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[edit] WORK AND THE HUMAN CONDITION -- Fall Syllabus
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Work and the Human Condition Fall/Winter/Spring 2008-2009
12 Credit, All level program Faculty: Susan Preciso precisos@evergreen.edu, X6011 and Stephen Beck--becks@evergreen.edu,X5488
CRN: 10231 Program wiki page: www2.evergreen.edu/wikis/work/ Meets: MTW 6:00-9:30 and one Saturday per quarter.
Classrooms:
- Monday & Wednesday -- B1105 (all-program); B2107, B3109 (seminar)
- Tuesday -- B1107 (all-program); B2107 (breakout space)
Class Standing: This all-level program accepts up to 25% freshmen as well as supporting and encouraging those ready for advanced work.
Fields of Study: American Studies, Cultural Studies, History, Literature, Philosophy, Writing
In this year long program, we will examine the nature and place of work in human life and culture. Studying literature, philosophy and history, we will develop an understanding of work that goes well beyond the concept of work as a way to pay the bills. We will consider important questions: Why is work important in a complete human life? What roles can it play both for an individual and for the whole social system? What ways of working should a person strive to practice? Who does what work?
To better understand and critique challenging material, we’ll spend time improving skills in close reading, critical reasoning, writing clearly and well, and in research methods. We’ll examine the ways in which approaching an idea through different disciplinary lenses allows us to deepen our understanding of it— often complicating the picture in generative ways. We plan to build in time for study groups to meet and work together on reading and writing, recognizing the value we place on collaboration; it enriches each community member’s experience with this intellectual work. Our primary lens will be Western; however, we will make some important connections and comparisons to other traditions as well.
This is a thematic program — that is to say, it is organized around a central position that the faculty maintain and want to explore with the students. Our position is that a fully human life requires significant work. This position, far from being a final answer, prompts many questions and invites open exploration. What counts as work? What makes work significant? What is required, individually and socially, in order for someone to have significant work? We hope and expect to deepen our own understanding of this position, and perhaps to revise it, as you deepen your understanding of it as well.
During Fall Quarter, we’ll study ideas about the place of work in the human condition, beginning with some ancient foundational texts and continuing through the early 18th century. Our reading fall quarter will include The Odyssey, passages from the Bible, Aristotle, and the Stoics, and the Tao te Ching. We’ll then move to the rise of capitalism and changing ideas about work, seen in art, philosophy, and literature, and finish the quarter reading the early 18th century Robinson Crusoe. We’ll work with Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition over all three quarters.
Winter Quarter’s work will begin with the Protestant Reformation, the scientific revolution and mercantilism and proceed to the industrial revolution. Our reading will include John Locke, Adam Smith, Marx, some 19th century novels, and Daniel Rodgers’ The Work Ethic in Industrial America.
During Spring Quarter, students will read contemporary ideas about the values and challenges of work and working. They will also learn from people about the work they do, interviewing and taking oral histories. They will document work and working through writing and other media they find useful and effective.
[edit] Fall Book List
Aaron, Jane. Little Brown Essential Handbook for Writers. Longman. ISBN 0-321-10045-X Arendt, Hannah. The Human Condition. U of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-02598-5 Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Trans. Terence Irwin. Hackett. ISBN 0-87220-464-2 Carr, E.H. What is History? ISBN 039470391X Cederblom, Jerry and David Paulsen. Critical Reasoning. Thomson. ISBN 0-534-605079 Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. Dover Thrift. ISBN 9780486404271 Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 9780374525743 Marcus Aurelius. The Meditations. Trans. G.M.A. Grube. Hackett. ISBN 0-915145-79-0 Suggs, M. Jack, ed. The Oxford Study Bible: Revised English Bible with Apocrypha. Oxford UP. ISBN 0195290003 Williams, Joseph. Style: Toward Clarity and Grace U of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0-226-89915 Tao te Ching, trans. Ellen Chen. Paragon House, ISBN 1-55778-238-5
[edit] Learning Goals
As a student who successfully completes the full program, you will understand how the nature of work and concepts of work have changed through the history of the western tradition. In particular, you will understand how modes of work, conceptions of work, and values surrounding work have changed. Part of that understanding involves understanding the nature and value of work in your life in relation to your society.
