tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post4366629329064880904..comments2024-03-15T01:11:32.832-07:00Comments on Bardiac: Reorganizing the Seminar?Bardiachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-66062488218641214512016-01-08T19:47:10.078-08:002016-01-08T19:47:10.078-08:00This is a good question. I'm leading a very sm...This is a good question. I'm leading a very small senior seminar this term. Only one student really has the subject background (Stuart British history), so I'm trying to get them to identify their general skills and analytic insights honed in other history courses. Each session I'm trying to weave in period-specific context they can then link to those general skills. For instance, in our next meeting, as part of the lead-up to their essay proposal, I'll introduce them to EEBO as an example of a key primary source site and share a list of topic inspirations drawn from a survey of scholarship in the last ten years.Janicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14093558563358431804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-21708299497662305602016-01-05T10:48:56.224-08:002016-01-05T10:48:56.224-08:00I build a much larger list of subject material (in...I build a much larger list of subject material (in your case, plays etc. I would guess), then in the first 2 weeks we assemble the syllabus collectively. Also, if students want to do their final project on material we have discussed in class, they have to bring new material, either critical or comparative, as part of the project, and I require them to credit their fellow students (or me...) for any insights they got in class discussion that they use in their final project. In a sense, they have to do more work if they pick material we discussed in class than if they pick something else.richardnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-54346361331882640432016-01-05T10:37:14.919-08:002016-01-05T10:37:14.919-08:00I'm interested in what you decide to do, so do...I'm interested in what you decide to do, so do share! Fie upon this quiet life!https://www.blogger.com/profile/12047096700049201873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-8841022168338438592016-01-05T10:36:04.717-08:002016-01-05T10:36:04.717-08:00When I want to have them work on a research projec...When I want to have them work on a research project all semester long, I have them choose a text that we are NOT reading in class from a small list that I've selected. (Or, in Shakespeare, just one of the plays that we're not reading, since I know those well enough to not have to reread them in order to read a student's paper.) Anyway, when students choose their own text to read, they have to be the authority on it and not rely on class interpretation to guide them. I <i>really</i> love this approach. It works so well both for me and for the students. I don't have to read 20 papers on <i>Midsummer Night's Dream</i> and the students get to have a deep experience with a play that they are interested in reading for their own experience. I do meet with them at least once in the semester to have a chat about the play and make sure they understand what the hell they just read. But other than that, they are doing much of the work on their own, using the techniques we implement in class. <br /><br />I am considering doing that with my Women Playwrights class, too, but having them pick a play by a writer that we ARE reading in class, but a different selection. So we are reading Nina Raine's <i>Tribes</i> and a student might choose to write about one of her other plays, <i>Rabbit</i> or <i>Tiger Country</i>. Hey - I think I've got an assignment there! Fie upon this quiet life!https://www.blogger.com/profile/12047096700049201873noreply@blogger.com