Interdisciplinary Studies 101: 

Dimensions of Faith and Community

Spring 2008    Section I

11:00-12:15 TR      STJ 10

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Syllabus

Working Schedule

Journal

The Rules

Important Questions

 

 

final 8 spr08.doc

Essay 3 Assignment & Grading Rubric

Team Research Project

 

 

Essay 1 Assignment & Grading Rubric

Essay 2 Assignment

 

Midterm Pool of Questions

Social Contract Between Teacher & Student, Neusner

CBU Mission Statements

 

 

Date

Journal Questions & Assignments

1/8/08

1. Write a paragraph about the importance or meaning of the pot that the narrator of “Shadow of Turning” received from Dominic’s family.

 

2. Describe the important communities in “Shadow of Turning” and discuss the importance of each community.

1/10/08

 

1.  Put yourself in the place of one of the silent witnesses of Kitty Genovese’s murder.  Explain why you did nothing.  Really try to get to the “essence” of why a person might do nothing in this situation.

 

2.  There is usually something that you can do in an emergency.  It may not be heroic, but there may be something that you can do that would help.  In this case, what might you have done if you had been one of the witnesses?  Weigh your own safety against the plight of the victim, Kitty Genovese.  That is, what might you do without putting yourself at risk?

 

Assignment:  Read the introduction & much of Antigone.  We’ll finish the play by 1/17.

3. Compare Antigone and Ismene.  Consider strengths and weaknesses.

 

 

1/15/07

Questions to think about in reading Antigone

 

·    What does a proper burial signify?

·    What is our obligation to family?  To the gods?  To the State?

·    What is the nature of loyalty?  Limits

·    What is justice?

·    Why did Sophocles title the work Antigone rather than Creon?

 

1/17/08

  Read http://outside.away.com/outside/features/1993/1993_into_the_wild_1.html);

1.         How would you characterize McCandless?  Do you think that McCandless was suicidal? A jerk? A fool? A visionary?

2.         What perceptions of people and society generally motivated McCandless?

3.         What ideas and beliefs did McCandless share with Antigone?

 

1/22/08

   

    1. Create a chronology of pivotal events in the life of De La Salle.

    2. Discuss two or three of the events from your chronology in detail.  Include the impact that they had on De La Salle and the impact on others. 

 

1/24/08

1.  Which resource or resources covered today would be helpful in locating information to clarify or help in understanding an Academic Community, John Baptist de la Salle, Kitty Genovese, Antigone.

2.  What is the difference between various data bases?

3.  Discuss the class.  Comment on what you learned, what was new, what had you seen before, what you wish that you the class had explored, etc. 

1/29/08

 1.  Reflect (in writing) on our talk with Br. Terence.  Did it raise any new  questions?

1/31/08

 1.  Write one paragraph on how reading the story of De La Salle informs your  understanding of CBU.

 2.  How is De La Salle’s story reflected in the CBU Mission Statement.

 3.  Read the Mission Statements of the 4 Schools at CBU.  How do their styles reflect the differences in the disciplines?  Think about these differences as you

      anticipate the raft debate.

2/5/08

Preparation for discussion:

      What new perspectives about the different Schools did you learn from the raft debate?

Read Social Contract Between Teacher & Student, Neusner.

1.  What do you expect from your professors?  Your classmates? What should they expect from you?

2/7/08

Read at least the first 100 pages of Gifted Hands.  Take notes as you read for our discussion!  I’ll post some journal questions soon.

2/13/08

1.  Sonya Carson acted when the school administration placed Curtis in a vocational track.  Do you feel that you have the power to challenge the system?  Comment on constructive and destructive ways to challenge something.

 

2.  Ben Carson recalled the pain of being taunted as the dumbest kid in class.  Does he forget these feelings when he learns to respond to “capping”?  Have you ever been either the victim or the perpetrator of taunting?   Have your attitudes toward taunting changed as you matured?

 

3.  What unexpected benefits did Carson attribute to his increased level of reading?

 

4.  Carson found school to be more enjoyable when he began to understand more and was prepared.  Contrast your experiences in classes for which you are prepared and those in which you feel lost.  In what cases do you control whether you are prepared or lost?

 

5.  Why did Carson get interested in art and classical music?  Describe an experience where you were introduced to something that you didn’t think that you would like, but you later appreciated. 

 

6.  On pages 70-71, Carson describes college courses as different from his high school classes.  How do your high school and college courses or methods of instruction compare?

2/14/08

 

Read  pp. 101-144, 191-224 of Gifted Hands;

After you read see http://www.carsonscholars.org/

1.  What most impressed you about the Ben Carson story?  Describe how at least one of the lessons of the book applies to your life.

