Teaching What You Know TTh 10:30-12:20 Office Hours: By appointment. Description: What makes a good teacher? What conditions need to exist for learning to take place? In this course, we'll look to literature and films for the answer. By studying portrayals of teachers as both heroes and demons, we'll build our own theories of pedagogy and test out our notions of becoming good teachers. In films and literature, ranging from "Blackboard Jungle," to "Class Act" and "Dead Poets Society," we'll see how victory narratives and failure narratives arise, and we'll also look to novels, poems and short stories for fictional portrayals also construct assumptions about teaching and learning. In the end, our hope will be that you have a good teaching practice that you can test out in a range of settings. This course is the second segment in the Ways Of Knowing sequence. Students are not required to have taken "Ways of Knowing" before coming to this class. In the spring, "Teaching What You Know in Community Settings," an internship experience, will be offered. COURSE PROJECTS AND DUE DATES: The course will have daily assignments that you can see on the Course Calendar, attached. The following are the assessed deliverables for the quarter: Fiction—500 word extension of “Unclear Sailing.” Find a way to extend the story, following tone and characters. The extension can be in the beginning, middle or end of the story. Due: January 5th. Bring 6 hard copies to class. 10% of grade. 10 page research paper – Modeled on other academic papers that you read in the course, create a ten page research paper that explores some issue about teaching that is raised in a film and/or a piece of literature we’ve read or viewed. How do these cultural artifacts showcase particular assumptions about teaching and learning? DUE TUES FEB 7 by 10.30 am. Submit to frances@francesmccue.com in this format: yourlastname-paper1.doc. 20% of grade.
Final Reflection and Theory of Teaching— Five to seven pages of reflection on what you’ve learned in the course, what inquiries you’d like to pursue in the future and a well-supported Theory of Teaching (use quotes from texts and films). The theory should be resilient enough to guide you into future learning and teaching situations. DUE MARCH 8 by 10.30 am with your group project. Submit in hard copy. 20% of grade. Group Project: Drawing upon the literature and film we’ve seen so far, develop a project that teaches us, in a highly effective manner, about an area of inquiry you’ve pursued in the class. 30 minutes per project. Criteria for success: 1) well-managed time and use of materials—should be fluid and well prepared); 2) clear learning and teaching agenda with room and time for students to engage in it; 3) connection to what we’ve learned in class. Be prepared to hand in supporting materials for review. DUE: MARCH 6TH. 20% of grade.
Notebook. Keep a notebook of class notes and reading notes, ideas, insights, and reflections on teaching and learning. Jot done observations of what teaching and learning work for you, ideas about your project, quotes from books or lectures that relate to teaching and learning, ideas you dream up, and other things that seem relevant. I want you to practice keeping a learning notebook. Try this experiment at least three times over the quarter: record events or facts NOT your reflections on events or facts. Later the same day or another day add reflections about these events or facts. Due: March 8. 20% of grade. Class Participation. Coming to every class, coming prepared and contributing to group projects and discussions. 10% of grade.
Bibliography: (Required Texts) Online:
Grades: Honors 394C: Teaching What You Know—Winter 2012Course calendar
Tues. January 3—Introductions, Theory of teaching and learning, how “I” best learn, Writing sketches of successful learning/teaching. DUE: Send your bio to frances@francesmccue.com. One paragraph. Thurs. January 5— Create group beliefs; Journal reflections, Theories of teaching and learning. Making lesson plans. “Unclear Sailing” by Augusten Burroughs. DUE: Reading Burroughs and write a typed fictional piece that extends the story somehow. (500 word max.) Bring 6 copies to class. Tues, January 10— European traditions handed down to contemporary schooling. Discuss Jane Eyre and Hard Times. What philosophies and assumptions are behind the schooling experiences of Jane and what are the images of schooling and scholarship and the arts in Hard Times? How might we construct something more effective, given the historical context? DUE: Read Chapters 1-11 of Jane Eyre (http://www.literature.org/authors/bronte-charlotte/jane-eyre/index.html). Read Chapters 1-9 of Hard Times (http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/hardtimes/). Do some research and create three paragraphs of historical, geographical contexts about the times and places where each of the novels is set. This should be in your notebook.
Thurs. January 12— In class writing. Groups create alternative versions of teaching and learning. Discuss novels. How is Dickens’ rendition different than Bronte’s? How does Jane Addams set out to reconcile conditions presented in the novels? What do you learn about how to create an effective learning community?
DUE: Read Chapters 4-7 of Twenty Years at Hull House by Jane Addams (http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/addams/hullhouse/hullhouse.html#89).Do some research and create three paragraphs of historical, geographical context about the time and place when the memoir is set. This should be in your notebook.
Tues. January 17 –View Part 1 of PBS film on Education: School: The Story of American Education. DUE: Read chapters 8, 11 and 16 in Hull House. Thurs. January 19 – Discussion of how what we saw on film informs today’s classrooms.
Tues. January 24— View Blackboard Jungle.
DUE: See Part 3 of School: The Story of American Education. Take notes.
Thurs. Jan. 26— Discussion. DUE: Read 3 of the academic papers listed here: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/teachermoviesbib.html. You’ll need to find these papers through the UW libraries. Take notes on papers’ structures. Be prepared to present what you learned to your group.
Tues. Jan 31—View To Sir With Love DUE: 5 possible essential questions you’d like to pursue for your own academic paper about teaching/learning in film and literature we’ve studied. Watch Lean on Me.
Thurs. Feb 2— Writing Lab. DUE: Bring a substantial draft of your paper to class. 6 copies.
Tues. February 7- The “Victory Narrative: how we put teachers on pedestals and why failure matters.” DUE: Paper due. 10 pages, typed, MLA style. Email by 10.30 am to: frances@francesmccue.com. Use this file protocol: yourlastname—paper1.doc
Thurs. February 9 – View Dead Poets Society. DUE: Watch Part 3 of School: The Story of American Education. Take notes.
Tues. February 14 – Discuss a teaching philosophy based on your reading and films. DUE: Read half of Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Take notes in your notebook. Thurs., Feb 16 -- Discussion of Pedagogy of the Oppressed. DUE: Second Half of Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Be prepared to present what you are learning from the book, in response to films. Tues. Feb 21 – Discussion of Arts in social change and education. DUE: See Class Act. Read McCue handouts: http://www.francesmccue.com/readings.html. Take notes.
Thurs Feb 23—Final project decisions. Craft proposals.DUE: See Part 4 of School: the Story of American Education
Tues. Feb 28— Project meetings and discussion. DUE: Read Annie John and see An Education by Nick Hornby.
Thurs. March 1— Project meetings and discuss Annie John. Tues March 6—Presentations. DUE: Group projects due. Specifications: Drawing upon the literature and film we’ve seen so far, develop a project that teaches us, in a highly effective manner, about an area of inquiry you’ve pursued in the class. 30 minutes per project. Thurs March 8 Final celebration--Continuation of presentations (three). DUE: Theory of teaching and reflection (See Syllabus), notebooks.
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