Final Exam

The Final Exam in Social Studies will begin 12:50pm Wednesday June 9. It will be a 50 question multiple choice exam drawn from my version of "cultural literacy in the social studies".

Please examine the source facts (around 209), hyperlinked for your benefit by M. Bateson, that will be translated into the 50 questions.

The exam is mandatory. If you are otherwise passing the class;

passing the exam will add a few points to your semester grade.

failing the exam will not affect your grade.

If you are otherwise failing the course;

passing the exam will lift your semester/quarter grade to a 65.

failing the exam will result in a 55 for the semester/quarter.

XC - Quarter 4 - Babies

As a follow up to our parenting mini-unit - please watch Babies, playing now at a theater near you. In 3-5 paragraphs total answer 2 of the following questions:

1. Did one culture, shown in the film, have a better way of parenting than the others?

2. How did each family prepare the child to take its "place" in their society? Did communication, cuddling, supervision, discipline line up to "mold" the kid for that society? Or do you think that a kid from one society would have been able to transfer successfully/easily at age 1 to one of the others?

3. What looked universal - common to all humans - from the film - at least as edited? Why is this universality significant?

4. Your own question.

Due Friday, June 4, 11pm, equivalent of 1 assignment.

YOU THE MAN - XC - 4th Quarter

For extra credit please address two or three of the following questions in a page or more of analysis (all combined). Try to be specific, precise, and sharp - don't fall into movie-critic mode.

1.

What did the performance suggest might be the underlying dynamics that lead to domestic violence? What are some dynamics that might support/allow domestic violence, as shown in the performance?

2.

According to a World Health Organization study rates of domestic violence vary widely in different countries.

Is the personal story related in the performance something you can translate to a political approach? If so, please write a strategy - in a series of 3-10 steps - to change our culture so that domestic violence becomes extremely rare. If not, please explain why not, and discuss the value of the play apart from sparking social change.

3.

Address another aspect of the performance and/or discussion that you'd like to explore or analyze.

4. Was this experience of watching the performance and discussing it afterwards valuable enough to be repeated next year? Why or why not?

Due Friday, May 28, 5pm.

HW 58 - Parenting 102

Part 3: Interviews

Please include some quotes and perspectives from guest speakers, from perspectives presented in class (including of course the perspectives of other students), and from your own interviews with your parent/guardian and/or the parent/guardian of your parent/guardian. Again - we're not looking for "The View" type gossip or self-exposure - but for thoughtful insights and figuring stuff out.

Please write two paragraphs summarizing and analyzing these sources.

Part 4:

Please write two paragraphs evaluating and synthesizing your insights from this mini-unit on parenting, as an ultra short but powerful paper on parenting, that stands alone from the other paragraphs. Your focus should be on insights you've thought of that are helpful for you in making sense of your own experience of being parented and/or insights that you think might be helpful for you as a parent.

Due Monday the 24th of May 8:30am.

HW 57 - Parenting 101

Part 1: Your initial thoughts

• How should kids be parented?
• What should be the social arrangements? An extended family, nuclear family, a village, corporate day care?
• What should be the guiding principles? Love? Obedience? Loving obedience? Humor? Empowerment? Subordination? Time outs? Separate cribs or co-sleeping? Breast feeding or bottle? Child-centered or parent-centered? etc.
• What were the best parts of how you were parented (since the worst parts don't really belong in a public class blog)?
• How do you think you'd parent if you're put in that position?
• Do you think babies should be treated more like adults or like puppies?
• Do you think parenting will "come naturally" or do you think you'll have to research multiple perspectives and come up with a (possibly evolving) model in collaboration with other family members? Did your family read books about how to parent you or do informal research such as talking to other family members?

Write 2-3 paragraphs about your thoughts in response to a few of the questions above.

Part 2: First research

When Parenting Theories Backfire
Lesson Plan from Developmental Psychology course
Attachment parenting
Continuum Concept
Ferber Method

other stuff you find

Check out the links above and write another two paragraphs responding to two or more of the texts.

Due Wednesday, May 19th 8:30am.

HW 56 - Interviews & Survey Question

Informal Research Continued -

1. Please type up 3-6 questions for interviews with other folks to illuminate your chosen research question.

2. Do the interviews (at least 3) and record the results on your blog.

3. Please add an additional paragraph analyzing the responses in terms of your own research question.

4. Write a very careful and precise SINGLE survey question that can be added to the second collective student survey.

Due Monday May 17, 8:30am.

