Requirements for reading responses · Requirements for reading responses ... Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson” 1) ... Why does Edmundson begin with an analysis of his course

Julie Sexeny and Christine Dinkins, Wofford College – AAC&U Conference, Portland, 2014

Requirements for reading responses

Online answers are due by 9:00 a.m. on the assigned class day. In-person answers are due at class time.

Requirement:

Answer all of the questions briefly but thoroughly. A good guideline is 250-300 words total for all of

your answers each day.

Grading (out of 5):

You will not be marked down for misunderstanding the reading. You will only be marked down for

incomplete assignments. Thus, if you do the reading carefully and thoroughly and do your best at the

reading questions, you are likely to earn a 5. It is your job to make sure your answers demonstrate to

me that you have done the reading.

5: You have read the assigned material carefully and thoroughly and demonstrated that to me.

You have shown independent thought in your response to the text.

4: You have read thoroughly but perhaps not as carefully as you should. Your responses show you

are engaged with the text, but you do not go very far beyond the text in your own thinking.

3: You seem to have read some or most of the material, but you have not made it clear to me that

you read thoroughly and carefully, and/or you have not engaged with the text by applying your

own thinking.

1 or 2: Your answers are incomplete, and/or you do not demonstrate you have read the material.

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Sample reading questions from our course, “How Do We Best Educate Citizens?”

Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson”

1) What is your impression of Miss Moore throughout the story? What seems to be her motivation

in teaching these children?

2) The narrator, named Sylvia - what is her attitude toward learning for most of the story? Be as

specific as you can.

3) Why do you think Bambara (the author) makes the connection between FAO Schwartz and a

church in terms of how the girls feel when they enter? (This can be read a lot of ways.)

4) What lesson, if any, do you think Sylvia learns at the end of the story? What is your evidence

from the text for your answer?

Plato’s Republic¸ excerpt – “The Cave”

1) In Plato's cave, who do the prisoners in the cave represent? Why do you think Plato represents

them this way?

2) Why do you think the journey out of the cave is so difficult? Why is the journey back down

into the cave potentially even worse?

3) Socrates concludes that “certain professors of education must be wrong when they say that they

can put a knowledge into the soul which was not there before, like sight into blind eyes.” What

does he say is true instead?

4) What picture of society and education do you take away from this story? What is your reaction

to it?

Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra prologue, sections 1-4

1) Why does Zarathustra want to teach others? What is your understanding of his motivations?

2) In section 3, Zarathustra is asking his listeners to turn upside down many of their conceptions

of the meaning of life and of morality. What are two of his key ideas that stand out to you here,

in your own words?

3) Pick one of the "I love" statements in section 4. Restate it in your own words and give your

reaction to this statement by Zarathustra.

Mark Edmundson, “On the Uses of a Liberal Education: I. As Lite Entertainment for Bored College

Students”

1) Why does Edmundson begin with an analysis of his course evaluations? What does he learn

from them?

2) How does Edmundson characterize college students today? Do you think this is an accurate

assessment? Please explain.

3) According to Edmundson, how does a culture of consumption influence the university?

4) What does Edmundson think about the idea of genius? What conclusions or questions do his

reflections on the concept of genius help him to arrive at? Are there things that you or your

professors might do to address the problems Edmundson delineates?

Richard Rodriguez, “The Achievement of Desire”

1) How is the scholarship boy a bad student? How is he a good student? How does Rodriguez

reconcile these contradictory ideas he presents about the scholarship boy?

2) How does Rodriguez feel about books and reading? What are the mixed messages he received

about books and reading from his teachers and parents?

3) Does Rodriguez consider himself a good reader? Why or why not? What, if anything, do you

think is missing from his reading experience?

4) What meanings does education have for Rodriguez? What does he lose and gain from his

education? How has he achieved what he calls the end of education?


Writing questions for student reading responses

Please pick a reading from those available at the workstation and design some reading questions. Then,

if you want to check how well your questions might serve desired goals, please hand your questions to a

colleague at the workstation and ask the colleague to answer them.

