LS1000 - INTRODUCTION TO LIBERAL STUDIES

Syllabus - Fall 1997

Kimberly G. Burke

Course Materials
Attendance
Significant Due Dates
Evaluation
Journals
Unit I Schedule
Unit II Schedule
Unit III Schedule
Unit IV Schedule

COURSE MATERIALS

The following textbooks and packets are required for all sections and are available at the book store:
  1. A Pocket Style Manual by Diane Hacker (St. Martin's Press)
  2. Black Boy by Richard Wright (HarperCollins)
  3. Maus I by Art Speigelman (Pantheon)
  4. Tao te Ching by Lao-Tzu (HarperCollins)
  5. Walking with the Great Apes by Sy Montgomery (Houghton Mifflin)
  6. Three Theban Plays by Sophocles (Penguin)
  7. Introduction to Liberal Studies Readings (Copley)
  8. Visual Arts Packet

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POLICIES ON ATTENDANCE AND LATE ASSIGNMENTS

Since much that you will learn in this class will be the result of class exercises and discussion, it is important that you attend class regularly. Your absences will not only deprive you of what you might learn from others; other will lose the benefit of whatever you might have contributed to the class. If you miss an excessive number of classes, not only will you (and others) lose the benefit of that learning, but your grade will suffer. On the fourth absence (excused or not) you will receive a blue card warning. Further absences after that will affect your grade.

Writing assignments will not be accepted late unless arrangements have been made with me IN ADVANCE.

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SIGNIFICANT DUE DATES

Students generally find that writing papers requires some time management skills. Knowing that assignments will be due on the following dates may be a help to you as you schedule the requirements of this and your other courses:

Autobiographical Paper

Unit I- Integrative Exercise Friday, Sept. 19

Analytical Paper

Unit II - Integrative Exercise Friday, Oct. 24

Inquiry Paper

Unit III - Integrative Exercise Tuesday, Dec. 9

Writing Portfolio Tuesday, Dec. 9

Self AssessmentTuesday, Dec. 9

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EVALUATION

Your course grade will be determined on the basis of the following percentages for your assignments and activities:

Journal and Class Participation

20%

Autobiographical Paper

15%

Analytical Paper

20%

Inquiry Paper

25%

Integrative Exercises and Self-Assessment

20%

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JOURNAL

The journal is one of the most important parts of the course. In it you will practice writing in a less formal way than your papers. The journal will also help you prepare for class discussions and give you a place to test out your ideas. use your journal to respond to the different experiences we will have in this class: readings, discussions, films, plays, exercises, your writing and oral presentations and other students'. Though occasionally the journal assignments will be open (left up to you), the general practice will involve a response to the course materials. The syllabus gives specific suggestions or directions for journal entries. You may be asked to read your journal entries aloud in class. I will expect you to bring the journal to class each day and to be ready to read appropriate entries for the subject of each class.

Throughout the semester, you will need to submit your journal entry to me via e-mail. These e-mail journals are due by 8:00 a.m. on the day they are assigned. I will not accept late entries. You should keep a copy of the e-mail journal for your use in class.

I will be interested in what you say in the journal and I will particularly want to see entries long, detailed and sustained enough to develop your ideas fully. Your entries should demonstrate your commitment and responsibility to the course and its aims. Your entries should connect the course materials with ideas and experiences from other courses and from your intellectual life outside of school. And, your entries should track your own growth by coming back to earlier readings, issues or questions raised in the course or in your journal with new ideas, a new viewpoint and some further notions and reconsideration. I will be evaluating the journal in terms of your conscientiousness in keeping it and in terms of the seriousness of your engagement in writing about your experience in LS1000.

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UNIT I

WHO AM I?

In this unit we will explore notions of identity which we and others use to make sense of our experience. We will read and discuss autobiographies. And we will write our own autobiographical essays. We will learn to identify different strategies (narrative and philosophical) for organizing and representing a life and begin to explore the possibilities for applying those strategies to experiences both familiar and unfamiliar to us.

Week 1

(W) Aug. 27 Introductions, journaling, computing facilities, autobiography

(F) Aug. 30 Discussion of Guide and autobiographical papers

Week 2

(M) Sept. 1 Peer reviews groups

(T) Sept. 2 Discussion of autobiographical narrative and reflection

(W) Sept. 3 Discussion of autobiographical narrative and reflection

(F) Sept. 5 Discussion of autobiographical narrative and reflection

Week 3

(M) Sept. 8 No class today - keep working on your autobiographical papers

(T) Sept. 9 Discussion of Black Boy

(W) Sept. 10 Discussion of Maus I

(F) Sept. 12 Discussion of Maus I

Week 4

(M) Sept. 15 BRING YOUR ART PACKET TO CLASS

(T) Sept. 16 Introduction to Analytical Papers

(W) Sept. 18 Introduction to Integrative Exercises

(F) Sept. 19 Integrative Exercise for Unit I

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UNIT II

HOW DO I KNOW?

In this unit we will focus upon the nature of ambiguity and multiplicity in explanations of human experiences of the world. We will discover the meaning and relevance of subjectivity and objectivity, and we will come to understand and appreciate differences in approach and style in the knowing process.

Week 5

(M) Sept. 22 Introduction to Different Ways of Knowing

  • READ: Against the Gods Handout p. 1-22, Scientific Inference Handout p. 20-26, Walking with the Great Apes (WWGA) p. 89-106, Tao poem 25
  • E-MAIL JOURNAL: Discuss the different ways of knowing employed by each of the handouts. What do they have in common? How do they differ? Does one method allow you to "know" more than another?

(T) Sept. 23 Learning Style Inventory

  • OUTSIDE OF CLASS: Viewing of Lone Star (at Kim Burke's house)

(W) Sept. 24 Different Ways of Knowing

  • JOURNAL: Respond to the various "ways of knowing" used in Lone Star. How does this film connect with Unit I?

