Welcome to American Public School

This week we are exploring the history of American public schools. You can check out Monday's video here. I asked you to focus on the agendas and intentions of those providing or advocating public education as we have for the other education systems we have looked at this semester. Consider the importance of education for a democratic citizenry for example.

On Wednesday, we will explore the topic of Values Affirmation and do the exercise in class. You can find the Values Exercise on Moodle. Afterwards, read this article.

Friday will be reserved for Final Exam review. As in the midterm exam, you will need to be able to identify on a map the locations of the ancient schools we've visited and, in a sentence or two, describe the education system of each place and the purposes they served in their societies:

1. The Maktab & Madrasa of the Islamic World
2. The Medieval European Universities
3. The NAPOLA of Nazi Germany
4. The American Public School System

The second part of the exam will be a reflect on mission, values and engagement experiences you have had in your first semester. You can find the prompt on the class Moodle if you want to prepare your ideas in advance of the final exam.

The final exam will be held in our classroom, at 2 pm on Monday, 12/9.

If you can't find sufficient information from your class notes or linked videos, you can search for the information you need in the Wikipedia.

Welcome to the Nazi National Political Institutes of Education

Well, that was grim. Please reflect once again on the agendas of those who provide education (governments, families, communities). Whose/what agendas are at play in your education?

There will be no class meeting on Wednesday. Have a great Thanksgiving!

You have two reflections due before the end of the term: (1) write a one page reflection on your experience with the research project and conference and (2) write a one page reflection on the campus activity or event that you engaged in outside of your normal class or team life. Links to these Turnitin assignments are on the class Moodle. Due no later than Thursday, 12/12, noon.

Research Project Google Docs

MEETING TONIGHT AT 9 IN OUR CLASSROOM TO FINALIZE THE PRESENTATIONS FOR TOMORROW'S RESEARCH CONFERENCE (SJ LOUNGE AT NOON)

I have loaded your bibliography links and information into a shared Google spreadsheet. Please review the information and let me know if you find an error. If your information is missing, please check in with me ASAP. It is clear from the spreadsheet that we have three basic topics:

1. Digital Harm/Well-being NEEDS TO BE ORGANIZED INTO A SMOOTH PRESENTATION
1. Donte
2. Julie
3. Elijah xx??
4. Miwoned MOVED TO GROUP 3
5. Jason xx
6. Victor
7. Valeria NOTHING YET POSTED ON SLIDE
8. Angel
2. Online Learning THIS IS LOOKING GOOD
1. Jayleen
2. Jacky
3. Michael
4. Isai
5. Margarita xx
3. Classroom Tech NEEDS TRANSITIONS BETWEEN RELATED TOPICS
1. Ruth
2. Pamela
3. Alexis xx??
4. Miwoned (MOVED FROM GROUP 1)
4. Pending
1. Angelina

In addition, e-cheating can perhaps connect to one of the above. For class on Wednesday, please review your own sources and those of other students in your topic group. We will coordinate our research in class on Wednesday.

Research Project & Social Justice Speaker

There are two assignments due on Wednesday:

Annotated bibliography (if you don't have the prompt I handed out in class, you can download it from the Moodle). You will be looking for sources related to the topic of technology in secondary education/learning, broadly. Specific topics (and you should choose one specific topic for your bibliography) might be

• on-line classes
• tutoring apps
• ebooks
• e-note-taking
• problems of unequal access
• addiction/social isolation/physical inactivity
• web info (answers vs understanding)
• how tech changes your brain
• VR/AR
• teacher controls
• ??

 or you may choose something else that you find interesting and relevant as you are looking for sources.

In addition, please complete the assignment on "The Importance of Having a Vision" that I distributed in class. Again, if you don't have a copy of the prompt, you can download it from the Moodle. This assignment is to prepare us for the Social Justice Speaker on Wednesday, 6:00-7:30pm, in the Chapel (attendance is mandatory).

Welcome to the Maktab & Madrasa

Hope you all enjoyed your whirl-wind tour of the Maktab and Madrasa. If you didn't take good notes on where, when, and what about them, get notes from a classmate who did.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ASSIGNMENT

On Wednedsay, we will start our research project, beginning with the Annotated Bibliography assignment. You can find the handout on the Moodle. Make sure that the instructions are clear to you and bring questions to class if they are not. The Freshman Research Conference will be held on Friday, 11/15, during class time, location TBA.

