Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Ethics

In class today we determined the closure date for the ethics unit and gave out the first ethics assignment.  I know I bombarded you with all the work for the remaining part of the year, but now you can set your plan to ensure that all your work gets handed inI

Please see me with any questions or concerns.

Enjoy the last few days of school before the holidays!

Friday, November 27, 2009

Epistemology Updates

Thanks for a great work week.  I hope you were able to use the periods to get a lot done.

A few reminders:

1.  The closure date for the unit is DECEMBER 7.  Your Matrix and Wiki assignments will not be accepted after this date.

2.  Seminars for epistemology are next week, DEC 1 and 2.  You MUST hand in your questions and answers during the seminar you participate in.  PLEASE make sure you have two copies of your questions and answers so that you are eligible for full marks. 

Have a great weekend ... and be sure to get some philosophy work done!

Friday, November 20, 2009

Parent's Night and Weekly Recap

Thanks to the parents of Courtney, Amy, Cara and Eric for joining me at parent's night last night.  If there are any other parents who would like to meet, please email me at kovicha@hdsb.ca.

I hope you have enjoyed watching the Matix this week, and that the epistemological questions are coming at you with great speed!  Next week we will be working on the Matrix Review and the seminar preparation.  Seminars will begin the week of Nov. 30.

Please hand in your WIKI assignment if you have not already done so.

See you at 7:30 a.m. on Monday for the field trip!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Philosophy Presentations

I have posted all the info on the wiki.  Please see the left side of the home page to find the link that says philosophy presentations.  While you are reviewing the note, please post any reflections you have not completed so that you can hand in the 3 questions project!

Please bring your permission forms in tomorrow!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Philosophers and their BIG ideas!

Your 3 Questions projects should be complete by tonight. Please hand in your annotated bibliographies and your dot jot pages when both posts are on the Wiki.

Mid-terms go home tomorrow! YAY!

You will continue tomorrow with your chosen theory from today's class. A reminder that you must do three things:
1. Identify the main epistemological question.
2. Outline the theory and philosopher being discussed.
3. Take the two boxes from your page and outline what they say, and what ideas are being presented.

Eric will be speaking at tomorrow's ceremony. Please remember to wear your poppy and to come to the ceremony to support him.

Enjoy!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Thanks to Eric!

Eric is the first one up and ready for the wiki on Monday! Could everyone else please read yesterday's post and join up!

Thanks!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Check out this link!

This is what I'd like you to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY

We're doing a wiki!

Alrighty ... I have learned a LOT this weekend. The project that was handed out on Friday will be changing slighty.

Could you all please join wikispaces.com this weekend. I will be inviting you all to join my 3 questions wiki at https://3questions.wikispaces.com/.

I'll fill you all in on Monday. For now, please join wikispaces.com and remember to bring your email address to class!

Happy Hallowe'en!


Enjoy ... eat candy and be safe tonight! I'll bring in the extra candy on Monday!

Friday, October 30, 2009

Plan for next week

Thank you for being so flexible this week with the sign ins and our supply teachers. Here is the plan for next week:
Monday: review chapters 9-11
Tuesday-Friday: Outline project, choose due date, choose philosophers (no more than 2 people per philosopher) etc.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

My apologies

Sorry for today ... still home sick. Please ensure that Chapters 9-11 are complete for Thursday. You will have chart work as review to complete in tomorrow's class.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Chapters 9-11

I am sorry I am not there today to review the info you have read about in chapters 9-11. I will be there tomorrow ... I just KNOW it! :)

Please write down any questions or concerns you have and post them on the parking lot paper in the class. Place them on post-it notes and I will address them all tomorrow.

Thanks for your diligence in getting this work done!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Wag the Dog

What a great way to start the week! I hope you all enjoyed the movie. The concept behind Wag the Dog is, on one hand, scary ... and on the other hand ... frightening! You must question so much of what you learn, and read bias and spin on events with careful precision.

We'll be looking at a PowerPoint Presentation tomorrow on Epistemology and what exactly we "know". Please remember to bring your textbooks.

A reminder that the closure date for Metaphysics is this Monday, October 26th. Snowden and ALFQ may still be handed in up to this date.

Eric ... we miss you, and hope you feel better!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Epistemology: What do we know?

Great discussion today on what we know. Cara, I was impressed because you knew where I was going with my questions, and yet you valiantly kept answering them. Way to go! The ABC's of what you know were interesting ... and yet the question still remains ... what do we know for certain?

We looked at Dawkins' interview on CBC's The Hour today, in addition to the funny Epistemology intro video. It is strange to think that we know nothing but names!

We will be looking at theorists tomorrow so please remember your textbook.

Keep working on ALFQ and Snowden if you have not yet handed them in.

