Cognitive Learning Experiences as Facilitated in Group Process

Evaluation by John Perkins

© 1998 John Perkins

Peer Day held in Seattle, Washington on October 1, 1994. Conveners: Re'nice Schweitzer and Helen Livingston.

We agreed on this peer day during our Colloquium in Tiburon, CA. From then until now I have called this "A Peer Day on Peer Days." However, during our stay in Tiburon, we got some expert advice from a more experienced learner who worked with us to construct the official title at the top of this page. Part of my evaluation will be an examination of this change, and a discussion of its value. My intent is to understand the process of creating a valid peer day not to demean any learner or suggest that it was improper to change the name.

I understand that academia has evolved its own way of communicating, but by switching our title to academic style did we lose something in the translation? Was even the translation necessary as I had no difficulty in getting approval for my proposal for an Internet Peer Day entitled "Internet: A Peer Day." The title is not the peer day; the peer day lives in the passions and scholarship of the participating learners. Deans and core faculty can assess the quality of our thinking in the rationale and agenda for the peer day and in our written evaluations.

In 1947 Samuel T. Williamson wrote an essay called "How to Write like a Social Scientist." I apply his rules to our titles in the table on the next page. Williamson became disturbed after editing the writing of a young promising Ph.D. and comments, "after this long preparation for what was to be a life work, it is a mystery why so little attention was given to acquiring use of simple English."1

George Orwell spotted a similar trend in all types of writing and bluntly states, "Bad writers, and especially scientific, political and sociological writers are nearly always haunted by the notion that Latin or Greek words are grander than Saxon ones..."2 I raise an alarm to this mostly to remind myself that, though I am pursuing an academic degree, I still wish to communicate clearly.

To compare the two names, "A Peer Day on Peer Days" takes five words and as many syllables. In contrast, "Cognitive Learning Experiences as Facilitated in Group Process," takes eight words and 20 syllables. I can easily remember the first name because of its brevity and because of the repetition of the words "peer day."3 The self-reflective quality makes it memorable and descriptive of the purpose of the day.

Anyone familiar with Union Institute would understand what we mean by peer day. It suggests that we would spend a day discussing what we wanted from our other 9 peer days, delve some into various formatting possibilities (face-to-face, on-line, formal versus informal structure, etc.) and consider peer-based learning and support groups in other fields. 

 

Table 1: Comparison of Alternative Peer Day Titles





Williamson's
Rules 
A Peer Day on Peer Days
Cognitive Learning Experiences as Facilitated in 
Group Process

Rule 1. Never use
a short word when
you can think of 
long one.
 5 words; 5 syllables 
 

8 words; 20 syllables

Rule 2. Never Use 
one word when you
can use two or 
more
Peer Day =


Peer Day =
Cognitive Learning 
Experiences

Facilitated in Group 
Process

Rule 3.  Put one-
syllable thought
into polysyllabic
terms.
One-Syllable words
polysyllabic words

Rule 4. Put the 
obvious in terms
of the untelligible
A peer day: One of 10
days organized independently by
and for learners.  


Little seems to be 
obvious with this title

Rule 5. Announce
what you are 
going to say before you say it.
[Doesn't apply.]
[Doesn't apply.]

Rule 6. Defend 
your style as 
"scientific."
The creation of 
beginning learners.
Created with the help of 
an experienced learner to
make it acceptable. 

On the peer day itself we began on time, more or less, and casually considered
how to structure our day over coffee. We decided upon this order of business:



The Confusion about the Internet Peer Day



A peer writing experience facilitated by me.



Review of books.



Planning for the Transgendered/Transsexuals Peer Day to be led

by Paula Wolfe (replaced the Internet Peer Day)



The Alcoholics Anonymous Peer Support Model led by Pat Knox



Visit to the UW Bookstore



I discuss our conversation about the Internet peer day in a separate evaluation.




