ASSIGNMENT
Knowledge is useless if we hoard it; it is only worthwhile if we pass on what we have learned. Each student will be required to pass on what she or he has learned this semester – not just to the other students or to the instructor, but to the world at large. There are several ways of doing this – including doing a group presentation project with your classmates. Among other things, you might:
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- Create a curricular unit for elementary, middle, or high school students, and have it distributed by the School of Education.
- Hold a public teach-in about issues of hunger and homelessness.
- Organize a panel of experts to speak at a public forum — and make sure that the forum is well-attended.
- Prepare a fact-filled report about homelessness (or some aspect of homelessness) in the Redlands area..
- Present a very professional presentation to some group in the community, summarizing what you have learned. (With some exceptions you will need to arrange to have this videotaped, so I can evaluate your work.)
- Show a film about homelessness and hold an extensive post-film discussion. (Warning: it is hard to get an audience toward the end of the semester.)
- Write a long, investigative article for the Bulldog Weekly or for some other publication, and have it published. (To do this, you would have to convince the editor to allow you space for a 1500-2000 words – and then you would have to write that essay very well.) Warning: this has never worked in the past, so I don’t recommend this choice.
This list is not exhaustive! Some of these are solo activities; others would require group work. Please be creative and share your creativity with others.
USEFUL TOOLS
Here is a tool that might make your project easier. (I’ll post more as I find or create them.)
TO DOCUMENT YOUR PROJECT
Turn in your written work and your Pecha-Kucha slides on Moodle
- Turn in an Each-One-Teach-One project proposal for class on the date specified in the syllabus. I highly recommend that you attend the optional Friday workshop (see the course schedule) which will help you prepare a good project.
- Complete the project by the beginning of the last week of class, and then prepare written and oral reports for the last class day of the semester..
- The written report should be about 2000 words. Post a 500-word summary of it on the Course Blog
- This summary will be a public document, so please describe the event fairly and politely. You can give the main facts of your event: who, where, when, what, etc. Focus on what you tried to do, what you actually did, and what you learned.
- The oral report will take the form of a mini-PechaKucha presentation: 3 minutes and 20 seconds, with 10 automatically-advancing slides.
- The written report should be about 2000 words. Post a 500-word summary of it on the Course Blog
- These reports should describe your project, why you chose it, and what you hoped it would accomplish.
- You should also describe what aspects of our course material you tried to teach and why you chose those aspects to present to your particular audience.
- You should also evaluate the success or failure of your teaching effort. What worked and what did not? What unforeseen events happened? How would you do things differently, were you to do the project again?
- Figure out a way for me to review your actual project, not just your report of it!
- If your project is a presentation, arrange to have it videotaped, so that I know how it went and know enough about how you did to give you a grade.
- If your project is a syllabus, a report, or some other piece of writing, give me a copy along with your report, so I can review what you’ve done.