Enjoy!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Work Squared

I know you have a TON to do right now, and I would like to see you continue to work with precision. Please let me know if you think this work week has been worthwhile, or if you find class time difficult to use effectively!

A reminder that seminar questions and answers are due ON THE DAY of your seminar and you cannot hand them in later. Please see me with any questions you have.

SNOWDEN is very overdue. It will determine your 5 week letter of concern if it is not handed in. Please remember, we chose the due date as a class.

Enjoy the night, and keep working!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Work Week: Oct. 5- 9

We've watched the movie(s), you have your book and seminar package, so it's time to work! Here are my suggestions for this week:

1. Snowden was due on OCt. 2. It was a date we had chosen as a class, therefore if you have not yet handed in your assignment, this should be your first priority.

2. The seminar was handed out today. As seminars are next week, and you MUST hand in your questions and answers the day of your seminar, they should be what you work on after Snowden.

3. ALFQ ... keep reading your book, and write down any questions that you think of, as you are reading. I am happy to review your questions with you, and let you know strengths and weaknesses of them.

As a reminder, here are the seminar groupings for next week:
Tuesday Oct. 13: Courtney, Chantal, S.J., Eric, Tess, Dylan, Kelly, Jorden
Wednesday Oct. 14: Rob, Amy, Emmy, Cara, Taylor, Nicole, Heather, Ashlie

We will work all week on these three assignments. Please let me know on Wednesday, if you would like a computer for Thursday and/or Friday.

Enjoy!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Personhood and Paul Snowden

I know it was tough, but your continued attention with the Snowden lecture will certainly help you with the upcoming assignment.

The Snowden lecture will be listened to in class again tomorrow, and we will stop it several times in order to listen to what he has to say, and discuss his ideas of persons and animals.

If you want to listen to the lecture tonight, type "Philosophy Bites" into google, and when you get to the homepage, scroll down until you see the link to the Snowden lecture.

Enjoy your evening!

Friday, September 18, 2009

What is a Person?

Two days of great discussions has now passed, and your first assignment will be handed out on Monday. Your ideas have been WONDERFUL to listen to.

The class started with the question "At what point (exactly, with specifics) does a human become a person entitled to all protections under the law?" You had excellent ideas and your criteria of personhood included:
1. A living, intelligent being, that is aware of it's existence in relation to other living things/beings.
2. The ability to know you are alive/conscious.
3. The ability to communicate because of reactions (hunger, need for medications etc).
4. The ability to have emotions.
5. The instinctual or intelligent need for companionship.
6. A heartbeat.
7. The ability to problem solve.
8. The ability to think and use senses.
9. Self-awareness, emotion and instinct.

I have truly enjoyed these days of discussion, and I look forward to seeing you apply these ideas with the upcoming project.
Enjoy the weekend ... Good luck, Amy, with Miss Acton!!!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Chapter 6: Vocab and First class travel

While the vocab was a necessary evil, you were able to use the ideas within the discussion of the Teletransporter machine. I loved your questions!

Look over the thought experiment again tonight, and be prepared to discuss it further tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Spiderman, Survivor and the Cell Phone Game

Thanks again to youtube for a visual representation of Plato's Allegory of the Cave. Spiderman was never more confused than when he saw the spider in the book! I appreciate your discussion about the pros and cons of the video, and your interpretation of it's significance.

Watching Survivor was a great way to look at perception and reality. Your ideas about how each was represented in the video were well explained. Please don't be afraid to speak up in class if you disagree! :)

Lastly, the Cell Phone game. Great work finding all the answers (as they were in the textbook!) Eric and Taylor ... you ran well, and Kelly it was great to see you getting so excited! REMEMBER ... winner take all tomorrow (or at least the chocolate bars!) with one final question.

Have a great night!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Perception and Reality: A Difference?

Your definitions of perception and reality were great today! You adapted and changed depending on what the group before you had written, and it was so lovely to see your opinions become so animated.

We read Plato's "Allegory of the Cave", and I can't help but wonder what it would be like to be one of those prisoners. Keep thinking about what you perceive and what is real ... and let me know if you come up with any different thoughts.

Introducing the three main ideas of Metaphysics (Supreme Being, Person(hood), and Self) let me see just how much you already know. You articulated your ideas about theses words so well, and when you had the opportunity to scratch off others people's ideas ... well, that's when I think you all shone. Continuing to share our ideas, and still listen to the ideas of others, will help us all get so much out of this class.

Have a great weekend! No homework!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to our blog. I hope this tool will help us all this semester!

Today we "cubed" and discussed what questions we want answered, what we know, and what it means to be "myself". I am so very proud of your abilities to share with each other and your desire to learn from each other.

Please be sure to have your cell phones charged for class tomorrow. And remind me to hand out your textbooks, please!