Writing Project 1

done! see new #4 below

Writing Project 1 asks you to build a thoughtful and analytic composition that responds to the challenge of Freire’s concept of education. Your project must respond directly to one of the prompts below.

Topics

  1. The space of education at WCU. Freire’s challenge for us to reimagine the ways in which we learn doesn’t just ask us to re-shape ourselves intellectually; Freire’s ideas also suggest a need to re-shape the spaces of education. Use your understanding of Freire’s ideas to analyze the space of education at WCU, identifying and proposing the means by which WCU’s space can be deployed to achieve the ends of Freire’s concept of learning.
  2. Student power. It’s easy to see the role of teacher as oppressor in Freire’s analysis of education, and to recognize the ways in which teachers must change those oppressive behaviors. But Freire argues fairly directly that teachers can’t produce student learning or student freedom. On page 6, Freire says “people subjected to domination must fight for their emancipation,” suggesting that progress–where it occurs–is going to result from student power, not professors changing their actions. Use your understanding of Freire’s ideas to analyze the role of student power at WCU, identifying and proposing ways in which students can achieve their own emancipation.
  3. Student/teacher relationships at WCU via Race/Class/Gender. Freire’s essay clearly identifies the necessary first step in changing how we learn: “Education must begin with the solution of the teacher-student contradiction” (1). This is an easy claim to make, but hard to achieve. Use your understanding of Freire’s ideas to analyze the teacher/student relationships at WCU, identifying and proposing the ways in which the student/teachers can become truly transformational despite the apparent contrast in race, class, or gender beliefs.
  4. Course-based learning. Freire’s essay advocates for a model of learning that is 100% based on student initiative, student choice, and student action. Yet some classes at WCU seem to project a passivity onto students as a model of success. Using one WCU course as a model, analyze the model of learning that this course presently relies upon in order to propose concrete, implementable alternative practices that could achieve Freire’s model of learning at WCU
  5. Choose your own adventure. While strongly discouraged, students may elect to develop a writing project around a topic of concern that is not included above. Any topic for this method must (a) originate in the student’s experience of WCU; (b) respond to and develop Freire’s ideas of education; (c) proceed analytically, both as an investigation of the source essay and as a writing project that proposes concrete actions that produce change at WCU. Any student who selects this topic must meet with me before the deadline for proposing a project and have the topic approved before submitting the required project proposal.

Format

You may produce a traditional written document (submitted as a Google Doc) or a less paper-based project that achieves the goals of the project.  You may work alone or on a team of up to 3 individuals. If you produce a written document, your finished project must contain at least 1000 words and no more than 1500 words. If you produce a project with mixed visual and word-based media, your word count should be substantially less.  

Timeline

Your project will be graded according to the following activities:

  • Topic Proposal, containing a topic selection, a team selection, a working thesis, and at least two quotable sections in Freire you intend to use, shared via the weekly blogs, no later than classtime 9/23 (5%)
  • Presentation of topic proposal, in class 9/23 (5 %)
  • Defense of topic proposal, containing a topic selection, a team selection, a working thesis, and at least two quotable sections in Freire you intend to use, in conference with me no later than 9/27 (5%)
  • Peer review of others’ proposals, via the weekly blogs, on or before 9/26 (5%)
  • An initial draft of at least (1) a problem for analysis, (2) a thesis, and (3) two analytic points achieving the thesis, and (4) with no fewer than 500 words, shared on our weekly blogs no later than 1159 on 9/29 (5%)
  • Commenting on two other writing projects via the blogs, on or before 10/2 (5%);
  • A draft conference with me, on or before 10/4 (5%)
  • The quality of the finished project, due 10/6 (70%)

Your proposal can be a written document, produced and submitted via Google Docs, or a mixed media digital project like a presentation, a website, or some other digital artifact. Whatever format, your document has to meet the project guidelines and contain the necessary components. Text documents should be between 1000 and 1500 words. Digital projects should be mixed media and a similar length of time to “read.”  Please feel free to consult me regarding appropriate format.

Peer Review

You must peer review two projects at both the proposal phase and the draft phase. Each is worth 5% of your project grade. Projects may only be reviewed twice. After selecting a project for review, enter your name into one of the open slots in the project peer review sheet in the shared folder on google drive. Record your peer review as comments on the original post using the weekly writing blogs.

You must give at least one substantial feedback that has constructive criticism and one that has positive reinforcement. For proposals, give feedback on the fit between the thesis and the topic, the use of Freire, or the proposed ideas.

Grading

Criteria for producing an effective writing project:

  1. Each project must apply/implement ideas from Freire’s essay at WCU using a central proposal and supporting points
  2. Each proposal must be complex (multi-faceted) and contain parts (supporting details) that are analytically presented
  3. Each proposal should have explicit support/foundation from Freire’s ideas

In terms of ideas, you will be graded on your expert interpretation/application of your source text, Freire’s “Banking Concept of Education;” the strength and clarity of your research question/problem; the clarity of your proposed thesis/solution; and the strength of your expected results.  In terms of writing, you will be graded on your ability to interact with the ideas of others (Freire) and express ideas clearly to others via writing. An A level project will demonstrate an expert familiarity with Freire and an insightful proposal for implementation. A B level project will demonstrate a thorough knowledge of Freire and a detailed implementation proposal. A C level project will demonstrate an adequate understanding of Freire and a workable implementation. Failing projects will have issues with competency in Freire’s ideas, implementing them, or both.

You must have your team identified by 9/23. Your work will be submitted into the shared folder on google drive no later than 1159 pm on 10/6. Late work loses 5 points per day.

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