Fresh Eyes

Wednesday, September 9. In pairs today, four different ones.

Why Today

It used to be that getting something to work took so long that once it did, you didn’t want to touch it. That’s over: a change costs you a sentence, and so does undoing it. Which makes feedback worth more than ever, because the slow part now is knowing which change to make.

So try things today, even ones you’ll throw away. And get someone else to look. A website exists for other people: whether it works for them and whether it looks right to them both matter, and you can’t see your own site the way a stranger does. Your partner can. That’s what they’re for.

Nobody is grading the site. Every site in the room is a week old, most people are doing this for the first time, and the person looking at yours is about to hand you theirs.

Before You Pair

You’ll show your site on your own laptop, your partner looking over your shoulder, so nothing has to be online today. But you should see a change within seconds without putting it online first: a local preview, what a developer calls a local development setup. If every change means redeploying, ask your agent before you pair:

Can you set things up so I see changes to my site on my own laptop right away, without deploying?

It knows how, and it takes a minute.

Pair Up

Open the pair page. It shows you a code. Give it to your partner, or type theirs; whoever’s code was used builds first. Three is fine; so is pairing with me. Your code stays the same all class; find it once. If you come in late, pair with whoever’s waiting.

If You’re Critiquing

Look before you speak, the way someone who’d never met your partner would. What did you look at first? Who is this for? Could you find what you wanted? Then say what you see, out loud. The three shapes from last time still work:

I notice: what you saw. “I notice the heading is hard to read on your phone.”
I wonder: a question. “I wonder who this is for.”
What if: one thing to try. “What if the projects came first?”

Specific beats kind: “it’s nice” gives them nothing to do. Specific and positive counts too: “I knew what you studied before I scrolled” tells them what not to break. You don’t have to find something wrong, and eight minutes is one or two things, not a list. Write down the ones worth keeping; they go to your partner after class, not during.

There’s a companion on your page that can see your partner’s conversation with their agent. Use it to check what they actually asked for, or when you can’t put words to what you saw. It won’t write your feedback for you; the words your partner hears should be yours. Prefer the partner.

If You’re Building

You have eight minutes, so try it now. Not everything you’re told will be right; try it anyway, look, and keep it or throw it away. It’s your site and your call, which is exactly why you can afford to hear all of it. If you catch yourself explaining why it’s already that way, try it first and argue after. Tell the agent what your partner saw, not what you concluded from it: “my partner couldn’t tell what I study,” not “add a bio section.” When it says it’s done, look, then ask your partner if that’s what they meant.

Your page has a companion too. It keeps the list of what you were told, so at the end you know what you heard. Talk to it while the agent works, not before you try something. It won’t build anything.

Switching and New Partners

Your page shows what we’re doing and roughly how long it has. When I loop a round, everyone switches at once: the line under your names flips from building to critiquing. You can also switch sooner between yourselves. In a three, one of you sits out the building half of a round. When I move on, everyone goes back to their own code and finds someone new. The page reminds you who you’ve worked with, and asks you to be sure about a code you’ve been with before. Four partners if the clock holds; the last round may only go one way.

The Last Few Minutes

I close the session, and the notes about you appear on your pair page, from all four partners. Then, every session from now on: tell the course how it went, a short conversation rather than a form. It isn’t anonymous, and the page says so before you start.

If you’d rather see it than read it, there’s a walkthrough: the whole activity recorded end to end, both students’ screens and mine side by side.

Your partner can see your conversation with the agent from when you pair until the session ends; the pair page says so, and either of you can leave. Nothing is handed in.

If You Missed It

Peer critique, in pairs, in rounds. Eight minutes with one partner: one of you changed your site while the other looked at it the way a stranger would and said what they saw—I notice, I wonder, what if—then eight minutes the other way round. Then everyone found a partner they hadn't worked with and did it again, as many times as the period held.

Nobody graded anything. Every site in the room was a week old, and the person looking at yours was about to hand you theirs. The notes your partners kept about your site are on your pair page now that the session is closed.

