Sample Assignments | Partnered Observation
Partnered Observation
Aside from being an exercise in perspective, this assignment is meant to help students understand the ways in which experiencing new sites can affect their writing processes, as well as their understanding of place and space. For this assignment, students work with partners to complete observations of two sites, one designated by each partner, in order to get at some of the things each doesn’t see during individual observations. That means that each student introduces each other to an everyday site of her or his choice, preferably one for which the student has already completed an entry.
Students then complete two new log entries for this assignment: one for the site to which they are introduced by their partner and another that is a second observation of their original site. Once they have written these entries, they share them with their partners and discuss them together, noting the similarities and differences in their observations.
The assignment also calls for a 2-3 page reflection that
- indicates the sites the students visited
- briefly summarizes what s/he observed
- discusses how her/his observations of each site differed from her/his partner’s observations
- analyzes what the experience says about the partiality of perspective.
For the full assignment, click here.
