Please read this carefully, and in group starting Saturday, we’ll work on these. Final proposals are due on Sun night at 1159pm of Week 6. Teaching begins Weds of week 6. Enjoy!
David
“Teaching” Group Proposal (total approx. 4-8 double spaced pages TOTAL)
ATTACH IN EMAIL AS WORD OR RTF DOC THIS PROPOSAL, DUE BY SUN NIGHT WEEK 6.
Where will you be meeting and when?
What is the title, if any, of your course?
How will you be evaluating students on their work?
How will your students evaluate your work?
What will be the “organizational politics,” the way your class will be run (division of labor between the three teachers, etc)? –1-2pp double spaced
Please describe your course’s covenant, or your plans for a covenant, or your reasons for not having a covenant
Please give me a course description (brief)—up to 1 paragraph
Please describe your course’s pedagogical approach, and please reference this approach with a) what you plan to do in the classroom, and b) what you plan for students outside the classroom (inside and outside are metaphors here, that is, I mean within the space of meeting time and outside that meeting time) – up to 2pp double spaced
Please attach your syllabus, including class by class what you will be doing, or if you do not have a syllabus, attach a statement regarding why you do not have one—pedagogical reasons–up to 3pp, double spaced
Please attach your reading list, or if you do not have a reading list, attach a statement regarding why you don’t have one—pedagogical reasons—up to 1pg, double spaced
RULES:
There are very few rules here, but these are iron clad.
–Remember, this is a 4 credit course, so workload should be no more than one would expect from a 4 credit class meeting once a week for three weeks.
–You may or may not have a covenant, but any unfair treatment of one another, any expression of bias based on anything including race, gender, ethnicity, etc (for example, in your evaluation of students), is, as goes without saying, not permissible. Also, it should go without saying that empathy, deep interpersonal caring, and treating one another as subjects is not only ethically important, but will help all of you get along and thus help make the course, regardless of design, work better. NOTE: I feel this needs to be in writing, but you have all been caring and helpful to one another thus far, so I don’t expect any problems.
–All classes each week can only be 1 hour long, unless all (students and teachers) agree to meet for longer or during other times.
–Final evaluations of students in Experiments In Text are written by me, but you are responsible for RESPONSIBLY evaluating one another. And you are as groups responsible for figuring out how to convey these evaluations of students to me (see question above), which I will then factor in to my overall course evaluations. Note: evaluations can be creative, and do not have to be “teacher driven” etc. It’s up to you as to how you will evaluate, but there must be some written evidence of how the course has gone, and what people did. I will be meeting with you to discuss this if I have any questions based on your proposals.
–The course must be a text arts course (the arts of poetry, prose, mixed genre writing, etc). Consider this the major constraint viz a viz your course’s content.
TIPS:
Remember to contact “your” “students” prior to the beginning of class so they know where/when to meet!
If you have any troubles, individually, or as a group, students or teachers, contact me. But REMEMBER: I will be meeting with each group at least once for check ins, and we will also individually meet when possible (meetings reserved for Saturdays). So, contact me if these are issues that need immediate attention and cannot be attended to during either our group or individual meetings.
Remember that “serious playfulness” – rigor and enjoyment – can be a useful way of thinking when attending to your proposal, and afterwards during your classes.