FAIR 301 - Transfer Seminar: Introduction to Interdisciplinary Instruction

Marie Eaton, Spring 1996

No set office hours

(appointments may be scheduled through Georgia Garr in the front office or 650-3779)

MW 3-5:30

FAIR 312

Syllabus

The transfer seminar is designed to prepare students who have substantial college experience for Fairhaven’s special approach. The seminar’s goal is to acquaint students with all the important procedures for navigating the Fairhaven curriculum, choosing a major, or designing your own concentration. The topics will include, but not be limited to: the development of an education plan, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary thinking, the writing competency, the transition conference, independent study, concentrations/majors, power imbalances in schooling, and sexual harassment. In addition, this section of the transfer seminar will explore issues of race, class, and gender and how these issues relate to learning.

Texts: REQUIRED: Margaret Anderson and Patricia Hill Collins, RACE, CLASS AND GENDER: AN ANTHOLOGY, STUDENT GUIDE TO FAIRHAVEN COLLEGE.

RECOMMENDED: Mary Field Belenky, Blythe Clincy, Nancy Goldberger & Jill Tarule, WOMEN’S WAYS OF KNOWING: DEVELOPMENT OF SELF, VOICE, AND MIND.

Some additional readings may be added.

Credit/Evaluation: Consistent attendance, active and prepared participation in class activities and group discussion are critical elements in the evaluation of your work. This means, of course, that you need to be here - on time. It also means that you have read and engaged with the assigned materials. This ia part of your responsibility as a Fairhaven student and is critical to the success of seminars.

You will be writing two "formal" papers (see below) and will be asked to respond in short essays/paragraphs to other questions/issues that arise in the readings, both for class and via e mail. There will also be some "free-writes" and exercises in class. I expect written work prepared out of class to be typed/word-processed, proof-read, and handed in on time.

Sessions in the computer lab, facilitated by Dick Carlson, have been scheduled to acquaint you with various important aspects of ‘computer learning.’ After about the third week in the quarter, computer work will be coordinated with other class work. For example, you will be expected to identify some resources for your research papers through WWW, etc. Some assignments will be given via the class listserv, and you will be expected to communicate with others in the class via this method. If you already have facility in using Netscape, WWW, Microsoft Word word processing programs, e-mail, listservs, and the Wilson Library information retrieval systems, you may not need to schedule lab time (although perhaps you could help others?). You will still be expected to complete all assignments related to the internet and listservs.

Assignments for readings will be announced each week; a tentative schedule is listed in the attached grid.

ASSIGNMENT DETAIL

LISTSERV ASSIGNMENTS

•You will be assigned two readings during the quarter for which you will be responsible for posting "study questions" for the rest of your classmates which will guide their reading, prompt thoughtful responses and prepare us for class discussion.

•You will also be required to respond in writing (via the listserv) to at least three questions posted by your classmates during the quarter. These assignments will begin about week three of the quarter.

Some prompting questions will be provided but the listserv postings should include:

RESPONSES TO READINGS/QUESTIONS

-What did author say - (refer to the text - the exact page/paragraph/section that says something to you about the question)

-What does author mean - (explain the text and idea in your own words)

-How does the author mean - (illustrate how the author uses tone, style, etc. To indicate/create meaning.)

-What do you want to say about this idea? (Comment on the text. Agree, disagree, compare, contextualize, analyze, deconstruct. What other issues/ideas does this bring up for you? What new perspectives have you gained? What old perspectives were supported?)

A good response is critical, stimulating and convincing. It is structured, and integrates the material into the response. There is evidence of probing intellectual engagement with the text and question. It makes connections to other readings or class discussions. Personal observations are used to develop context and extend ideas.

An adequate response shows some engagement with the material, but minimal probing, questioning or interaction with the text or ideas. The interpretation is superficial and the major strategy is to recap the author’s points or list the ideas. The response may lack a clearly identifiable structure.

An inadequate response shows no real engagement with the text. Personal observations are scattered, dominate, or obscure the text, with little or no connection to the reading or questions. There is an over-reliance on personal memories, knee-jerk responses, or trivialization of the text to derive meaning.

RESEARCH PAPER

Select a topic which allows you to explore some aspect of your own cultural biography and write a formal research paper of 5-10 pages. You will not be writing about yourself, but about some aspect of your ‘heritage.’ The goals of this project are to enable you to become more familiar with your own cultural heritage (as you tell your family’s story), and with cultures different from your own (as you listen to each other’s stories); to recognize and respect both differences and commonalities between your own and other’s diverse experiences; and to recognize that this is an on-going, irregular, sometimes disturbing, sometimes exhilarating dialogue which ranges far outside of the classroom walls.

