Please don't overlook the 
Presentations and Powerpoints
- Basic Understandings (PPT) or PDF
8-slide overview of key principles related to Time-binding, Scientific Approach, Abstracting, Verbal Awareness, and Sensory Awareness. - Epistemology and Fundamental Principles of GS (PPT) or PDF
10 slides that establish a theoretical context for GS and describe 4 fundamental principles on which the system is based. - Workshop for AP English Teachers (PPT) or PDF
September 2006 workshop presented to Advanced Placement English teachers from the Birdville Independent School District near Fort Worth. 18 slides that focus on GS applications to writing. - The Language of Awareness (PPT) or PDF
Originally developed for a September 2000 presentation to the Language Resource Center at Notre Dame University, these 21 slides provide a comprehensive summary of the principles with additional detail. - Genres: Is Shania Twain really "country"? (PPT w/embedded media) or PDF
"Genre" is another label for a class, category, type, kind, etc. Examining how students organize their music can help them understand the natural arbitrariness that goes with any classification method. Even within the world of academe. - Is 'Perception' really 'Reality'? (PPT) or PDF
With an understanding of the abstracting process, this lesson debunks the conventional aphorism. That some people confuse their perceptions as 'reality' doesn't make it so. - Maslow's Pyramid and Abstracting Process (PPT) or PDF
Maslow's observations and theories about self-actualizing behavior compare favorably to we describe as an extensional (self-aware) orientation. - F*CK: A Documentary (PPT w/embedded media) or PDF
Sometimes we can learn a lot about our general attitudes by examining the extremes. This lesson was used as prelude to viewing about half of Steve Anderson's documentary F*CK. (Click here for clips from the documentary.. Videos may include material some may find objectionable.) - Public Relations? Or Propaganda? (PPT) or PDF
Nobody majors in "Propaganda." But what's the difference? This presentation documents an unlikely proponent of the P-word. - Response Side Semantics (PPT) or PDF
Discussed after reading my article of the same name. How much emphasis do we put on the response/reaction side of the communicative process, vs. the supply/sender side? - The Last Class: Reminders (PPT w/embedded media) or PDF
From the last class, a multi-metaphor tour de force across the semester.
Other Materials, Handouts, Readings, Viewings
Applicable for Class
- 13 Symptoms of Language Mis-Behaviors A handy summary of practices to avoid in speaking, writing, and general evaluating.
- A General Orientation Survey Twenty statements from which students can appreciate their attitudinal differences.
- Quotes from GS, Thoreau, Emerson, Gandhi, and others Over 150 quotes applicable to a variety of purposes, all reflecting a similar and non-contradictory point of view.
For Teacher Preparation
- List of all video clips available on ThisIsNotThat.com
- An Overview of the Abstracting Process using the Structural Differential
- Speaking Notes from October 2004 Berman Lecture at UNLV
- Gary Chapin's Report about the 2006 Seminar-Workshop
- Report from a Weekend Seminar in 1999
- Report from my first Seminar-Workshop in 1994
- Vocabulary Terms
- Quotes to Begin the Semester
Demonstrations and Exercises
- Dimples and Bumps (visual)
- Count the Black Dots (visual)
- Benham Disc (visual)
- What do you Abstract from Music? (listening)
- An Uncritical Inference Test
- The 3 Buckets
- Create a Time-Binding Timeline Appropriate as an individual or group exercise to reinforce how recently humans have learned to rapidly progress, and to illustrate how this progress coincides with the use of a scientific approach.
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- DiscernThis! Blog
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