Future and Authority

 

 

 

 

 

seeing


The students were already working in pairs or threes on their final research project when we began Patchwork Girl. They tended to sit in their research groups, which meant in-class reading of Patchwork Girl was collaborative from the beginning. However, discussion soon spiraled into larger groups, as students compared text blocks read, and started to posit theories about 'the story.'

I would often join groups of five or six where, for example, one individual had jumped into a seemingly random link, and the others were offering both experiential (keep reading, it'll get clearer; use your history button to go back and try another link) and textual (that's because she wants you to go through the same disintegration that the monster experiences) routes out of the enigma.

Increasingly, I ceased to function as sole source of authority in the class, except in cases of last resort. For example, I suggested students should use the linear plan of the hypertext novel to track their reading, and escape from dead ends if they were lost. While they dutifully complied initially, almost no one adopted the linear plan long term.

One student found the spatial map, which made it easier 'to see' the book, and taught its use to students sitting nearby. Another introduced her colleagues to the chart view, after explaining to me that as it showed the shape of the book, it helped her imagine how the different stories crossed much more effectively than 'my' linear plan.

Knowledge circulated in the classroom, person to person and group to group. Sometimes the excitement of a new discovery, like the section of the story that appeared to be set in contemporary America, or a new navigational technique, led a student to claim the attention of the whole class with "Hey, try this" or "Go to x." This distributed authority encouraged almost everyone in the class to speak, not simply those who had usually led, or dominated by their critical skills, previous in-class discussions.