Welcome to American Public School

This week we are exploring the history of American public schools. You can check out Tuesday'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.

Thursday, we will wrap up and review. Our student mentor will lead the class in a special exercise on discernment. We will also work out the details for our final exam. Breakfast will be provided.

Reminders for wrapping up the semester:

• Please check the Campus Portal to confirm that I have given you credit for all of your work and attendance. If you find an error, please let me know immediately.
• You have been sent a link to a course survey for the class. Please complete the mandatory survey so that I can submit a final grade for you.
• The final exam will be a two-part take-home exam, due in TurnItIn via the class Moodle by the end of the scheduled final exam period, Thursday, 12/13, 10:30 a.m. You may complete it any time beforehand once it's posted.

Collaborative/Cooperative Research Project

Nice work today! Out class's research outline (google doc) is still open for modification. You can update it with your sources and images and anything else you think would be helpful.

The presentation (google slides) is also ready for you to work on. Please find your slide and coordinate with your team to add images and presenter notes. Some groups may need more than one slide. DEADLINE: Wednesday (tomorrow) at 8pm.

Our presenters will be Ethan, Faith, and Paige, who will coordinate and practice before the conference, making sure that they can say all that needs to be said within the time limit.

The conference is Thursday, during our scheduled class period, in the chapel. Please come on time or even a little early.

Affirming Your Values

Our seminar won't meet today on campus, so we will explore the topic of Values Affirmation remotely and do the exercise our own. You can find the Values Exercise on Moodle. Please do the exercise in writing (takes about 15 minutes) and afterwards, read this article. Please bring the completed exercise to class on Tuesday. They will be graded P/NP.

Hope you all have a happy and relaxing Thanksgiving!

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?

On Thursday, we will finish up and polish our research project in class and be ready to present it at the Freshman Research Conference that afternoon (3:30-5:30 in 113 St Mary's). The research project outline is available as a google document. Before class on Thursday, please add your/your group's research statement to it as indicated in the document. Include links or images that you think should be included in the presentation.

Welcome to the Medieval European University

Hope you all enjoyed visiting the earliest European universities and seeing their connection to the Islamic scholarship we explored last week.

We are now moving into serious research mode. Our topic will be Dyslexia, broadly. You have already created an annotated bibliography and zeroed in on a specific research question. Some of you will be coordinating with others who have closely related research areas. For Tuesday's class, please write a clear short summary of your research findings.

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

Have a good look at the Annotated Bibliography assignment sheet I handed out today. If you were not in class, 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.

THIS THURSDAY, 10/25

Attendance is mandatory.

• We will meet in the library for class on Thursday. 

• Fall 2018 Social Justice Speaker Series, at 6 p.m., in the Chapel. 

SAVE THE DATE

Freshman Research Conference, Thursday, November 15, 3:30-5:30, location TBA.

Midterm Exam

On Thursday we will have our midterm exam. It will be a take home exam, due before midnight, through TurnItIn on the class Moodle. You may study together (recommended), but your answers should be your own (TurnItIn knows). There will be no class meeting on Thursday. Email me right away if you run into any difficulties.

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. Dyslexia. 

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:

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