Phillip as Recorder/Connector
Noticing how little Phillip interacted with the rest of the class, I tried placing him with a group of students who had demonstrated themselves to be approachable, intelligent, and kind. Even in this context, however, he continued to spend the majority of his small group discussions avoiding speaking or making eye contact with his peers by staring straight down at his book. After the second discussion day I took different members of the group aside to ask them how the group was going, and more specifically how Phillip was doing. Phillip said that his group mates excluded him by only talking about what they wanted to talk about. I asked his group mates to make more of an attempt to pull him into the discussion by asking him questions directly. On the third discussion day (the work from which is below) they tried to do this. Phillip, by both their and his own accounts, tended to give one word answers to his peers' questions, then stare back down at his book.
I asked him why he did not talk more, and he had two reasons. The first was that his answers to questions were usually "no," and that he didn't believe a negative response could contribute to a good discussion. The second reason was that he was not doing the readings. His written role work reflects this in that he was supposed to summarize each chapter and then take notes on his small group discussion as it progressed. However, his summaries leave out some key details and make an error or two, and his discussion notes are non-existent. It seemed overall that the unit was not effective in enhancing Phillip's sense of agency or motivation. He showed up every day and turned in all assignments, but he did not seem to fully engage.
I asked him why he did not talk more, and he had two reasons. The first was that his answers to questions were usually "no," and that he didn't believe a negative response could contribute to a good discussion. The second reason was that he was not doing the readings. His written role work reflects this in that he was supposed to summarize each chapter and then take notes on his small group discussion as it progressed. However, his summaries leave out some key details and make an error or two, and his discussion notes are non-existent. It seemed overall that the unit was not effective in enhancing Phillip's sense of agency or motivation. He showed up every day and turned in all assignments, but he did not seem to fully engage.