Advancing Collaborative Learning With ICT Conception Cases and Design 1st Edition
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- 5. Advancing Collaborative Learning With ICT Conception Cases and Design 1st Edition Digital Instant Download ISBN(s): 9789810882990, 9810882998 Edition: 1 File Details: PDF, 5.87 MB Year: 2011 Language: english
- 7. Copyright © 2011 Ministry of Education, Singapore vision Ministry of Education logy Di a Drive Educational Techno North Buona Vist ingapore 138675 1 S First Edition arning With ICT: Conception, Cases and Design Advancing Collaborative le SBN: 978‐981‐08‐8299‐0 I ublished in Singapore P All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
- 8. Preface This monograph is written with the intent to advance collaborative learning (CoL) with information and communication technologies (ICT) in Singapore schools. As group work becomes a common approach to learn in today’s classrooms, this monograph aims to seed ideas on how group work can be characterised as collaboration. This goal is underpinned by our belief that collaborative learning is instrumental towards developing our young in this 21st century. We also hope that the contents of this book would serve as a catalyst to more productive conversations on supporting collaborative learning with ICT within the teaching fraternity. 1
- 9. 2 CONTENTS Preface 1 Table of Contents 2 List of Tables 3 List of Figures 4 Introduction 5 Chapter 1: The Concept of Collaborative Learning 6 Chapter 2: Affordances of ICT and the Support for Collaborative Learning 20 Chapter 3: Local Case Examples of Collaborative Learning with ICT 25 Chapter 4: Designing for Collaborative Learning Using ICT 38 Chapter 5: Analysing Students’ Collaborative Learning 53 Conclusion 60 Acknowledgements 61 References 61 Appendix A 68 Appendix B 69
- 10. 3 LIST of TABLES Table 1 List of ICT affordances and corresponding roles to support collaborative learning 23 Table 2 Link between ICT affordance and 12 Knowledge Building Principles 47 Table 3 Principle Axis Factoring of Subscales of Knowledge Building Focus, Teacher Directed Classroom and Collaborative Learning 55
- 11. 4 LIST of FIGURES Figure 1 Elgg homepage for Primary 5F 26 Figure 2 Task description for Activity One 28 Figure 3 A collection of pictures from an expert group research 28 Figure 4 A student sharing his research with other expert group members 29 Figure 5 Teacher probing and directing research 29 Figure 6 Sharing of research to home group members 30 Figure 7 Students probe deeper into learning by questioning what they learn 32 Figure 8 Students displaying socially apt skills as they participate in collaborative learning 33 Figure 9 Web platform giving students instructions as well as facilitating student inscription of field responses 35 Figure 10 The interface of Knowledge Forum 39
- 12. Introduction The emergence of the Knowledge‐based Economy or the Knowledge Age since the turn of last century has prompted many educators to reconsider the attitudes, skills and knowledge that the 21st century learners need. Successful workers of the 21st century are knowledge workers who add value and transform current state of knowledge to useful cognitive and/or physical artefacts (Bereiter, 2002). To assume the role of knowledge workers, 21st century learners are active and life‐long learners with a serious yet playful attitude towards ideas. They have to possess a wealth of well‐grounded knowledge. More importantly, they need the soft skills pertaining to group‐based problem solving and knowledge creation (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 2006; Partnership for 21st century Skills). Collaborative learning has been identified as one of the key strategies to cultivate the needed knowledge skills (Hong & Sullivan, 2009). The role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in support of the knowledge creation processes has also been well recognised by educators (Jonassen, Howland, Marra, & Crismond, 2008). In this monograph, we will define what collaborative learning is and articulate the rationale of employing collaborative learning. Next we explicate the affordances of ICT in support of collaborative learning. This will be followed by a section that will illustrate collaborative learning with ICT using local school examples. Finally we suggest design principles to facilitate collaborative learning among students and provide some guidelines on ways to analyse student learning with respect to llaboration. co 5
- 13. 1 The Concept of Collaborative Learning When students interact for the purpose of achieving better understanding about a concept, a problem or a phenomenon, or to create a novel piece of knowledge or solution that they do not previously know, they are engaged in collaborative learning. Collaborative learning can be simply defined as social interactions that are targeted towards deeper knowing (Chai & Tan, 2010). Beside knowledge outcomes, students who are engaged in collaborative learning would also acquire soft skills such as ways of seeing from their peers’ perspectives, internalised group and communication skills, and awareness of their personal strengths and weaknesses as collaborative learners if and when teachers guide them in eflection. r 6 Ideally, collaborative learning encompasses the following process. First, students encounter a phenomenon or are presented a problem or task. We refer to it as the triggering event. To resolve the questions that they encounter in the triggering event, they discuss and agree on the theme of inquiry or the identified problems. This initial discussion helps to cultivate a sense of ownership to the problem among the group of students, and it is commonly referred to as the establishment of joint activity (Stahl, Koshmann, & Suthers, 2006). With activity jointly established, students would then proceed towards further discussion that may lead to idea improvement and argumentative knowledge construction. They articulate what they perceive with regards to the subject matter or the phenomenon. Once students’ ideas and conceptions are articulated, a pool of ideas is made public within the groups and these ideas are naturally and
- 14. necessarily different from each other. The diverse ideas then provide a basis for negotiations among students and such negotiations can be directed towards building a community‐based collective understanding (Scardamalia, 2002). The social negotiation of ideas may also trigger further actions of knowing such as experimentation, collecting empirical data, review of literature, consultation with experts etc. Students also need to evaluate ideas and knowledge claims based on evidence and to resolve conflicting views (Bereiter, 2002; Scardamalia, 2002). After extended interactions, learners usually achieve deeper understanding about the subject matter or create a better solution for the problem (Mercer, 008a). 2 While the preceding paragraph describes an ideal collaborative learning situation, the collaborative learning that we observe in the classrooms is at times not as perfect. Students may be engaged in off‐task small talks during group work, group members may decline to offer good ideas, and students may encounter conflicts which they do not know how to resolve. As such, fostering collaborative learning among students requires skilful facilitation from teachers who are knowledgeable about the many aspects of collaborative learning. In the next section, we will first clarify the concept of cooperative learning and ollaborative learning. c 7 Collaborative Learning vs. Cooperative Learning The concept and process of collaborative learning may at times overlap with the concept of cooperative learning. Many practitioners and researchers do not make a distinction between the two. However, literature pertaining to cooperative learning usually advocates that teachers should adhere to a set of guidelines and assume the responsibility in planning and monitoring the group processes (Johnson & Johnson, 2009). Johnson and Johnson have also provided many good suggestions on how to foster productive group work. We argue that collaborative learning could subsume cooperative learning. For example, Summer et al. (2005)
- 15. view cooperative learning as a form of structured collaborative learning. In that light, cooperative learning can be a good scaffold towards collaborative learning. This is especially so in cases where students need to acquire some group process kills through the more structured form of cooperative learning. s Although cooperative learning can be seen as a stepping stone towards collaboration, there are discernible differences between the two. To date, it is widely accepted among educators that cooperative learning focuses on how individuals learn within group settings whereas collaborative learning examines group learning or group cognition (Koschman 2002; Zhang et al, 2009; Hong, 2010). Collaborative learning is also closely related with the use of ICT, as evidenced with the emergence of the field of computer‐supported collaborative learning. In this monograph, we make a distinction between these two concepts. Specifically, drawing on Dillenbough (1999) and Summer et al. (2005), we propose that cooperative learning be viewed as the beginning of collaborative learning. Such beginnings of collaborative learning can be characterised as highly structured in terms of group formation, interaction procedure and outcomes of activity. As students mature in their practice of engaging in group negotiation of meanings, structures (in terms of group formation, interaction procedure and activity outcomes) can gradually be removed for students to assume a greater ense of ownership. s 8 We argue that when students are able to work productively in groups, it is necessary for teachers to loosen the structure to encourage students to assume a higher level of agency. Students should be provided with more choices on what, how and whom they want to work with and manage the group process themselves. Arguably, this will offer students opportunities to experience the more dynamic form of interaction and collaboration that characterises knowledge creating communities. Zhang, Scardamalia, Reeve and Messina (2009) reported a three‐year study of collaborative learning that started first with fixed
- 16. small groups, followed by interacting small groups and lastly opportunistic collaboration where the groups are formed based on emerging issues and dissolved once the issues are resolved. The less structured groups achieved highest level of knowledge advancement. In this study, findings indicated that a less structured approach, both in terms of grouping and the theme of inquiry, may be more desirable for deep negotiation of meanings to happen within and mong groups. a In the following paragraphs, we draw on the literature and focus on describing what cooperative and collaborative learning look like. Further in the monograph, we give suggestions on how transitions from cooperative to collaborative learning can be facilitated. In cooperative learning, teachers set learning goals, form groups, assign roles to group members for specific learning tasks, and make use of strategies to foster positive interdependence among students. Given a structure, students are more likely to accomplish their assigned duties in the form of re‐assembling parts into whole. While negotiation of meaning may occur, students are likely to be inclined towards task completion via division of labour or sometimes known as the divide‐and‐conquer strategy (Janssen, Kirschner, Erkens, Kirschner, & Pass, 2010). In fact, exemplified in the following quotes, this form of cooperative learning is quite commonly reported by Singaporean tudents (See Tan et al., 2010 for a full explication of student responses): s We are separated into groups, then we try to answer as many questions as we can to get these points in this point system. So we are really enthusiastic. So we also have a lot of project works like recently we have something that got to do with newsmaker, where we are supposed to do a mock version of a broadcast, yeah news broadcast… for newsmaker we were given around a month to do it. It was a really big project and… using our web cams, we could do a news broadcasting (Sec 3 student, July 2009). 9
- 17. Generally, Singaporean students perceive group learning positively. Many of them report social and cognitive benefits. For example, they cite group learning help them to learn better, foster social bonding, gain more ideas and complement each others’ strengths. We can learn how to work with each other better… in future when… we have to work and we will have the experience of working with… many different people. So we can… work with different people better (Pri 4 student, July 2009). Once students are accustomed to working in a group, structures that are set up to support cooperative learning could be faded to allow students to assume greater ownership in collaboration. The case of opportunistic collaboration, as reported by Zhang et al. (2009), serves as a good example of what a highly collaborative learning situation looks like. In this case, the students were studying the topic of Optics. The teacher started by providing the students with the high‐level goal of understanding Optics and the students elaborated by defining sub‐goals. These sub‐goals included Light, How Light Travels, Colours, Shadows, etc. The teacher did not assign students to work on specific sub‐goals. Instead students were given the responsibility for the collective growth of understanding as a class. Small groups were formed, dispersed, and regrouped, and whole class discussions were held based on students’ perceived needs to advance their understanding. The students posted online notes of their emerging understanding about Optics, and replied to other students’ online posts. They contributed by providing explanation of questions asked; asked questions based on what others have reported, conducted experiments, reviewed materials from the library and the Internet, reviewed class progression and discussed ideas in ace‐to‐face settings. f 10 In short, myriad activities were carried out by the students to advance each others’ understanding about the topic. In this setting, the students have multiple opportunities to shape and reshape the emerging collective understanding about
