Badgering

There have been a couple posts (here and here) about the fight in E1 on Monday. I decided to start a new post because I've captioned the video. It's sometimes hard to hear the conversation over Lane talking, and I think some of the small nuances of word choice are important, so hopefully this will help with the analysis:



NOTE: Rachel just pointed out to me that the video embedded here does not have captions. They are definitely in the file on my computer, but for some reason they disappear when I embed the video into blogger. Rather than spending a bunch of time figuring that out, I'm just going to include the transcript here (I'm putting the captioned video on the server so you can watch it there if you want to):

[00:00:01.02]Bill: And where is the electricity coming from? I mean...
[00:00:06.01]Melanie: It's... it's potential energy stored inside the battery.
[00:00:09.27]Bill: Oop! I'm sorry. Say that again.
[00:00:12.06]Melanie: Potential energy stored inside the battery?
[00:00:14.00]Bill: What does that mean?
[00:00:14.28][Bill takes a drink]
[00:00:19.00]Bill: You don't have a thought about that?
[00:00:21.02]Melanie: No, I don't.
[00:00:23.29]Bill: You got a guess?
[00:00:25.14]Melanie: Coils.
[00:00:27.00]Bill: OK. Could be coils. Depending on the type of battery, yes...
[00:00:31.11]Bill: Enhancers? Coils enhancers?
[00:00:35.24]Lane: Blah, blah, blah.
[00:01:01.15][Bill picks up pen and starts writing]
[00:01:05.00]Bill: So... Inside the battery, there might be...
[00:01:09.00]Bill: Coils? and...
[00:01:15.00]Bill: Hamsters?
[00:01:16.09]Melanie: No. [Shrugs shoulders]
[00:01:18.00]Melanie: No. [shakes head] I don't know.
[00:01:20.11]Melanie: I think that this part isn't really working for me right now. [00:01:23.24]Melanie: Umm...
[00:01:24.16]Melanie: And so, if we're gonna...
[00:01:30.00]Tomme: I'm getting a little frustrated too, because you're rather...
[00:01:32.28]Tomme: you're badgering...
[00:01:34.18]Bill: OK
[00:01:35.00]Tomme: To get information.
[00:01:36.08]Bill: OK
[00:01:36.28]Tomme: And it's not working for me.
[00:01:38.04]Melanie: Yeah. It's not working for me either.
[00:01:39.16]Bill: OK, I can try to hold back on that.
[00:01:43.17]Bill: But I am interested in find out what's really going on.
[00:01:47.04]Tomme: Yeah. OK.
[00:01:48.08]Tomme: This is not an educational process that's happening right here.
[00:01:53.03]Tomme: And I certainly hope you don't do this in the classroom.
[00:01:55.16]Bill: Um... I'm wondering what you mean by this is not an educational process.
[00:02:00.05]Tomme: This is badgering on your part.
[00:02:01.09]Bill: OK, I understand, so my... the style that I'm leading in.
[00:02:03.29]Tomme: Yes. Yes.
[00:02:05.01]Bill: Alright. I just want to make sure... what you mean by process.
[00:02:07.15]Bill: And I apologize. I'm sorry.
[00:02:10.23]Tomme: In the battery, there are two different kinds of metal things.
[00:02:14.18]Tomme: Some metals have a high...

I was not part of the group hovering around the the video on Monday afternoon, so I had heard a lot of other people's impressions of it before I finally watched it after Abby posted it on Tuesday. I had heard a lot of people saying that Tomme's reaction seemed to come out of nowhere and that they weren't sure why she reacted this way. But as soon as I started watching Bill questioning Melanie, I had an immediate visceral reaction, and I thought I knew exactly why she was upset. I thought her choice of words was poor, and I wished she hadn't said some of these things out loud, but I definitely understood where she was coming from. I knew Bill from UE1 in June, and I was pretty sure he didn't actually mean any harm, but if I had been at that table listening to him, I would have flipped out (maybe only on the inside).

My interpretation is that he jumps into a stream of very pointed questions with no lead-in or consensus from the rest of the group that this is what they want to do, and as Melanie withdraws, his questions become increasingly sharp. When he asks her whether there are hamsters in the circuit, I feel insulted on her behalf. I want him to stop and I can't believe he doesn't see what's happening and cut it off. This feels like the kind of interaction that happens too often in tutorials, where instructors are trying to lead the students somewhere by asking them a stream of questions, and the students feel put on the spot. I don't know whether this is actually what he's doing, but what it feels like from the outside is that he's trying to be a teacher in a situation where he should really be taking a more humble role as a participant.

Rachel pointed out having a reaction to the way he takes a drink right after asking "What does that mean?" Something about this action feels... arrogant?

I also notice the way he shakes his foot and find myself wanting to grab it and hold it still. I'm sure one could do a whole analysis on how the vigor with which he shakes his foot changes as his questioning gets more intense. I'm not sure what it means. And Tomme and Melanie probably couldn't see his foot from where they were sitting.

I also notice that Roger walks over to them right as Tomme says "You're badgering", observes the most heated part of the interaction, and then walks away. Was he afraid to say anything? What message did this send to the group that someone observed this interaction and didn't respond? Did this legitimize Tomme's reaction in their eyes?

Not sure what to make of it all, but I figured I'd throw out some of my reactions for comments...