 

2.  Comment on the THINK BIG strategy for success.  With which parts do you agree?  How would you revise or expand the advice of THINK BIG?

 

Read Utopia through Book One.  Make notes as you read so that you can reference things in our discussions.

2/19/08

Utopia readings

2/21/08

If you were given the opportunity to create a perfect society, what would it be like?  What kind of government would it have?  What would be expected of the people that live there?  How would you assign responsibilities to the government and individual citizens?  How much would laws regulate individual behavior?  Would things like dress be regulated as in Utopia?  How would it solve the social ills of our current society?  Be specific in your examples.

      (minimum 300 words)   

3/13/08

1.  Reflect on Hotel Rwanda and Wani Kiri’s presentation on genocide.  What impressed you most?  Were there any phrases or scenes that particularly relate to your life? (One that struck me was when the journalist said that most who see the massacre on the nightly news will say how horrible it is and continue with their dinners.)  What should our response be to the movie?  What will our response be?

 

2.  Look up information about recent events in Rwanda and/or Sudan.

 

You haven’t had a lot of reading assigned this week because you are working on your essay!   Remember that it is due Tuesday.

3/18/08

Tuesday there will be a quiz on Integrity, Ch. 1-5 where I ask you to give short          answers to the questions in the assignment.  Integrity  Assignment 1

All answers can be found in the reading assignment.

 

 

3/25/08

After reading Chapters 8 & 9 of Integrity, answer the following in your journal.

 

1.  If you believed that there was no way to get out of a marriage, how would that affect your choice of a spouse or the decision to marry?

 

2.  When (if?) the honeymoon subsides, what challenges a marriage in our society?  How should a couple prepare for those challenges?

 

3.  Discuss what it means for a spouse to be unfaithful.

 

There will be a short answer quiz Thursday with questions taken from Ch. 8 & 9 on the linked page.

 

3/27/08

The Long Loneliness,at least  pp.15-50, 72-83, 93-109, 132-151,182-243, 285-6.
Have at least half of it read for Tuesday.  I'll put some questions up soon.

4/1/08

Investigate http://www.theworldhouse.org/.

 

1.  Find something in The World House with which you agree and with which you
disagree.  If there are issues that you passionately agree/disagree with select
those and explain why you feel as you do.  Do the communities from which
you come affect your selections?  Does your agreement and/or disagreement impact your actions?  What are you willing to DO in response.

2.  Reflect on and describe the community in the last line of The World House.  What is it?  How is it related to other communities to which you belong?  Is there an unwritten code in this community? 

 

3.  What are the important questions in life?

 

4/3/08

The Long Loneliness  pp. 132-151,182-243, 285-6.
Submit any bullet points that you would like to add for our class discussion    before Tuesday morning & I’ll distribute them (or you can e-mail them to our class).

 

1.  People belong to more than one community.   Different communities
can place conflicting demands on a person. What are some of the
communities to which Dorothy belonged where the demands
competed or conflicted?

2.  What was the Catholic Worker Movement as described in this
section of the book?

 

3.  Is going back to the land a realistic option?

4/15/08

Brooks Handout

 

 

 

 

 

IDS 101 Spring 2008

Course Calendar

 

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Week 1

 

1/7 

 

What is an education?

 

Shadow of Turning

 

Week 2

 

1/15

Kitty Genovese

 

Antigone

Essay 1 assigned

 

Week 3

 

MLK Holiday

Death of an Innocent

 

Mr. Head

Infolab in Plough Library

 

Week 4

 

1/28

Essay 1 due

Br. Terence

 

John Baptist De La Salle (cont’d)

 

Week 5

 

2/4

 

Raft debate

Spain Auditorium

 

Mission Statements; Social Contract btw Teacher & Student, Neusner

 

Week 6

 

2/11

Gifted Hands

Class dismissed early since few had prepared.

 

Gifted Hands

 

Week 7

 

2/18

 

Gifted Hands/ Utopia

 

Utopia

 

Week 8

2/25

 

Our own utopias

 

Common Midterm

 

 

Spring  Break

 

Week 9

 

3/10

  Hotel Rwanda Spain Auditorium

 

Hotel Rwanda Spain Auditorium

 

Week 10

 

3/17

Essay 2 due

Hotel Rwanda discussion

Last Day to Withdraw

Holy Thursday

Good Friday

Week 11

 

3/24     Easter Holiday

 

Integrity

Ch. 1-5

 

 

Integrity

Ch. 8-9

 

Week 12

 

3/31

The Long Loneliness, Part I

 

The World House ML King

 

Week 13

 

4/7

 

The Long Loneliness,

Parts II & III

 

Communities of artists

 

Week 14

 

4/14

Brooks Museum of Art