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This photos on this page refer to in-class activities from the fourth day of class.

Contents 1 Recognizing a Frame 1.1 Background 1.2 Hypothesized Meaning 1.3 Projected Paths of Meaningfulness 2 Evidence of Social Interaction 2.1 Identifying Communicative Behaviors 2.2 Reframing

Recognizing a Frame

~ following Erving Goffman, according to the mutually-constructed knowledge of the group-as-a-whole.

Background

The comment concerning "what the hell we're supposed to be talking about" was offered (according to memory, two weeks later!) as a description of what "always happens" when the students are divided (voluntarily or otherwise) into small groups.

Hypothesized Meaning

The phrase, "what the hell we're supposed to be talking about," - with its particular language and tone - offers an explanation to an outsider concerning what seems to be a usual or typical pattern of behavior "inside" the small groups when subsets of students interact directly with each other absent teacher supervision.

Projected Paths of Meaningfulness

The pattern could become normative, meaning it

gets "fixed" as the way things need to be, a
structure that can be relied upon because it is
familiar and therefore more 'safe,' as people

already have examples of 'what to do' and 'how to go on.'

• "Refers to value judgments as to 'what ought to be,' in contrast to positive which is about 'what is.'" (Glossary of International Economics, "N")
• "Pertaining to the average or expected behavior patterns of a group or community (Barker, 1995)." (Finding Health Measurement Tools)
• "Refers to a standard or set of norms that are understood as the correct (or at least the majority) way of interpreting the world in which we live." (Conflict and Community in the Corinthian Church)

Evidence of Social Interaction

Identifying Communicative Behaviors

We managed to list six specific things that people know "to do" in a small group activity in a classroom:

1. Assume a decision must be made, there is a certain answer to be achieved.
2. (Does anyone remember what we were talking about when I wrote this cryptic phrase?) :-/
3. Actually create a definition (i.e., answer a given question).
4. Ask Questions
5. Do Research (looking in notes)
6. Take Notes

Reframing

How do norms change? What happens when individuals, say "A" and "B" discover they have to work together to produce something, but they approach the task differently? Can frames be altered? How?