- 18. the topic. Their personal understanding or ideas about Optic is also being shaped and reshaped when they are engaged in discussion. This in essence is the negotiation of meaning within the individual (intramental) and between individuals (interpersonal). It has been argued that it is a close resemblance to what knowledge workers in the knowledge creation companies do and therefore is a good goal to aim for when one embarks on collaborative learning (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 2006). Collaborative Learning Indicators in mp3 So far, our discussion of the concept of collaborative learning has largely been descriptive in that (a) we first clarified the concept by differentiating it with cooperative learning, and (b) we illustrated what collaborative learning can look like drawing on Zhang et al.‘s case example of opportunistic collaboration. Another approach collaborative learning can be understood is from a “construct” perspective as mooted by the Ministry of Education in the recently released Third Masterplan for ICT in education (mp3)1. From such a perspective, collaborative learning can be viewed in terms of the Group Processes construct nd the Accountability of Learning construct. a As mooted in mp3, the Group Processes construct explicates the roles and responsibilities of individual members as well as the group as a whole when learning in group settings. These roles and responsibilities are largely premised on interaction patterns such as “sharing of ideas” and “listening to others” students could display when learning with peers. Additionally, suggestions of ow ICT can be employed to support interactions are also included. h With respect to the Accountability of Learning construct, roles and responsibilities are explicated in terms of task achievement. Again, suggestions of 11 1 URL: http://ictconnection.edumall.sg/cos/o.x?c=/ictconnection/pagetree&func=view&rid=665
- 19. how ICT can be employed to support the process towards task completion are given. Here, we replicate the collaborative learning constructs found in The ICT Connection portal along with the indicators for easy reference2. Construct 1: Effective Group Processes 1. When a student works in a group, he/she listens carefully to ideas from his/her group members; he/she asks questions to better understand his/her group members’ ideas; ers; he/she shares ideas with his/her group memb everyone agrees on what everyone must do; everyone discusses how they will do the group work; he/she completes the work that he/she needs to do; he/she uses computing tools (e.g. discussion forums, MSN Messenger, wikis) to discuss with his/her group members on what needs to be done for their project; he/she uses computing tools (e.g. discussion forums, MSN Messenger, wikis) to work with his/her group members to complete a project; he/she uses computing tools (e.g. discussion forums, MSN Messenger, wikis) to gather information for their project from people outside his/her school; and/or he/she uses computing tools (e.g. discussion forums, MSN Messenger, wikis) to share his/her thoughts with his/her group members on how they can work better together. 12 2 URL: http://ictconnection.edumall.sg/cos/o.x?c=/ictconnection/pagetree&func=view&rid=738#col
- 20. Construct 2: Individual and Group Accountability of Learning 2. When a student works in a group, he/she tries to help his/her group members to complete the group’s work; and/or he/she uses computing tools (e.g. discussion forums, MSN Messenger, ) s wikis to check if hi /her group members have completed their work. 3. At the end of a project, the group discusses how well they have worked ogether and how they could have worked better together. t Rationale of Employing Collaborative Learning In the explication of the conception of collaborative learning, we highlighted some key ideas about learning in collaborative settings and alluded briefly to the rationale for collaborative learning. Here, we discuss in greater detail the rationale for engaging students in collaborative learning from a sociocultural perspective of learning. 13 Vygotsky’s (1978) socio‐cultural theory of learning has been one of the theories that provided much impetus to drive collaborative learning. Vygotsky’s research reveals that children’s higher mental functions are developed through interacting with others who are more capable than them cognitively. What this means is exemplified in the following example. When a child interacts with developmentally more advanced people, for example the more capable peers/siblings, the teacher or his/her parents, the child hears how these people see some problems and how they solve the problems. It is through interactions that the thoughts of others are revealed to the child. Through such interaction, the child has opportunities to observe others thinking and internalise the pattern of thinking. In this way, he develops new ways of thinking. Vygotsky described this process of mental development as one that happens first interpersonally (during interaction), then intra‐mentally (during internalisation). He believed
- 21. that this is the main way human higher mental function develops. However, he explains that for such development to occur, one key condition is that the interaction needs to be within the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). A ZPD is “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86). One problem that teachers have is they are cognitively far more advanced than the children they teach and at times they may operate beyond the ZPD of the children. Collaborative learning could provide an antidote to this situation by creating multiple ZPD (Oshima, 1998). Given that every student has a different ZPD, when they are put in group for collaborative learning, their ZPDs overlap one another’s. While the teacher’s teaching may be accessible to some more advanced students, the less advanced students are able to connect with the more advanced students. The overlapping ZPD of each student when put in groups form the multiple ZPDs which are theoretically more accessible to all the members. In short, collaborative learning is a conducive teaching and learning approach that could cater to diverse learners. One recent empirical study that illustrates the functioning of Vygotsky’s theory is provided by Hasan (2002). His study indicates that the different patterns of interpersonal interaction between mother and child influence the child’s pattern of thinking. Some mothers encourage their children to ask questions and provide ample feedback for their children when they ask questions. Others are not so encouraging and forthcoming in responding to the children’s questions. The long term effects may be that the children from the less encouraging mothers become less inquisitive, consequently less knowledgeable and perhaps having a smaller repertoire of thinking skills. 14 It has also been reported that the types of classroom discourse/talk shapes the thinking and the identity of students (Mercer, 2008a). The pattern of talks that
- 22. occur in classrooms has been described as either monologic or dialogic (Wells, 2007). Monologic talks are one‐way transmission of knowledge from the teacher to the students, demanding that the students to be passive recipients of knowledge. Research has documented that teacher controlled talk or recitation is prevalent in the classroom (Mehan, 1979). Some Singaporean teachers are strong advocates for such an approach as it seems clear to them that it is efficient (Chai, 2006). We are not arguing that this is necessarily a bad teaching strategy. Rather, teachers may want to consider the possible undesirable effects of too much teacher talk and encourage more a dialogic mode of communication to encourage students to be more inquisitive and more active in educating themselves. The possession of knowledge, which seemingly is more efficiently achieved through monologic talk, may not be enough for learners today. The ability to create knowledge, arguably more effectively achieved through dialogic talk, is the other wing that our learners need. Research conducted by Brown and Palinscar (1989) on reciprocal teaching, Anderson, Chinn, Waggoner and Nguyen (1998) on collaborative reasoning, and Mercer (2008a) on thinking together, have all indicated that collaborative talks are positively associated with better learning performances. Building upon Vygotsky’s theory, other noticeable sociocultural theories of learning include the notion of distributed cognition (Pea, 1993) and that of Community of Practice (CoP) (Lave & Wenger, 1999). The notion of distributed cognition highlights the importance of sharing cognitive load when one is engaged in solving complex problems. Many important jobs in human society cannot be accomplished alone. An example would be flying an aeroplane. There are many readings that the pilot needs to monitor, and part of the cognitive load has been distributed to the various apparatus to monitor, alerting the pilot only when actions are needed. To design a new aeroplane, on the other hand, would be too big a task for an individual to undertake efficiently. This is usually carried out in modern times by people with different expertise to undertake as a team. 15
- 23. Similarly, collaborative learning avoids cognitive overload for individuals. In collaborative learning, learners share the cognitive load of authentic and complex earning tasks (Roth, 1999). l In essence, to achieve the many cognitively demanding tasks of today’s workplace, workers are required to collaborate with one another. The abilities to share cognitive and other forms of responsibilities, to work with others, to communicate effectively are complex in nature and educators cannot assume that every learner possesses these abilities. Regular collaborative learning in school would provide ample opportunities for learners to acquire the complex skills involved. However, recent research has also indicated that while performing collaborative learning, learners have to devote certain amounts of attention to discuss and monitor the collaboration processes, which could distract their attention away from the learning activities. Given that, if the collaborative task is by nature relatively simple and does not necessitate collaboration, it would not benefit the learners to perform collaborative learning (Janssen et al., 2010). The notion of CoP, on the other hand, emphasises the importance of the community in giving meaning to the talks and activities that occur within the community (Lave & Wenger, 1999). CoP was derived from anthropological research on how people learn and move from being an apprentice to being an expert within a community of certain trades. To understand how to be a master tailor, for example, one has to be provided with opportunities to see and learn what existing masters do, how they talk and think. Such opportunities are provided when one becomes an apprentice. As one is in the trade, or in situ, the meanings of talks and activities are easily understandable as the environment provides rich context for one to take reference from. The research of CoP reveals the importance of being in the authentic situation to appropriate the means of the trade. School, however, is not quite the same as CoP. School subjects are 16
- 24. taught not as how those subjects are being practiced. There is therefore a need to create knowledge building communities (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 2006) in schools, in which students work directly with the subject matter as knowledge producers in practice do. In other words, to teach Science, it is desirable for the students to form communities that resemble the ways scientists operate. To teach Social Studies, students ought to struggle through the issues like a community of sociologists. Allowing the learners to use the tools (both physical and conceptual) to solve authentic problems in which the subject matter experts deal with, in the social context where such problems are solved, is the approach advocated by the notion of CoP. The benefits would be deep understanding of not just the knowledge or even the process of creating the knowledge, but also the ability and identity of being a knowledge creator. As Johnson and Johnson (2009) correctly pointed out “humans are small‐group beings…… As the effectiveness of our groups goes, so goes the quality of our life” (p. 555). Learning to collaborate is therefore a worthwhile goal for anyone who ants to live a social life. w Another rationale of engaging students in collaborative learning would thus be its potential of being a fertile ground to cultivate social emotional learning (SEL). This idea of connecting collaborative learning and SEL was suggested by one of the Heads of Department we interviewed for the evaluation of mp3 (Christopher Hoe, July 2010, personal communication). Collaborative learning inevitably involves relationships among learners. Local research indicates that students, especially those who are good and competitive, are quite perceptive about the many problems involved in collaborative work (Tan et al., 2010). Below are some quotes that students have reported. I don’t like group work because sometimes we may quarrel with each other (sic), and sometimes the group members don’t do their work and the whole group gets punished (Sec 3 student, July 2009). 17
