Fall 1997 Proposal
name: Clark Colahan, Professor of Spanish
institution: Whitman College
language: Spanish
project: Student Assistant Fellowships
title: Technology-assisted Study Exercises on Don Quixote
duration: Spring Semester 1998 through Summer 1998
description:
When compared to the experience of studying a foreign language, the study of a
foreign literature offers a less universally agreed upon goal. The aim is assumed
to be appreciation and understanding, though of precisely what is often not clear
to the student. In contrast, opportunities for students actively to enter into
the fabric of the literary text, analyzing its constituent elements and perceiving,
to the extent possible, the creative formula that structures and unifies it, can
be increased by controlled and measured experiments in rewriting passages from
the masterpiece.
Similarly, the adoption of active role-playing as a tool for the teaching of history
has recently energized student engagement with the subject matter, and to such
an extent that the computer-based program Oregon Trail has been adopted for use
throughout Oregon public schools. But what is proposed here is significantly more
than students imagining themselves to be Don Quixote and making decisions for
him.
In addition to character, literary criticism has identified many elements that
contribute to the artistic effect of a novel, but the following are, like character,
particularly important in this case: themes, types of discourse (e.g., description,
dialogue, narration), and figurative discourse (e.g., metaphors, imagery, symbolism).
These ngredients, much like the specific commands to a machine in a computer program,
act together to create a forceful impact on the reader. Just as in a programming
class, students - by the process of themselves choosing the commands to be sent
to the computer - learn what combinations do and do not produce the desired result,
so students of Don Quixote could vary the ingredients and then see the artistic
effect on others in the course.
outcome:
Assignments would call for students to rewrite episodes by changing one of the
given variables, in a way specified by the teacher. The consequences of the change
would be incorporated in the rewrite, while the other three variables would be
changed as little as possible while still maintaining coherence in the episode.
The rewriter would electronically submit the result to the instructor and the
instructors assistant, as well as to another student for written evaluation of,
first, how logically the new version follows from the changed input, and second,
what the changes in the other variables are and whether they are consistent with
the change in the variable under consideration.
The student assistant would read and compare all the rewritten versions for each
episode studied, identify the specific phrases and sentences that by consensus
need to be changed in the rewrite to reflect the change in the given variable,
then prepare a composite, by-consensus, version of each episode. These composites
would be placed on a list-serve for the class and used as the basis for discussions
of what overall effect such changes might have on the novel.
By splitting the class into four groups and assigning each of them a change within
a different one of the four parameters, it would be possible to identify four
different sets of phrases and sentences that could be changed in a given episode.
Then two or three of the sets of rewritten phrases and sentences could be put
together, in various combinations. Students would be given the task of analyzing
which sets of changes had been used and whether or not those specific changes
in the variables could work harmoniously together to produce a unified literary
effect.
These activities would take place in the spring semester of 1998. In the summer
of the same year the instructor would work with the student assistant to review
and revise the by-consensus rewritten versions of episodes from the novel. In
addition, under the direction of Professor Colahan, student actors and a student
director would perform a number of the rewritten episodes, plus the Cervantine
original of each for purposes of comparison. The performances would be digitally
taped for use in subsequent years, in this way the variants of each episode being
easily available for recall and viewing in class. In order to reduce greatly the
amount of time the actors would need to spend learning lines, the equivalent of
a teleprompter would be put together. A simple but effective use of new technology,
this arrangement would consist of a computer screen projected onto a screen or
wall in the theater, the text being scrolled down as the episode moves forward.
timeline:
Project will be integrated with the regular coursework for Cervantes - a Studies
in World Literature class, occurring during the spring semester. Students of the
class will rewrite at least six episodes from Don Quixote. For each episode they
will create four or five separate variants, each one a rewrite based on the manipulation
of one or more of the variables. A student assistant will work with Professor
Colahan to write a by-consensus version for each of the variants. The by-consensus
episodes will be placed on a class listserve.
During the month of June Professor Colahan will, with the help from a student
assistant, review and revise the by-consensus versions. Under the supervision
of Professor Colahan, student actors and a student director (with luck, selected
members of Whitman Colleges summer repertory theater group, the Columbine Players)
will perform selected by-consensus versions from each of the six or more episodes,
plus the Cervantine original. The taped performances will be edited and titled
digitally by the student assistant.
amount: Spring 1998: $ 385.00
Summer 1998: $5509.65
Total: $5894.65
breakdown: Funding request for student assistance Spring 1998:
5hrs/wk x 14wks = 70hrs @ $5.50/hr = $385.00
Funding request for one student assistant, three student actors, one student director,
and to provide a stipend for Professor Colahan for one month,
Summer 1998:
Student director: 50hrs @ $6.50/hr = $325 + 17% OPE or $55.25 = $380.25
Three student actors: 40hrs x 3 persons = 120hrs @ $6.50/hr = $780 + 17% OPE or
$132.60 = 912.60
Student assistant: 160hrs @ $6.50/hr = $1,040 + 17% OPE or $176.80 = $1216.80
Professors stipend: $3000.00
- student director: $ 380.25
- student actors: $ 912.60
- student assistance: $1216.80
Total Student Wages: $2509.65
- professors stipend: $3000.00
Total Summer Funding: $5509.65