Follow the writing style guidelines handed out in class. You will be required to submit a topic plan early in the quarter and rough draft of the paper toward the middle of the quarter. You will be asked to make a presentation to the rest of the class about your topic at the end of the quarter.

SELF PORTRAIT/AUTOBIOGRAPHY

The groups with which we identify, the paradigms those affiliations form, and the social stratifications that result, greatly influence our identities, self-images, world views, and how we learn. This assignment will ask you to analyze your own experiences with the various stratification systems we are considering in this class and to write an account of your own location in these systems. In particular you should examine how and when you became and remain aware (or not) of those locations, and how these locations have structured your life experiences, particularly in relation to your learning. Focus on the lessons learned from these experiences. You may find it easier to remember the negative experiences, but it is important to examine both positive and negative implications. The following questions may help focus your response.

-How have the following group affiliations used in our culture influenced your life experiences, your opportunities, or shaped your learning style?

Culture? Race? Gender? Class? Religion? Age? Sexual Orientation? Other?

-What have been some of the barriers you have faced? Can you identify what made it difficult for you to overcome them? What helped you past them?

-What have been some of the key points in your educational progress?

-Who were your "great" teachers -- both inside and out of the classroom. What was it about them that facilitated your learning

-What role have your family and/or friends played in your learning (influences/barriers)

-What is your ideal "climate" for learning? How can you achieve it? How can Fairhaven help?

You will be asked to hand in a first draft of this work early in the quarter. This should be a relatively polished piece of work. The final draft will be due at the end of the quarter, and should reflect any additional insights, learning, perspectives, gained through the readings and class discussions.

SELF EVALUATION

Should focus on you as learner in this class rather than a description of the content covered.

CLASS EVALUATION

Use salmon colored form. All comments and critiques are taken seriously.

April 3 - Introductions

April 3 - Recommended - Makia Malo, Hawaiian Storyteller from Kluapapa, 7 PM, Fairhaven Auditorium.

April 8 - DUE -

READ: •RCG - Preface, and Shifting the Center and Reconstructing Knowledge

•STUDENT GUIDE/PROCESS - Independent study (ISPs)

•Learning, Reflection, and Community-M. Eaton

April 10 - READ

April 15 - How to use the Library - Dal Symes (main reference desk, first floor)

DUE -Completed ISP proposal form for research paper topic

April 17 - Learning in a social context; Strategies for Effective disucssion - A. McCartney

READ:

•Seminaring for Learning - A. McCartney

•Characteristic of an Effective Group

STUDENT GUIDE/PROCESS - Writing Competency (FAIR 208)- Junior Writing Exam

April 18 - Recommended: "Lessons from Holocaust" Presentation by Auschwitz Survivor Noemi Ban. 7 PM, PAC Concert Hall

April 22 - Structure vs Freedom: The balance of the head and heart (what are the differing roles of research and personal voice?) - Lois Holub (Fairhaven alum)

DUE - Outline or mind map of major themes for your research paper topic

April 24 - Developmental Models (Perry, Belenky et. al) - Susan Mancuso

READ: Relationship between Student Intellectual Development and Classroom Instruction - L. Reisser

Developmental Foundations of Critical Thinking - J. Kurfiss

April 29 - Developmental Models - Continued

DUE - Journal entry

May 1 - Learning styles - How people learn

STUDENT GUIDE/PROCESS - Transition Conference (FAIR 209)

READ/DO: They’re Not Dumb, They’re Different - S. Tobias

Point of View - A. Kolodny

Learning Styles Inventory Exercise - Kolb

Learning Styles and Disciplinary Differences- D. Kolb

Decision Making Styles Inventory

May 6 - Presentation on the Meyers-Briggs - Mark Warren April (Career Services)

DUE -

READ: Do What You Are - P. Tieger & B. Barron-Tieger

Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator

May 8 - Self-Assessment; Finding your voice. How people know.

STUDENT GUIDE/PROCESS - Self-evaluations/class evaluations

READINGS: Suggestions to Students for Writing Self-Evaluations - P. Elbow

Work, reflection, and community: Conditions that support writing self evaluations - Eaton, M. & Pougiales, R.

May 13 - Other influences on learning; gender, culture, class, family

DUE - Completed ISP research paper

READINGS:

Family Life and the Politics of Talk - M. Belenky et. al.

May 15 - Other influences on learning; gender, culture, class, family - Continued

STUDENT GUIDE/PROCESS - Concentration Seminar (Fair 303)/Major

DUE - First draft of self-evaluation

May 20 - Catch-up

STUDENT GUIDE/PROCESS - Senior Project, Advanced Seminar, Summary and Evaluation.

DUE -

May 22 - Experiential learning

DUE - "Self portrait"

READINGS:

May 27 - No class

May 29 - Catch up/Presentations

June 3 - Catch up/Presentations

June 5 - DUE - Final self-evaluations and class evaluations due!