Fall
2005 M/W 1:30-2:45
Dr.
Cynthia Chance M273 884-9247
Course
Description:
Required
for all first year students, this course offers students the opportunity to
confront both old and new ideas and issues in a variety of formats to analyze
their meaning and impact on a student’s life.
The
First Year Seminar provides first year students with an interdisciplinary
introduction to college level discussion, analysis and writing in a seminar
format, while providing opportunities to integrate experiential and academic
learning. The focus of this year’s First
Year Seminar is the concept of migration and transformation.
INT 115 WY1:
In this
section, we will be exploring human migration from conditions of constraint to
conditions of greater freedom and personal power. We will think about what it means to be a
member of a community in the first place and how the community affects the individual. We will consider what prompts the migration
and movement of people, what migration requires in terms of a willingness to
take on new cultural identities. Finally
we will look at the transformative power of migration in terms of the
individual’s own identity and personal power.
Course Goals:
The First Year Seminar is an
introduction to liberal learning providing students with critical thinking
skills and the foundations for civic engagement. First year students
participate in rigorous college level reading, writing and discussion, with
opportunities to integrate real world experiences into academic learning
through an interdisciplinary exploration of the concepts of migration and
transformation.
The First Year Seminar forms
the foundation for the Foundations for Leadership curriculum. As such, the First Year Seminar encompasses all of the
goals of the FLC with the exception of the specifically quantitative math
science area goals. The seminar aims to
begin the process of teaching students to write clearly, coherently,
persuasively and logically, to speak effectively and confidently, to develop
respect for and understanding of cultural, racial, and gender differences; the
concept of citizenship; and global diversity (FLC Area I). The
seminar aims to begin to teach students to read with understanding and critical
analysis, to explore modes of creative expression, and to understand the
societal forces that have shaped and continue to shape our world (FLC Area
II). The seminar aims to introduce the
examination of ethical questions and behaviors in contexts of religious and
moral knowledge and theory, especially with regard to the search for social justice
(FLC Area III). The seminar aims to
introduce the concept of scientific inquiry (FLC Area IV). The seminar attempts to introduce inquiry
concerning the societal forces that have shaped and continue to shape our world
(FLC Area V).
Course
Objectives:
Students
will improve reading, writing and communication skills through close
examination of texts, numerous short writing assignments, and frequent in-class
discussions. Students will learn to
integrate life experiences into academic learning through a community based
learning experience.
Course Requirements:
The
First Year Seminar is, above all, a serious group conversation that generates
work and growth. For this reason,
preparation for class, attendance and participation are required. Failure to complete any assignment is grounds
for failure of the course. You may not
miss class without a valid excuse. More
than three unexcused absences will be grounds for an “F” in participation,
missing more than 1/3 of the class meeting will result in failure of the
course. Your grade is based on attendance and the following requirements:
25% Community Based Learning
Portfolio
(pre-flection, reflective notes, post-flection and one poster presentation.) (FLC Area II, III,
V)
15% seminar participation (FLC Area I)
20% academic journal writing
(FLC Area
I, II, III, IV)
40% paper writing
assignments (FLC
Area I-V)
The First Year Seminar
includes a required community based learning component. Community Based Learning (CBL) allows
students to acquire experiential knowledge and to use their own real world
skills, while providing needed service to members of our community. The academic goal of your community based
learning is to allow for a shared practical learning experience that can then
be integrated into the abstract learning that goes on in the classroom. I will be helping to structure assignments
and discussions so as to enable this integration, but you will have to be
observant and thoughtful about your community based learning experiences in
order to get the most out of them. You
are not graded on your service, but on your reflections of that service and the
degree to which you successfully apply lessons learned in the community to the
abstract ideas we address in class.
Your community placement site
was carefully selected as a good place for you to think over the themes that
will arise in our coursework. Each student must complete
20 hours with our community partner and keep ongoing notes on that experience
in order to be able to complete the community based learning portfolio. Please notice that some academic journal
reflection questions also require you to integrate your work in the course with
your community based learning experience.