NEXT WEDNESDAY, 10/30

Fall 2019 Social Justice Speaker Series, at 6:00-7:30 p.m., in the Chapel. 

Attendance is mandatory.

The Neuroscience of Learning & Upcoming Midterm Exam

In today's class, we watched a talk on the neuroscience of learning, which you can view again on your own, hopefully with better sound quality. It occurred to me, while watching the video, that we might usefully apply some of the ideas from the talk to an area of our own learning/brains. Could we do research to learn how to learn something that would make our lives better? Please give it some thought before we begin to tackle our research project after the midterm break.

The Midterm Exam:
We will review on Monday and have the exam in class on Wednesday (Tuesday for the soccer team). To prepare, review the class blog and your notes. You will need to be able to briefly define/summarize the neurosciences concepts we have explored:

1. Growth vs. Fixed Mindset;
2. The Adolescent Brain;
3. Stereotype Threat;
4. Effects of Stress;
5. Neuro-plasticity; and
6. The Neuroscience of Education.

Strong summaries will include an example of an experiment described in the article or talk.

You will also need to be able to identify on a map the locations of the ancient schools we've visited and, in a sentence or two, describe the education system of each place and the purposes they served in their societies (what was taught and why?):

1. The Eduba of Mesopotamia
2. The Imperial Examination System of China
3. Greece (Athens and Sparta) & Rome
4. The Tēlpochcalli and the Calmecac of the Aztec Empire

Call to Action Day

I hope you who got to have lunch at the Senior Center today had as good a time as I did. I'm pretty sure the seniors had a fine time. Tomorrow in class, we will reflect on the experience and make plans for the next big thing, MIDTERMS.

Here are links to the two videos we watched in class recently:  "After watching this, your brain will not be the same" (neuroplasticity) and "Txtng is killing language. JK!!!" (texting as spoken language).

Aztec Schools: The Tēlpochcalli and the Calmecac

So now you've checked out the education options of the Aztec empire (Calmecac & Telpochcalli). If you were living there then, what school would you go to, and what would you study?

If you didn't turn in your annotated article, "Picture Yourself as a Stereotypical Male," please bring it to me in class on Friday.

In Friday's class, we will prepare for our Call to Action Day adventure at Twin Pines Senior Center. We will also be exploring the topic of Neuroplasticity.

Picture Yourself as a Stereotypical Male

For Friday's class, please read carefully the article I distributed, "Picture Yourself as a Stereotypical Male," and make purposeful annotations to it. You can also find the article on-line (with explorable links to the research discussed).

Bring your written answers to the following questions:

1. What are some hypotheses as to why men outperform women in a cluster of tests related to spatial ability?
2. What did the gender-priming experiment show?
3. What is "stereotype threat"?
4. Describe four of the experiments cited in the article that demonstrated the affects of stereotype threat.
5. What does the brain do in the ventral anterior cingulate cortex?
6. What social-psychological interventions can ameliorate the achievement gap? (N.B. look up words you aren't familiar with.)

If you look for the answers to these questions as you read and annotate, the task will be easier.

Welcome to Plato's Academy and the Chinese Imperial Examination System

Last week we looked at education in Greece (Athens and Sparta) and Rome. It is funny to think of the Romans as the first to drop PE and music from the schools. On Wednesday, we will visit China to explore the history of the Imperial Examination System. Please read the article found at http://www.sacu.org/examinations.html before class.

Our class research project under way. It looks like we have narrowed down our topic to the effects of technology on our brains and on learning. This topic could also include exploring best practices for students and educators. We'll talk about how to proceed from here in class on Wednesday and Friday.

Sister Dorothy Stang, Martyr of the Amazon

We watched part of the documentary, "Witness to Justice -- Dorothy Stang," in class today. If you missed it or want to see some more of it, the link will take you to the youtube video.

One of the required texts for all sections of First Year Seminar is Rosanne Murphy's Martyr of the Amazon. The idea behind assigning the book and the series of reflections questions about Dorothy Stang to all first year students is to give our NDNU community a common reference point for our shared values and identity. 

