How do I account for my learning processes (or reading and writing processes), and what might insight into my own reading and writing processes mean for my learning to teach others?

ED/EDFE 2100.03 (Section M) Inquiries into Learning Syllabus

Fall 2018

Assignment Length: 4-5, 1200-1300 words (max) double-spaced typed, pages numbered, proofread. We will stop reading at the end of page 5. Prepare papers in 12 pt. font with standard margins using APA, MLA or Chicago citation style preferable. You may use personal pronoun but demonstrating comprehension of and facility with selected texts to make arguments is primary. On assignment cover-page or other preferred header format (not included in page/word count), please provide title, author name and standard identifying information (student #, etc.). Three points will be deducted per day for late assignments without appropriate documentation. Late papers will not be accepted after December 5.

What do questions (and asking them) have to do with learning and with learning to teach?

Worth: 30%

 

 

General Instructions:  Take-home essay assignment should undertake discussion of the broad course theme: What does it mean to place questions at the CENTRE of teaching and learning? You may approach this question through a topic of your choice or by one of the prompts below. Your discussion should include close consideration of at least two readings from course syllabus. (You may combine selections in any way relevant to your topic; scholarly, research or creative texts outside the course sylabus may be employed where relevant to the assignment). Above all, your writing should attempt to situate discussion within the parameters of THIS course: Inquires into Learning.

A key assignment expectation is to delineate how “interpretive discussion” functions to open reflection on personal histories of learning: for example, to consider beliefs, assumptions, observations, prejudices, fears and delights that inform how we (consciously and unconsciously) think about “learning”. Haroutunian-Gordon offers a specific framework for interpretive discussion practice to enhance learning opportunities, but other select course readings (or films) can be mobilized to both ground and elaborate discussion of your specific interest or critical perspective.

To this end, employ at least two specific course readings (or film or any combination) to forward your argument. Identify specific observations, concepts, examples to generate further insights about your own and others’ learning, beyond the previously familiar or expected. Through selected texts, for example, you might explore how manifest and repressed tensions or other possible challenges endemic to “learning,” “not learning” or “unlearning” are negotiated across different teacher, student or parent experiences/ expectations of schooling.

This is a short writing assignment. Announce your thesis statement or position at the beginning of your paper. Then proceed to ground arguments employing clear prose and choice (best) textual evidence and specifically relevant examples. For economic writing avoid extensive descriptions or summarization of content, characters, or themes that are extraneous to your focus. Remember we have read (or screened) course materials question so make the argument or perspective directly (and persuasively). At the same time, do not assume too much; offer textual signposts for your reader to follow.

Reminder:  No matter which topic you choose, thoughtfully selected use of two sources is essential. To keep the essay from being too vague and wide ranging make sure to devise a workable and focused thesis/argument[i] and include quoted or properly paraphrased passages which provide detailed textual evidence (i. e., depth rather than breadth). Ideally, papers should show evidence of connections, cross-references, and drawing insightful, personal or critical relationships among learning, teaching and interpretive discussion. That is, your paper should make evident something of what you’ve learned, not learned/unlearned, or desire to learn more about beyond the course.  At the same time, your writing, critical or otherwise, should demonstrate ability to think deeply, within and perhaps beyond what we have covered in this course. We have linked a wide array of materials in the Moodle for your convenience, and you may draw upon these linked materials where relevant. It is key to define a topic that engages you! (You might be surprised to learn how easily engagement is discernable in thoughtful writing.)

Paper Prompts or Topics (work with any one):

 

• What do questions (and asking them) have to do with learning, and with learning to teach?
• What approaches to and experiences with asking questions help teachers develop thoughtful, creative and responsive (or vis versa, bland, boring, uninspired, unimaginable) pedagogical practice?
• In what ways might reflection on questions and interpretive discussion in the classroom hinder or help our efforts to discern both dilemmas and the potentialities of learning otherwise?

• Where is difficulty in learning located for me; and how are my loves (and hates) of learning experienced? (And what might I learn from my own experiences that help me to work with loves and hates of learning presented by my students?)
• Why is it so much more difficult for me to ask a question than to assert an opinion as the answer?

• How do we evaluate (affirm, validate) our own or others’ efforts to imagine, resolve and learn from questions we/they define?

•  For me, what are important questions to ask about my experiences of learning (e. g. learning that worked out and that which did not), and what would it mean to reflect with others about those questions?

• How do I account for my learning processes (or reading and writing processes), and what might insight into my own reading and writing processes mean for my learning to teach others?

Assessment: Regardless of your approach or selected readings, this take-home assignment asks you write as clearly and coherently as you can about your topic and to offer considered insights. Make effective use of textual evidence (cite from the texts selected and appropriately reference; that is, employ the selected readings buttress your argument and to support cogent insight, argument, critique, conclusion or concluding questions. You are highly encouraged to use the University Writing Centre, part of the Writing Department, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies.[ii]  Make an appointment today for a consultation prior to the essay’s submission.

 

Your paper will be evaluated on the following basis:

 

1. A) Does the essay identify and explicitly work with two selected course texts?
2. B) Does the essay demonstrate your evolving thought, curiosity about learning?
3. C) Does the essay extend and deepen your thinking (as expressed by close reading, observations, arguments, questions advanced about meaning of selected texts and role of interpretive discussion in/for learning with others?
4. D) Does the writing suggest effort, coherency, writerly and grammatical craft, and interpretive engagement with text materials? (Demonstrating comprehension of and facility with selected texts to make arguments is essential.)
5. E) Does the essay offer grounded but surprising, imaginative, risky ways, to think about learning?
6. F) Does the essay pose a new and interesting question (critical or otherwise) about the relation between your reading selected texts and the broad course theme: What does it mean to place questions at the CENTRE of teaching and learning? That is, what arises for you at the end of the term in thinking about or rethinking your biography of learning; or conceptualizing or re-conceptualizing learning; or critically considering the role of questions/interpretive discussion in assuming authority or responsibility of learning for others.

[i] A thesis statement focuses your ideas into one or two sentences. It should present the topic of your paper and also make a comment about your position in relation to the topic. Your thesis statement should tell your reader what the paper is about and also help guide your writing and keep your argument focused.

http://www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/writers/tips/thesis/

[ii] The Writing Centre is an excellent resource in addition to the writing advice provided in lectures, tutorials, and through your instructor’s feedback on your assignments. The Writing Centre supports students as they develop the skills and strategies required to become effective, independent writers through one-to-one tutoring, writing workshops, elective writing courses, and more. I encourage you to get started on your assignments early. You may book appointments at the Writing Centre to work with a writing instructor on assignments at any stage in your writing process from understanding your assignment and getting started to substantive revision of drafts. Please note that the Writing Centre is not an editing service. Writing instructors will uphold your academic integrity by encouraging you to play an active role in all decisions related to your writing. The Writing Centre is located at S311 Ross. Visit their website to book an appointment.                                     

                http://writing-centre.writ.laps.yorku.ca/