On Your Own

This one doesn't work alone, and the reason is the whole point: you can't see your own site the way a stranger does. So borrow a stranger. A roommate, someone at dinner, anyone who has never seen it—and it's better if they know nothing about websites. Two minutes looking, then three questions: what did you look at first, who do you think this is for, and what's one thing you'd try? Don't explain it first and don't defend it after. Write down what they say, then change one thing and show them again.

One thing to have working before next class, because this one assumed it: a change to your site showing up on your own laptop within seconds, without deploying. If every change means putting it online again, ask your agent to set up a local preview—it knows how, and it takes a minute. The setup page covers the rest.

Running It Yourself

For anyone teaching. The page above is written to students; this is the plan the room played, what to do without our site, and what running it taught us. Borrow freely.

The Plan

Section	Minutes	What students are told
Get Paired	5	First: can you see a change to your site on your own laptop within seconds? If not, ask your agent for a local preview now. Then find a partner and swap codes. Whoever's code gets used builds first; the other one looks. Three is fine if the numbers don't work out; so is pairing with me.
Round 1run it, then everyone switches and run it again	8 + 8	Building: try what you're told, now, and look before you say done. Critiquing: look at their site the way a stranger would, then say what you see, out loud. Write down the ones worth keeping.
New Partnereveryone finds a new partner	1	Find someone you haven't worked with today and swap codes. Your code hasn't changed. Whoever's code gets used builds first.
Round 2run it, then everyone switches and run it again	8 + 8	Building: try what you're told, now, and look before you say done. Critiquing: look at their site the way a stranger would, then say what you see, out loud. Write down the ones worth keeping.
New Partnereveryone finds a new partner	1	Someone new again. Swap codes; whoever's code gets used builds first.
Round 3run it, then everyone switches and run it again	8 + 8	Building: try what you're told, now, and look before you say done. Critiquing: look at their site the way a stranger would, then say what you see, out loud. Write down the ones worth keeping.
New Partnereveryone finds a new partner	1	Last new partner. Swap codes; whoever's code gets used builds first.
Round 4run it, then everyone switches and run it again	8 + 8	Building: try what you're told, now, and look before you say done. Critiquing: look at their site the way a stranger would, then say what you see, out loud. Write down the ones worth keeping.
Feedback	5	Last thing: tell the course how that went. It's a short conversation, not a form, and it's the main way this class gets better while you're still in it. The notes about your site appear on this page once I close the session. Tell the course how it went

About 77 minutes as written. Nothing advances on its own: the instructor moves the room from one section to the next, runs one again, or skips one.

Without Our Site

The pair page does three things here: pairs people by a code, gives the critic a live feed of the builder's conversation with a companion beside it, and holds the notes until the session closes. None of that is the activity. The critique happens on the builder's own laptop, looking over their shoulder, so nothing has to be online, and the one thing to insist on beforehand is a local preview: a change should show up on the screen within seconds, and the agent will set that up if asked. The projector showed the round, the time left, the pairs, and the music: a queue anyone adds to by pasting a YouTube link, played in turns by who added what. A whiteboard and a clock do the first part; a speaker and any shared playlist do the rest.

Pair by sitting down next to someone. Eight minutes one way, then the same the other way; call the switch from the front so everyone moves at once. Then everyone stands up and finds someone they haven't worked with, which is a request rather than a rule and works better that way; expect a minute of milling. The critic's three shapes, I notice, I wonder, what if, go on an index card and are handed over after class, not during, so the builder isn't reading about their own site while they're supposed to be looking at someone else's. Skip the companions; the critic asks the builder instead, which is what we tell them to do anyway. End with a few minutes for students to tell you how it went, and ask a second question rather than one.

What We Learned Running It

The sections add to 77 minutes in a 75-minute period, and the room won't start on time. Three partners both ways and a fourth one way beats four rounds and no time for feedback, so the last round's second half is the one to drop. The switch at eight is the place to be firm; the move to a new partner at sixteen ends the partnership for the whole room, and there's no going back to it.

The regroup empties the room for a minute and looks like nothing is working. That is it working.

Next time we'll try both halves at once: each person building while also looking at the other's site. A partnership then costs eight minutes instead of sixteen, and nobody spends eight with nothing of their own to make. Against that, the critic in the current shape has nothing else to do, and that is where the looking comes from; we don't yet know which matters more.