5/10/10 in 101

Hope everyone enjoyed the funny weather this weekend.

HW 54 -
Pt 1: Take this Myers-Briggs test (or a similar one) and analyze the usefulness of the results in 1-2 paragraphs. If you enjoy the process consider taking this "Big Five" test too.

It'd be interesting if you posted your results but don't feel that you need to. Please write down the categorization the test(s) offers on a piece of paper (or phone) you will have in class on Tuesday.

Pt 2: Please add an additional paragraph addressing insights on interpersonal relationships related to this test. Ideally this would address your evaluation of the reliability and usefulness of the test - as demonstrated in experiments in class and your own guesses about another's Myers-Briggs score. You should also consider the implications of people having measurably different personalities in terms of our relationships - whether "appreciate difference" or "maximize compatibility" are the conclusions you draw.

Due Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at 9pm.

My results can be found here for both tests. Please check someone else's that you know fairly well - that will help you evaluate the reliability of the test(s).

HW 55 -
Pt 1: Please post your independent research question/topic.

Your research should be based in one of the four domains of relationships we plotted in class - family, friends, frequent interactions, and mediated relations. You should further focus the question to enable you to do a precise, sharp, and interesting independent research paper. For instance - "why do people divorce?" is not that good, "what are the primary causes of divorce?" is somewhat better, and "is marriage counseling an effective remedy, in most cases, for the primary causes of divorce, and if so, how?" is quite a bit better. Your question should be clearly answerable using social sciences evidence and intelligent analysis - not serve as merely a launching pad for spacy speculation.

Pt 2: Next please visit your old triangle partners' blogs (or two other students who will reciprocate) and offer them feedback on the sharpness and clarity of their independent research questions. If they have a question that you consider vague or overwhelmingly broad please suggest an alternate formulation in their comment section (copy and paste to your own blog).

Pt 3: Post your possibly revised question and conduct internet research, creating an annotated bibliography of 4 or more credible and possibly helpful sources online. The annotated bibliography should cite the sources in MLA format and offer a paragraph that combines very succinct summary and very succinct evaluation of usability of the source.

Due Wednesday, May 12, 8pm.

PS - For more information and examples you can see other students' questions collected here.

HW 53 - Survey Analysis

Part 1:
This survey was made using questions contributed anonymously by you and your classmates. All answers are anonymous. You don't have to answer anything, but it would be helpful if you would take the survey. It includes almost a hundred questions (sorry - there were a lot of great questions that I had to sort through) so you will need to budget time. Use your time in 101 for this only if you're already done with HW 52 and you don't mind risking a little privacy (it'd be better to do it where no one can look over your shoulder).

Part 2:
Please create and share insights on the process of taking the survey. How did it feel to take it? Were there any questions that made you stop and think? Without necessarily listing those questions - what were some of the commonalities between the questions that made you think or feel deeply? If you decided not to take it, what was that like? If you don't want to talk about why you didn't take it, do an alternate assignment - such as research divorce rates among families, "face time" with parent(s)/guardian(s), etc.

Part 3:
When the results are posted (Wednesday at 8:30am) please analyze the results. (Hint: Password is the correctly spelled uncapitalized last name of the mostly bald guy who used to stand at the door when you came back from lunch). What were some of the particularly interesting scores? Do you notice any patterns? Were there any big surprises? Do you feel like you are similar to most of the students who answered the survey? What do you think accounts for the differences?

Part 4:

Please compare our informal and quick survey results to the report of the results of a professionally done teen survey such as this one or this one, or a reputable report you find yourself. What was a similarity? A difference? What does the experience of comparing show you about researching complex issues?

All four parts due Sunday May 9 by 8:30am.

HW 52 - Initial Theories of Human Relationships

Your assignment, a ridiculously impossible one, includes sketching out your best insights and theories into why and how humans do what we do - in all forms of relationships.

Not just your theories of human motivation (what we're trying to do and why) but also your theories of love, your family theories, your theories of friendship, power, social structures, roles, nations, ethnicities, genders, and every other aspect of humanity. Please also extend your thoughts in the direction of ethics, of how we should live, of the meaning and value of human life, how we should act with other people.

You can pose questions too - not just simple lists of simple questions - but questions that you think could offer insight if complexly worked with. Elaborate what the question asks and states and assumes.

