February 28, 2008 Archives

Students sign up to present on two of the four forum dates.

See Topic 2.

If you have been keeping up with your blogging, this should only take you a few minutes to compile. If you've fallen behind, this assignment is a chance for you to catch up.

Generally, you should include all your entries, if only to demonstrate that you blogged each time I asked you to.  But some people blog more than they strictly have to, so I don't formally require everyone to include every blog entry they wrote. (You might, for instance, post an agenda item before the due date, but then post a longer, more thoughtful entry after the class discussion. I'd rather you put the more thoughtful essay in your portfolio.)

Presenters: Anchor your presentation in a deeper exploration of ideas examined in at least one essay from Writing Material that are not part of the required reading. Demonstrate your ability to use what you have learned so far to defend a non-obvious position on an issue that will teach something of value to the class. Draw the attention of the class to particular passages in WM that are not on the required reading list.

Suggestions from WM: Baron, Hirsch, Douglass, Malcolm X

A discussion of the "Medieval Era," roughly speaking, can include the fall of the Roman Empire on one end and the rise of the printing press on the other, so this topic could focus on manuscript culture, or cover the interaction of manuscript culture with oral culture, or print culture, or both.