THE E:P:N CONTRACT₁

 

E:P:N LEARNER ROLES:

          E’s are in charge of production/manufacturing (all technical tasks and labor).

          P’s are in charge of marketing/selling (fun, motivation, and leadership).

          N’s are in charge of management/HR development (making sure things get done)₂

 

(T) Teacher Role (their regular teacher):

Shows up, gives parameters (the range of tasks to be chosen from), then leaves the room (unless strongly in favor of the program).

 

(t) teacher role (the E:P:N classroom coach):

The E:P:N teacher is an ombudsman . . . one who brings people together for the right reasons. His/her job is to make sure that the parameters (the tasks to be chosen from) are broad enough in scope and diversity to allow each of the four sets of power structures to choose a project not in competition with groups of a different size. Competitions are between groups of the same size. A classroom of 45 should have:

          3 groups of 2         =      6

          3 groups of 3         =      9

          2 groups of 6         =    12

          2 groups of 9         =    18

                                      -----------

                                       =    45

 

THE FOUR POWER STRUCTURES:

This class is tailored for 45 learners and uses the first four atomic elements: H=hydrogen (E1:P1), D=deuterium (E1:P1:N1), He=helium (E2:P2:N2) and Li=lithium (E3:P3:N3), as role models of behavior.

The three ‘H’ (hydrogen) groups are seated in the center of the room on the teacher’s table. Though sitting together, these three groups of two are not expected to get along or communicate with one another unless they want to. ₃

The three ‘D’ (deuterium) groups, likewise, are not expected to agree with one another. However, each of these three groups of three is autonomous (in charge of their own task). In fact, the N’s in these three groups are permitted to leave their table (any time they want to) to spy on any of the other groups (to learn about the books they are reading and the types of paragraphs they are selecting). While spying, however, they are not to interact with the group they are spying on.

The two ‘He’ (helium) groups are the ones who start role modeling that “two heads are, indeed, better than one.”  The expectation here is not for E’s and P’s to agree. (In the real world, they seldom ever do.) The expectation is for the two E’s to reach a consensus and the two P’s to reach a consensus. The N’s have no consensus to reach, since they simply make sure that things get done on time. The two N’s also help the two P’s in their group to solicit goodwill from the nine other groups to get a favorable vote.

The two ‘Li’ (lithium) groups are the largest. Having three heads, so to speak, in each of the E:P:N categories, they are expected to perform the best and finish their task usually on time (since they have more input at all stages of a task). However, since “perception” is the name of the game on all objective-based tasks, there is no guarantee that these two largest group will automatically receive the best peer approval during the final voting process.

 

NOTE:

After the first full session, all sessions end with each of the ten groups selecting a new Big Cheese quote that they then, time permitting, ponder and discuss (in the "category" seating arrangment). While these ten selections are discussed, they are compiled, printed, and disseminated for further discussion as homework (in the form of feedback from at least one family member and one friend). At the beginning of the next session, still in the "category" seating arrangment, all feedback relating to suggested E:P:N ratings, are reported, discussed, and then entered on the homework sheets. All now return to their "group" seating arrangement and select the best quote(s) for their personal scrapbook. The six E:P:N ratings are: ‘EPN’, ‘EP’, ‘PN’, ‘E’, ‘P’, or ‘N’. If printing is not feasible, other forms of distribution are discussed and implemented. Each learner needs to have a copy to take home for further “negotiation of meaning” as it relates to E:P:N.

For younger children, the middle portion of a session is the problem-solving task of restoring the missing characters in any of the grade-level C-tests in the system. A rubric for strategically selecting the right difficulty level is posted at http://clozeonline.us/rubric.htm.

For Middle-School students, the middle portion of a session is also the problem-solving task of restoring missing characters, but not of grade-level C-tests already in the system. These youngsters restore paragraphs that they, themselves, created from books they chose to read that week. No fewer than three paragraphs are to be selected from each book. The advantages of creating more than three are that the random paragraph selector is likely to hit on more texts already familiar to a group during the weekly restoration task.

Those who finish early are invited to contribute to our “dialogs/trialogues” corpus by constructing meaningful paragraphs on subjects of controversy considered “topical” by the class.

 

 

 

¹   For this study, CONTRACT refers to a student’s promise to (1) think about the E:P:N classroom seating arrangement, (2) choose a role to play for an agreed-to period of time, and (3) promise to diligently try to play that role.

²   “Making sure things get done” is point four in one of the popular business models. Its five points are: (1) Decide where you are and what you have to work with. (2) Select a goal worth striving for. (3) Decide jointly on how to best get there. (4) Decide on, “How are we going to make sure that we get there?” and (5) How will we measure success . . . so we’ll know that we’ve arrived?

³   Tasks such as tabulating scores, updating bulletin boards, and collecting votes are best performed by these three ‘H’ groups who, by choosing the smallest of units, have said they would rather do jobs they can do without help. Let them do that, in pairs, with each pair taking on a special extra responsibility.