The best-laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men
Gang aft agley,
When you read through this you’ll quickly unnerstaun why a drew upon Burns’ ‘To a Mouse’ by way ae a wee epigraph (it wis juist a maiter o time).
Twa things tae consider.
First of a, ma learnurs are adults, indeed some ae them hae weans at stages wan an twa. Therefore, I thocht ad deviate fae the material in Unit 3, even tho ah hink mauni ae them wid enjoy the songs. A hid originally thocht to invite the parents among them to try readin an singin wi their ain weans, however, a wee logistics precursor with a member of staff, askin her child to read Emma Grae’s The Moggie Thit Meowed Too Much, indicatit that this approach widnae work so weel.
Secondly, my students urnae a captive audience. I hid planned tae run this class oan Wednesday 17th Decemeber 2025. However, I wis ambushed by the students as they left Application ae Maths on Tuesday morn. The asked whether ah “really needed them” oan Wednesday as they hid stuff tae dae fur Christmas (including attend Scuill nativities). Ower thi years, a huv learned that these questions really only huv wan answer. Thi only thing wurse than a class no turnin up is hauf a class turnin up-so I excused them.
A course, truth be telt, when I reflectit ower this incident I realised that my desire to run the class wis actually fur ma ain benefit and tae huv a lesson to reflect ower for oor Course Forum. I’ll add this to my Reflective Practice; Critical Incident Analysis for Self-evaluation purposes!
Twa things in particulur struck me as I worked through Unit 3. First, drawing upon habitus alang wi considerations ae social capital and cultural capital wur ripe for further exploration wi ma students, as a’ll explain later.
The second wis, whilst reviewing the songs n poyems, how strongly these wurks could dovetail wi ither elements ae the curriculum. An how well the weans adaptit tae yuiin Scots tae learn. The model answers linked expressive arts/performance and numeracy tae the obvious English and Literacy skills. So, this wus a chance tae take Scots frae the Literature 1 unit and yuise it in anither subject.
Ah routinely encourage ma students tae integrate thur learnin. Too often students tend to compartmentalise thur learnin intae silos. Reflecting ower Unit 3 wis the genesis tae pit ma wurds intae action.
In addition tae deliverin Literature 1 (FA58 12), I also deliver Social Influences (J22T 76) tae this cohort. As a Level 6 unit this reinforces students’ unerstaunin ae sociological concepts and introduces them tae sociological perspectives. Habitus and the work of Bourdieu huv never really featured in thi content ae this unit, except as an aside, as far as a know.
Therefore, inspired by Unit 3 content, this wus an ideal opportunity tae use Scots tae introduce and develop habitus. In addition, a course, it providit an opportunity tae draw upon Scots in a class ither than Literature 1 as a said earlier.
A pulled thigither a wee PowerPoint (attachtit) and class activity tae introduce the concepts of Social Capital and Cultural Capital along wi contexts and examples. A then made the connection tae language via a reminder of Symbolic Interactionism an Labelling. This also includit a discussion oan oor ain yuise and thochts ae language and, ultimately, tae the activity a hid devised. I stoapt short ae introducin schizoglossia at this stage!
A selectit two poyems by Tom Leonard; ‘The Voyeur’ and ‘right inuff.’ The former is written in a Standard English, however, it includes ‘wee.’ Whilst the latter is in a West Central Belt form. Ave attachit a copy ae a blank worksheet fir yer perusal; Ah'll hiv completit wans after the Christmas break and upload them tae the course forum in due course.
Thi intentions ae this lesson wur tae, not only introduce the concepts; habitus, social capital and cultural capital, but also tae provide real life examples fur the learnurs tae reflect ower. The activity sheet explores this through; social class, gender/sex and age.
Frae a sociological stance it is important for these candidates, who will progress into social work and social services, tae unerstaun power relationships. Currently, in our HNC Social Services course, I pursue this wi considerations ae hegemony (Marxist/conflict lens) and ‘host’ community (Functionalist lens). So, if this class is successful, I can add Bourdieu tae the mix fur futur HNCs.
Frae a literature point ae view a wanted tae help the candidates consider how they respond tae language and reflect ower the yuise ae certin wurds, especially Scots.
During some aspects of Unit 3 I found listening to contributions easier to unnerstaun that just readin although the ‘Fishgutters’ was an exception as the transcript helped me follow the themes/stories. Dependit oan time factors ah may play wan or twa videos tae the group. Ah'm also haudin back the Education Scotland video ‘History of Scots’ fur anither class, although it could huv hid mileage here.
Apologies for the rather long post but a wantit tae provide as much background as a could and tae hiv a go at Unit 3 within ma ain context. A’h don’t have access tae GLOW, so, couldnae engage wi ‘Scots Blether. A’h also recognise that ma post will deviate greatly frae ithers.
Hope you aw have a fab Christmas and a guid New Year.