For Monday's class, do one of the following: (1) read the book (on reserve in the library); (2) watch the whole movie; or (3) do on-line research on Dorothy Stang to get enough background to be able to answer the reflection questions. Then write at least a half page response for each of the three questions below (due in class). Your responses will form the basis of informed discussions in class. (Please use 12 point Times New Roman font, single spaced.)

Reflection Questions:  

• #1 According to Hallmark Two of a Notre Dame de Namur Learning Community, “We honor the dignity and sacredness of each person.” How do Sr. Dorothy’s words and actions suggest she lived by this simple principle? Provide and analyze two examples that stand out.

• #2 Some may argue that in her ministering to the people of the Amazon Sr. Dorothy strayed too far from the spiritual needs of the people and got too involved in the earthly politics of the region. Do you agree? Why or why not? Please explain your answer. Should a clergy person be involved in social transformation to such a degree that it involves taking sides in legal and political issues? Why or why not? Please explain your answer. 

• #3 Students often tell us that their goal in life is to be happy. What do you think is necessary to live a happy life? Did Dorothy live a happy life? What is your evidence?

Welcome to the Eduba (Sumerian School)

Today we visited Mesopotamia and explore the education system of the people who invented writing, the Sumerians. Please read up on 9 Things You May Not Know About the Ancient Sumerians before Wednesday's class.

Here is a link to a very short video from Oxford about cuneiform writing and cutting edge technology. If you are curious to know more about the Sumerian flood story, check out this video.

DUE FRIDAY:

For our research project, please find a strong on-line article related to technology and learning, make meaningful annotations to it, and submit it with a short summary in class on Friday.

Research Topic and Community Engagement

Your article topics were all interesting and remarkable diverse. One way I see to coordinate many of your interests is to look at the use and effects of technology on learning and education now and for the future. This broad topic can include

• how and why tech is used in classrooms today (best/worst practices),
• on-line courses
• accessibility (check out "How Can Virtual Reality Bring Equity to Education")
• electronic note-taking
• e-books
• usefulness for those with learning differences
• neurological changes caused by use of tech
• future power/limitations of tech
• tech addiction
• AND SO MUCH MORE

I'm sure we can massage it into something coherent and interesting and make it relate in a meaningful way to working with the Armstrong School as our community partner.

I will contact the Armstrong School about working with them and visiting the school on Call to Action Day (Tuesday, 10/8). Lunch will be provided. If you have dietary preferences, please let me know by Monday.

Finding and Sharing Good Information

As a seminar, we are working both independently and collectively. We are exploring new topics and ideas, and we are teaching and learning from each other. The next assignment does all of this explicitly.

Creating a Collaborative Bibliography
The assignment due in class on Friday has four parts:

• Find an on-line scholarly article on a topic related to learning. It can be a primary or well supported secondary article as long as it includes strong supporting evidence and good references. Opinion pieces and overly simplistic popular articles won't work. (Make sure you are not posting an article that someone else has already posted.)
• Post the link to your article in the comments on this blog post. I will review the posts as they go up and let you know if your article doesn't meet the above criteria.
• Download and do a close reading of your article with purposeful annotation. (Harvard's "Thinking Intensive Reading)
• Write a short précis (summary) and be ready to discuss it in class. On Friday, everyone will introduce his/her article to the class for discussion.
• Your annotated article and summary are to be turned in to me at the end of class on Friday.

Growth vs Fixed Mindset

What do you have a fixed mindset about? How can you promote a growth mindset in yourself and others?

Here's a link to the Ted Talk by Eduardo Briceno and the Stanford Talk by Carol Dwek, on "Developing a Growth Mindset" that we watched in class today. You might want to watch them again without classroom distractions.

On another note, Professor Pearl Bauer is having Jiwon Chung (Theatre of the Oppressed) work with her FYE section on Wednesday, September 18, 3:30-6. She has invited us to join them and needs a headcount of those interested so that she can book the right size space. Please let me know ASAP if you'd like to go.

Have an excellent long weekend!

Welcome!

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Before Wednesday's class, please read the article, "How Not to Talk to Your Kids." Use the methods described in class and in the Harvard Reading Strategies to purposefully annotate it, and then use your annotations to write a one-page summary/response to the article. Both your annotated copy of the article and your response will be due in class on Wednesday. More help and information about purposeful annotation (close reading) can be found on-line here.