To achieve the above, main goal of the program, you will need to learn several more specific things. You will learn how to read, understand and critically respond to philosophical texts, to historical texts and to literary texts. Further, you will integrate your understanding of philosophical, historical and literary material so as to develop and support your own positions on the nature and value of work. In addition, you will need to develop strong skills in writing, critical reasoning, and research.
[edit] Program Structure and Regular Activities
Most Mondays and Wednesdays will include lecture, workshop, or full program work and a seminar on the reading.
Lectures are aimed to inform you of central concepts, arguments, disciplinary methods and specific content related to the week’s readings.
Workshops are designed to facilitate you in developing your understanding of texts as well as skills of interpretation, analysis and critique. As the work is generative, you will need to collaborate closely with your colleagues.
Seminars will deepen your understanding through close attention to the texts, including identification and interpretation of central and problematic concepts and vocabulary, as well as interpretation and critique of arguments and themes.
Triads For many of our activities, including seminar response paper work, some workshops, and other aspects of our collaborative work, students will be assigned to a triad, that will in the best of circumstances, remain stable over the quarter. You’ll need to make sure that your triad partners have your contact information.
We’ll work on critical reasoning and writing on most Tuesdays.
===A Salon=== Before our regular work begins every Tuesday, we’ll meet for tea and conversation—a salon for Work and Human Condition. We hope you’ll often join us when you can. It will give us a chance to talk about ideas, to reflect on our work, and just to enjoy each other’s company.
[edit] General Expectations
Excellent attendance and full participation on all program activities. If you cannot make a class meeting, you need to let your seminar faculty know—either by phone or e-mail. You’ll also need to contact your triad peers so that they can take notes and fill you in on what you missed.
[edit] College-level work
Since the program is focused on reading, writing, and critical thinking, you are expected to demonstrate these skills at the college level. Specifically, this means:
- the ability to read, understand, and then summarize texts
- the ability to learn from texts through discussion with others
- the ability to analyze and pursue writing assignments
- the ability to write coherent, focused, correctly punctuated prose
- the ability to develop and defend a thesis
- the ability and commitment to do all of the above reliably
We will inform you as early as feasible, and no later than the fifth week, whether you are working at the college level, and if not, what you need to do in order to bring skills to the college level. Email: Stephen and Susan will use your Evergreen e-mail exclusively, so make sure you’ve accessed and check you account.
Library: We’ll also expect every student to activate their library account.
[edit] Program Requirements
1. Seminar Response Papers: For each seminar, you are to write a brief response paper —- 1 page in length. Your responses are to have three parts: (1) quotation; (2) description; (3) response.
(1) Quotation: Choose a one- or two-sentence quotation from the seminar text that is at the heart of your topic of interest for the paper. Your quotation need not capture the whole of the topic (that generally requires you to quote too much), but it should be central to that topic.
(2) Description: Describe the topic in the text that interests you. Often, this means giving a restatement of a position from the text. Sometimes, it means giving an account of central concepts. Sometimes, it means describing an image or a character. In any case, the goal is to represent, as faithfully as possible, your topic as it is present in the text itself. Focus on specific passages and details; avoid broad generalizations about the whole of the text.