I have been the host of a peer-based writing practice group we call Smokin'
Pens Writing Circle for four years. The group meets in my apartment on the
first and third Tuesdays of each month. We gather to write. When we started
Natalie Goldberg and Peter Elbow5 inspired us, but now we follow our own
path. I brought the necessary materials to this peer day so that my Union
learners could experience what our writing group experiences. We begin by
writing short phrases, words, images, etc., on small cards. We mix the cards,
and then draw two out of a bag and read them to everyone. Within 8 to 12
minutes of writing, we each attempt to (a) keep writing without pausing
and (b) incorporate the phrases from the drawn cards into our writing. We
set an ordinary kitchen timer to alert us to when time has expired.



My peers willingly agreed to try it. In a Smokin' Pens meeting we read what
we write, having learned the wisdom of Elbow's suggestion that this process
of writing and reading what we write strengthens our confidence, and weakens
the power of inner and outer critic.6



Re'nice and Helen, the conveners for this peer day, raised an interesting
point about whether a learner could choose not to read. I answered that
in our group we required everyone to read, as we find it useful to help
them improve their writing.



Re'nice and Helen felt people should always have a choice. I reminded them
that our group met the needs of writers; people who joined our group had
a desire to write. A basic ground rule always allowing choice might be more
relevant and appropriate to emotional or psychological peer support groups.
I noted that the choice within the context of our writing group was to join
or not, but once having joined a writer accepted our group rule that she
or he read. Of course, a writer could always leave the group, as many had
chosen to do. 



After this discussion I agreed that if any one of the learners present wanted
to pass, they could, since, properly speaking, this wasn't a meeting of
Smokin' Pens. 



We set the timer for 8 minutes and began to write. Some wrote the whole
time, some stopped early. Everyone read what they had written. We discussed
the value of this type of writing in a variety of therapeutic and educational
settings. For example, teachers could use it with students at all levels
to promote creativity and better writing skills. In a therapeutic or treatment
setting, this exercise, with allowances for people choosing not to read,
could be used to help clients express their feelings, or explore different
subjects. 



From my perspective, the remainder of the day proceeded smoothly. I was
particularly fascinated by material Pat Knox discussed in relationship to
Alcoholic Anonymous: copies of letters from Carl Jung to Bill Wilson one
of AA's founders, and two articles by H. M. Tiebout on surrender in the
recovery process. I intend to look up the Tiebout articles on one of my
visits to the University of Washington library. 



We spent a good amount of time discussing our programs to date including
how our committee selection seemed to be going, possible seminars, good
resources. Our discussion on how to keep track of our time inspired me to
work most that evening drafting a log. I shared it the next day with the
group. 



I have had a great deal of experience in peer led situations including:
study groups, emotional support groups, financial support groups and a three-person
business partnership.7 I know that a peer day can accomplish more than getting
together to compare notes about our committees and seminars--we can meet
and challenge each other to grow and learn. Overall, I feel that we had
a very successful peer day; in fact, more by accident than by design we
covered a wider range of peer day possibilities than we might have predicted
while in Tiburon.



REFERENCES



1 Samuel T. Williamson, "How to Write like a Social Scientist,"
in Harrison Hayford and Howard Vincent, editors, Reader and Writer
(Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, 1954), p. 470.

2 George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," in A
Collection of Essays by George Orwell (Garden City, New York: Anchor
Books, 1954), p. 167. 

3 In rhetoric this is called epanalepsis, or ending a sentence or clause
with the same word or phrase which began it. From Arthur Quinn, Figures
of Speech: 60 Ways to Turn a Phrase (Salt Lake City: Gibb M. Smith,
1982), p. 87. 

4 Williamson, pp. 471-472.

5 Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within
(Boston: Shambhala, 1986); Peter Elbow, Writing Without Teachers
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1973). 

6 Elbow, p. 126. 

7 Study groups included: Neuro-Linguistic Programming, nuclear arms reduction,
pedagogy of the oppressed, dream work and creative writing. Emotional support
groups included: co-counseling support for peace activists, peer support
group for friends and family of people living with AIDS, and groups exploring
alternative healing methods.




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