(F) Sept. 26 No class

  • DUE: First Draft of Analytical Paper

Week 6

(M) Sept. 29 Writing Workshop - Analytical Papers

  • RETURNED: First Draft of Analytical Essay

(T) Sept. 30 BRING YOUR ART PACKET TO CLASS

  • JOURNAL: Compare and contrast two of the landscapes from the Art Packet, thinking especially about the artists' approaches to representing nature. What do you see? What do you think these two artists' purposes were in making these images? What sort of relationship is set up between the artist and the landscape in each case? Think carefully about the formal characteristics of the art works and not just your personal responses: brushwork, composition, color, light. BE SURE TO READ CAREFULLY THE NOTES CONTAINED IN THE ART PACKET ON WAYS TO ANALYZE ART.

(W) Oct. 1 Discussion of ways of knowing

  • READ: Plato and Shah (Reader, pp. 34-40, 41)
  • JOURNAL: Retell the story of the cave in a modern setting, or draw/build the cave

(F) Oct. 3 Something Different

Week 7

(M) Oct. 6 Discussion of observation skills

  • READ: WWGA (pp.69-88) and Tinbergen (Reader, pp. 61-71)
  • JOURNAL: As you read, keep track of what Louis Leaky hopes to learn by assigning studies of primates, what the qualities are that he looks for in those whom he supports, and the contrast between Leaky's ideas of observation and Tinbergen's. Comment on these items and your responses to them.

(T) Oct. 7 Observation - narrative and quantitative methodologies

  • READ: Walking with the Great Apes (pp. 135-153; 164-183)
  • JOURNAL: Record your understandings of Dian Fossey's and Birute Galdikas' study methods. Which is more scientific? Which is more useful? Do we know what we wanted to know? How do we proceed?

(W) Oct. 8 Active Experimentation

  • READ: Loftus article, Assumptions of Science (Reader pp. 111-112), Scientific Inference Handout from Sept. 22.
  • E-MAIL JOURNAL: How does this "way of knowing" differ from the observational methods we have discussed? Do we "know" more one way than another? Are we more certain of what we "know" if we use one method than another?
  • DUE: Second Draft of Analytical Paper

(F) Oct. 10 Active Experimentation - in class exercise

Week 8

(M) Oct. 13 Observation and experimentation continued

  • RETURNED: Analytical Paper

(T) Oct. 14 Writing workshop - Introduction to inquiry papers

  • READ: Promenade Handout

(W) Oct. 15 Research skills - Library skills

(F) Oct. 17 Contemplative Ways of Knowing

  • READ: Tao Poems 1-25, read 25 first.
  • JOURNAL: What seems to be the essence of these poems. Choose three poems you find especially difficult to explore their meaning more fully. Keep writing and speculating, noting every thing that occurs in the poems and the thoughts you have associated with them
  • DUE: Optional draft of analytical paper

Week 9

(M,T) Oct. 20-21 FALL BREAK - No Class

(W) Oct. 22 Contemplative Ways of Knowing

  • READ: Tao Poems 26-50
  • DUE: Final draft of analytical paper

(F) Oct. 24 Integrative Exercise for Unit II

  • DUE: Preview of Inquiry Paper (this paper should address the following questions: What interests you about this topic? What do you hope to learn? How do you expect to learn it? Why is this a topic on which you are willing to spend half of the term?

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UNIT III

HOW DO I ACT RESPONSIBLY?

In this unit we will explore the range of values that inform specific choices and judgements in our loves and those of others. Thus, we will learn to interpret and explain the values underlying our own moral choices as well as those distinctly different from ourselves. Finally, we will be able to imagine the consequences of specific values in unfamiliar situations or arenas beyond the ken of our own life experience.

Week 10

(M) Oct. 27 Introduction to Unit III and Antigone

(T) Oct. 28 Responsible behavior - Heinz Dilemma

(W) Oct. 29 Discussion of Antigone

(F) Oct. 31 Discussion of Antigone

Week 11

(M) Nov. 3 Writing Workshop - inquiry paper

(T) Nov. 4 Discussion of Antigone

(W) Nov. 5 Discussion of Civil Disobedience

(F) Nov. 7 Discussion of authority and confrontation

Week 12

(M) Nov. 10 One issue for consideration

(T) Nov. 11 One issue for consideration

(W) Nov. 12 BRING YOUR ART PACKET TO CLASS

(F) Nov. 14 Friday Forum

Week 13

(M) Nov. 17 Unit III Film Clips

(T) Nov. 18 No class today

(W) Nov. 19 Discussion of Romero

(F) Nov. 21 Follow -up discussion of issues

Week 14

(M) Nov. 24 Reflection on Unit III and Introduction to Oral Presentations

(T) Nov. 25 Integrative Exercise - Unit III

(W) Nov. 26 No Class

THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

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UNIT IV

WHERE AM I NOW?

In the final unit of this course, students will share the findings of their inquiry projects with their peers in a formal presentation, explaining both the questions with which they began, the methods of their search for answers, and finally, what discoveries that search led them to. And, as a final project, students will undertake a self-assessment of their progress as writers, readers and critical thinkers over the period of the course, demonstrating in this assessment a clear understanding of their strengths and weaknesses in each area.

Week 15

(M) Dec. 1 Oral Presentations

(T) Dec. 2 Oral Presentations

(W) Dec. 3 Oral Presentations

(F) Dec. 5 Oral Presentations

Week 16

(M) Dec. 8 Evaluation and discussion of the course

(T) Dec. 9 Last day of class


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This page was primarily designed to communicate with my students. Please send any comments or suggestions to burkekg@okra.millsaps.com. Last revised July 1997.