- 25. I do not like group work. I think it is better to depend on yourself. It is unjust when freeloaders get credit for work they did not do. We were also assigned the Social Studies project, and at our meeting the leader did not turn up, resulting in the work being done by only a few members. The members were chosen by ourselves, but we did not know that some of them were so irresponsible. I told my teacher about the situation, and she told me to give the freeloaders something to do so as to justify giving them some marks. However they still did not do anything but got the marks in the end (Sec 3 student, August 2009). Järvenoja and Järvelä (2009) point out that students face higher socio‐emotional challenges when they are engaged in collaborative knowledge construction. Many factors could contribute to potential conflicts. Students are likely to have different interest levels, expertise, goals and communication styles. Given these differences, coupled with external problems such as insufficient materials, clash and conflict, could easily develop, causing negative emotion to run high (Järvelä, Volet, & Järvenoja, 2010). Regulation of personal and group’s emotion is necessary for students to be successful in collaborative learning. It follows that students need to be aware of their personal and the group emotional states and consciously apply strategies to help themselves and the group to move forward. Collaborative learning thus becomes a fruitful ground for students to acquire the interpersonal skills and regulation strategies. Research in this area is however, ust beginning. j 18 In essence, drawing on the above discussed, there are many good reasons for the use of collaborative learning strategies in our teaching and learning. Broadly, from a curricula perspective, in collaborative learning students have opportunities to externalise what they know in interaction. Knowledge gets fine‐ tuned as students negotiate and understanding is sharpened. From a 21st century learning perspective, students acquire apt social skills that could serve
- 26. them well both in learning and future work situations. From a social emotional learning perspective, collaborative learning provides ample opportunities for them to be acquainted with the skills of managing their personal emotions and the group’s emotions. Before we move on to discuss the role of ICT in collaborative learning, we summarise our rationalisation for collaborative learning in the following points: (a)Interaction with peers promotes progression in studen struction of knowledge ts’ ZPD (b)Dialogism promotes active con (c) Cognitive load gets shared out (d)Interaction with content knowledge as practitioners in the field (e)Cultivate social emotional learning and social emotional skills 19
- 27. 2 Affordances of ICT and the Support for Collaborative Learning Collaborative learning activities can take many forms. They range from having students solve practical or designed problems, to the development of novel products that can change the quality of our lives. ICT can play a role in whichever form collaborative learning takes. While ICT enable many‐to‐many interactions concurrently, which is essential in breaking the dominance of initiation‐respond‐ evaluation (IRE) classroom‐based discourse structure, the role played by ICT in the process of collaboration, however, is not always supportive of learning. ICT can be at times just a communication channel that is neutral to learning. Here in this monograph, we provide a heuristic for thinking about ICT affordances by way of contrasting ICT as communication channel with ICT for collaborative meaning making. Through this, we aim to differentiate the many ways ICT is used in teaching and learning, and thereby highlight that not all utility supports ollaborative learning. c To start off, by affordance, we mean the possible actions people can perform by using certain features of tools (Gibson, 1977; McLoughlin & Lee, 2007). For instance, the affordance of blogs in its reverse chronological feature of having the most recent post at top of a page promotes diary writing. When accessing a blog, readers would read the most recent entry first and receive the updated development of the blogger’s publications with ease. This affordance encourages readers to continually follow blogs for updates and correspondingly for bloggers o continue publishing. 20 t
- 28. Drawing on Suther’s (2006) discussion of ICT affordance for intersubjective meaning making to make our discussion here, we highlight the distinction between ICT as communication channel and ICT for collaborative meaning making. With respect to ICT as communication, we refer to the use of ICT mainly for enabling communication. There are learning situations where ICT is used as a communication channel for members within a group to interact with one another. Such communication can take place either in class to complement face‐ to‐face interaction, or outside class as an extension or replacement of face‐to‐face interaction (with the latter being more predominant). In such situations, the focus really is to enable talk among students and sometimes with the teacher, and less emphasis is placed on whether the talk leads to learning (See Olson & lson 2000 for argument against replicating face‐to‐face interaction online). O Likewise, ICT for collaborative meaning making can occur within class or outside class. However, the similarity ends there. Rather than be concerned with how ICT enables talk among students, what matters is how features of ICT tools influence the course of collaboration. In other words, how students use ICT in group settings. Thus, taken in this light, students can be using ICT even in a face‐to‐face setting so long as the interaction works towards collaborative meaning making. In fact, Suthers (2006) argued that collaborative learning systems should be fundamentally social technologies that mediate and encourage actions by collaborators to achieve learning (see section below for Web 2.0 as social technologies). In the table below, we suggest a non‐exhaustive list of ICT ffordances and describe the role of technology to support collaborative learning. a 21
- 29. Table 1: List of ICT affordances and corresponding roles to support collaborative 22 learning ICT Affordances Explanation & Example Roles to Support Collaborative Learning 1. Possibilities for Actions Refers to the potential for action by students working together. For example, in wikis and blogs, the representation of inscriptions in a synchronised workspace enables one student to share and subsequently others to react to the sharing, thereby facilitating co‐ onstruction across time and pace. c s Facilitate co‐construction for clarification or depth of subject‐matter. Also facilitate consensus within group. 2. Referential Capabilities Refers to referential potential of externalised thinking in the form of inscriptions for reflection on prior activity or subsequent interactions. For example, an online concept map is an inscription of externalised thinking which can e elaborated or corrected by nother peer in a group. b a Repository or trail of ideas for subsequent actions (which can be reflection, correction, elaboration, extension or negotiations etc.) 3. Mobility of Digital Inscriptions Refers to the ease of manipulation of digital inscriptions. For example, ideas in a discussion forum can easily be “copied” onto a Google Document for subsequent action and meaning making. Alternatively, the digital inscriptions could be copied onto an email for recruitment f collaborators. o Externalised knowledge as inscriptions can easily be transferred, aggregated and modified within and across different ICT platforms thereby cutting across time and space thereby ensuring continuity of collaboration. 4. Promotes patterns of Participation Refers to the flexibility of ICT tools to allow for different trajectories of participation. For example in a social networking site, students can participate in different role positions at Flexible participation patterns promote agency and ownership to the overall task at hand. Additionally encourages take up of different role positions in the joint meaning‐making
- 30. different “places” within the ite. s process. Web 2.0 as Social Technologies Social technologies or social software can broadly be defined as “software that supports group interaction” (Shirky 2003, para 2). The idea of supporting group interaction is more than just facilitating person‐to‐person interaction. It encompasses the notion of having users of Web 2.0 in the centre of activity where their practices (i.e. the way they use the technology) are more important than the technology itself. In fact, McLoughlin and Lee (2007) argued that Web 2.0 enables “collaborative remixability” (p. 665), a transformative process in which digital media can be recombined or recreated to become new forms in tangible (e.g. new roducts) and intangible ways (e.g. ideas and services). p To further flesh out the social aspects of Web 2.0, here we reiterate aspects of Web 2.0 as espoused in Lim, So and Tan (2010). We do this along three dimensions, namely technological, social and epistemological. First, on the technological dimension, Web 2.0 tools lean heavily on promoting social networking in easy and simple ways. Often it is a matter of accessing URLs in order to participate in the interactions. Second, on the social dimension, Web 2.0 tools put people in the context of other people. This contrasts with Web 1.0 that emphasised on independent self‐paced learning. Finally, on the epistemological dimension, the notion of knowledge creation in a Web 2.0 environment emphasises on participation where knowing becomes public, and contradictions ithin get worked through. w Such social, flexible and connective character embodied in Web 2.0 lends itself well to collaborative learning (Anderson, 2004). Students collaborating in a Web 23
- 31. 2.0 environment worry less about technological barriers, and therefore are able to focus on the task and the processes of collaboration. Contributions from peers become the foci on which interaction and meaning making can be built upon. More importantly, learning in a Web 2.0 environment is necessarily student‐ centred in that students would be doing the learning ― searching, writing, sharing, modifying, elaborating, and so on. The learning process is participative and active with students engaged in the process. On the other hand, ideas, information and knowledge get fine‐tuned and sharpened over time, arguably leading to deeper learning. 24
- 32. 3 Local Case Examples of Collaborative Learning with ICT In this section, we contextualise the descriptions of collaborative learning given above in a few local case examples. These case examples illustrate situations of collaborative learning across various social settings. The first case example crosses between formal learning in the classroom and informal learning at home while the second case example is about mobile learning in a field trip. Our objectives in the description of these case examples are twofold: First, we unpack the learning activities and processes in the lessons and highlight some key tenets about learning in collaborative settings. Second, in highlighting key tenets about learning in collaborative settings, we reinforce the rationale of employing ollaborative learning in teaching and learning. c Learning Community: Youth Olympic Games Project (Nan Chiau Primary School) Context of the Lesson The goal of this lesson is to raise awareness of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in students. At the same time leveraging 1:1 technology access3 as well as a social networking platform (Elgg) to learn across formal and informal settings, this lesson aims to inculcate in students 21st century skills, in particular self‐directed learning and collaborative learning skills. For the purposes of this monograph, we will illustrate mainly the collaborative learning aspects. This lesson was 3 1: 1 technology access in education refers to each student or teacher having a computing device, internet access anytime, anywhere. 25
- 33. implemented in a Primary Five class and consisted of three activities which spanned over a week long. The specific objectives for this lesson include: (1) learn what the Youth Olympic Games represents, (2) conduct research in their specific roles and of Indonesia, (3) be effective communicators and critique peers’ responses, and (4) be self‐directed in their learning and collaborate with peers. The use of the social networking platform (e.g., Elgg) in a 1:1 technology access setting is not new in the school. In fact, observations from earlier lesson implementation using Elgg and 1:1 found the design principle of giving students role positions in a social networking platform to be effective in developing collaboration skills in them (Lau et al., 2010). Therefore, this lesson can be viewed as the scaling of good practices to students of other levels in the school see Figure 1 for the Elgg homepage for the Primary 5 class). ( Figure 1: Elgg4 homepage for Primary 5F 4 Screenshots used with permissions of Curverider Limited (For more information, see www.elgg.org) 26
- 34. Lesson Activities There are three activities in this lesson, and Activities One and Two were conducted using a cooperative learning strategy known as the jigsaw method (Slavin, 1980). For Activity One, students were grouped according to expert groups, that is, as a Physical Education teacher, a Music teacher; an Art teacher and a Dance teacher. For each role position allocated, students were to research and find out the developmental trajectory for the role position. Additionally, they were also required to learn more about Indonesia, a country paired with the school for YOG specifically in areas of sports, music, art and dance culture. Given specific role positions to play, each group member inquired into the area related to the role position and shared with the other expert group members on Elgg (See Figures 2 and 3 for the expert group task description and the collection of students’ research respectively). Throughout the research process, the teacher played the role of a facilitator probing into students’ research and asking them to clarify what they found (See Figures 4 and 5 for what students have found and how the teacher probed for further clarification respectively). After students had researched and learnt more about their roles and of Indonesia’s rich culture, they carried on to Activity Two. 27
- 35. Figure 2: Task description for Activity One Figure 3: A collection of pictures from an expert group research. 28
- 36. Figure 4: A student sharing his research with other expert group members Figure 5: Teacher probing and directing research 29
- 37. For Activity Two, students returned to their home groups (i.e. Green, Yellow, Pink and Red) to discuss and share with their home group members what they had learnt (See Figure 6 for student sharing their research). Students were encouraged to ask questions and to give comments to one another so that they were clear on what they were learning from their peers. In the process, students developed their descriptive writing skills and learnt to be critical of one another as they constructed learning together. 30 Figure 6: Sharing of research to home group members Finally, in the Activity Three, students created a written piece of work. They wrote a letter to a pseudo school principal informing him of the committee’s plans in organising a YOG carnival. In the letter, the pupils included the following information: (1) A proposed venue for the carnival in the school and a reason for choosing it, (2) 1 sports activity related to Indonesia's sporting culture; (3) 1 musical activity related to Indonesia's musical culture; (4) 1 art activity related to Indonesia's art culture, and (5) 1 dance activity related to Indonesia's dance culture. To perform this activity, students had to explore options considering and reflecting on various role positions, to critique and discuss their peers’
- 38. responses, and to reflect and re‐evaluate their positions before making a ollective decision as solutions to the learning scenario. c Some Tenets about Learning in Collaborative Settings In the Youth Olympic Games Project lesson, student‐to‐student interactions took centre stage. In the expert grouping, students depended on each other to build and expand on a repertoire of resources that could be shared with the home group. Back in their home groups, they had to make decisions on what resources to share and how to present the sharing/research. On the other hand, any member in a home group was simultaneously an expert in one area and a learner in another area. Hence, besides having to think through what and how to craft the sharing, students could probe and question their peers in areas they were less familiar with. Such a dialogic process of learning not only promotes active construction of knowledge. It makes the process of learning knowledge observable, and the teacher could then interject to steer and facilitate where ecessary. n The design of this lesson transited from cooperative learning using the jigsaw method to a more collaborative stance where students had to negotiate from their various role positions on the choice of venue in the final written task in Activity Three. In tandem with such a choice of pedagogy, it can be seen from this lesson that the cognitive load of learning about YOG and Indonesia (with respect to sports, art and music scene) was shared among the students. Students need not learn what they needed to know solely from their own research alone but they could extend, build on or even reconstruct what they know based on peers’ input. 31 Finally, the third salient tenet about learning in a collaborative setting in this lesson pertains to the development of social skills in students. As students presented their research and questioned one another to probe deeper into the
- 39. learning, under the guidance of the teacher they also acquired important social skills. These skills worked in complementary ways to maintain productive conversations (See Figures 7 and 8 that showed students probing into the research in socially apt ways) and thereby facilitated the quest to probe into one nother’s research for clarification. a Figure 7: Students probe deeper into learning by questioning what they learn 32
- 40. Figure 8: Students displayed socially apt skills as they participate in collaborative learning Sentosa Mobile Learning Trail (School of Science and Technology Singapore) Context of the Lesson The goals of this mobile learning trail are twofold: First, to allow students to contextualise what they learn in Geography lessons into the “real world” settings. Second, to foster small group collaboration in students so as to cultivate a culture of collaborative knowledge building in the school. This mobile lesson took place in Sentosa which was chosen for the many physical and social geographic features it has for students to explore. As students embarked on the trail, they first had to make use of the given navigational coordinates in tandem with Google maps to navigate their way around Sentosa. Upon arrival at designated stations, they performed various activities involving measuring of gradient, identification 33
- 41. of physical features associated with erosion and disposition, and the conduct of nterviews. All in all, the trail lasted for about two and a half hours. i About 200 Secondary one students participated in the Sentosa mobile learning trail. They were placed in groups of four of which 24 groups were scheduled for the morning and 30 groups in the afternoon. Each group of students shared a MacBook laptop as their ICT tool and together with the wireless technology they were able to use the Internet and Google Applications in the course of the activities (see Figure 9). The use of ICT was not new to the students. Prior to the trail, they had prior experiences in using ICT for learning across different subjects as part of their school curriculum. Lesson Activities There were three stations in the Sentosa Mobile Learning Trail, namely, Yellow, Green and Red. At each station, students participated in a variety of activities as what Geographers would do in real life. There were two tasks students had to do at Station Yellow. In the first task, students calculated the gradient of slopes for three different sections on a beach. Equipment such as bamboo poles, raffia string and torpedo level were provided for the set‐up. Using rulers and calculators or other improvisations, students had to estimate the rise and run of slopes with the goal of observing the interrelationship between the steepness of a beach and the intensity of erosion. The second task required students to interview one or two tourists. They were to find out why tourists chose Sentosa as a tour destination and what they liked about the place. In so doing, they learnt how to collect primary resources for analysis and evaluation purposes. 34
- 42. Figure 9: Web platform giving students instructions as well as facilitating student inscription of field responses At Station Red, students collected photographic data (& made annotations), calculated height of a tower using Trigonometry and clinometers, and performed observations from the Twin Observation Tower. Through these activities, they learnt three different types of skills akin to what Geographers have. First, they learnt how to collect accurate information from the field. Second they learnt how to estimate the height of physical and human features to determine their relief in relation to the representation on topographical maps. Third, they learnt to hone their observational skills by recording descriptive data of what they saw. In addition, they also picked up the skill of identifying physical features such as idge, sea, island and beach. r 35
- 43. Finally, at Station Green, students participated in “design‐thinking”, a process that had them analyse, synthesise and evaluate real‐life situations in a systematic manner. The “design‐thinking” process required students to (1) brainstorm for ideas, (2) share with peers, (3) categorise ideas and (4) suggest solutions to problems. In so doing, students learnt how to scale their findings from small‐ scale projects to larger environmental issues such as global warming. Some Tenets about Learning in Collaborative Settings The Sentosa Mobile Learning Trail lesson was an example of “learning by doing” in a real‐world context. The activities students engaged in were akin to what Geographers do in real life. Not only was the process of data collection, analyses and evaluation authentic, students experienced different types of tools and apparatus that were used by practitioners of the field. It can be argued that textbook knowledge was contextualised and made meaningful to the students. Furthermore, they immersed in a process of “learning to be”, in this case, as eographers. G The design learning activities at each station were complex, drawing on both conceptual and procedural knowledge. Such task design would appear daunting if students do not collaborate among themselves in the execution of the activities. Specifically, they had to listen to one another’s ideas especially when the task contained ambiguity with no straight forward solutions. Other times, they had to rely on one another’s knowledge, share and discuss in order to derive the learning points. As reported by the research team involved in this lesson, students were imbued the idea of the collective where they discovered they could achieve more as a group. Here we replicate a student’s quote in So, Tan and Tay (2010) that indicated student learning about collaboration, “The thing is everyone needs to accept everyone else and it has to be focused...accept one another and come to a consensus after everybody else has contributed.” 36
- 44. Finally, the third tenet of collaborative learning that can be gleaned from this lesson was the pedagogical function of the mobile devices (i.e. MacBook) in supporting students’ performance of the activities. The use of ICT was integral to students’ meaning making throughout the trail. They relied on it for navigation, data collection (i.e. photo taking and annotation), analyses and interpretations (i.e. calculation of height of tower & gradient of slopes) and record keeping (i.e. record ideas during “design‐thinking” and observations from Twin Observation Tower). Indeed, ICT provided both the means and resources for students to construct knowledge which otherwise could be challenging in a pen and paper etting. s In summary, as illustrated in the two case examples, collaborative learning takes on the direction of externalisation to internalisation. As students make sense of the subject‐matter at hand in interaction, learning becomes internalised (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2006; Vygotsky, 1930/1978). In other words, where as an individual learner participates and makes sense of what is going on in the social situation, construction of knowledge occurs. Additionally, students picked up social skills and learnt to interact with the world as practitioners do in real‐ life. With this, we allude to the following section which articulates rationales for collaborative learning. 37
- 45. 4 Designing for Collaborative Learning Using ICT While collaborative learning is supported by strong theoretical and empirical foundations, in the classroom, the forms of dialogue that play out depend on a teacher’s instructional and pedagogical skills in structuring the environment, activity and students’ interactions. From students’ perspective, learning in group settings is also not without problems. These problems can be classified as motivational difficulties, interaction difficulties and logistical problems. Problems such as encountering free‐riding or domineering members in the group could reduce motivation of other members to contribute. Interpersonal conflicts, whether in the form of personality clash or differences in values or problem representations, require skilful conflict management strategies for resolution. Group size, composition and the sharing of resources and equipments constitute the logistical problems (Pauli, Mohiyeddini, Bray, Michie, & Street, 2008) that ould be encountered. c 38 In this section, we describe some strategies that could be employed for productive collaborative learning as well as to prevent or manage the above described issues that could occur. We do this at two levels – macro design principles that list broadly the key tenets collaborative activities should encompass and micro instructional strategies that address specific dimensions in the design of collaborative learning. Ideas in the two levels are not meant to be mutually exclusive. They serve as lenses for designers of collaborative learning to use when planning for collaboration. In our view, collaborative learning can be greatly enhanced with knowledge building pedagogy (Scardamalia & Bereiter,
- 46. Exploring the Variety of Random Documents with Different Content
- 47. if I’m left standing any longer. Besides, I can’t stay on at $5.00 per, at the Beacon Head longer than that; $35.00 is my limit to spend on loafing—and I haven’t had my money’s worth so far!” Cis realized, as she had not done, how much she had depended upon companionship. She had earned her living among girls, some of whom she had liked, some disliked, to the great majority of whom she had been indifferent; but they were quick-witted, full of life and spirits; “they kept things moving,” Cis told herself, and the days spent without anyone to speak to except a hotel clerk, a chambermaid, waiter and bell boy, grew oppressive. Cis tried to talk to some of the attractive girls who were always to be met in the lobby, the elevator, in the dining room, but all of them froze up when she made advances to them; all but one replied to her small talk, but replied so forbiddingly that Cis did not persist. “Afraid I may be the wrong sort and that it’ll come off!” thought Cis. “Idiots! How do you ever get anywhere in this world if you tote a shell around, like a snail? Miss a lot if you don’t try people out first, and freeze up afterward, provided you find them the kind that needs dropping! I wanted to jar poor Mrs. Dowling when I said what I did about picking up boy acquaintances, but it’s the truth, nevertheless. I’m going to look around for a nice fellow and try him out, see if he won’t be bold enough to risk a decent answer. I’ve got to get someone started, that’s sure! This hotel and town are getting to feel like a diving bell, ’way down below human noises.” With deliberate intention to carry out her plan, purvey to her need, Cis scanned the male portion of her fellow-guests in the hotel for the rest of that day and evening, but none measured up to her requirement. They were a lot of average young Americans, but the frank face, the businesslike air, the quality of manliness that conveyed the ability to understand and meet her like a fellow-being, not like a girl seeking attentions, seemed to Cis wanting to them all. She went to bed lonely and discouraged, somewhat inclined to tears, but so healthy-minded that she quickly fell asleep instead of crying.
- 48. Her last waking thought was that if Beaconhite showed her no jolly, sensible girls, no friendly, chummy boys, it was no place for Cis Adair, and that she might move on by Monday, Mr. Lucas or no Mr. Lucas. Friday morning found Cis refreshed and ready to postpone her decision to move on, also quite sure that before the day was over she should hear from Mr. Lucas that he was ready to test her in the highly honorable position of his confidential clerk. Therefore her merry face was as bright as ever when she had finished her toilette and came down to breakfast like a sun maiden, all in white, her red hair gloriously shining above her snowy raiment. Two young men breakfasting together looked smilingly up at Cis as she passed their table, unmistakably ready to leap out into acquaintances at the least sign of welcome from her; indeed one of them slightly pushed out the chair next to him, leaning forward with an ingratiating smile. Cis knew the type and “had no time for it,” she would have said. “Call themselves men!” Cis once had exclaimed to Nan. After her solitary breakfast, which she enjoyed as a hungry girl should, Cis turned her mind upon the problem of how to dispose of that day; she found it insoluble. “May as well take a trolley and ride till it stops, but of all stupid things, sliding along past a lot of houses is the worst! Wish I had my bunch of little newsys here! Wonder if they miss me badly, poor little scraps! I made Tom Dowling promise he’d do something for them.” Cis left the dining room and went to the desk. Here she found two letters in the pigeonhole that bore the number of her room, but neither was from Mr. Lucas, as she had been sure one must be. There was a brief note from Jeanette Lucas in reply to one which Cis had written her, telling her that she had seen her uncle and that he held out hope of a position for her. Miss Lucas said nothing of herself beyond that she was to sail for Europe the following week. She wrote to Cis with much more than the politeness of a slight acquaintance; the short note breathed warmth of feeling for Cis, and
- 49. a personal sadness that depressed Cis, though she could not have said wherein it lay. The other letter was a long one from Nan, full of love and longing for Cis, and all the trivial news of the office, her home, their common acquaintances, which are such important items to an exile, just because they are so homely and unimportant. Cis folded this letter and slipped it into her pocket with homesick heaviness of heart that surprised her. “Of course there’s nothing to prevent me from going back if I want to,” she reminded herself. Deciding against the trolley trip, Cis arose from the leather seat upon which she had been sitting, and began to stroll up and down the lobby, and down its adjacent corridors, returning on her beat. One of the corridors had shop-like rooms up and down its length, rented for various sorts of business—a little toy shop, candy shop, book shop, flower shop, a shop for fancy work materials, all sorts of attractive things offered for sale; while a manicure, a chiropodist, a barber and a bootblack were lodged there, in their respective rooms, to minister to the personal comfort of the patrons of the hotel, and people from beyond its walls. The bootblack’s establishment especially attracted Cis’s eye; it was the apotheosis of the elevated chair and foot rest and the active little Italian ministrant, to be found on street corners. Here were several chairs, better said, thrones; the walls were panelled in attractive colors; there were hangings of deep yellow, framing the casement of the door and one window at the rear; a table, with papers and magazines upon it, in its centre a well-shaped vase holding two perfect yellow roses. Cis looked into this palace of charity to wayworn shoes, admiring its perfection. There were two or three assistants at work on as many customers, and there were two other customers waiting to have their shoes polished. In a chair unmistakably comfortable sat one of these waiting customers; he was reading a magazine. As Cis loitered, looking in at the open door from the hotel corridor, this
- 50. customer turned over his magazine, which he held doubled over for convenience in reading it, and his eyes met Cis’s eyes. He was exceedingly good looking, dark haired, blue eyed, fresh tinted, with well-cut features, but it was not for his good looks that Cis instantly decided that here was the person for whom she had been seeking. It was rather for an indescribable air of man of the world about him; the ease of his excellent clothes and their manner of wearing; his steady, unembarrassed gaze, that did not intrude upon her, yet seemed to take Cis in as to her every detail, to approve her and like her, be ready to meet her friendliness on its own ground; “be a human being,” Cis would have summed it up. But there was no denying that this young man possessed decided good looks and instant charm which were not a necessary part of the qualifications upon which Cis had insisted as a part of the outfit of the person whom she should adopt as the one who should make her wilderness blossom with comradery. Cis Adair had never hesitated to take anything that she wanted, nor, if it did not come after her, to go out after it. She had never wanted anything that was forbidden by the highest, nor the lower laws, but she invariably reached out after what she wanted. Now she glanced down at her shoes, which were shapely, fine as to leather, and which she decided were enough in need of polishing to warrant her treating them to it. She entered the attractive shop. The customers happened at that moment to be all men, but Cis had no shyness with men; she was nearer to shy with women. She came in without embarrassment, though every eye turned on her. The young man who had innocently trolled her hither at once got upon his feet; the other waiting customer did not move. “This is the most comfortable chair,” he said, indicating the one which he had just vacated for Cis. “Please take it; I’ll sit here.” He dropped into the chair next beyond his former one, which Cis took with a hearty “Thank you,” and a bright smile. His voice was quite beautiful, soft, rich, mellow, caressing, like a musical cadence, as he spoke these few words.
- 51. “I never saw a bootblacking place like this,” Cis commented. “No. There can’t be many as nice. There’s one in Chicago that—well, we won’t say it is better, because we ought to be loyal to our own city, but it’s by way of peachiness,” said the young man, and his smile was as gay and bright as Cis’s own, and it revealed two dimples to her one. “I don’t have to be loyal to Beaconhite,” said Cis. “I’m a stranger, staying in this hotel, but I don’t mind sticking up for its bootblack.” “I fancy you’d be good at sticking up for anything that you felt belonged to you,” said the young man, and Cis suddenly perceived that he was not as young a man as she had at first thought him. His brilliant coloring, his grace and charm gave him the effect of greater youth than was his. Cis decided that he was well on in his twenties, if not just beyond them, and this somewhat checked her readiness to take him on in the capacity of good fellowship. Yet this was silly, she told herself; a good fellow was one at any age. What did it matter if this one were anywhere from five to ten years her senior? “You aren’t a Beaconhitette then?” he went on. “That’s hard luck. Now I am. I wasn’t always; came here last year, in fact, but I’m living here, and may go on living here, till I cease living altogether. You’re a jolly girl; you ought to stay.” His eyes were keen on Cis’s face, handsome eyes, softly blue, somewhat veiled by dark lashes, yet seeing eyes that could be keen as they now were, studying this singular girl who was so ready to talk, yet did not strike him as bold, but rather as maidenly. “Boyish sort, I think, but you never can be sure of them at first,” thought the man. “I may stay on,” Cis was answering meanwhile. “I came to stay, if things worked out; got tired of the place where I’d always lived, and jumped off. I’ve a letter to Mr. Lucas, here, and he may have a position for me by Monday.” “You’re one of the independent army, then?” asked the young man. “Well, you don’t look like a pampered, spoiled one! (This partly
- 52. explains her”) he thought. “Do you mean Wilmer Lucas? Dear me! Your letter was addressed high up in the line of this town; Wilmer Lucas is the big man of Beaconhite!” “That’s the way he struck me,” agreed Cis. “There’s a chair vacant for you.” “Certainly not; you take it,” protested the young man. “Not a bit of it! You were here first; I’m not one of the sort that wants to grab privilege, because I’m a girl. I’m in the world like a man, and I like give and take; straight play. Besides, I’m just killing time; I’ve nowhere to go, nothing to do till I get my position—if I do!” said Cis. The young man glanced down at Cis’s shoes, which were not badly in need of polishing. He was far too attractive not to have known long ago that women liked to talk to him, admired his face and manner. Had this girl come in because she saw him, and wanted to make the acquaintance of so personable a young man? She had said that she was killing time. He speculated upon Cis while he took the chair which she refused, and the attendant treated his shoes, which sadly needed it. The next chair vacated was Cis’s in justice; the other man who had been waiting a turn had preceded Cis’s acquaintance; his shoes had been attended to and he had quickly gone out. Cis mounted her chair, and another attendant dressed and polished her shoes, which her neighbor and acquaintance viewed with approval. He was through before Cis, but he lingered; in an instant, after hesitating, he turned to her, and said: “You are merely killing time, and I’ve nothing on this morning; I’m going to wait for you.” “That’s nice of you!” cried Cis heartily. “I hoped you would. It’s pretty punk being alone, a stranger in a strange land.”
- 53. She paid her charge, dismounted, and went out into the hotel corridor, followed by her new acquaintance, still somewhat uncertain how to take Cis, but considerably helped in an accurate estimate of her by the boyish frankness with which she had acknowledged hoping that he would wait for her. “How about going into the tea room and fitting on our labels?” suggested the young man. “There’s not likely to be anyone there at this hour, and I feel it in my bones that we’ve not met just to part, so we ought to waste no time in learning whom we’ve met, each of us. Names matter less; they’re only labels, but I’d like to have you tell me all about yourself. You’re not like most girls.” “All right; tea room is all right,” assented Cis. “It won’t take me long to tell you about Cecily Adair; she’s just like other girls!” “That’s never your name! Why it’s a song!” cried the young man. “Mine, though!” laughed Cis. “I’m called Cis. Haven’t you a name; chorus or hymn, if mine’s a song?” “Yes, but it’s just a name, nothing in the musical line. Hope you don’t mind names parted in the middle? My name is George Rodney Moore, but I use the middle name, sign G. Rodney, you know,” said the young man, and he looked as if he really hoped that Cis would not disapprove his name. “Gee! Rodney!” cried Cis, but quickly added, as if she feared to hurt him by what was not ridicule, but unavoidable nonsense: “Rodney is a fine name; I like it. I don’t blame you for shedding the George, and using it. I suppose I’d drop George altogether, and keep only Rodney, but you can do that later, if you want to. Oh, do you like stuffy tea rooms? Why not go out into the air—that is, if you really want to lighten my gloom?” “It’s the other way about, Miss Adair. I should like being out on this fine day, but you surely have been taught by this time that you are sent into the world to lighten the gloom of any man whom you will tolerate,” G. Rodney Moore said experimentally.
- 54. They had turned toward the side entrance of the hotel; in the doorway Cis stopped short. “See here, none of that; cut it out, if you please,” she said. “I like boys, but I don’t like them one bit when they forget I’m not one, and you wouldn’t say that sort of thing to a boy, now would you?” “No, I’m free to confess that I would not!” cried Moore, and he chuckled. “All right, old chap, you’re the kind that makes it jolly for a pal—better?” “Heaps!” said Cis, and laughed. “You lead; you know the country and I don’t.” “Like to walk? Because I know a nice place, but it’s fairly far, and taxis grow in this soil, if you’ll have one,” suggested Moore. “I’m a walker; I’ll risk the distance,” replied Cis, and they started out. Three miles from the Beacon Head they came into a pretty glade, wooded, suggestive at a glance of song birds and flowers. Here they seated themselves, Cis on a bank, G. Rodney Moore just below her. All the way there they had talked, Cis with her customary frankness, till, on their arrival, Moore had justly decided that she was exactly what she seemed and announced herself to be; a single-minded, honest girl, of extraordinary directness and simplicity; lonely, wanting comradeship, not hesitating to take it where she should find it, with confidence that she would find understanding where she found congeniality, and without the smallest shade of coquetry, or of hidden purpose. “Mighty odd, quite unique, but the gods were good to me when they let her decide that I’d answer for a stop-gap till she got acquainted in Beaconhite. Never saw her equal! It will be my own fault if I let her drift away from me, and I won’t!” he told himself, listening to Cis’s merry talk, watching her changing face, all gay laughter and wholesome sweetness, its red hair framing it in an aureole, wind- made.
- 55. Cis told Rodney all about herself; he told her some things about himself. They were friends at the end of the little excursion, “pals,” Cis liked to call it, finding this “pal” more delightful than any other she had known; clever, humorous, charming. She did not hesitate to speak of this charm. “I didn’t know anyone but a girl had your kind of fun; boys don’t usually know how to play your way,” Cis cried delightedly. “You’re lots of fun, and you’re really as nice as you can be!” “I’m not a boy, Cicely,” Rodney replied, a trifle sadly—they were Cicely and Rodney by this time. “I don’t suppose I played this way when I was a boy, but I had the material in me and experience cultivated it. Glad you like me, jolly Cicely.” “Yes, I do. It was luck that made me find you to-day; I knew luck was running my way when I came to Beaconhite! Aren’t you a boy, quite young, anyway? You haven’t told me that,” said Cis. “I’m thirty, shall be thirty-one next spring, and that’s beyond boyhood. Why do you lay such stress on boyhood, my dear? Neither it, nor girlhood lasts,” he said. “I shall be twenty-two on Christmas Day,” said Cis slowly. “I don’t know why, but I belong with boys; I don’t belong with grown men.” “Only with this grown man. We’re friends, and dates don’t alter it,” he said quickly. “Were you born on Christmas Day? What a sell! Shame, Pal-Cicely.” “Shame? Why is it? I always liked it a lot; nice day to be born on, seems to me,” cried Cis. “The whole world glad on your birthday, and——” she checked herself. “Does you out of a separate festa, and additional gifts,” said Rodney. “But your magnificent hair would serve for Christmas decorations; I never saw such hair, Cicely! I’m going to call you Holly; do you mind?” “Not I!” Cis laughed delightedly. “It isn’t that kind of red, but it’s pretty flaring.”
- 56. “It is glorious; copper, gold and pure flame! Wouldn’t Titian have had a fit over it! Holly, I hate to say it, but if we’re to lunch, we’ve got to be getting back to it,” suggested Rodney. “I am hungry,” agreed Cis. “I’ve had a fine morning; much obliged. You’ve no idea how lonely I was beginning to feel, and the girls I tried to creep up toward poked me off with icy finger tips, wouldn’t stoop to use a whole palm! Are you going to introduce me to some nice girls?” “Want another pal already?” Rodney said reproachfully. “Oh, no; you’re all-around satisfactory, but I do want to know girls, too. Please let me know your nicest friends,” begged Cis, laughing, but in earnest. Rodney considered. Rapidly he passed in mental review the girls whom he knew; society girls, young matrons, some of other rank. None to whom he could compare this dewy, sweet, merry, daring, innocent Cicely, none with whom he could think of her in combination. “I’ll look some up, Cicely,” he said. “I had a sister, but she has been gone these many years, and would have been too old for you; older than I am. We’re all right as we are for the time being, aren’t we?” “Happy as clams!” cried Cis. “Now if I get my position, with a pal in town, and a place like that—how about it?” “Nifty!” cried Rodney. “Will you go to a show with me to-night? I know of private theatricals for a charity, and they won’t be half-bad. Will you go, dear young pal of mine?” He sang the refrain of the song, one word appropriately altered. “Yes, but Dutch treat!” cried Cis, and as he was about to expostulate, she added: “Or not at all. If I’m to be a real pal, then I stand on my own, just as real pals do and should. Dutch treat? Say yes, and I’ll say yes, with pleasure.” “Yes, then, but you’re a girl all right; girls insist on their own way,” grumbled Rodney.
- 57. Cis laughed, and threw her hat into the air, catching it deftly. “Best of both parts, the girl’s and the boy’s, that’s what this Cis Adair is out for, and independence comes both ways,” she triumphed.
- 58. CHAPTER VI BEGINNING COMING back into the lobby of the Beacon Head, Cis darted ahead of Rodney Moore and up to the clerk’s desk. Here in her particular pigeonhole, held down by the key of her room with its broad, portable mooring displaying the same number as the pigeonhole, lay a letter, fallen almost flat. Cis saw at once that the upper left corner bore the name she sought: “Lucas and Henderson,” in exceedingly clear-cut small Roman letters, the firm address engraved below them. “My key and mail, please,” said Cis, trying to appear casual, in reality stirred by hope and fear. Somehow she did not want to leave Beaconhite; suddenly she found it desirable to stay on here, and this letter might compel her to travel on, unless she were able to stumble upon employment by strangers, to whom she had no introduction. Cis walked back to where Rodney Moore awaited her beside a small leather-covered sofa, turning the letter in her hands. “My verdict has come in; my lawyers have notified me,” she said, dropping on the brown seat, tipping her head back against the sofa- back, unconscious that the dark brown leather made a perfect background for her copper-red hair. “Wonder if it is that I’m to go farther?” “No, sir! Too certain that you’d fare worse!” declared Rodney promptly. “You’re not going an inch out of Beaconhite, that’s flat! I can put you into something; poor enough, but enough to hold on by till you find what you want. Open up, Cicely; read your offer of $10,000 a year!”
- 59. Cis “opened up,” slitting the end of the envelope with the point of her bar pin, prolonging the operation in a way unlike herself. The communication which she unfolded was brief, compactly typed in the middle of a large page. It read: Miss Cicely Adair, The Beacon Head, Beaconhite. Dear Miss Adair:— I am prepared to offer you a position in my personal service, as my secretary. Your duties I vaguely outlined to you when you called upon me. Your salary would be, to begin, $42.00 per week, or $7.00 per day. If you prove competent, still more, if you prove satisfactory in the ways more important than mere skill, of which I spoke to you, your salary will soon exceed this sum. If this offer is acceptable to you, kindly report for duty on Monday next, at my office, at nine-thirty in the morning. Yours truly, Wilmer Lucas. “Great little old snarled up signature!” commented Rodney, whom Cicely had permitted to read the letter with her. “Wouldn’t be easy to forge! Not a bad salary, my Holly friend, and the increase will be swift, or else you won’t stay. Not bad. We’ll have a supper after the private theatricals, to celebrate; just we two!” “Let me off from the theatricals, please, will you, Rodney?” asked Cis. “I’ve been sorry I said I’d go, anyway; it’ll be kind of a cross between a place where you’ve a right to go, and a place where you’re intruding. I know ’em; they’re always like that! All the friends and relations of the performers are there—like a funeral!—and they talk across to one another, and look at a person as if they wondered how on earth you broke in—selling tickets for a charity doesn’t calm ’em. But what’s more, I ought not to go anywhere to-night, except to boarding houses. I’ve got to find a place to live, if I’m going to stay in Beaconhite; can’t stand $5.00 a day at this hotel, wouldn’t
- 60. leave much for—well, for having my shoes polished, for instance!” She stopped to enjoy her own allusion with the liquid gurgle of laughter that did not pass her throat, for which Rodney Moore had already learned to wait with anticipation. “But it is a nice salary to begin on, isn’t it? I knew Friday was my lucky day! Found a jolly pal who suits me fine, and got my job! Wonder if Christmas fell on Friday the year I was born?” Cis ended with another little suppressed laugh. “What a girl! You don’t mind letting a chap know that you think he’s all right, and are glad that you found him, do you?” cried Rodney, puzzled but admiring, somewhat piqued, nevertheless; such frankness was prohibitive as well as welcoming. “Don’t mind anything that’s honest! Besides, pals don’t flirt. You didn’t say whether you’d let me off from the movies—I mean the theatricals?” Cis said. “What else can I do?” retorted Rodney. “If you don’t want to go, I’m not going to force it. But as to boarding places, what’s the matter with coming where I am? Funny old girl keeps it, but her heart’s so big she has to cover it up. She sets a great table, and neat’s no word for her! You could be as happy with one of her old-fashioned dinners served on the floor as on the table, and her kitchen’s shining clean! You’ll never find another place as good. I’ll speak to Miss Gallatin, and engage the place for you; I know there’s a room empty now, though it doesn’t often happen.” “Good boy, Rodney Moore!” Cis approved him. “Then I won’t go hunting board, but I don’t want to go to the theatricals. I’ll write Nan and Miss Lucas.” “You’re not bidding me run away and play by myself this first evening, are you?” Rodney made a great show of consternation, but watched Cis. “Not if you want to play with me,” Cis told him. “But how about those theatricals? Thought you were booked for them.”
- 61. “Oh, bother the theatricals! I’ve bought two tickets and that’s all I’m obliged to do about them,” declared Rodney. “I’d rather play with you; you’re a discovery, Miss Cicely Adair.” Then he remembered the handsome girl who was playing the leading part in the theatricals that night, the girl who had social position, wealth and glorious beauty, though not charm, nor more than a somewhat minus allowance of brains, but in regard to whom G. Rodney Moore had definite plans. He was surprised to find that he had forgotten Gertrude Davenport till Cis indirectly reminded him of her; remembering her now, her beauty did not seem so glorious as usual as his eyes rested on the varied expression of Cis’s face. There was no denying that this new girl had charm and to spare. “A discovery? Well, if it comes to that, I’m not as sure as I’d like to be that I’m the discovery; I suspect that I discovered you. Come around, if you want to, and tell me what your Miss Gallagher says about taking me to board; get her terms, and the whole thing. But if you change your mind about the theatricals, it’s perfectly all right. Call me up, though, please, because if I’m not going to your boarding house I’ve got to hunt up another, start out early in the morning. I’ll look for you at half past eight or so, but I’ll not mind a speck if you go to your private theatricals. So don’t feel tied up.” Cis spoke with crisp cheerfulness, having risen and begun moving toward the stairs, her eyes on the clock behind the desk. “H’m! Pleasant to be told you’re as welcome to be absent as to be present, that you don’t matter a whoop!” grumbled Rodney, and meant it. “I’ll be around, Miss Cicely, and don’t you forget it! I’d come, if it was only to begin your lessons in finding me necessary! Congratulations are in order, by the way; I forgot to offer them. You landed a big fish when you landed the private secretaryship to Wilmer Lucas! We’ll celebrate—when? To-morrow? Sunday?” “Not to-morrow; I’ve got to get settled living somewhere, permanently,” said Cis.
- 62. “Sunday, then? Do you lie late Sunday? Any objections to a pleasant time on that day? I don’t suspect you of Puritanism! I myself get up about noon on Sunday, but I’m ready to forego my needed rest and trot you out in the forenoon. If not, we’ll lunch somewhere, and go for a jolly time afterward,” suggested Rodney. “Time enough to talk about Sunday,” returned Cis. “I usually get up fairly early; Sunday, too, but I don’t spend the day psalm reading. Run along; I’m busy. Let me know about Miss Gallagher by telephone, or otherwise.” “Otherwise; at eight-thirty sharp. By the way, it’s Gallatin, not Gallagher. Good-bye, Holly. You’re a peach, and I’m glad we had our shoes polished!” cried Rodney. Cis laughed, and ran up the stairs, scorning the elevator. At the landing she caught a glimpse of Rodney standing where she had left him, watching her. She started to turn back to wave him a supplementary farewell, but checked herself, and went on without betraying that she knew he was still there. She finished her journey up the second section of the stairway, wondering at herself. Never before in all her life had she refused herself the expression of a friendly impulse. Was it shyness? Could it be coquetry that had held her hand from that last salute? She had never been shy; she scorned coquetry. “Air of Beaconhite doesn’t agree with you, Cis, my dear old chap!” she warned herself. Miss Hannah Gallatin was a character, as Rodney had implied. She was tall and gaunt, almost stern in manner, curt of word, severe, but there was no kinder creature in the world than this lonely maiden woman who had no one of kith nor kin on whom to lavish love, who therefore, perhaps, had taught herself not to express it except by ceaseless deeds of kindness, done as if they were penal. She was a convert to the Catholic Church, one that would not have been predicted, but Father Morley, of St. Francis’ church, himself the son of a convert to the Old Faith, had many converts to his credit;
- 63. among them Hannah Gallatin, who, if she did not grace it in one sense, certainly was an honor to it in all essential senses. To this fine, though eccentric person G. Rodney Moore repaired upon his return from the Beacon Head. In the course of his walk, meditating upon Cicely Adair, he had warmed into a great admiration for her wit, her charm, her kindliness, her unmistakable purity of thought and deed below her boyish daring, which might easily be misunderstood. Therefore the enthusiasm he felt for Cis escaped into his eyes and voice as he laid before Miss Gallatin the need that “a friend of his” had of a good home, a comfortable room, nice surroundings, “not the ordinary boarding house,” he added, feeling himself diplomatically clever. “This Miss Adair,” he went on to say, “is precisely the kind of girl whom Miss Gallatin would like about; he felt proud to be the one to offer such a perfect fit, from both points of view, for Miss Gallatin’s cozy room, now vacant.” “Oh!” said Miss Gallatin, regarding Rodney attentively. She did not wholly like this one of her boarders, though she knew no justification of her distrust. He had come to her, a stranger in the city; had been regular in his goings and comings; orderly in the house; agreeable to his fellow-guests; he never went to church, but Miss Gallatin knew that in the present generation of Protestants this proved nothing worse than that they had let go of the illogical anchorage of their fathers; she did not know that G. Rodney’s last name had been drawn from that green sod wherein church-going was a totally different matter. If she had known that this Moore had been an Irish name in the time of its present possessor’s great-grandfather, she would have exclaimed: “There!” triumphantly, but she had no suspicion that Rodney Moore had been brought up to go to Mass. “He did not show it,” as she might have said. “Oh!” Miss Gallatin now exclaimed, adding at once: “Ah! Friend of yours, you say? Schoolmate? How long’ve you known her? Live in Beaconhite?” “She is going to live here,” said Rodney, flushing, annoyed, trying to hide it in order not to frustrate his own ends. “She has just come here, five days ago. She is to be Wilmer Lucas’ secretary; his brother
- 64. sent her to him, and she’s not the sort of girl to chum in with all sorts. She’s an awfully nice girl, Miss Gallatin; just your kind!” “Like me?” hinted Miss Gallatin. “Character or looks? About my complexion and figure, I’ll bet a dollar! Can’t be quite my age. How long did you say you’d known her?” “Not long,” said Rodney. “But I know her well; she’s that frank sort that hasn’t a thing to hide; fearless, straight, boyish, but not tom- boyish—get the idea? I’m perfectly sure you’ll like her beyond anything. I’ll bring her around this evening; she’s at the Head. You can let her see the room, arrange terms, give her a look over with your eagle eye—and the thing’s done! I’d like her in the house, of course; she’s the kind of girl that is like a nice sister, chummy, helpful, if you get me? But for her own sake I want her here, where you’ll give her just what she needs in every way. I’ll bring her around; I told her I’d see her after dinner to-night.” “You’ll do nothing of the sort,” declared Miss Gallatin. “You told me you had tickets for the theatricals. Isn’t Gertrude Davenport in ’em? Forgotten all about it? Met this new girl for the first time to-day, I’ll wager! She must be something of a cyclone! You needn’t bring her around, Mr. G. Rodney Moore; I’m not going to let my vacant room to her, whether all you say of her is true, or whether it isn’t!” “You’re not willing so much as to show it to her? To meet her? Strange way to act, Miss Gallatin! I am justified in resenting it,” said Rodney with dignity. “Nothing of the sort!” cried Miss Gallatin briskly. “Don’t have theatricals here; better go to them. She may be a nice girl, but the nicer she is the more reason for keeping her out of the same house where the young man boards whom she got acquainted with, dear knows how! I wouldn’t consider taking her, not if every room but yours was vacant! So that’s settled.” “She is a fine girl, I tell you! She’s not exactly pretty, but she has the sort of face you like to watch, and her hair is a wonder; loads of bright coppery red hair, and she is full of jolly, kiddish fun, straight
- 65. and good. I respect her like everything. Good gracious, Miss Gallatin, I’m over thirty; do you suppose I don’t know a nice girl when I see one and talk to her unreservedly? I respect Miss Adair as much as I admire her!” cried Rodney, surprised later on to find how much he cared about the defence of Cicely. “Right! Keep on respecting her,” said Miss Gallatin. “Send her to Mrs. Wallace’s; she keeps a good house, sets a good table, good’s mine. I won’t have her here. Hold on a minute, Mr. Moore! Send her around to talk with me to-morrow, sometime. I won’t let her board here, but I’ll take her to see Mrs. Wallace. If she can’t come to-morrow, send her Sunday. Don’t you take her to Mrs. Wallace’s; I will. She’s a stranger here, going to work for Mr. Lucas where she’ll be noticed. Don’t start her wrong by escorting her to look up her boarding place. People are queer things; they’re more than likely to hope for the worst. Send the girl to me. I won’t take her in here, but I’ll do by her as I’d want done by me, if I was a young Hannah Gallatin, setting out to earn my living in a strange place. From what you say of her, she’s a conspicuous sort of girl that people with keen palates for gossip will be likely to lick to get a flavor of delicious suspicion! That’s the best I can do and say, so take yourself off, Mr. Moore, if you please; I’ve got my weekly accounts to make up, and it’s always a trial to my eyes, and my nerves, also my temper—of course, after the other two!” There was nothing for Rodney to do but to accept defeat with as much grace as he could summon. There was consolation in the thought that Miss Gallatin was willing to see Cicely, though only to conduct her to a rival house. He hoped that seeing her, Miss Gallatin might yield her position; he felt entire confidence in Cicely’s ability to win anyone’s complete trust and liking. There was no denying that Miss Gallatin was a wise and kind dragon in her guardianship of this girl whom she had never seen. Sunday morning Cicely betook herself to Mass at eight o’clock, keeping up her old hour, reflecting with a sense of bewilderment that only the previous Sunday she had heard Mass in the only church
- 66. which, up to this time, she had ever known, and that Nan was with her, and that she had returned with her into the familiar Dowling household, where young Tom gloomed over their near parting and Mrs. Dowling lectured her on probable dangers which clearly implied her own deficiencies. And now she was beginning life in Beaconhite, uprooted, yet already replanted, on a larger salary, in promising conditions. She had a new friend with whom she was to do something new and pleasant that afternoon. She was a lucky Cis, she thought, kneeling, without much concentration upon it, before the altar, well in the front of the church of St. Francis Xavier at the eight o’clock Mass. The priest who said this Mass was not young; he was remarkably tall, his shoulders contracted from the reading habit; his hair grey; his eyes deep-set and glowing with singular light; his nose large and handsome; his mouth finely cut, somewhat sad, yet ready to smile, as Cis found out when he turned to his people and began to speak after the reading of the Gospel. A remarkable man, whom Cis began to watch intently, feeling at once attracted and repulsed by him, as if she sensed in him the implanted power of the Holy Ghost which all who knew Father Morley said was his gift, the power that reads souls and irresistibly draws them. Once Cis was sure that the priest’s eyes met her own, full and steadily; that he knew her for a stranger, and measured her. She liked him, yet she feared him; coming out of the church slowly, borne by the pressure of the immense throng into the outer air, she was conscious of relief, and was glad that it “was not her way to know the priest; that one was——” Someone touched her arm, a tall, thin, stern looking woman, with clear, kindly eyes, at whom Cis looked questioningly, her formulation of Father Morley suspended. “Are you Miss Adair, I wonder?” asked the woman. “Yes; Cicely Adair,” replied Cis.
- 67. “I saw you were a stranger. Taking your hair, and all together, I thought you must be the girl Mr. Moore talked to me about taking. I’m Miss Gallatin, Hannah Gallatin. Come home with me; I’m going to get you a good boarding place, but not in my house. Fasting?” said Miss Gallatin, speaking with a sort of crisp rapidity. “No; I had breakfast at the hotel as soon as the doors were opened,” said Cis. “Mr. Moore said you didn’t want me, because he knew me, or words to that effect.” “Neither do I, though I see he judged you right; G. Rodney always struck me as a man who could judge a woman accurately,” said Miss Gallatin. “Didn’t suppose you’d turn out to be a Catholic. Convert, like myself?” “No,” said Cis. “I was born one; I’m several kinds of races, all Catholic, except my mother, and she had English blood; half of her blood was English Protestant. But none of my people came from their old countries lately; they were all great or still greater grandparents who came over here, so I’m quite thoroughly American, as things go. Goodness, I don’t care a rap about such things! I’m here, Cis Adair, and what do I care!” “Verse?” asked Miss Gallatin. “No; worse! Just a fluke; it does rhyme, doesn’t it?” laughed Cis. “Rod said you wanted to steer me to a house you knew about, though you wouldn’t have me in yours. Kind of you, Miss Gallatin—at least half of it is!” “It surely is, and it’s the half you don’t mean!” agreed Miss Gallatin. “I’ve had no breakfast. Come with me, and after I’ve seen to my household, and eaten, I’ll take you to Mrs. Wallace. Mr. Moore never gets up till noon, Sundays; you won’t see him. You call him Rod; known him long?” “Mercy yes! Forty-eight hours!” Cis’s laugh rang out. “You see, Miss Gallatin, I’ve been out in the world, earning my living since I was old enough to earn it, and that was early, because I was always quick to learn, and I was about twenty when I was fourteen. I’ve always had
- 68. boy friends, and I’m not a bit afraid to chum with them. I’ve some good girl friends, chiefly one, but it’s the nice boy who always takes you as you want to be taken. So when I met Rod Moore we fell right together; I was getting green-lonely, and I’m pleased as pleasure to have him like me and see me on my way.” “I see!” Miss Gallatin evidently did see, yet Cis felt that her agreement was noncommittal, involving something that she did not understand. “I like you, too, Cis—did you say Cis?—Adair, and I hope you’ll let me help you out, if ever Beaconhite gets too tight for you; presses on any sore spot.” “Haven’t one!” cried Cis. “Thanks, Miss Gallatin; I like you, and I didn’t like you one bit till I saw you! I suppose it’s all right of you to shove me off, but it isn’t sensible, either; I could board in the house with all my boy chums, be the only girl in the offing, and it would go as smooth as silk.” “You may have knocked about the world, as you say you have, Cis Adair, and you may have been twenty at fourteen, but at twenty-two —I’d guess?—you are four in some ways, and your experience is by no means rounded out,” said Miss Gallatin oracularly. “Prudence is one of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, my dear, as your catechism taught you, and it’s one of His most valuable gifts to attractive young women, left alone in the world.” “I don’t remember much catechism, Miss Gallatin,” said honest Cis, with her happy laugh. “I learned some of it when I was confirmed, but I’m not much of a Catholic. Of course I’d never be a Protestant,” she added hastily, “but my religion doesn’t bother me much.” “No; it wasn’t founded for that purpose,” returned Miss Gallatin. “I wonder how you will be taught to value it? You’ve got to learn, of course you know that.” Cis looked at her startled, and she was silent for a moment in which her mind went out toward an invisible, infinite track, down which sorrow and suffering, vague, threatening, nameless, molding events, were advancing upon her. Cicely Adair, fearless, free, strong,
- 69. independent, would be tamed, bound, caught, crushed, perhaps; signed by the cross, and thus learn its meaning. Cicely shook off the fear that gripped her, the first fear that in all her life had ever assaulted her deep in her heart. Why had it thus assailed her? What had made her vulnerable to a shaft from the hand of this gaunt woman, past middle age, whose effects were almost grotesque? Cis threw back her radiant head with a short, unmirthful laugh. “Did they name you Hannah because you were going to be a prophetess, Miss Gallatin?” she asked.
- 70. CHAPTER VII CODES CICELY had been three weeks in the service of Mr. Wilmer Lucas, four weeks a resident of Beaconhite. Although it lacked three days of being a calendar month the time seemed to her to stretch indefinitely backward into such length, that she had to stop to reckon up how long it actually had been. New experiences were crowding upon her, filling each day with interests so absorbing that the hours sped by, yet left a residue of the effect of more than twice their duration. Cicely was conscious of changes wrought upon herself by these swiftly passing days, changes so far undefined, yet not the less perceptible. For one thing, her new friendship was proving interesting as none other had ever before interested her. Cicely had had many friends among the boys, and, later, among the young men of her acquaintance, but though they had been “jolly good fun,” as she put it, they were not especially interesting. She was easily the dominant one in every case; the chief interest afforded her by these youths was when they temporarily spoiled her theory of perfect comradeship between the sexes, which was devoid of sentiment, by falling in love with her, but this, although it interested her, displeased her. She invariably swung back into her faith in the possibility of a chum of the opposite sex, but it was annoying to find it so often a theory that failed only in its workings. In G. Rodney Moore, Cicely had a friend of a totally new sort. He was older than she was, for one thing; he had seen immensely more of the world than she had, for another; he had read more than she had, let alone than any of her previous male friends. Most of all, he had an easy certainty of himself; an amused toleration of her insufficiently grounded opinions; a ready wit; great charm of face,
- 71. voice and manner, so that, for the first time, Cicely found herself by no means able to hold the ascendency over him with which she had set out dealing with him, which had always, heretofore, been hers in dealing with young men. And, being essentially feminine beneath her boyish ways, she liked the man who dominated, while he admired her. There was much of the excitement of exploration for her in advancing constantly farther into friendship with this man. Her work was also opening out new vistas to Cicely, daily demanding from her hitherto dormant capacity, skill of hand, but far more quickness of brain, judgment, discretion, all-around intelligence. It was transforming her day by day; although she did not definitely recognize this, yet its effect upon her was to increase the bewilderment of mind with which she was adjusting to new conditions, and to what was to prove the greatest experience of her life. Cicely had been well educated with reference to practical ends; she and Nan had been superior to the majority of the girls amid whom they were employed; their position in the telephone exchange had been honorable, but not dignified. Now Cicely found herself surrounded by the portentous dignity of the private office of a lawyer who was, at the same time, a bank president, the great man of the city. Solid men, both physically and financially solid, came to consult Mr. Lucas; Cis was gravely saluted by them as they entered and departed; she heard matters discussed which her keen wits soon showed her were of gravest importance in the money market, even in national affairs. All her former days had been lighted by nonsense for which she found opportunity among her companions; fun and nonsense were as the breath of life to Cicely Adair. Now from nine till four there was not only a complete dearth of opportunity to play, but the mere thought of trifling within those solemn, mahogany wainscoted walls, intruded like a profanation. Cis was expected to be well-dressed, perfectly groomed—but this was natural to her. She was expected to take down any sort of
- 72. dictation correctly, even to the dictation that she be elegantly correct in manner, reserved, silent, yet devoted, and this dictation was never given her directly but by the assumption that she was all these things. “I’m getting turned into a regular heavy damask, ten dollars a square inch,” she told Rodney. It was true that this outward pressure inevitably had an inward effect upon the girl, yet nothing could ever quite subdue her native sense of humor, her frank friendliness to all the world. “Miss Adair,” said Mr. Lucas one morning, “I have waited till we were mutually assured of your permanence in this office before initiating you into one of its secrets. You are quite sure that you desire to remain with me?” “If I suit you, Mr. Lucas,” answered Cis. “I’m happy here, but I’m not sure how I’m coming on.” “Satisfactorily, Miss Adair. On my part there is no question of severing the connection. Are you settled upon continuing?” Mr. Lucas looked at Cicely kindly, and she blushed with pleasure. “Yes, Mr. Lucas,” she said. “I’m settled upon settling.” “Ah!” her employer smiled. “Then I am going to ask you to learn the office code.” “Code?” repeated Cis. “We are often involved in cases which would be disastrous to great interests if they were known to the public. The mails are safe enough, and yet, like all human arrangements, they may sometimes miscarry. Mr. Henderson; our senior clerk, Mr. Saunders; our office in Chicago, and Washington, and myself use a code in relation to these affairs known only to the principals in our Chicago and Washington offices, and the three persons in this office whom I have mentioned. We have decided to have you learn the code, to use it when occasion arises in correspondence with our other two offices. Will you learn this code, Miss Adair, and are you willing to give your solemn pledge that under no circumstances, to no human being, will
- 73. you ever disclose it?” Mr. Lucas explained, and waited for Cicely’s reply. She looked at him with widening eyes, her brilliant eyes, dark, of a color that was hard to determine, varying with her mood and as the light struck into them. “Sounds like a dandy detective story!” Cis said involuntarily. “Yes, I’ll learn the code, provided I can learn it, and of course I’ll never teach it to anyone else. How do I learn it?” “It is set down in a sort of chart; you will study it here, of course; the chart must not go out of the office. There is an alphabet connected with it; I am afraid that you will find it troublesome, but I should like you to master it. By the way, my brother has become a Roman Catholic; his family is brought up in that religion; do you happen to be a Romanist?” Mr. Lucas frowned slightly as he asked the question. “Yes, Mr. Lucas; I’m a Catholic,” said Cis. “Why, please?” “Always running to confession? Asking advice of the priest on every known and unknown point, I suppose! What about the code and its secrecy?” said Mr. Lucas. Cis laughed outright. “Never asked a priest’s advice on anything in all my life; don’t go to confession more than twice a year. I don’t know what you mean about the code, Mr. Lucas,” she said. “You Romanists are a difficult lot to adjust to,” said Mr. Lucas. “I strongly object to the principle which is fundamental with you, of laying down your liberty of thought, being subject to a man, taking your opinions from an elevated priest over in Rome and acting on them at the dictation of a lot of half-educated common priests over here. Yet when you don’t keep up with the practices of your Church, you are a worthless lot, not often trustworthy. I make an exception of you, Miss Adair; I am satisfied that you are trustworthy, though, apparently, you are what I’ve heard your co-religionists call ‘an indifferent Catholic.’ Perhaps you are on your way out of Romanism? It would be a consummation devoutly to be wished. As to the code
- 74. and its secrecy, what I meant is this: Suppose a priest wanted to get hold of it—they are great people for dipping their oar into other people’s waters and muddying them! Suppose a matter concerning politics, or the like, were afoot, and a priest heard of our code, in which we should correspond on such affairs—they are great people for finding out things that no one could ever have imagined their knowing! Suppose this priest, as I was saying, heard of our code and bade you in the confessional reveal it to him, what would you do?” Again Cis laughed, this time with such heartiness, such manifest enjoyment of an absurdity that Mr. Lucas was already answered by her mirth. “Why, Mr. Lucas,” cried Cis, “you don’t know how funny that is, really you don’t! I go to confession at Easter, usually at Christmas; it’s my birthday, too. And there’s a regular mob; it’s all the priests can do to get them all heard. Imagine one of them holding up the line while he talked code to me! How would he know I was in your office, anyway? I wouldn’t have to confess that; you only have to confess sins, and it’s not a sin to be employed here, Mr. Lucas! Why the poor priests try to get in a word of advice to you, and tell you what your penance is, but they can’t always do much more than say about ten words to you! No fear of the code getting talked over! Honest, Mr. Lucas, that’s funny!” Mr. Lucas looked as though he were not sure that this was not impertinence on Cis’s part, but he decided to accept it for what it actually was, bubbling amusement over a mistake that struck her as absurd. “Well, I’ve certainly never confessed,” he admitted, “nor ever shall, but I still think, though my supposition is outside your experience so far, that the case is entirely possible. What I want to know is what you would do if such a demand arose?” “Hold my tongue, of course; what else could I do?” replied Cis with convincing promptitude. “He’d have no right to try to get it out of me, and I’d have no right to tell him.”
- 75. The code was put into Cicely’s hands the next day, her duties so arranged that she should have time for its study. To her chagrin she found it difficult, although her difficulty was usually in learning too fast to be secure of retention, rather than in acquiring her tasks. The third day of work on the code left her still uncertain of it when she quitted the office at four o’clock to go with Rodney Moore on a part aquatic, part walking expedition up the river in his boat, out through a lovely wooded country to a knowing little restaurant whither Beaconhite people loved to repair to dine. A letter from Nan had come to add to Cis’s depression; she set forth with a marked diminution of her usual blitheness, although this expedition with Rodney, in the height of the foliage season in October, had been anticipated by her for two weeks. When Rodney met her at Mrs. Wallace’s he instantly marked the shadow on Cis’s face; he was quick to note every change in that variable face which was rapidly becoming the goal of his feet, the image hourly before his memory. “Anything wrong, Holly-Berry? You haven’t so much of your usual effect of Christmas-all-the-year-around! I thought of that last night, Cis, that you were a sort of perpetual Merry Christmas; your joyousness was probably a birthday gift to you,” Rodney said, pulling her hand through his arm with unmistakable satisfaction. “That’s nice, Rod!” Cis cried. “I’d like to be a Merry Christmas sort of thing. No, there’s nothing wrong. I’ll tell you when we get to the place where you’re taking me, or while we’re rowing.” “Tell me exactly how there’s nothing wrong, Holly? I knew your lights were slightly dimmed. How you show your feelings!” Rod laughed with satisfaction in this proof of their intimacy, that he could instantly discern Cicely’s moods. “Caught me that time! But it’s nothing, truly. That old code bothers me; never tackled anything else that wouldn’t stay by me over night! The alphabet is ridiculous; little scriggles going one way, crossed by little scriggles going the other way—and they’d all look exactly as well, or as crazy!—reversed! I get to wondering why they don’t go
- 76. the other way about, and then I can’t remember which way they do go! But of course I’ll get them fastened down soon; it’s not worth bothering over, Rory, my pal.” Cis beamed on Rodney, liking his sympathy. “Rory?” queried Rodney. “Sure-ly! Rory O’Moore, don’t you know? That’s really your name; it came to me this morning while I was getting ready to go out!” Cis laughed softly. “Oh, by jiminy, Cis, I don’t care what you call me if you’ll think of me so frequently. It means I’m getting on the inside!” Rodney’s delight was unmistakable. “Are you Kathleen bawn?” Cis shook her head. “Why?” she asked, then blushed fiercely as the words of the old song came to her: “Rory O’Moore courted Kathleen bawn.” Before she was called upon to speak, just as Rodney murmured: “Rory O’Moore courted Kathleen bawn: He was bold as the day, she as fair as the morn,” an extraordinarily handsome girl, sumptuously dressed, beyond the strict propriety of a walking costume, swung around the corner which they were about to cross and almost ran into Cicely and Rodney. “Why, Gertrude—Miss Davenport!” exclaimed Rodney. “Oh, good evening, Mr. Moore; I beg your pardon.” The handsome girl’s glance swept Cis from head to foot. “Glad I wore my pongee,” thought Cis, reflecting with satisfaction on the lines of her tailor- made skirt and gown, its fine linen collar and cuffs with their exquisite hand-wrought scallop and corners. “Awfully glad to meet you, Miss Davenport,” Rodney continued. “I’ve wanted you to meet Miss Adair. Please waive convention, and let a man give you two girls a street introduction. Miss Davenport, this is Miss Cicely Adair, a recent and great acquisition to Beaconhite.
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