Chapter 28. DISAGREEMENT      Introduction   Basics   Advanced   Samples   Activities --- Activities Using Disagreement See also "Activities & Groups." --- SPECIAL ACTIVITIES THREE DISAGREEMENTS: Pick a recent nonfiction essay or magazine article you have read, or pick a textbook you remember and have used, or just imagine (make up in your head) an essay or editorial, serious or silly.  What is its main argument?  Write three disagreements about it, serious or silly: either (a) write three disagreements you could have, serious or silly, or three disagreements that three other people (normal or strange) might have about it. ROLE-PLAYING ABOUT CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES: Examine the following problem in small groups: the city council in your community has just made abortion and gun ownership legal (with no exceptions). Choose roles from the following list and react in writing in your groups, then report your reactions back to the class: minister/priest, social worker, teacher, radical right-wing believer, radical left-wing believer, welfare parent, and the owner of the community's largest business. DISAGREEMENTS WITH JOB PLACEMENT: As individuals, imagine you have just been given a new job, one that is not your first choice but rather your second at this time in your life, and you are getting this new job at a salary lower than you really expected or wanted.  Explore your own intellectual, emotional, and intuitive reactions to this new job. Then share your positive and negative reactions in groups.  Finally, react as a group to your reactions: as a group, what are your intellectual, emotional, and intuitive ideas and feelings, good and bad, about everyone's talk about their "new" jobs?   CASUAL SPEECH: In a group, quickly make up a fifty to one hundred word argumentative speech with which most people in the class are likely to disagree (or make up a silly, strange, or unusual argument--e.g., "Martians should be allowed control of all human restaurants").  Then pass your speech to another group and take one from a different group.  Read the speech you have received aloud and then write a disagreement to it using a main argument and three reasons why you disagree.  Read the speech and your disagreement to the class. DIFFICULTY AT WORK: One can disagree--intellectually, emotionally, and intuitively--to work situations, people, jobs, businesses, and projects.  As a group, imagine a job situation and then imagine the worst possible boss or fellow professional with whom to work.  Then, as a group, write a list of all the problems. Next, list some of your (a) emotional and (b) physical reactions or feelings.  Third, list what negative thoughts and fantasies you have because of these problems.  Fourth, write--individually-- brief but detailed story examples of these problems and reactions.  Finally, report to the class your group's person, the problems, and one or two examples. JOB INTERVIEW: Start with four to five people in each group.  Quickly develop a job title and job description.  Then interview one candidate from another group.  (Each job candidate may play a role or be himself or herself.)  Next, there should be a further breaking into groups as follows: Job Applicants Who Were Interviewed Gather together in your own group.  Summarize the positives and negatives of the job interview processes. Describe your emotional reactions/feelings to being interviewed. Describe your physical reactions/feelings. Describe the thoughts caused by being interviewed by the group of people who interviewed you. Remaining Groups Who Were Not Interviewed Each group should summarize the pluses and minuses of your job candidate. Describe your emotional reactions/feelings to the candidate. Describe your physical reactions/feelings. Describe the thoughts caused by his/her presence. Offer a final recommendation. Finally, report your findings to the class. ---     OTHER ACTIVITIES THOUGHTS ABOUT THE CHAPTER: As an individual or a group, read the chapter and take notes about it using one or more of the methods in "General Study Questions." ROUGH DRAFT: As an individual or a group, write a paper as described in this chapter.  Use the subtitles shown in the "Introduction" or the "Basics" section as subtitles of your rough draft, and write at least 50+ words in each body section.  If you are working as a group, you may, if your instructor allows, develop a fictional and fanciful background and subject for your rough draft. GROUP MAPPING & PLANNING: Divide into small groups of 3-4 people randomly.  In each group, one person each should volunteer to be       (i) the facilitator (the person helping everyone to do the work), (ii) the writer/recorder (who does the writing for the group), (iii) the reader/announcer (who reports the group's works to the class), and (iv) if there is a fourth, the timekeeper, the observer taking notes about the group's way of working, and/or the "social encourager"--someone who finds questions to encourage quieter members of the group.         The group should then follow these steps using a timetable given by the instructor, either in a small, close circle with the writer using pen or laptop, or at a segment of the whiteboard with the writer using a marker:      (A) What is the key or essence of this type of paper?  Brainstorm an interesting, fun idea (serious or silly) to write about.     (B) Then look at the "map" or blocks of how to build this type of paper, from introduction through the body sections to the conclusion.  The instructor can either project it on a screen or draw it on the board.  Then fill in the parts with 50-100 words for each main body section, and 20-50 for the intro and conclusion (depending on the instructor's directions).    (C) If your instructor suggests this, add a good made up illustration, graphic, or quotation or two to each section from an "expert" and give credit to your made-up expert.  (Note: Never add made-up detail or experts to a real paper.)    (D) Have your reader/announcer read your result to the entire class.    (E) After all groups have gone, then the "observer" in each group--or the facilitator--should answer three brief comments on how the group process happened: "What worked well," "What didn't," and "How could it be changed?"       GROUP CRITIQUE OF A LATER DRAFT: If your class has a paper all of you are preparing for grading, gather in a group to critique each other's developed drafts:       (A) Simply pass the papers to each other; your paper preferably should be checked by three other people.   (Some instructors prefer that you make several copies, distribute them to your group members, take the copies home that you receive, and comment on them there.)      (B) Write comments for each other.  To do so, use a a set of grading guidelines (or "rubric"): for example, "How are the contents," "How is the organization of parts," "Do paragraphs work well," and "How well have editing errors been corrected?"  Preferably, you can use the guidelines your instructor applies when grading.         (C) For each question or requirement in your guidelines, write one or more comments.  Your comments should be substantial and specific (more like a complete sentence, and more specific than just "Nice!" or "Needs work").  Your comments also should be positive or helpfully constructive: when positive, they should offer specific praise of a particular part, detail, or method; when constructive, they should offer specific advice about what to add or do to make the paper better.         (D) Add a final positive or constructive comment about how you think the average reader of this paper might respond to it, and/or how the paper could be changed or fixed for a stronger or more positive response from its audience.   (E) After receiving your comments from others, take them home.  Review what they have written.  Remember that your readers are not commenting on you as a person, but rather on how easily (or poorly) they have been able to read your paper as its audience members.  Pay attention in particular to comments that may have been repeated by more than one of your readers. For a wide variety of other activities and exercises, go to "Activities & Groups." --- Return to top.

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