WRT120 F2019 Prof Randall Cream
Megan Kidd and Sam Pawluczyk
Praise: I like the quotes you choose to support your ideas and thesis.
Constructive: Your thesis needs to be stronger and include general education instead of listing arts, ethics, etc. It also is negative, try to include how it is beneficial.
Percy: I feel like your quotes from Percy go well with the ideas.
John Camperson
praise – your thesis is good! i like how you talk about how students should be utilizing their time. you are off to a good start.
constructive – I think that you should talk more about places students can go to get work done and also talk about ways that students can learn outside of the classroom
Percy – I think your quotes fit well, but you should talk about Percy more in your thesis.
Julia- Terrific start!
1 praise- I like what you say in your thesis: “There are other classes to take that open up students ideas giving them more knowledge and challenges to complete.” This is helpful to keep in mind, especially when we don’t prefer a class- looking to see what we can learn from it is a good practice to establish. It is also helpful to see how seemingly unrelated topics/classes actually do relate.
1 constructive- your first sub-point can be a little tricky to practically implement. I would make sure to give strong supporting ideas and application to go with that point.
Percy quote- The quotes are great! I think they go well with the two points you have.
Grady, This is a really good start. Your thesis is engaging and draws the reader in. I would have liked to see the two sub-points clearly defined in this proposal. I can see how your first quote compliments your thesis, the second quote might be a stretch. If you use the second quote, make your supporting arguments reinforce the main idea of the quote.
Maddie Barker
Criticism: I would make your thesis a little stronger but it is a good idea.
Percy: This quote from Percy is a great one to use for your ideas. I think you can use this for strong support for your thesis. This is a great use of Percy.
Praise: I like how you explain which classes can help with different aspects for things other than your major.
Laura McGroary
Percy: You have a good use of Percy in your thesis. It shows you will be connecting your ideas to his
Constructive: Be a little more clear on what they experience when they arrive.
Praise: I like this quote and I think it will be good to use to support your ideas.
Jake Drap, Tyler Evans, Cristian Galilea
Praise: I think your thesis has a lot of good ideas and plenty of room to branch off of and write a powerful and persuasive paper.
Constructive: However I believe that if you included Percy’s ideas or just compare him to support your ideas in your thesis then it will be a lot more powerful and you will get your points across better.
Percy: I think the quotes that you do have support your thesis and i believe Percy would agree with your thesis.
Sabrina Lindley
Praise: I think your topic proposal is very well written and hits all the major supporting points that you are aiming to hit in your thesis statement.
Percy: You use Percy’s writing well to your advantage to support your ideas as well.
Constructive: However I think your quotes could be stronger to truly support the powerful fix on the situation you already have.
Amanda Jiang and Leah Schreffler
1 praise: Your thesis is well thought out and your ideas so far will greatly support your topic. I think if the learning process at WCU was altered to your suggestions, then it would help students learn more effectively. While it may be a bit more challenging and not let students “get by” as easily, it will ultimately enhance their comprehension and critical thinking skills in the long run.
1 constructive: Maybe try elaborating more on how classroom interaction will allow students to become more involved. Will this be something that the professor has to initiate, or will it solely be based off student to student discussion?
Use of Percy: I think the two quotes you picked out will greatly strengthen your essay, especially Percy’s idea on the “educational package”. This will be good to explain Percy’s view on the education system and how it relates to/supports your ideas for altering the teaching practices at WCU.
Haley Myers
1 praise: I think your intro is well-worded and that you have some solid ideas to support your thesis. I especially think your idea to promote field trips and studying abroad as a way of learning outside the classroom would be very beneficial to students, and you used Freire and Percy’s ideas to support it well.
1 constructive: Maybe try to incorporate Percy and his ideas in your intro/thesis to show how it will relate to your ideas. (ex. the idea that Percy thinks learning is most effective when students willingly go out on their own to learn and get the true experience).
Use of Percy: I think the quotes you chose will greatly support your essay. This quote, “Our complex friend stands behind his fellow tourists at the Bright Angel Lodge and sees the canyon through them and their predicament, their picture taking and busy disregard. In a sense, he exploits his fellow tourists; he stands on their shoulders to see the canyon” will especially support Percy’s idea that when people go to experience things for themselves for the first time, they are too busy taking pictures and capturing the moment instead of really soaking in and appreciating the experience they’re having.
Topic 1:
Thesis Statement: Throughout school we have many classes that are not needed for our degree but taking courses that are different from your major will help enforce students to engage in their academic life to really think about what they want and if the field they picked was right for them.
Subpoint:
Sub-point 1: With taking many classes that may be necessary for your major will only help the students learn what they are interested in and not interested in.
Sub-point 2: Having such a broad horizon of classes will give students and appreciation for every class and major that they might of thought differently about.
Quote:
Quote 1: “Their hope has something to do with their own role as tourists in a foreign country and the way in which they conceive this role.” (Percy Page 2)
Quote 2: “To put it bluntly: A student who has the desire to get at a dogfish or a Shakespeare sonnet may have the greatest difficulty in salvaging the creature itself from the educational package in which it is presented.” (Percy Page 4)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WR-2BEX0Bcnzl2e4yXujwnLg2FyA32mLumqrixF78kE/edit?usp=sharing
Topic 2: Learning outside the classroom.
Team: myself
Thesis: The typical course load for a college student is five courses, which equates to about 12.5 to 14 hours a week spent in the actual classroom. Clearly, this leaves students with much more time on their hands outside of the classroom versus in the classroom. It is on the students to keep up with their academics and studying when they are not in the classroom, but not all students can hold themselves accountable to maintain good study habits. For this reason, it is important for students to exhibit learning outside of the classroom in order to further their educational experience at WCU. Through the use of tutoring, the opportunity to study abroad, career shadowing/internships, and discussion/study groups, students are set up for success to learn effectively outside of the classroom.
Sub-points:
1. Tutoring
2. Studying abroad
3. Career exploration/shadowing (perhaps for underclassmen) & internships (upperclassmen)
4. Discussion/study groups
Quotes:
“A young Falkland Islander walking along a beach and spying a dead dogfish and going to work on it with his jackknife has, in a fashion wholly unprovided in modern educational theory, a great advantage over the Scarsdale high-school pupil who finds the dogfish on his laboratory desk” (Percy 4, ❡ 1).
“Does this mean that we should get rid of museums? No, but it means that the sightseer should be prepared to enter into a struggle to recover a sight from a museum” (Percy 6, ❡ 4).
Topic: 1- Education Beyond the Major
Team: Emily Strassner
Working Thesis: Education beyond a student’s chosen major is critical to their personal development. Enrolling in courses unrelated to one’s major results in the bettering of a student as an individual and a problem solver.
Supporting Ideas & Quotes:
“The highest role of the educator is the maieutic role of Socrates: to help the student come to himself not as a consumer of experience but as a sovereign individual,” (Percy 6). Percy supports the idea that teachers are meant to not only teach students academic information, but also to teach them to become independent. Teachers are not meant to distribute information, they are rather meant to assist students in discovering the material for themselves.
“I propose that English poetry and biology should be taught as usual, but that at irregular intervals, poetry students should find dogfishes on their desks and biology students should find Shakespeare sonnets on their dissection boards,” (Percy 6). Percy agrees with the focus of students’ on their intended major, but believes that much can be learned from thinking outside of the box. By providing students’ with knowledge unrelated to their major, problem solving and critical thinking is enforced.
Topic 4: Teaching without teaching
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N2u3m8ZxS9idrz3P3sWMxDigU6lUTWCXXH8h3raWTUg/edit?usp=sharing
The higher education system that is in place is a very ineffective way to get students to truly learn and immerse themselves in the course content. Most teachers use powerpoint and just regurgitate information to their students in order to get things done more efficiently. However, this is hurting student in the long run. In order for students to learn, teachers must supply students with the materials for students to learn either independently or with a group. Students must take their education into their own hands and learn from experience and discovery instead of being spoon-fed information.
Freire:
“Knowledge emerges only through invention and re- invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.”
“From the outset, her efforts must coincide with those of the students to engage in critical thinking and the quest for mutual humanization. His efforts must be imbued with a profound trust in people and their creative power. To achieve this, they must be partners of the students in their relations with them.”
“…no one teaches another, nor is anyone self-taught.”
Percy:
“…the caste of layman-expert is not the fault of the expert. It is due altogether to the eager surrender of sovereignty by the layman so that he may take up the role not of the person but of the consumer.”
“A reader may surrender sovereignty over that which has been written about, just as a consumer may surrender sovereignty over a thing which has been theorized about. The consumer is content to receive an experience just as it has been presented to him by theorists and planners.”
Team Jason Riberio and David Heffron
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j1L4DENX_Fl0MmtePP6AR8XYaMdg1Ob9ecbXimHNpd4/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13d_VrkST1_8VmrfFOheCbjrxUYxJ3knc7tXxcDSPreU/edit
Topic 1
Education beyond the major. You’re getting a degree in something, but mostly you’re not: majors have between 40 and 60 credits within the field, leaving most of the degree spent elsewhere. How does education beyond the major work for students who are focused on (x) but taking (y)? Identify the problem and then use the work of Percy (and Freire as desired) to assert (at least) four ways in which education beyond the major supports significant, necessary learning at WCU. Each of your ideas must be supported by critical ideas from the work of Percy.
Topic Selection: 1- Education beyond the major
Team Selection: Abbey Johnson, Isabella DeSario, Nick Nolan
Working Thesis: When working to get a degree in college it is important to focus on courses that are directly related to one’s field of study, while also getting a well rounded education and opening one’s eyes to a variety of experiences and fields.
Sub Points:
Supporting Ideas:
