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fandomhigh2006-09-12 10:55 am
tricksy-spy.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2006-09-12 10:55 am
Entry tags:
Through a Glass Darkly: Spies and Spying; 3rd Period
Aly was thumbing through what quite possibly looked like last year's yearbook when the class started to file in. She looked up at them with a grin and watched as they all found a seat. At each desk was a copy of the syllabus.
Rising to her feet, she nodded in welcome. "Good morning, all. Hopefully your weekend treated you well? You should each find a syllabus at your desk. Please go ahead and review it now then let me know if you have any questions." She hopped up on her desk to sit, facing the class, while they looked it over and answered any questions that arose.
"Now that that's out of the way, and we all know what we'll be doing in here for the next 11 weeks," she said with a mischievious grin. "Let's get started."
She went to the whiteboard and quickly wrote down ten points.
1. No matter where you are, act like you belong.
2. Behave purposefully. Especially if you have no purpose.
3. Blend in. Become a "gray man."
4. Develop assessment skills by practicing even in circumstances in which you are merely a bystander.
5. Learn to trust your instincts to make decisions. Right or wrong at first, they will get better.
6. Never second-guess your decisions at the time. Do analyze them later.
7. Be aware that you may be overlooking things in your surroundings, especially if they are familiar to you.
8. Accept the fact that some level of deception is a necessary part of the job.
9. Don't be embarrassed to be suspicious of other people's intentions.
10. Improve your memory.
She looked from the points to the students for a minute to try to gauge their reactions. Still stroking her black beads, she sat back on her desk. "Those are the ten basic rules(they're more like guidelines to steal someone's schtick) to thinking like a spy. The eleventh should really be 'do whatever works then run with it and remember that there are no such things as rules,' but ten is such a nice, round number to start off with."
"What do these 'rules' really mean? How should they be applied? That, my friends, is the topic of the classroom discussion for today. Ask questions, hash out what they mean, either with each other or ask me."
"The tenth point, however, is one I brought up last week and something we'll keep hitting - hopefully not literally - over the semester. Spies don't generally get to carry around little notepads and make notes whenever they need to remember something. And keeping written codes or directions on your person is a very good way to get caught. So. Your memory is the most important tool." She grinned. "It can do something so small as remember that Molly over there was wearing a light green shirt last week. Or that Bridge wears a uniform every day." She glanced over at Bridge with a chuckle. "Which might not particularly help blending in, you know."
She stood up, stretching slightly. "One of the main ways to train your memory is to just using it more. So this week, I want you to work on remembering this list of words - in order, mind you. I find that silly associations work best for me using a technique called 'chaining.' You link each item to the next through images that incorporate both. So if I'm trying to remember banana, violin, coffee, I'll remember a banana playing a violin, then a violin drinking coffee. It's silly, but odd associations tend to stick in your mind longer."
On the board, she wrote
notebook
peas
pirate ship
computer
panda bear
lantern
frame
queen
flour
ring
cell phone
coffee beans
rug
llama
tree
piano
dress
glasses
acorn
sword
cat
castle
"Very well then, try to practice the guidelines I set out and come back next week prepared to tell what you did and how they worked. Also memorise that list and let me know if it was too easy, too hard, whichever. Oh! And the TA's for the class are Eric Weiss and Bridge Carson so they should be able to help you out if I'm not around for some reason."
[OOC: *blinks at omglong" If you haven't seen my OOC post here, please go take a look at it. Also, the ten rules were taken with gratitude from the Handbook of Practical Spying by Jack Barth. I'll be around all day andplease wait for the OCD threads. OCD is Up!]
Rising to her feet, she nodded in welcome. "Good morning, all. Hopefully your weekend treated you well? You should each find a syllabus at your desk. Please go ahead and review it now then let me know if you have any questions." She hopped up on her desk to sit, facing the class, while they looked it over and answered any questions that arose.
"Now that that's out of the way, and we all know what we'll be doing in here for the next 11 weeks," she said with a mischievious grin. "Let's get started."
She went to the whiteboard and quickly wrote down ten points.
1. No matter where you are, act like you belong.
2. Behave purposefully. Especially if you have no purpose.
3. Blend in. Become a "gray man."
4. Develop assessment skills by practicing even in circumstances in which you are merely a bystander.
5. Learn to trust your instincts to make decisions. Right or wrong at first, they will get better.
6. Never second-guess your decisions at the time. Do analyze them later.
7. Be aware that you may be overlooking things in your surroundings, especially if they are familiar to you.
8. Accept the fact that some level of deception is a necessary part of the job.
9. Don't be embarrassed to be suspicious of other people's intentions.
10. Improve your memory.
She looked from the points to the students for a minute to try to gauge their reactions. Still stroking her black beads, she sat back on her desk. "Those are the ten basic rules
"What do these 'rules' really mean? How should they be applied? That, my friends, is the topic of the classroom discussion for today. Ask questions, hash out what they mean, either with each other or ask me."
"The tenth point, however, is one I brought up last week and something we'll keep hitting - hopefully not literally - over the semester. Spies don't generally get to carry around little notepads and make notes whenever they need to remember something. And keeping written codes or directions on your person is a very good way to get caught. So. Your memory is the most important tool." She grinned. "It can do something so small as remember that Molly over there was wearing a light green shirt last week. Or that Bridge wears a uniform every day." She glanced over at Bridge with a chuckle. "Which might not particularly help blending in, you know."
She stood up, stretching slightly. "One of the main ways to train your memory is to just using it more. So this week, I want you to work on remembering this list of words - in order, mind you. I find that silly associations work best for me using a technique called 'chaining.' You link each item to the next through images that incorporate both. So if I'm trying to remember banana, violin, coffee, I'll remember a banana playing a violin, then a violin drinking coffee. It's silly, but odd associations tend to stick in your mind longer."
On the board, she wrote
notebook
peas
pirate ship
computer
panda bear
lantern
frame
queen
flour
ring
cell phone
coffee beans
rug
llama
tree
piano
dress
glasses
acorn
sword
cat
castle
"Very well then, try to practice the guidelines I set out and come back next week prepared to tell what you did and how they worked. Also memorise that list and let me know if it was too easy, too hard, whichever. Oh! And the TA's for the class are Eric Weiss and Bridge Carson so they should be able to help you out if I'm not around for some reason."
[OOC: *blinks at omglong" If you haven't seen my OOC post here, please go take a look at it. Also, the ten rules were taken with gratitude from the Handbook of Practical Spying by Jack Barth. I'll be around all day and
Re: SAS: Memory Game