Look, on the one hand this assignment could define "overwhelming". But on the other hand, we all act in the human world, we all deal with each other every day. So you've already had to evolve these theories in order to navigate your world. This assignment merely asks you to write down some of those theories that you already live by.

5-12 paragraphs due Monday, May 3 @ 9pm.

101 Today

Assignments 49 and 50 should already be completed. If they are not, they should be your first priority.

Assignment 51 should be your second priority, as it is due Tuesday.

Please complete this survey when you've finished the above assignments.

If your progress report lists your grade as a 55 you will be eligible to take the 3rd quarter final in class today. It will begin 15 minutes into class and you will have 10 minutes to complete it.

Try not to waste your time in 101. Good luck!

HW 49, 50, 51 & Notes on Finishing School Unit

As we finish this school unit I hope for the following experiences for you -

1. HW - 49 - A 4-6 paragraph analysis of your section's class savior/teacher film. This will be due Friday, April 23 at 9pm. Please address:

a. your personal contribution

b. your analysis of the message and tone of your section's film

c. contrast the film with the savior/teacher films we watched clips of

d. theorize (explore thoughtfully and powerfully) the connection between salvation and education/schooling in our culture

If your section didn't successfully complete a film you could choose to use this film to compare/contrast.

2. HW - 50 - Your response to a set of readings and final interviews on schooling. Please read the following and write a one paragraph summary and a one paragraph response to each separate text or author (depending on your skills read all or some of the texts - making sure you read at least one from each author):
Gatto - Against School, 6 Lessons, Teacher of the Year Acceptance Speech
Freire - Second Chapter of Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Critique of Banking Model) - strong readers should read the whole chapter and weaker readers or the time-crunched should read the first 14 paragraphs - up to and including the paragraph about "the humanist, revolutionary educator".

Delpit - Silenced Dialogue, Interview with N. Stanley, Other Peoples' Children (24-34 on the pdf viewer)

SOF Educator - Interview done inside or outside of class - Fanning, Manley, Copeland, Ms. D, and Andy, etc.

This will be due Monday, April 26 at 8:30am - it will include the above text responses and the results of an educator interview.

To clarify - you will publish on Monday a paragraph of summary and a paragraph of analysis of at least one text or interview from Freire, Gatto, Delpit, and an SOF educator (Ms. D, Fanning, Andy, Cope, Manley, etc). This means you will write at least 8 paragraphs total for this assignment.

3. HW - 51 - A 3-5 page paper, drawing on your independent research, interviews, class materials, etc on a particular topic of interest to you related to schooling. This will be due Tuesday, April 27 at 9pm.

If you don't yet have a topic please consider the following - linked to what we've studied this unit:

1. School as salvation - what can schools realistically do to address the systematic problems of inequality, anti-intellectualism, and meaninglessness in our society? (Savior Teacher Films, Obama speech, Sizer, Freire, Hirsch, Delpit, interviews, own thoughts)

2. School as domination - How do schools train us to be sheep, to be dull, to be dumb, to be absurd? Is it possible/preferable to escape, to transform, or to understand the institution? (Dead Poets Society, Freire, Sizer, Delpit, interviews, own thoughts)

The quarter quiz will be offered (a bit late) Monday, April 26. All questions will relate to school unit material found or linked to from two blogs - mine and Andy L's.

HW 48 - Treatment for Savior/Teacher Movie

Please write a 3-20 paragraph treatment for your section's film involving a savior/teacher.

What is a treatment for a film? A treatment is a simple telling of the story of a film in present tense - with each scene presented clearly but without dialogue or camera angles (which will be added later in a script version of the treatment).

For instance the treatment for Avatar might include;

INTERIOR - 8pm
Jake Sully, a former Marine who lost the use of his legs while helping the US suppress a revolution in South America, speaks to two white-coated scientists. They put him in a MRI type machine that scans him on a molecular level. They tell him he is a perfect match for his dead twin brother and offer him the opportunity to replace his brother on a trip to another planet. Jake is somewhat overwhelmed by his feelings of grief for his brother and the abruptness of the voyage to another world, but feels he has little to lose. His decision is emphatic when the scientists inform him that his salary will suffice to buy treatments necessary to end his paraplegia.

Other advice on how to write a treatment can be found here.

Feel free to combine your ideas with others - from their blogs or class discussion. I'm excited to read the stories you want to tell about school, using the genre of the savior/teacher as a framework to share your insights and messages.

Due Tuesday, April 13 at 8:30am.