The
academic journal is your ongoing academic reflection on the readings before class
discussion. Academic journals should be
kept up to date and will be collected and evaluated at the discretion of the
professor. There will be short papers
throughout the semester. We will be
working, in these papers, on the fundamentals of critical writing and thinking.
Statement
of Academic Integrity:
The
honor system has been a part of the Trinity community since 1913. Under the honor system, it is assumed that
each individual is intellectually honest in her academic endeavors. The sense of trust underlying the honor
system is the glue that holds our community together. The formal articulation of the honor code
states:
“I
realize the responsibility involved in membership in the Trinity College
Community. I agree to abide by the rules
and regulations of this community. I
also affirm my intention to live according to the standards of honor, to which
lying, stealing, and cheating are opposed.
I will help others to maintain this responsibility in all matters
essential to the common good of the community.”
You
are responsible for upholding the honor code in all of your work for this
course. If any questions arise in the
course of your work concerning what counts as cheating, please contact me. I will pursue violations of the honor code
vigorously, as is my duty.
August
24: Introduction to the course.
August
29: Introduction to the Service
Learning Component
August 31: Disciplining bodies to accept
constraints: science, our sense of ourselves and social change.
excerpt
from Foucault, Discipline and Punish
Academic Journal
Reflection Question: Why are prisons effective means of punishing people?
Sept.
5: Labor Day
Sept.
7: Community Based Learning
Site Orientation
September 12: Is intercultural understanding
possible? How deep do cultural
differences run? What does “culture”
encompass?
Academic Journal Reflection Question: In what
way do people’s ideas of what they need to live depend upon cultural
training? Is freedom from constraint
important to all people?
September 14: Membership in Communities: force and
self-determination
Film: Rabbit Proof Fence
Paper 1 topic provided
September 19: Membership in
Communities: force and self-determination
Film: Rabbit Proof Fence
Academic Journal Reflection: Can force ever constrain the will of individuals? Explain.
September
21: Paper 1 Draft Due
Paper Writing Seminar
Paper 1 Due
September 28:
What is a Culture? What is a community?
Academic
Journal Reflection Question: What sorts of cultural and community affiliations
do you perceive in the people you work with in your CBL site? Explain.
Oct. 3: How are a community’s boundaries
shaped by a common moral code?
Marx: On Capitalism
Oct. 5: Paper Writing Workshop: Writing as re-writing
October
10: Columbus Day
October 12: Immigration as movement toward freedom
Paper
2 Due
.
October
17: Being defined by borders
Academic Journal Reflection Question: How are
women’s lives and identities determined by their states?
Deadline for
Completion of 10 hours of CBL
October 19: Freedom, rights and the state
Paper 3 topic provided.
Film: Whale Rider
October 26: Film: Whale Rider
Academic Journal Reflection Question: In what
way are a person’s rights dependent upon the practices of her community?
October
31: Are human beings free? What is human freedom?
Discussion of whale
rider
Paper 3 Due
November 2:
Human Freedom
Academic Journal Reflection Question: Do you think
Sartre’s account of human freedom has gone too far? Are the people you contact through CBL free?
November
7: What is freedom of the will?
November
9: Human agency as universal rationality
Paper 4 topic provided
November
14: The individual as every person: moving among cultures and identities
Academic Journal Reflection Question: What does
Maria Lugones mean by her use of the phrase
“world-traveling” in the title of her article?
Have you witnessed people at our CBL site “world-traveling?”
November
16: Transformation as becoming who you were meant to be
Academic Journal Reflection Question: What are the most significant influences on
who you are right now? Are you who you
were meant to be? Is there such a thing
as your “true self?”
November
21: Discussion: Creating our own identities
Paper 4 Due
Poster Guidelines Provided
November
23: Thanksgiving
November
28: What have we learned about migration and transformation?
Reading
to be announced.
Discussion of Posters and
Portfolios
November
30: Last Day of Class
Poster Presentations Due
Portfolios Due
Join us the week of December
5th as we present our CBL posters to the community!