What we read
Bixby and Scanlon introduce each unit with a discussion activity, that is, an opportunity for us to share our ideas on the topic of the unit in a way that relates it to our own lives, ideas and experiences. Unit 1 of book 3 (Bixby & Scanlon, 2013, p.7) does this.
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My response
The research solidly shows that brainstorming or discussion activities for groups are more effective if participants start by working individually (O'Connell, 2010; Markman, 2017). In fact, experts at Harvard University's School of Management and elsewhere are sure that this can be very effectively done using online tools (Chamorro-Premuzic, 2015). Blogging is one effective way to do this, which is one reason I've turned Bixby and Scanlon's discussion exercise into a quick blogging discussion.
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Bixby and Scanlon's questions
In a comment, or two if you prefer, share your ideas on these three questions:
- What are five words that you would use to answer the question, "Who are you?"
- What are some of the social groups you belong to?
- In what ways are these groups important to you?
For all of these, you should write full sentences. You will also need to write a few sentences for each of your ideas, giving explanation, examples and other details to clarify and develop your ideas.
You can address the questions in any order. You can write one comment, or if you prefer, two comments, but not three. So that you don't worry about Bixby and Scanlon's numbers too much, I replaced them with bullets.
Open a new comment box and start writing. You have seven (7) minutes.
Useful tip
Your writing will be stronger if you imagine that you are writing for readers who have not seen the questions you are answering. In other words, your paragraphs should make sense independently of the questions.
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References
- Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing, Student's Book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education.
- Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2015, April 2). Why brainstorming works better online. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/04/why-brainstorming-works-better-online
- Markman, A. (2017, May 18). Your team is brainstorming all wrong. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2017/05/your-team-is-brainstorming-all-wrong
- O'Connell, A. (2010, February 4). Sometimes, it’s better to brainstorm alone. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2010/02/when-its-better-to-brainstorm
My name is Jinjutha Korphanichkul. It is easily to call me by my nickname A. I come from Lampang which is the Northern part of Thailand. Last year, I was in Badminton player community. The purpose of this group is for find friends playing badminton together. I love playing badminton because I expect to improve stamina and have a good health as well.
ReplyDeleteWow i'm interesting about your badminton community.
DeleteIs there in Bangkok or Lampang? And how can i join your community?
Nice to meet you A.
DeleteAs I did when I read Ei's comment, I was wondering when I read A's how she thinks that coming from Lampang has affected her identity. What, for example, might be different about her today if she had instead come from Bangkok?
DeleteI've never been a big fan of sports, but I know that sporting groups are important to many people, so apart from the health effects, it would be interesting to know how A thinks that being a member of the badminton group has had an impact on who she is today. Also, whether the importance of the sport aspect of her identity has changed over time.
Who am I?
ReplyDeleteI guess because of the situation now, the first word that came to my mind to answer this question was "teacher," shortly followed by "Australian, brother, supporter, and reader." They don't make a very exciting list, but they do tell some useful things about me, about who I am and what makes me the person I am. Actually, I don't often think of being Australian, but again, that was in my mind because I was thinking about if for the last exercise we did, but the fact is that being Australian is an important part of who I am: it is the background that gave me English as a native language, and provided the education and passport that have enabled me to be a teacher here at AUA.
I think "brother" came to mind because I was chatting with my youngest sister yesterday, which was her 43rd birthday. With that fresh in my mind, I was thinking of my family, which is also an important part of my identity, even though I only go back to visit with them once a year.
For me, "reader" was the word that is most interesting, since it was a choice I've made that reflects who I am, rather than being something that happened to me by an accident of birth, such as my nationality or family.
But I'm out of time!
Nice to have met you.
DeleteHow old are you now, Peter? please tell me the truth!!!
DeleteWestern people would not normally talk about their age, but when I thought about Eng's question, I began to wonder how important a role that plays in making me the person I am. My first thought was that it's not very important, but a bit more reflection suggests that, like my nationality, it is an important aspect of my identity. First, when I was born was culturally important in the same as where I was born made a big difference. If I had been born and grown up in a large city, I think I would be a very different person today. Similarly, the culture of the 1960s through to the 80s when I was at school and then at university affected me differently to my youngest brothers and sisters born more than ten years later. Second, my age today makes me different to the person I was 30 years ago: I'm less adventurous, more inclined to fall into habits, and prefer a quieter life than I used to many years ago.
