Ben Davis                                                                                                                       Ann Miller

103D Galileo, x8048                                                                                              Galileo 207A, x8634

Office Hours:                                                                                                              Office Hours:

T 9:10-11:20, W 2-3                                                                                              W 11:30-1:00, F 9:10-10:10

and by appt.                                                                                                                  and by appt.

bdavis@stmarys-ca.edu                                                                                       amiller@stmarys-ca.edu

http://galileo.stmarys-ca.edu/bdavis/                                                                                                                                 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                             

Greek Thought

 

Seminar 120-02, Fall 2005

10:20-11:20  MWF, Dante 222

 

                  Last year we turned our eyes to Greece, home of the Olympics, to watch the worldÕs athletes compete.  We saw the old venues and games take on new life with their involvement.  In this seminar we again will turn our attention to Greece, this time to the intellectual greats such as Homer, Plato, and Aristotle.  We hope to find them equally engaging to our modern sensibilities.  This course has several objectives.  Students should improve their skills in reading critically, voicing their opinions and developing and honing their arguments through discussion, and writing thoughtful essays on literary works.  Students should use the texts, conversations, and essays to reflect on the human condition and the attendant moral and philosophical questions.  Ideally, the course will inspire students to want to read more Ògreat worksÓ for their own pleasure and edification and to discuss important ideas and topics with their peers. 

 

GRADING POLICY

 

100--98 A(+)    89--88  B+         79--78  C+         69--68  D+         59--0  F

 97--93  A           87--83  B             77--73  C             67--63  D

 92--90  A-         82--80  B-          72--70  C-           62--60  D-

 

                  The reader has grading guidelines for oral participation and the seminar grading rubric for papers. 

 

50% Classroom Discussion

 

                  Collegiate Seminar strives to help students achieve certain learning outcomes:  the ability to voice pertinent questions raised by the text, to formulate and express their points of view confidently and clearly, to defend their interpretations with logical reasoning, to listen to and respect others' viewpoints, and to acquire an enriched understanding of the texts through collaborative inquiry.  Accordingly, you will be graded on your contribution to the discussion:  your ideas and their pertinence to the texts under examination, your ability to listen to others and respond to their observations, your willingness to facilitate conversation by drawing others into it rather than dominating it.  You can expect to lead discussion with another student at least once during the semester.  We will also continue the conversation outside class and online.  You will need to contribute "commentary" to the Blackboard website--an answer to an interpretive question, a response to anotherÕs commentary, a comment on something that intrigued/confused/ outraged you, etc.--each week by Thursday at 4 pm.  A guide to using Blackboard may be found by clicking here.

 

                  Since half of your grade depends upon your participation in the class discussion, attendance and preparation are critical.  Consult the course calendar for the schedule of readings.  There is no adequate way to "make up" missed classes.  If for some reason you will not be able to attend a class, please try to let one of us know.  Each absence beyond the permissible three will knock two points off your final grade, but more than six unexcused absences may result in automatic failure.  Repeated lateness will also count toward absences. You will be expected to attend at least two events of the Informal Curriculum series pertaining to our seminar. 

 

                   Our reading goals are inextricably bound with and critical to our discussion and writing goals.  As students progress through the Seminar Program, they should become increasingly sophisticated in their ability to read and understand complex ideas in challenging texts from different genres and time periods, and to analyze texts by drawing inferences, making connections, and discovering underlying principles. Since familiarity with the texts is vital to our seminar, we will give occasional quizzes to make sure that students are reading carefully and understanding the material.   We will also require that once a week you turn in at least three typed interpretive questions based upon the reading assignment for that day.  You may choose which day to turn in questions.  Also keep a vocabulary list.  We will find ways to reward you for learning challenging words.  Your quizzes, online commentaries, and interpretive questions will make up the remaining 15% of the grade.

 

                  The "final," our last meeting, will follow the same format as regular class.  In it we will finish discussing our reading and hopefully will have a chance to wrap up the class.

 

 

50% Writing

 

                  We shall also analyze our texts in writing.  Our goals are to use writing as an exploratory tool and to express ideas effectively in a manner that is clear, coherent, intellectually engaging, well developed, and correct; students should be able to explicate their own interpretations of the readings with sustained, organized arguments and proper reference to the text.   You are strongly encouraged to take advantage of all available writing resources including instructor office hours, feedback from fellow students, and the Writing Center Workshop open every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday 4:30-6 pm and Tuesday from 5:30-7 pm in Garaventa 320.

 

Three essays will constitute the course's formal writing and will count for 50% of your grade.  A 2 page diagnostic essay will give you a sense of our expectations.  Deadlines for earlier stages in the writing process should encourage you to rethink and revise essays prior to their final due date, and thus later revisions should not be necessary.  If you do choose to rewrite a paper, it must be a major reworking of that same paper; we will not accept mere cosmetic improvements.  Your overall grade for that paper will be the average of the two drafts.  Unexcused late papers will be docked a third of a grade (ie., A=>A-) for each class day beyond the deadline.  You must turn in any previous drafts with evidence of revision along with every essay you turn in.  

 

Anyone with disabilities should contact the Academic Support Center located in Sichel 105 as soon as possible so that appropriate accommodations can be made.