You also choose one book to read in its entirety. Please as a group arrange things so that each book is read by at least two people. The books have different styles, but each will be essential background for the course, and, more importantly, your development as an educator.
As you read, you'll find it *essential* to take notes; this is is because you'll want to summarize chapters to others in class, maybe weeks later.
2) (Short) Essays.
You have two short bits of writing to do, one for the day before the first day of teaching seminar, and one for the first day after the (very long) fourth of July break. The point of this is that analyzing and reflecting upon your goals and experiences is *key* to your progress as an a educator. You will upload these to Dropbox (expect email invitations to join from Alex shortly):
This assignment is due on or before June 21, the day before the first class meeting.
A good paper will analyze a course in terms of from one to three of the most central ideas from the book, supported with specific details, both objective and subjective (your experience as a student is highly relevant). You do not have to agree with the book in order to write an analysis from its perspective, but you do have to engage seriously with it. For one possible example, one of the important ideas in Zull's book is the learning cycle. If you are analyzing a course from the perspective of this idea, you could start by identifying the ways in which the course did or did not lead you as a student to move through all parts of the learning cycle, go on to talk about how this should have (according to Zull's model) affected your learning, and conclude by talking about whether your experience agrees with this model, and why or why not.
Keep in mind that you are being asked to analyze this course, not to rate it. Your analysis may well include your judgment, as a student, of the effectiveness of various course elements. However, Marcia doesn't ever want to read another sentence like "Duckworth would approve of this course."
This assignment is due before class on July 6.