(3) Response: Present your own thoughts about your topic. You may be interested in your topic because you don’t understand a concept or a position, or because you object to the position it takes, or because you think that a position, image or character can be helpfully applied to some other situation, or for other reasons. Whatever the source of your interest, make this clear to the reader. It is OK — in fact, it is a very good thing — to be tentative, to try out ideas that you haven’t fully worked out, to experiment with new thoughts. Remember, this is a very brief paper. The description and response should be a paragraph each. We will begin seminar in triads, where you will read and make brief observations about each other’s responses. At the end of each seminar, you will write a brief postscript to your response. Purpose The purpose of your response papers is threefold. First, your response papers should focus your own thoughts about the text on a specific topic; by having your thoughts focused in this way, you will be well prepared to participate in seminar discussions. Second, response papers will help to focus your classmates’ thoughts on your topic; seminar responses will significantly guide the structure and content of seminar. Third, your responses will record your growing understanding of our texts and themes over the course of the program.
Form While the content of your paper can be tentative and provisional, the form should not. Responses are to be typed, double-spaced, with 1” margins on all sides, with a proper header including your name, the date of the seminar, and the program title.
Response papers will not be accepted late, at all. Since their purpose is largely to help you prepare for seminar and to inform that seminar, they can’t do that after the fact.
2. Reading Notes We expect you to take detailed notes on your reading all quarter. This means that you’ll need to have a notebook, or section of your binder, dedicated to reading notes. If you take notes on your computer, make sure that you print them and put them into your notebook for reference. Each of us has particular practices that are useful to us, but you can think about including quotations from the reading that seem particularly intriguing or puzzling (include page numbers). You can write questions that come up and to which you might want to return. You can record connections you make between the reading at hand and other texts and ideas. You might also have a section to write down vocabulary that is either new, or used in a way that is unfamiliar. You’ll include your reading notes in your portfolio.
3. Integrative Essay, due Monday, November 3. We’ll begin working on the draft(s) of this essay—you might think of it as a “position paper”—in our writing workshops. In it you’ll recall the questions that began our work—
Why is work important in a complete human life?
What roles can it play both for an individual and for the whole social system?
What ways of working should a person strive to practice?
Who does what work?
You’ll think and write about how they are answered in the books and by the writers we’ve studied so far. You should draw as well from our seminars, workshops, and lectures. See what connections you can make among the readings, but also note differences—between the books, but also between these early thinkers and ways that you thought about those questions when we began our work. Your essay should be thesis driven and thoughtfully organized and supported. It should be concise: 5 pages. You’ll cite and document your sources using MLA (Modern Language Association) conventions. (Your Essential Handbook for Writers has all the rules.)
4. Final Integrative Essay, due Friday, Dec. 5 With your earlier essay as a starting point, you’ll revisit the questions again, changing and revising your argument as you complicate the picture with the readings that followed the Week 6 essay. Again, you’ll be limited to 5 pages. And you will, of course, cite and document your sources using MLA format. We’ll have time in our Tuesday workshops to work on draft(s) of this essay as well, honing both the argument, and your prose style, to finish with a clear, concise, crafted piece of writing. We’ll post the final essays on our program page so that they are available for reference as we move to our winter quarter study. These essays will be due Friday of Week 9, so you can either bring your essay on the preceding Wednesday, or you can e-mail it (as MS Word doc) to your seminar faculty on Friday, December 5.
5. Completed portfolio Your portfolio should include:
1. All seminar papers—the copy that has both peer response and “post seminar” notes.
2. Your reading notes—these can be hand written or typed, but should be gathered and included on a separate section of your portfolio.
3. Your mid-quarter Integrative Essay, including each draft along with the final draft.
4. The drafts of your final Integrative Essay (your faculty will still have the completed final version).
5. All written work from our Tuesday meetings—Critical Reasoning exercises, writing workshops and exercises, notes.
6. Lecture notes and notes from workshops.
7. Your self-evaluation—on the form, but consider it a draft. Your faculty may have some suggestions for revision.
6. Completed self-evaluation This must be submitted to registration and records if you are leaving the program. If you are continuing, you’ll keep it for reference, but the “official” self-evaluation is submitted only when you finish your work in the program.
7. Completed evaluation of faculty You can include this in your portfolio, bring it to your evaluation conference, or turn it in to our program secretary, Sharon Wendt (Sem II B 2124).