DeleteAnd I'm still 16 years older than my youngest sister.
1. I'm OR nurse investor and speaking trainer. i was born and come from surin province. I would like to go to work in USA.
ReplyDelete2.Special graoup i belong to is thai value investor and train for thai club.
3.The first one thai investor group help me improve my skill of investment and make me confident invest in stock market of thailand . The second one is Train for thai this group help me improve about public speaking and communication with other people as trainer role.
How important do you think coming from Surin is to making you who you are? My first idea was that being Australian was not the most important aspect of who I am, but when I thought about it more, I think that my Australian background, growing up in the country on a farm of Italian descendants has had a major impact on who I am today.
DeleteWhat do you think about your family background and growing up in Surin?
Nice to have met you.
DeleteIt is interesting that you are in the investor group. I have one question for you " What are you investing in? You don't have to answer if you don't want to.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Deletei'm investing in stock, cryptocurrencies, forex and fund.
DeleteI have really been interested in stock market since I was a first-year student. However, I have never had any chance to invest in stock market before. I have studied about stock, bond, currency and so on and I really want to use the piece of information in my real life. Which one you strongly recommend me to invest? bond, stock or currency?
DeleteFriendly, helpful, honest, cheerful and awesome are 5 words that would describe who am I.
ReplyDelete2. I belong to the volunteer group at orphanage that I mentioned and also sport player group such as badminton and petanque.
3. Both of the groups provides great opportunity to make new friends. As I am studying in University, Joining social group giving me more friends, especially from different departments.
Nice to meet you.
DeleteWow...nine nice to met you
DeleteWhat's about Petanque??? i never heart before.
Nice to meet you as well
DeleteI know that Nine has already given us a little more information about being a member of a volunteer group at an orphanage, but it's also very interesting, so I would like to know a bit more about that: since when? What does it consist of? How does it help him see himself? ANd so on.
DeleteFor the first question, in my point of view, there are many words that I would really like to use them to describe myself. However, If I have to pick only five words, I will choose "responsive", "down-to-earth", "passionate", "presumptuous", "open-minded". I strongly believe that there words are totally helpful to clearly explain about myself if everyone else has never known me before.
ReplyDeleteActually, in my entire life, there have been plenty of clubs that I have joined since I was born. I'm gonna provide you just three of them. My family was the first club in my life because the first two people who I first knew and be able to call their names are my parents. Therefore, I think that my family is the first and the best club in my life. Moreover, when I had grown up, I had to get into school; thus, the second club of my life would be my first room of the school. the last one is the club that I used to join when I was a grade 7. Unfortunately, I've forgotten almost all of that. nonetheless, one thing that I have been able to remember and never forgotten is it was very extremely fun and funny for me.
The last question, I guess that it might take many of my time seeing that each club had each different propose. Still, I truly believe that something that they have in common is to gather people who are interested in the same thing and want to share their experience with each other.
Nice to have met you.
DeleteI like Eng's comment because he has not numbered his replies to the questions; rather, he has written a short paragraph to respond to each, with enough context given so that when we read them, it doesn't matter whether we have read the question or not. In other words, his responses are independent pieces of work that stand alone.
DeleteIn his first paragraph, the choices of words are very different to my own, which gave me something to think about. The one that interested me most was "presumptuous," which I hope Eng might tell us a bit more about, perhaps with some explanation of what he thinks that means, and backed up with an example or two.
After having considered carefully Peter's comment, your questions. I would say that at first, when I had read the first question, the first thing that came up in my mind was the way that I should use in order to answer the question. I realized that there are many ways to answer it in my version. Nevertheless, I had to pick only one way to use in order to describe myself. Personally, I thought that five adjectives can provide more enough information about myself as well.
DeleteFor your question about the word "presumptuous". I strongly believe that everything has both positive and negative sides. It is impossible that someone has either positive or negative behaviors. I always guess that most people often answer this question by using only some good words so as to make them look great and reliable. On the contrary, I personally decided that I should write at least one negative word to illustrate my bad natural side. Additionally, I thought that the word "presumptuous" was a better word to show the bad side that I have had since I was younger.
Unfortunately, back then, I did not have enough time to provide some clear examples. In my mind, I really wanted to put them on my answer but I had limited time and I had to use the rest of the time to answer the last two questions. That is why I decided not to give some useful examples on this comment. I hope my answer would help you understand more about my opinion.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete