Outline: Writing Curriculum for Class of Sophomores

[This was an assignment I did for a teaching of writing class.  I had to come up with an outline of a curriculum for an imaginary class of sophomores (10th grade)]
Google: drive, docs, pub

Outline: Class of Sophomores

Start of class with a semi-formal writing assignment so I could gage their abilities: as individuals and as a class.  (What I did this summer?  Well, maybe something a little more creative).

Obviously, the course outline would be adjusted based on how I assessed these first writings, but for the purpose of this assignment:

I would structure no creative writing part into the course, but instead encourage students to be creative in all their writings.

The most important part of writing is, of course, purpose and audience, so this is what I would stress during the first few weeks.  This would be taught at first by example, as students read different selections, and then respond to those selections and try and determine the author’s purpose and audience.  The students will be writing in this period, although their writings will primarily be these responses.  Near the end of this period, the students will be given hypothetical situations, and will work on writing their own works with purpose and voice in mind.

The focus of the course will change slightly after this, and students will assume for most of the assignments that their audience is either the teacher or the class, and not as many hypothetical situations will be played with.  The new focus will be formal papers, with the initial emphasis on having the student understand the structure, and then, once this is mastered, have the students work on style and making the papers creative and fun with-in a formal setting.

I imagine at this point we are halfway through the semester.  The second half will be spent initially fine tuning the above.  The students could do a research paper, something that would be big deal, a long project, perhaps even in conjunction with another discipline to import some content in the course.

At this point, I imagine the students are getting sick of papers, so for the last part of the year, the course will focus on mopping up loose ends.  Students would learn how to write business letters, argumentative papers, and stuff like that.  If students are getting burnt out, frequent creative writing assignments can be interspersed.

Open Church

[This is a flier that I made for Open Church.  The flier attempts to explain everything about the idea for Open Church.  For more about Open Church, see here.]

Google: drive, docs, pub

Open Church: Because Church is more than listening to sermons

Do you ever feel that church has become a passive activity for you?  Do you drive to church, listen to the sermon, and then drive off?  Is Church where you sit down, shut up, and listen to some old guy tell you how to live your life?  Than Open Church is for you.  Open Church allows you to take an active role in the church, instead of just sitting by the sidelines.

Sunday Morning:   (10:30 A.M.)  Have you ever thought to yourself, “The time I spend talking and getting to know people after the service is probably the most valuable part of the whole service.  Why does the church treat this as if it is the least important part?”  Welcome than to Open Church, where fellowship is put as one of the top priorities.  The Sunday morning portion of this church is nothing more than hanging out with other Christians.  That’s right, just hanging out.  Instead of sitting next to people, you interact with other Christians, and work to develop a Church family that actually knows each other.

Sunday Evening:  (6:30 P.M.)  This is a time for bible study.  Instead of listening to what someone else thinks about the Bible, read it together with a group and than tell us what you think.  I hope that this focus on application of the Bible to our lives instead of debating the finer points of theology, but I will bend to majority will.  This is also a time for prayer and worship.

Location:  Do you ever feel like your offering every Sunday is going to pay the salaries of ministers and the upkeep of the Church building, instead of going to the needy?  One of the great advantages of Open Church is that it has no building to keep up or staff to pay, so you can give your tithe directly to the poor.  As a consequence of this, there is no fixed location where Open Church meets, it varies every week.  Weather permitting we will meet outside.  (In case you ever thought it was ridiculous that you spent all Sunday morning in a man-made structure instead of enjoying God’s creation).  Never be afraid to call me if you want to know where the church is meeting on a given week.  (If you leave a name and number, I will call you back).  Otherwise, you can request to be e-mailed weekly about what the church is doing.

Structure:  Open church has no hierarchy.  There is no one in charge of the church.  (I am the contact person, but I have no authority).  There are no elders or ministers, just ordinary people who run the church.  Everyone has equal say.

Accountability:  I think accountability partners are also a cool idea, and a way to support each other.  This is encouraged by Open Church.

Service:  I think ideally Open Church would be very involved in serving the poor.  However, I am not going to bite off anything until the Church at least gets off the ground.  If you have any ideas about ways in which we can serve the poor, please let me know.

Questions, Comments, Suggestions:  Call me at 954-4133

9th Grade History Test

[This is a test I made up for 9th grade history students during my student teaching days.]

Google: drive, docs, pub

I.  Match each historical figure to the country that he or she is from.

Use the following symbols

France: A

England: B

Holy Roman Empire: C

1.  Otto I ____

2.  Frederick Barbarossa _____

3.  Alfred the Great_____

4.  Richard I _____

5.  Phillip II ______

6.  Joan of Arc ______

II.  Short Answer

7.  This man, also known as “the Hammer”, defeated the Muslims at the battle of Tours in 732.

8.  This man is the grandson of the man mentioned in question 7, and he conquered a huge empire.

9.  This is the tittle given to the Bishop in Rome, who is the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

10.  What is the term that the Roman Catholic Church gave to noteworthy Christians who had supposedly performed miracles or died a martyr’s death?  (Hint:  Patrick was one, so was Valentine).

11.  What is the name of the Pope who exercised intense authority over both the Church and State?

12.  This was a powerful Germanic tribe, who established many independent kingdoms in Gaul.  They are the ancestors of the French.

13.  This man was known as the “duke of Normandy” and “the Conqueror”.  He was a French duke who believed the throne of England was rightfully his, and so he conquered England in 1066.

14.  This was the system of government prevalent in Western Europe from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries.  The name comes from the word for land grants, known as fiefs, or in Latin feudum.

15.  Name the three kings who took part in the King’s Crusade.

16.  What was the name of the landholding nobles who exercised governing power over those who were in their land?

17.  This 19-year-old girl led France to several victories against England.  She was later captured by the English and burned.

18.  These people were bound to the land on which they were born.  They were not free to leave.  They belonged to whoever owned the land, however unlike slaves they could not be bought or sold.

19.  What is the name for the warriors of the Middle ages?

20.  King John of England was forced to sign this document, which limited how much power the King had.

21.  This terrible disease swept through Europe, killing somewhere between one fourth and one half of the population.

22.  What was the name of the war fought between France and England that lasted for over one hundred years?

23.  Merchants and craftsmen in growing towns banded together to protect their common commercial interests.  They formed organizations whose primary function was to regulate the business activity of a given town.  What were these organizations called?

24.  Christian Kingdoms fought to drive the Muslims out of the Iberian Peninsula (the land where Spain and Portugal are today).  What was this known as?

25.  What year was this completed?

26.  Voltaire once made some observations about a certain country.  He said it was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.  What country was he talking about?

III.  Essays

1.  What where the causes of the Crusades?

2.  What were the results of the Crusades?

Extra Credit

1.  What was the name of the King during which Robin Hood’s adventures supposedly took place?

2.  Who translated the Bible into Latin?  (His translation was called the Latin Vulgate).

3.  What happened to those who joined the Children’s Crusade?

4.  What was the Great Schism?

5.  Who was Hugh Capet?

Richard II by William Shakespeare Reflections

Reflection paper 1: drive, docs, pub

After having read Henry IV part one in British Literature, and then Henry IV part two on my own, I began Richard II with great interest in light of that.  It was interesting to see how many of the same characters were presented here (for the first time presumably) to Shakespeare’s audience.

I do not know if anyone has done this before or not, but I think it would be a neat idea to make a movie out of all four episodes of the tetralogy.  Filmmakers could get decent actors, and have things very well done.  The actors would of course stay the same from movie to movie.  There are not many characters who would last all the way through all four plays, but there are a couple.  (For instance, The Shakespeare A-Z book informs me that Aumerle appears in Henry V as the Duke of York.  Maybe this is the only one, I don’t know).

The big problem is that of all these plays, I think Richard II would be the most boring.  I mean in terms of mass appeal, I think the other three could do pretty well on there own, but how would you get people back to the movie theater after having seen Richard II.  It is a somewhat confusing play, and there is no comic relief, nor tense action.

There are a couple scenes, which I think lend themselves to filming.  The first of these is Richard’s death scene.  It almost seems like it was written for a movie.  You could really keep the audience on the edge of their seats.  Richard kills two of the men in an exciting sword duel, almost escapes but just when you think he’s safe Exton stabs him in the back.  Plus, the line “Go thou, and fill another room in hell”, is equal with any tough one liner Sylvester Stallone or Bruce Willis could say today.

The second scene, which I think would lend itself well to filming, is the dual between Bolingbroke and Mowbray at the beginning.  My only worry would be that the audience, after what would be a confusing first scene if it were presented with out footnotes, would have no idea what the duel was about.  At any rate though, the film could have dramatic music, and it could cut back and forth between Bolingbroke and Mowbray, each looking like they couldn’t wait to cut each other to pieces, as all the preliminary stuff was being said.  Throughout this whole scene shots of Richard are also being interspersed, and the audience can see him sweating and looking nervous and fidgeting, until he can not stand it any longer and he yells out to stop the duel.

The third scene, which I think would be filmed very well, would be the scene in which The Duke of York is pleading against Aumerle, and the Duchess and Aumerle are pleading for Aumerle’s life.  Again, it could be very dramatic, with everyone pleading and being very emotional and shouting.  The camera would have lots of quick shots, and it would not be clear until the end whether Aumerle would be pardoned or not.

Reflection Paper 2: drive, docs, pub

The character of the queen is an interesting one in Richard II.  The Queen is portrayed as someone, in spite of what might be thought of as a powerful position, who has no power.

The scene in the garden is interesting, because that shows how little the queen actually knows.  The queen is a character who, one would think, would have a pretty good idea of what was happening.  However, the queen is left to obtain information from the gardener.  There is a lot of irony that the gardeners know more about politics than the queen.

Another scene, which portrays the powerlessness of the queen, is the emotional scene in which she is parted from Richard.  The queen’s pleading goes unheeded, and though Shakespeare shows the emotion well, the queen ultimately makes no impact on any of the rest of the characters.

Another woman who is portrayed in a powerless manner is the Duchess of Gloucester.  Although her husband was killed, she is powerless to avenge him, and must plead with John of Gaunt to do so instead.  When John of Gaunt refuses to, she is left with no recourse.

The character of the Duchess of York is in some ways different.  She is able to make a difference.  Although, if King Henry had decided not to listen to her, she would have been powerless as well.  She is powerless to stop her husband, the Duke of York, from going to accuse Aumerle.  She is also powerless over what Aumerle does, although it is on her advice that Aumerle pleads for his life before his father gets to Henry, thus ultimately saving his own life.  

History from a Christian Perspective

google: drive, docs, pub

Joel Swagman

History 359

Miller

December 11, 2000

History from a Christian Perspective

Even forty years after prayer was taken out of public schools, religion in secular schools remains a controversial topic.  In fact, it seems that every year this issue is in the news.  Therefore, as a new history teacher, it is important for me to describe how I will teach history from a Christian perspective in the public schools.

Of course, it is important for one to have a good way of teaching from a Christian perspective whether in the private or public schools.  However, since at this point I envision myself as teaching in the public schools, this essay will be written from that point of view.

I think most Christians approach teaching in public schools from a similar perspective.  They agree that it is wrong to openly advocate one religion over another.  This advocating position is referred to by J.E. Schwartz as the Advocate/Evangelist Role (Schwartz 299).  Most Christians would like to more subtly influence the public schools.

However I have come to discover that the issues are more complex than this.  For instance, although I have spent my whole life in the Christian schools, I have in the last year or so come to doubt their value.  After all, I believe God has called us to be part of the world, and to influence it.  How will Christians influence society, and spread Christian values, if we keep ourselves locked away in our own schools?  For this reason, I would like to teach in the public schools.

Of course, I would not openly advocate Christianity in a public school.  Rather I would teach from a Christian perspective.  But what does it mean to teach from a Christian perspective in a public school?  Here lies the crux of the problem.  I consider myself committed to the ideal of public education open to all regardless of religious background.  This means I would be violating my own ideals if I were to teach from a perspective that holds some values which are not universally accepted.  The solution is to teach history from a purely objective viewpoint.

For this reason, I find myself leaning towards the role of Agent for Enculturation, described by Schwartz (Schwartz 297).  This is someone who teaches history from an objective, secularist standpoint.  The person would let the love of Christ shine through him or her though, and in this way be a witness to the students.  Schwartz portrays the Agent for Enculturation in a somewhat negative light.  (The very name has a negative ring to it, as if this is someone who has traded his or her Christianity for Earthly beliefs.)  In fact, this position is in contradiction to the very reason I stated earlier for wanting to join the public schools.  This is a contradiction I will have to leave for now, because I have not yet resolved this.

I do like some elements of the Golden Rule Truth-Seeker, presented by Schwartz (Schwartz 302).  I like the idea of giving students all sorts of different perspectives on a given idea or event, and letting the students make up their own mind.  However, is this teaching from a Christian perspective?  Schwartz might argue it is, but this seems to me something any responsible teacher, atheist, Muslim, agnostic, Hindu, Christian or et cetera, can and should do.  Perhaps this method of teaching would more aptly fit under the Agent for Enculturation.

Schwartz defends his ideal teacher, the Golden-Rule Truth Seeker, by saying that complete neutrality is impossible (Schwartz 304).  Granted, but does this mean one throws neutrality to the wind?  I believe neutrality is something that should be strived for by public school teachers, even though it can never be fully attainted.

Therefore, I find myself at the position of Agent for Enculturation, although I am not completely sure about this.  I am torn between the ideal of public education, and the question of how far one should go to accommodate society.  This will consequently make this paper difficult to complete.  After all how does one describe ways in which one will teach from a Christian perspective, if one can not decide whether or not one should teach from a Christian perspective in a public school.  Nevertheless, this dilemma will not go away for me, so I must proceed.

When people talk about religion in the public schools, science is the discipline that is the first target.  I think history is a close second.  History is the story of how different religions have originated, have spread, and how these different religions have interacted with each other.  In some curriculums, the history teacher is even responsible for describing what these different religions believe.  This is especially true at smaller schools, like the one I student taught at, where the history teacher is the social studies department.

This is a sensitive subject, as Paul Boyer alludes to when he talks about Christians upset at the lack of Christianity mentioned in history.  Boyer mentions that many Christians think the disappearance of Christianity in the history textbooks is a secular humanist conspiracy.  Boyer believes that many of these same Christians themselves are responsible for driving Christianity out of the textbooks, because they instinctively recoil whenever Christianity is put on an objective plain with other religions (Boyer 203-204).

Even if I were not a religious person, it would seem to me that religion has been a huge part of history.  To ignore it would be to do my students an injustice.  However, great care must be taken to present all religions objectively, especially religions that are not mainstream (id est, all religions other than Christianity).  In this instance, the best thing to do seems to teach from an objective standpoint, and to take great pains not to teach other religions from a “Christian Perspective”.  However, Jesus said, “Do unto others as you would like to have done unto you,” and I believe that by showing respect for other religions we are fulfilling his mandate.  So, in an interesting paradox, by not teaching other religions from a Christian perspective, in a sense I am teaching from a Christian perspective.

I believe part of Christianity is also a desire for social justice.  History can create that desire both through uplifting and depressing stories.  History is full of people who voluntarily gave up a privileged life to fight against injustices they saw.  These stories can be used to try to motivate students to fight the injustices of their age.  Conversely, history is full of stories about how one group was treated unfairly by another group.  These stories can be used to arouse the sense of injustice among the students, and again motivate them to fight against injustices that they see happening.

Here again, this is not evidence of a uniquely Christian perspective.  One would be hard pressed to find a person who did not hate social injustice, no matter what their worldview is.  However, this is an example of using the public school to spread Christian values.

However, there are several problems with characterizing history as a battle between the good-guys and the bad guys.  One problem is that things are not always so black and white.  There are several ways this could be shown as well.  World War I is an excellent example.  A history teacher could show the students how enthusiastically people signed up for this war, and how silly it seems in retrospect.  The lesson that the students would hopefully draw is to know what their cause is, and not to get swept away in the moment.  Maybe the students would also learn that the majority is not always right.  (Perhaps it would also be useful to bring up Eugene Debs and the opposition to World War I).

Another danger is that students might think that the winner is always right.  As we have seen from Peter Marshall, this sometimes takes a religious slant, but can be problematic even when viewed from a secular standpoint.  Certainly, a Christian believes that good does not always triumph, and there is much biblical basis for this.  The sorrows of Job, or the stoning of Stephen are but two of many examples where good men suffered through no fault of their own.

Since we are the result of history, it is often tempting to think that those who produced our culture were always in the right.  However, this is both flawed theological, and objectively.  Therefore, I must emphasize as a history teacher how the wrong people ended up winning many times.  This will help my students to put an enlightened face on history, and also help to teach them that they must fight hard for the causes they believe in, because being right is not always enough.

Bibliography

Boyer, Paul.  The History Teacher.  1996.

Marshall, Peter.  The Light and the Glory.  1977.

Schwartz, J.E.  Christian Scholar’s Review.

My Worldview

Google: drive, docs, pub

Joel Swagman

Education 304

Joldersma

April 28, 1999

Assignment 3

My worldview is very important to the way I teach my classes.  One of the most important elements in my worldview is the idea that God is in control.  God has ultimate control over everyone’s destinies.  Since I also believe in a benevolent God, I believe he is working towards the good of people.  Furthermore, I believe that Freedom is important for human beings.  God created us as free creatures, and we should create institutions that allow for as much freedom as possible.

I believe in my teaching that I should give students as much freedom as possible.  I should try and encourage independent thought as much as possible, and try and create situations where students are free to make their own decisions.  I would also not try and enforce my religious views on students, but try and create a possible role model for them, so that they might be curious about what makes me tick, and possibly decide to emulate me.

As a Christian, I believe that God has worked through history, and can be revealed through history.  I realize that many areas of history are embarrassing for Christians, because history does not always reveal what we like it too.  I also realize that history can be problematic for Christians, as we must explore questions such as: Why did God allow the holocaust to happen?  I believe these connections do not always have to be made directly for the student, but that the student will see both how God is revealed in history, and the problems of history for a Christian, by him or her self.  However, I can facilitate these by perhaps focusing on events that will cause the student to do this reflecting.  Students will individually come up with different explanations as to why historical events occurred, and what was the driving force behind them.  This can be brought out more hopefully by class discussion.  The students can then see how others explained these events, and make their own decisions.

Palmer's Insight

Google: drive, docs, pub

Joel Swagman

March 8, 1999

Journal 5

Education 304 C

Palmer’s Insight

Palmer has many different insights in his book.  I most encouraging his assertion that even after years of teaching, veteran teachers still have fear and still produce unsatisfactory lessons from time to time.  However, what I find most insightful on his part is the assertion that students have to see a teacher as a person.

From my own experience in High School, I can think of teachers who were notorious for being strict, yet had students frequently act up in their class.  I can also think of teachers who were famous for being lax, and who had little discipline.  As a High School student, I quickly concluded that authority breeds rebellion, and the more a teacher tries to tighten his or her grip on a class, the more problematic that class becomes.  However, looking back I remember strict teachers who had no discipline problem, and not so strict teachers who were walked over by the class.  Perhaps a large part of it has to do with other factors, such as how well the teacher can entertain the class, or how successful the teacher’s activities are at occupying the class.  I think a large part of it though, perhaps most of it, is how well the class saw the teacher as a person.

The teacher’s who were successful knew how to interact with the class.  They would share personal stories, and invite the class to do the same.  They would talk to students outside of class, find out what the student’s interests were and talk to the students about these interests.  They would often talk to the students as equals, in class as well as outside of class.  Even though nobody was deceived as to who had the classroom authority, the teacher would not let that stand it the way of interacting with students on a personal basis.  They would often show the students that they had a sense of humor, and appreciate student responses.

By contrast, teachers who had many discipline problems would exhibit none of these characteristics.  They would not talk to the class about anything except the subject at hand.  They seemed as if they never knew anything besides fractions and multiplication, or whatever the subject was.  It was difficult, almost impossible, to imagine that they had once been young, or that they had friends outside of the workplace.

Media Definitions

[I came across Unreliable Sources: A guide to Detecting Bias in the News Media when researching my paper on the Sandinistas in Christian Periodicals.
In their book, the authors have a list of frequently used terms in the media, and their interpretation of what these terms actual mean.
I thought this was quite good, and I thought it would fit with an event we were doing at Media Mouse.
So I took the trouble of typing them all out onto a word processing document.
The memory is a bit foggy on the details, but we at  Media Mouse were doing some sort of event about corporate control of media.  I showed these definitions to the other Media Mouse members, and they also liked them.  In the end, we got the idea to put these various definitions on cards, and posted them around the room for our event.]

Google: drive, docs, pub

Lee, Martin A and Norman Solomon.  Unreliable Sources: A guide to Detecting Bias in the News Media.  Carol Publishing Group.  New York.  1990.

Acting Presidential  A grandly nebulous description by TV news correspondents, giving a favorable review to some bit of presidential acting.

Bailout  Huge amounts of taxpayers’ money going to wealthy financiers with souring investments in industries like auto production or Savings and Loans.

Believed to be, Considered to be  Using the passive voice, the journalist can generalize at will, as though anyone knowledgeable shares the same belief.

Big Government  A pejorative for regulatory agencies limiting corporate activities, or for social service programs aiding poor and middle-class people—but not for the government’s enormous military expenditures.

Brought to you by A roundabout way of plugging commercial sponsors

Clean up  A scenario for setting right oil spills, nuclear pollution, chemical releases and the like.  The phrase sounds comforting—it implies a magical vacuum cleaner at work—except that most ecological disasters can’t be undone.

Dangerous Drugs  Illegal substances, as distinct form other damaging consumables—alcohol, cigarettes and over prescribed pharmaceuticals—also widely used.

Defense Spending  Military spending

Efficiency  Frequently shorthand for corporate management’s preferences, maybe involving layoffs, firings, wage cuts and/or union busting.

Experts  A common noun handy for promoting a favored point of view

Extremists, Fanatics, Fringe groups  Political individuals or groupings that meet with U.S. government and media disapproval.

Instability  Code for situations overseas where the U.S. State Department is unhappy with current events.

Intelligence Community  A way of making cloak-and-dagger specialists at the CIA and other spy agencies sound like friendly neighbors.

Military leader  A foreign military dictator whom the White House doesn’t mind a whole lot

Military strongman  A foreign dictator out of favor with the White House

Moderate  In domestic politics, this favorable adjective is conferred for not rocking the status-quo boat.  As a moniker for foreign regimes, “moderate” denotes little inclination to disrupt U.S. government plans.  Thus, Saudi Arabias’s monarchy is “moderate”—which would surprise the hundreds of torture victims inside Saudi prisons.

National Security  Confined to subjects like weapons, soldiers and espionage, the connotations bypass vital aspects of true national security—such as environmental protection, public health, social cohesion and a strong economy.

Observers  The observers taken most seriously by news media.

Radical Although students protesting in, say, China are “pro-democracy,” in South Korea pro-democracy students in the streets are “radical” demonstrators—with reasons behind their anti-U.S. protests rarely explained.

Reform  In journalese, “reform” can mean just about anything.  “Tax reform” during the 1980s was a euphemism for legislation that gave the wealthy major tax cuts.

Senior administration officials, Sources close to the investigation  The people putting out the line are only willing to do so anonymously—refusing to publicly answer for whether they’ve linked truth or lies.

Special Interests  This phrase used to be applied to wheeler-dealers relying on big bucks instead of grassroots supporters to sway the democratic process.  But in recent years, mass media have turned the “special interests” label upside down and plastered it elsewhere—on large numbers of people with less money and less power—groups of black and Hispanic Americans, labor union members, feminist women, seniors, lesbian and gay rights backers, and other organized constituencies.

Stability  A code word for situations overseas where the U.S. State Department wouldn’t mind if conditions stayed the same.

Terrorism  A label very selectively applied, in keeping with U.S. government definitions.  So—in the mediaspeak lexicon—bombings, assassinations, and kidnappings are “terrorism” if done by Arabs, but not if done by Israelis.

U.S. analysts, Western diplomats, etc  These phrases are broad and pliable enough to serve as springboards for the opinions of American officials and their allies, while obscuring the sources and motives behind the words.