[edit] Some Important and Useful Resources
Summit-books from other college libraries
Dictionary of Philosophical Terms
JSTOR--Scholarly articles available through our library
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Philosophical Dictionary, at Philosophy Pages
Guide to the Study of Philosophy, at Philosophy Pages
[edit] Program Covenant
Work and the Human Condition Fall/Winter/Spring, 2008/9 Faculty/Student Covenant
Introduction Academic study is work we do both in solitude and together. As work we do in solitude, it requires consistent, sustained attention and effort. As work we do together, it requires making and keeping commitments to support each other’s best efforts, to listen carefully and speak sincerely to each other, and to offer and accept honest feedback in the spirit of helping each other learn and grow. This covenant is intended to guide us to do our academic work to the best of our abilities.
A Commitment to Respect
1-As participants in this program, we agree to act according to these principles based on respect:
2-We will take responsibility for our own work, words, actions and reactions.
3-We will listen and speak to people the way we would like people to listen and speak to us.
4-We will read and act in accordance with the Evergreen Social Contract, the Student Conduct Code, and the Sexual Harassment Policy.
5-We will abide by strong ethical standards in all our relations with members of other communities.
6-We will keep off all personal electronic devices during class sessions in order to fully engage ourselves and others in class activities. This includes laptop computers, cell phones, PDA’s, and MP3 players.
An Acceptance of Responsibilities (Students) By participating in this program as a student, I also agree to abide by the following:
1-I will attend all class meetings. I will be on time and prepared to participate.
If extenuating circumstances force me to be late, I will try not to interrupt the program activity and I will make sure I learn what I missed from my triad, not the faculty.
If I must miss a class due to illness or emergency, I will notify my faculty in advance by phone or e-mail. I understand that missed classes must be made up and that my make-up work must demonstrate that I have learned what I missed learning in class due to my absence. I also understand that it is my responsibility to develop a plan for my make-up work in conjunction with my seminar leader. I further understand that, if significant class time is missed and not sufficiently made up, I will receive reduced credit for the program. Missing and partial assignments may also result in lost credit.
I understand that, as a student in a 12-credit program, I am expected to put 30 hours of work into program attendance, activities and assignments each week.
2-I will complete and turn in all assignments on time. I understand that late work may not be accepted or, if accepted, may not be evaluated as fully or as quickly as timely work. Response papers will not be accepted late, at all. I will apply high standards of scholarship to all my work, including typing (double- spaced), proofreading and stapling multiple pages. As a college-level program, quality scholarship is essential.
3-I will not present others’ ideas and information as my own. I will acknowledge the ideas and information of others, whether published or those of my co-learners, when I incorporate them into my own work.
For example, I will include citations throughout my writings as appropriate and will clearly indicate when substantive ideas or language are drawn from a source; this might include quotation marks and/or phrasing such as, “according to Carr,…” 4-I will support the other students in the program, and especially the other members of my triad, in their learning. I will do so not only by coming prepared to discuss the texts for the day but also by providing prompt, honest and constructive feedback on their work.
5-I will address conflicts and grievances promptly and with the individuals directly involved. If this does not resolve the conflict or grievance, I will then seek guidance next from my seminar leader. If the conflict is still unresolved I will speak to the faculty team. If all of these avenues have been exhausted, I will speak to the Dean of Evening and Weekend Studies (Allen Olson, 867-5485)
6-Since learning experiences are typically challenging, I will take initiative to ensure that my needs are met as the program unfolds. There are a number of means by which I might do this. These include: • Being open to gaining from the unexpected or undesired • Being flexibly responsive to changes • Seeking out supplementary information as desired • Seeking opportunities to work with other students • Working with tutors • Giving timely feedback and creative suggestions to faculty with respect and with the anticipation of being heard and valued • Understanding that there may be more factors involved in the development, content and delivery of a learning program than I am aware of. 7-I will write a transcript self-evaluation, a faculty evaluation, and attend my evaluation conference, which will be scheduled during evaluation week of each quarter.