Here are the guidelines we followed for our course:

3 or 4 questions per reading

Plan for total answers to be 250-300 words, 15-20 minutes of work (not counting reading time)

Have one question (usually the final one) be about personal connections or reactions

Ask questions that guide students to key questions or issues of the text

Ask questions that guide students to think about implications raised by the text

Ask questions that will help prepare students for class discussion

Reading title: __________________________________________________________

Question 1:

Question 2:

Question 3:

(Question 4:)


Observation Journal - Due Friday, 9/20 by 5 PM

The following instructions begin today, Thursday 9/12 and continue until the deadline above. You should write at least once

every 48 hours. Remember that journal entries in Moodle are time-stamped, so Moodle will help you keep track to make sure

you're writing at least once every 48 hours. You should keep this assignment in mind as often as possible.

Assignment: Observe yourself and those around you in your teaching and learning environment. Link your observations and

reflections to the questions and texts we are discussing in class. Your focus should be “Why do we teach and learn?”, but some of

your entries may reflect more broadly on how you see connections between your current educational experiences and what you’re

thinking, reading, and talking about in our course. Within these parameters, make any links you like, but here are some

suggestions:

In classroom X, what assumptions do there seem to be from students or teacher as to why you’re all in that class

together? Do your teachers have any similarities or key differences from Miss Moore (of “The Lesson”) in this way?

When you’re engaged in activities outside the classroom – in evenings on weekends or such – are you still teaching

and/or learning? How? Why?

Do you see ways in which you or your peers or your teachers are still in a cave, closed to truths? Do you sense any

progress in the journey out of that cave for yourself or others? How are you defining “truths” in this context?

What observations might Nietzsche (via his character Zarathustra) or Bambara (possibly via Ms. Moore or Sylvia) make

about some of your teaching and learning experiences during this week? What might Edmundson observe or say?

You might write about something different each day, or several different things per day, and/or you might end up commenting

several different days on the same course. That is entirely up to you. The only requirements are that you be observant and

reflective and not overly general – the reflections must tie to the readings and discussions in our course so far. Don’t just

report the things you observe. Think about them. Search your own feelings and reactions, try to gauge how those around you are

reacting, and speculate about the motivations of the students and teachers you observe. WHY are they teaching and learning?

Instructions:

Take notes at the end of each day, or after interesting encounters, then gather your thoughts and post them to your Moodle journal. Each entry should total 200-300 words, which may be a mix of describing the observation(s),

analyzing your and others’ behavior, and/or reflecting on what was said or done, especially in comparison to material

from our course. You should write these entries to and for yourself, but add enough detail so that I'll understand what

you write. You must have entries on at least 4 separate days to complete the assignment, in addition to the reflection

described below.

On Friday 9/20 do the following: Write a response to the week’s set of observations and reflections. What new

thoughts do you have about your own education, especially here at Wofford? What overall impression do you have of

the goals (the WHY) of the teachers and students at Wofford? Has your attitude toward education changed at all? Do

you feel differently about any of the people you observed, or about your daily lifestyle? These are just suggested

questions – explore your reactions to the week of observations in whatever way you find best. You should write about

250-450 words for your final reflection.

Confidentiality: Everything you write in your journal is confidential – only you and I will see it. While I may make general

remarks about journal observations in class, I will be careful not to mention any identifying details. To maintain confidentiality

and anonymity of those you are observing, please change the name of anyone you write about – professors, students, etc. If you

mention the same person in multiple journal entries, it would be helpful to keep the same false name for that person throughout

your journals.

Evaluation Criteria: I will not take off for informal language. Evaluation will be primarily on content.

33%: How observant were you? Did you notice things you might not normally notice?

33%: How thoroughly did you reflect daily on things you observed or on the things you yourself did? Did you connect

your reflections in specific ways to material from our Hum 101 course?

34%: How thoroughly did you reflect in your final summary piece about your observations over the past week and the

effects of the week as a whole on you?

Points will be deducted for lack of timely posting of individual entries


Designing an e-journal assignment

Please draft an assignment for an e-journal that might work in one of your courses. Think about the

goals and questions below. Don’t be shy! Talk about your rough ideas with those around you.

