This week my two ANTH202 classes started using the discussion process formally (with flip charts & markers); last week they had a trial run. Like in my FYS, most groups were animated and “done” before the class ended. These are… Read More »
Monthly Archives: September 2010
Educational Foundation – Groups & Plans
My Educational Foundation classes have about 25 students each; all plan to be future teachers. Both classes consist mostly of females (one has five males, the other four). The ethnicities are mixed, though the majority seems “white” (have to check… Read More »
First Year Seminar – Reflections after 1st IF Discussion
The discussion began today formally (though last week we had a trial run). Flip charts & markers were used for the first time. Students were asked to identify the values addressed in the three essays assigned from the common reader… Read More »
My First Year Seminar – Groups & Plans
My First Year Seminar class has 24 students this term. Nine are women; ten have immigrant or minority background. I organized the groups after two weeks on the basis of gender, minority status, academic performance, and personal traits (inferred from… Read More »
Teaching Communication Skills to Students– Resources
If you click on the hyperlinks, the file will download onto your computer (check your Downloads file).
Evaluation Rubrics — Allow students to assess their communication skills
Communications Exercise… Read More » — Provides an opportunity for students to think about different levels
How are you setting up student groups in your IF class?
For those of you teaching an IF sponsored course this Fall (2010) semester, we’d like you to post blog entries at least 4 times during the semester. We invite you to use these blog posts to reflect upon and share… Read More »
The Questions We Ask
At the dawn of western philosophy Socrates was asking questions in the Athenian agora. The whole of western thought has arguably been developed in search of answers to the questions he asked. But our understanding of philosophy and science has… Read More »
Democratic Discussion
Our founder, Jay Stern, thought that IF’s citizen staff work reports could be an aid to democratic discussion in the United States. But what, exactly, is a democratic discussion or, to put it differently, what makes a discussion ‘democratic’? I… Read More »
Allocating Discussion Resources Democratically
Who should receive the resources available to organizations interested in promoting democratic discussion? It’s an important practical and moral question, regardless of the size of the organization. It’s also inescapable, involving what IF’s founder Jay Stern never tired of calling… Read More »
My IF course v. 2.0
Well, I’m back to teaching an IF-course, and for some reason, the same one I taught last year, a first-year seminar. Last fall wasn’t a complete failure, but I did a lot of re-tooling midstream, given that things didn’t always… Read More »
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