely, to “bend” the approach to get it to fit the text. To what extent did you find yourself doing this as any point in your work on this project? How did you decide—either individually or as a group—how far to go with your theory? In your viewing of other projects, did you ever have the sense that a group was stretching either the theory or the text to get things to work? Explain one or two examples.
3. Once you have viewed all the projects in your class and as many as you wish in Mr. Niven’s class, which theory, other than the one you did for this project, would you next like to pursue in our study of Huck Finn? Why does that theory seem interesting to you? (Please give me a second and third choice as well—no need to explain them.)