Goals:

Invite and guide students to connect course materials and discussions to everyday life

Ask students to be active observers and look at things from new angles

Possibly: Ask students to act differently than they might normally

Invite and guide students to reflect on their own thinking and reactions

Final reflection: Metacognition – A chance for each student to reflect on what she has learned

from the journal and how it might have changed her thinking (and/or behavior)

Things to ask yourself:

How many entries should I assign? How often should the entries be posted?

How long do I want the journal to run? (We found that a week works well.)

What kind of variety do I want in the entries? What guidelines or requirements do I want to give

my students to ensure this variety?

What criteria will I use to assess the journals?

Sample e-journals (We recommend for most topics that you require names to be changed for anonymity

of those observed):

Observe life around you and notice the interconnectedness of things and events. Describe those

connections and their causes and implications. Tie your observations into our readings about

process-relational philosophy.

Observe the behavior of those around you and discuss how it fits with the issues of

environmental responsibility we’ve been discussing.

Push yourself to act ethically according to Kantian guidelines every day for a week. Each day,

report on your own behavior and how well you think you did. Remember, don’t just avoid doing

bad things – push yourself to do good things you wouldn’t normally do!

Journal for course on _________________________________________________

Overall goals (student outcomes):

Nature and number of daily entries:

Final reflection entry:


Hum 101: How Do We Best Educate Citizens?

Documentary Film Project

Assignment: Each of you will identify a topic question for your film project. You will then

conduct four interviews—only one may be from your immediate family or a Wofford

faculty/staff/student—that will serve as a basis for the documentary film project and the final

essay. You will edit three interviews for your documentary, and all four interviews will be written

up and analyzed for your final essay. (See the final essay assignment for guidelines.) While each

interview may be 30 minutes long, the challenge will be to edit each into a 1-minute segment.

With three interviews in total, your final film should be no longer than 3 minutes.

As you work on your films, please use The Black List as a model for the kind of work you’re

going to produce. The focus here is on shaping these interviews into a narrative or argument. Be

sure to keep in mind that your viewers will have no prior knowledge of your question or context

of the discussion aside from our classes on this subject. The goal should be to captivate and

compel viewers with the ideas you present. Do not use b-roll footage or other moving images;

you may, however, use production stills.

This is an individual project, but you are encouraged to collaborate with an editing partner; you

may help each other conduct interviews (assist by holding the camera, for instance), swap footage

and provide a rough cut of your partner’s work, assist with any technical difficulties, consider

strategies for different ways to structure the film, help to judge the film’s clarity and coherence,

and so forth. In the end, however, each student is responsible for filming, interviewing, and

editing her own 3-minute documentary film.

Please see the following deadlines:

Tuesday, October 29: By this date, you will have contacted your four interviewees and

booked an hour-long appointment with each of them, even though you will likely only speak

to them for ½ hour.

Thursday, November 7: You will have filmed at least one interview, so that you can begin to

edit that interview in class.

Tuesday, November 12: You must have a rough cut of at least one interview that will be

included in the documentary film project. In our joint meeting with Dr. Sexeny’s class, we will

workshop your individual segments.

Thursday, November 14: You will have filmed your second interview, so that you can begin to


Tuesday, November 19: You will have filmed your third interview, so that you can begin to


Thursday, November 21: A complete rough cut of the entire film is due. You will conduct a

peer workshop of your film in class.

Tuesday, November 26: In class, we will work on the final edits to the film. The documentary

film project is DUE by 5pm on YouTube.


Evaluation Criteria:

20% - Process: Did you meet all the deadlines and put forth your best effort?

20% - Coherence/Creativity: How well does the film work together as a whole? Is it

composed? How compelling is the topic question? How creative or thoughtful were you

in selecting your interviewees? Did you work to engage people from different

communities in order to offer varied, pertinent perspectives on your film’s question?

25% - Story: Does the film attempt to tell a story? Is there a clear beginning, middle, and

end? Does the film convey a clearly articulated, unique, or unexpected take on this

subject matter?

25% - Editing: Is there some logic to the editing of shots? Is there a motivation for

cutting from one shot to the next? Is there a sense of rhythm in the editing?

10% - Technical aspects (lighting, camera placement, camera angle): Are we able to see

the interviewees’ faces? Are they framed so that we are not distracted by what is

surrounding them? Is the camera level? Are we viewing them from at or just below eye-

level? Are they looking slightly off-camera as opposed to directly at the camera?


Hum 101: How Do We Best Educate Citizens?

Film Project Memo – Due Thursday December 5 9:25 AM

Preliminary steps:

1. As stated on the film assignment sheet, interview 4 people on your chosen topic. Record these

interviews or take very thorough notes during them. (If possible, you may want to video-record all

four interviews, to leave open the option of which interviews to use for your film.)

2. Think back through the interviews and look for threads or themes that may appear multiple times.

3. Identify other ideas that stand out to you as particularly interesting – this might be because they

surprised you, made you think, or because they were strikingly similar to or different from your own

ideas.

Film memo:

Write a letter to me synthesizing and reflecting upon all four of your interviewees’ thoughts. After hearing

four different perspectives on your central question, what do you now know about this topic? What

central tensions or questions emerged? Like the other essays from this class, you should aim to present an

idea or claim and offer specific examples and interpretations to support it. As you analyze the content and

outcome of the interviews, connect these to one or two of the texts from our course. You are looking for

meaning and connections. Throughout the paper or in a section at the end, explain how some of these

themes or connections came out in your film.

Format: 1200-1600 words. Try to focus on the most interesting aspects of the interviews – don't feel a

need to cover everything that was said. The essay should be well-composed as any formal essay would

be, but the style may be slightly less formal, since you are including your own reflections.

Evaluation criteria: The standard rubric used for essays in this class. Special attention will be paid to

your ability to find meaning and connections in your interpretation and analysis of the interviews.

Suggested ways to incorporate content from your interviews:

Susan said that an essential part of her idea of “quality education” includes equality. I asked her what she

meant by equality in this context, and she said “include direct quote from interview here.” Her choice of

language interested me here. I notice she said “xxxx” which to me suggests ________________. I noticed

similar language elsewhere in the interview, when we were discussing yyyy.

OR

When I asked “blah blah blah blah?” Prof. Tamarin had more difficulty answering this. I think one reason

it was a difficult question is ___________________.

OR

One aspect of Ms. Simpson's definition of X was really similar to my own. She said blah blah blah, and

that's pretty much what I think, too. This makes me wonder if a lot of people see X in this way. I think it's

an idea that appeals to a lot of us because blah blah blah blah blah.

OR

I was really surprised by Joe's comment that “insert direct quote from interview here.” I am not sure why

this surprised me. I think I expected blah blah blah....


Designing a film project assignment

Please draft an assignment for a film project that might work in one of your courses. Think about the

goals and questions below. Please don’t hesitate to explore your ideas with those around you.

Goals:

Ask students to identify a central question or problem that demands input from other students,

educators, administrators, policymakers, and so forth

Invite students to relate course materials to real people and situations

Train students in the basic skills and methodology of interviewing and documentary filmmaking

Invite students to collaborate and problem solve when they encounter technical difficulties

Final reflection: Metacognition – A chance for each student to reflect on what she has learned

from the film project and how it might have changed her thinking about her initial

question/problem

Things to ask yourself:

How will students come up with their film topics and ideas about whom to interview?

How many interviews should each student conduct?

Should students work independently, in pairs, or groups?

How long is each interview? How long is the documentary film? (We found that for students

working independently, a 3-minute project consisting of 3 1-minute interviews works well.)

What kind of limitations, if any, should I impose on their choice of interviewees? What

guidelines or requirements do I want to give my students to ensure that they interview people

from outside their own learning community?

What criteria will I use to assess the films?

See the clip from the documentary provided:

What is the filmmaker’s project?

Where does the filmmaker fulfill or fail to fulfill your expectations as a viewer?

How might the filmmaker make the relationship between content and structure more effective?

Documentary film project for course on _________________________________________________

Overall goals (student outcomes):

Nature and number of interviews:

Guidelines for selecting interviewees:

Criteria for assessment:

Ideas for final reflection/film memo assignment:

Documents

Requirements for reading responses · Requirements for reading responses ... Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson” 1) ... Why does Edmundson begin with an analysis of his course