An Acceptance of Responsibilities (Faculty) By participating in this program as a faculty member, I agree to abide by the following: 1-I will do my best to create and maintain a high-quality program of learning opportunities. I will take full responsibility for my work, behavior, presence, and awareness, and allow others their own responsibility. And I will do my best to support the learning process of each student.
2-I will review and return homework in a timely fashion.
3-I will contact my program secretary, Sharon Wendt (x6588), in advance if an absence cannot be avoided and seek to make alternative arrangements for class activities.
4-I will advise students who are in danger of not receiving full credit during the fifth week of the quarter or when it becomes apparent. I will award each student full credit if he or she has good, completes all assignments on time, and does work that meets minimum college-level standards. I may award less than full credit for work that fails to meet these criteria. If I judge that a student is in danger of receiving less than full credit, I will inform him or her by the fifth week or at such time as I come to this judgment.
5-I will complete a written evaluation the program and myself.
6-I will be prepared for and attend weekly faculty team planning meetings focused on the facilitation of student learning. I also will work to support and encourage my teaching partner’s work in order to bring students the best of their scholarship and skills.
Credit and evaluation policy • Students receive credit for fulfilling minimum requirements. Plagiarism or academic dishonesty may lead to total loss of credit. Credit may be reduced due to unsatisfactory attendance (missing more than one class is unsatisfactory — Saturday meetings count as two classes), missed or late papers, failure to submit a transcript self-evaluation during evaluation week, or work that does not meet minimum college-level standards. • The evaluation process is a central feature of education at Evergreen that allows students to learn by reflecting on their experiences. Students are required to submit transcript self-evaluations and faculty evaluations in order to receive credit for the program. Credit will be issued only after both these evaluations, as well as a full portfolio, has been turned in. Evaluations and portfolio are due on the last day of class. If not turned in by this date, a “no credit” will be issued to the student. The student may petition to have the “no credit” changed if the portfolio is turned in within one week following the last class date. • Credit is not the same as a positive evaluation. It is possible to receive credit yet receive a poor evaluation.
[edit] Fall Schedule
[edit] Week 1
Activities
Monday: Introductions and Survey
Tuesday 9/30: Reading workshop. Read Critical Reasoning pgs. 8-12 in class.
Wednesday 10/01: Concept Workshop and seminar on Carr Chapter I and The Human Condition “Prologue”
Assignments
For Tuesday 9/30: If you have access to it, bring a book that is important to you, that changed your thinking. If you don't have a copy of the book, be ready with the title, author, and a brief description. Read The Human Condition "Prologue" and Critical Reasoning Ch. 2 pgs. 1-7
For Wednesday 10/01: Read What is History?, Chapter I and write seminar response on Carr.
[edit] Week 2
Position: While The Odyssey does not appear to focus on work in the modern sense, we maintain that Odysseus, Penelope and Telemachus do have work, and that it is the same work — to reclaim their home — but each must do that work differently.
Activities
Monday 10/06: Lecture: Stephen—The Odyssey in Historical Context. Seminar: The Odyssey through Bk 6
Tuesday 10/07: Working with: Style: “Clarity” pgs 17-33 and Critical Reasoning Ch. 2
Wednesday 10/08: Lecture: Susan on TheThe Odyssey as a piece of literature. Seminar: The Odyssey to conclusion.
Assignments
For Monday 10/06: Read The Odyssey through Bk. 6 and write seminar response paper on those chapters.
For Tuesday 10/07: Read Style-“Clarity” pgs. 17-33 (don’t worry about the exercises yet). Read Critical Reasoning, Chapter 2.
For Wednesday 10/08: Read The Odyssey to conclusion and write seminar response paper.
[edit] Week 3
Position: The account of work in Genesis—as punishment—resonates better for us than does the account of work in The Odyssey, because the vita acticva is significantly degraded for us, as Arendt argues in The Human Condition.
Activities
Monday 10/13: Lecture: Bible as Literature. Seminar: Genesis through Chapter 11.
Tuesday 10/14: Working with Style-“Clarity” pgs. 34-43 and Critical Reasoning Chapter 3 to pg. 53.
Wednesday 10/15: Lecture, Arendt and the Human Condition, conceptual workshop and seminar on The Human Condition, Chapter I.
Assignments
For Monday 10/13. Read Genesis, through Chapter 11. Write seminar response paper.
For Tuesday 10/14. Turn in Critical Reasoning homework: Exercise 2.3, #2a-2f. (In addition, rewrite any three in standard argument form.) Read Style-“Clarity” pgs. 34-43 and Critical Reasoning Chapter 3 to pg. 53.
For Wednesday 10/5 Read The Human Condition Chapter I and write seminar response paper.
[edit] Week 4
Position: The world we inhabit is not the world that the ancients inhabited, because changes in society have intervened; historical changes mean changes in the actual and felt lives of individuals as well as the world that they share.
Activities
Monday 10/20: Lecture on Arendt on the Public, the Private and the Social. Workshop on The Human Condition, Chapter II.
Tuesday 10/21: Working with Style “Cohesion” pgs. 45-57 and Critical Reasoning Ch. 3 to end of chapter.
Wednesday 10/22: Historical thinking workshop and Seminar: What is History? Chapter 2.
Assignments For Monday 10/20. Read The Human Condition, Chapter II and write seminar response paper.
For Tuesday 10/21. Do Critical Reasoning homework, set 3.1, #2, e-i, m, and n (p. 57). Read Style “Cohesion” pgs. 45-57 and Critical Reasoning Ch. 3 to end of chapter.
For Wednesday 10/22. Read What is History? Chapter 2 and write seminar response paper.
[edit] Week 5
Position: Aristotle’s view of an excellent human life contains a conception of society and of work such that, by its very nature, it was conceptually impossible that all Athenians could attain such a life; by extension, it is conceptually impossible for all Americans (or all members of any contemporary society) to attain such a life.
Activities
Monday 10/27: Lecture: Aristotle and the Classical Greeks. Handouts: Chart of the Virtues and Vices and Some Questions about Aristotle. Seminar: Nicomachean Ethics through Book III, Chapter 5.
Tuesday 10/28: Working with Style, “Cohesion” pgs. 58-65 and Critical Reasoning Chapter 3 to end.
Wednesday 10/29: Workshop on Aristotle; Seminar: Nicomachean Ethics Book III, Chapter 6 through Book IV; Book V, chapter 6; Book VI, chapters 1-6. (TBA).
Assignments
For Monday 10/27: The Nicomachean Ethics Book I (all), Book II (all), Book III (chapters 1-5) and write seminar response paper.
For Tuesday 10/28: Turn in Critical Reasoning homework: Exercise 3.3, #1a and 1b. Read Style, “Cohesion” pgs. 58-65 and review Critical Reasoning Chapter 3 to end.
For Wednesday 10/29: Read The Nicomachean Ethics Book III (chapter 6 through end), Book IV (all), Book V (chapter 6), Book VI (chapters 1-6). Write seminar response paper.
[edit] Week 6
Position: The Tao te Ching embodies a conception of human excellence that emphasizes not-doing, humility, and submission to nature; nevertheless, it presupposes the centrality of work to a full human life.
Activities
Monday 11/03: Mid-Quarter Reflection, workshop on translation and work in class with the Tao te Ching.
Terms from the Mid-Qtr Review Tuesday 11/04: Lecture: Stephen on Taoist thought. Seminar: Tao te Ching, Chapters 1-38.
Wednesday 11/05: Critical Reasoning work with Aristotle and the Tao te Ching, using Examples; Critical Reasoning Chapter 4 to p. 93.
Assignments
For Monday 11/03: Finish and turn in your Integrative Essay.
For Tuesday 11/04: Read Style “Emphasis” pg. 67-79 and Critical Reasoning Chapter 4 to p. 93.
For Wednesday 11/05: Read Tao te Ching, Chapters 1-38. Write seminar response paper.
[edit] Week 7
Position: Job’s work is essentially contemplative and not active, yet the outcome of his contemplative task has significant implications for the vita activa.
Activities
Monday 11/10: Lecture: Susan on the Book of Job. Book of Job LectureSeminar: The Book of Job.
Tuesday 11/11: Working with Style, “Coherence” pgs 81-87 and Critical Reasoning Chapter 4 to end.
Wednesday 11/12: Lecture: Stephen on Marcus Aurelius: Historical and Philosophical Context. Seminar The Meditations through Bk IV.
Assignments
For Monday 11/10: Read the Book of Job and write a seminar response paper.
For Tuesday 11/11: Read Style, “Coherence” pgs 81-87 and Critical Reasoning Chapter 4 to end.
For Wednesday 11/12: Read The Meditations through Bk IV. Write seminar response paper.
[edit] Week 8
Position: Aurelius presents a study in contrasts between his outward work as Emperor and his inward work in The Meditations; in Aurelius the tension between the vita activa and the vita contemplative reveals that even one’s solitary work is grounded in one’s social context.
Activities
Monday 11/17: Workshop on The Meditations. Seminar: The Meditations to conclusion.
Tuesday 11/18: Working with Style “Coherence” pgs. 87-95 and Critical Reasoning review chapters 1-4.
Wednesday 11/19: Lecture: Susan on Robinson Crusoe and mercantilism. Video—James Burke on early capitalism.
Assignments:
For Monday 11/17: Read The Meditations to conclusion and write seminar paper on one of the themes mentioned at the end of last Wednesday's lecture.
For Tuesday 11/18: Read Style “Coherence” pgs. 87-95 and Critical Reasoning review chapters 1-4.
For Wednesday 11/19: begin reading Robinson Crusoe.
THANKSGIVING WEEK, 11/24 through 11/28 –NO CLASS
[edit] Week 9
Position: With Robinson Crusoe as with Genesis 3 we are on familiar ground, but for a different reason; Robinson Crusoe embodies, among others, the myth of individual success through individual work, without the need of social support.
Activities
Monday 12/01: Lecture: Stephen on Possessive Individualism. Seminar on Robinson Crusoe, first half.
Tuesday 12/02: Self-evaluation workshop. Quiz—Critical Reasoning and Style.
Wednesday 12/03: Lecture: Susan on the rise of the novel. Seminar: Robinson Crusoeto conclusion.
Assignments
For Monday 12/01: Read Robinson Crusoe,first half. Write seminar response paper.
For Tuesday 12/02: Review notes for quiz.
For Wednesday 12/03: Read Robinson Crusoe to conclusion. Write seminar response paper.
Note well: Integrative essays are due Friday of Week 9, so you can either bring your essay on Wednesday, December 3, or you can e-mail it (as MS Word doc) to your seminar faculty on Friday, December 5.
[edit] Week 10
Position—Phew!! We’re almost to the end of the quarter. Good work.
Activities
Monday 12/08: Seminar: The Human Condition Chapter III, section 11 and Chapter IV sections 18 and 19.
Tuesday: Don’t panic, we’ve having an exam.
Wednesday: Potluck and program reflection.
Assignments
For Monday 12/08: Read The Human Condition Chapter III, section 11 and Chapter IV sections 18 and 19. Write seminar response paper.
For Tuesday 12/09: Review your notes, seminar papers, integrative essays for the exam.
For Wednesday 12/10: Bring fabulous food for the potluck, and good thinking for the reflection.
Evaluation Week—December 15-19: Conferences
Have a wonderful break—and we’ll see you all (we hope) January 5.