God and SkittlesDr. Cherriethel (Cherry) EmersonFront Range
Community College (BCC)Teaching with Purpose Presentation, April
27, 2012 Emerson, 2012
THE 1 MINUTE PAPER +
ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGION The God and Skittles 1 Minute Paper
+
18 students, 6 pods of 3, pod-ed since first day of class.Have
previous working together on in-class projects.Computer classroom
and they are all logged onto class in D2L.Each pod got their choice
of bags of Skittles. They love Skittles.Then, after instructions,
the fun and the Skittles exchange began!
Photo: Killer Whale Pod -Scott Beale, of Odin Lonnings Tlingit
3-D Art
2
Step by Step ProcedureDecide what you want to focus on.Core,
emotional words concerning beliefs in god.Difference between
ethnography and ethnology.Survey techniques and ability to analyze
and report results.
Write 1 Minute Paper prompts that fit.Clear, concise
instructions as to methodA simple yes/no question that leads to
open-ended.Clear, concise instructions as to the esssay form.
Buy enough Skittles.
INSTRUCTIONS for STUDENTSYou will be working with not only your
pod, but other pods in the class. You will act as an ethnographer,
you will be asking questions about beliefs in god and beliefs in
what happens to you after you die. You will then do and ethnology,
compiling the ethnographies you completed (your interviews). The
similarities and differences, as well as you conclusions will be
put into a 200 word essay before the end of class. Next class you
will put your essay into Wordle, and we will discuss what universal
concepts about religion emerged. I will make one big Wordle with
all of your essays combined to share with the class.You will ask
the questions of your pod mates and one person in each of the other
pods.You will then write a 200 word essay with
comparisons/contrasts and conclusions. You should not identify any
student by name in your essay Your individual essay will be
submitted into D2L in the ESSAY dropbox before the end of the class
. This assignment is not graded. I will be the only one to read
what you write, where you will be identifiable, however parts, or
all, of your essay may be used in a demonstration project.Question
you will be asking:
Do you believe in god? Yes or No.Describe god if yes, explain
why not if no.What happens to you after you die?
4
Wordle is a toy for generating word clouds from text that you
provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear
more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with
different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create
with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them
out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.
(wordle.net)
WHAT IS WORDLE?(student1, ANT 225)Wordle is simply what
anthropologists have always called content analysis.
5
After going around the room or sitting here and answering
questions for our group, one person came back with a full report of
the classes religious views and perspectives on whether or not they
believe in God and there opinion on the subject. Most people in the
class agreed in a higher power and answered yes when being asked if
they believed in god or not. Some people you can tell have a very
strong opinion on how they feel about god and had an ear full when
the answer was yes or no. So right away you could tell who had a
more religious background then the others. When asked what he/she
looks like most people thought of the painting of the Holy Family
with baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. A very baroque style is what
some people mentioned very big and centered with huge grey ominous
clouds in the background. Then when asked where the afterlife if
there was one most people answered with well you either go to
heaven or hell. It is hard for me to think that you dont just die.
After losing my best friend I always like to think that he is in
heaven but for some reason I get the feeling that you are just
finished. (Student2 ANT 225) TEXT vs. WORD CLOUD (Wordle)
6
1 Minute Essay NOT * = 1.25 HOURS 5 minutes - Explain Project
Hand out Skittles10 minutes - Interviewing pod mates.25 minutes -
Interviewing other pods20 minutes - Writing and Loading Essay15
minutes - Viewing/Discussing two of the individual Wordles75
minutes - TOTAL = 1 class period
Meets TGI GOALS
Develop ability to synthesize and integrate information and
ideas (TGI Goal 5)Develop ability to think holistically: to see the
whole as well as the parts (TGI Goal 6)Improved skill of paying
attention (TGI Goal 9)Improved listening skills (TGI Goal
12)Developed appropriate study, strategies and habits (TGI Goal
16)Learned terms and facts on the subject (TGI Goal 18)Learned
concepts and theories on the subject (TGI Goal 19)
* from CAT Responses to Minute Papers often take longer than
Planned.
What does 4000+ words look like?
QUESTIONS(all students, ANT 225)
1 Minute PaperYou have 60 seconds to answer the following
question on the index card provided. Do not add your name. You may
start only when you see the word GO appear on the screen and you
hear the Jeopardy theme start. The theme is exactly 1.04 minutes in
length. When it stops, so do you. Pass your cards forward.
QUESTION: Why is Wordle more effective in conveying core
concepts of an essay than printed text? Or is it?
GO
9
Works Cited in Power Point and PresentationAnthropology of
Religion Class, Classmates. Interview by Student Various. Personal
interview. 17 Apr. 2012. Academic!, Ace. "Wordle - Beautiful Word
Clouds." Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr.
2012. . Angelo, Thomas A., and K. Patricia Cross. "Minute Paper."
Classroom assessment techniques: a handbook for college teachers.
2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1993. 148-153.
Print. Beale, Scott. Killer Whale Pod . N.d. Seattle Aquarium,
Seattle. laughingsquid.com. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. Boylan, Richard.
Extraterrestrial Monolith in Space. N.d. Richard Boylan, Ph.D.,
Graphic Design. thelivingmoon.com. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. Crescent City
Orchestra. "2001 Theme." Rec. 1963. 2001 Theme. Lounge Masters
Album, Vol 6 . 2004, Digital Music works International.
MP3.Emerson, Cherriethel (Cherry). "God and Skittles." Anthropology
of Religion. Front Range Community College. C1730, Longmont,
Colorado. 17 Apr. 2012. Class lecture. Emerson, Cherriethel
(Cherry). Religious Beliefs, Classroom Exercise, Instructions.
Unpublished, April 17, 2012, Erie, Colorado.Houser, Dominik. Theme
From Jeopardy. Composed by Merv Griffin. BSX Records. Released
2010.Huang, Mike. Skittles Rainbow. N.d. Mike Huang Personal
Collection, Toronto, Canada. myphotoaxis.com. Web. 20 Apr. 2012.
Rushkoff, Douglas . "The Persuaders | FRONTLINE | PBS." PBS: Public
Broadcasting Service. PBS, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. . Stein, Rebecca
L., and Philip L. Stein. The anthropology of religion, magic, and
witchcraft. 2. ed. Boston [u.a.: Pearson, 2007. Print. Wente,
Clara. "Classroom Assessment Techniques." Teaching with Purpose.
Front Range Community College. BCC 1558, Longmont, Colorado. 13
Apr. 2012. Lecture.
10
