Program Structure and Assignments

This program uses the format of many Evergreen programs: a healthy combination of theory and applied experiences. It requires self-discipline, individual work, and group work. Active involvement both in and out of class is a really important part of the learning process. Please follow the schedule closely and attend all seminars, workshops, lecturettes, group meetings, day sails, and experiential activities. It will be hard to achieve the program objectives of teamwork, communication, and community building without actively attending and contributing to class. All work must be submitted on time. Late submittals communicate that you are not keeping up with your work and may result in a reduction of credit. In all but the most extenuating of circumstances, work that is submitted past its due date and time will not be read by faculty and your evaluation will state that your work was not submitted in a timely fashion.

· Writing
You will be doing at least two kinds of writing this quarter: seminar papers and a final reflective piece of writing. To prepare for the final paper, you should follow the assignment that will be given out in class.

For seminar paper writing, I would like to focus intensely on developing critical thinking and argumentation skills. You will complete a one-to-two page (double spaced) inquiry-based seminar paper on each text we read for seminar. Successful seminar papers are thoughtful and analytical critiques of a central idea in the text. As your readership expands to include more texts, the successful seminar paper also draws connections between texts, and program activities such as guest speakers, workshops, and films. It may also seek to briefly summarize the work as a whole, but the focus should be on the crucial concept from the reading that you choose to emphasize. That central concept and a summary of your analysis of it should be stated in a clear thesis statement in the first paragraph of your paper. Use text quotes, page citations, and information from your independent research to support your claims. A seminar paper is NOT about how you FEEL. It is about how you think and reason critically.

· Seminar Preparation when no paper is due
On the days you are not bringing a paper with you to seminar, you will prepare for our discussions by identifying the author's thesis and preparing three written questions which indicate the specific parts of the texts that motivated you to ask them. This preparation should be typed and submitted on the due date indicated in the class schedule.

· Reflective journal
You need to get yourself a nice journal that you bring with you to class everyday. You will use this to collect reflective writings that I assign in class, both for in-class writing as well as writing that you will do at home and on our sailing expedition.

· Other work as assigned

· Program Portfolio
You will submit a portfolio of your completed work on Tuesday, May 31. Your portfolio should be compiled in a three-ring binder and have dividers for each section of work as defined below:

· Seminar preparation
· Seminar papers
· Final reflective paper
· Journal
· Field trip research
· Program notes and pertinent handouts
· Other materials that have been important to your learning.

Feel free to be creative in compiling all of this. We will discuss this assignment in detail in class. The portfolio should include all of the above elements. You will then write an organizing essay using artifacts from your portfolio to illustrate each of three parts:

Part one: You should sift through your work to identify artifacts that reflect 2-3 aspects of your most significant learning this quarter. Describe how these artifacts help to illustrate the scope and significance of your learning.
Part two: You will go back to the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the quarter and examine/evaluate your progress towards these goals using artifacts from your portfolio to illustrate your discussion.
Part three: You will identify areas where you would like to grow in the future. That is identify new/refined goals given what you have learned about yourself as a student this quarter, and a plan of action for meeting those goals in the next quarter.