Today we'll start prepping for our first seminar. We sat as a group and spent 20 minutes on each of the three primary source documents giving everyone the opportunity to take notes to help get you started in your understanding of each document.
In this course we explore the ideas of many Western and non-Western thinkers who have influenced modern thought, social structures and law and punishment.
An important way to learn about these thinkers is to read their ideas, stories, diary entries etc. (primary source documents) to gain a further understanding of their point of view during their time period and then to examine how that point of view has changed or adapted through the years. Seminars are an important part of university studies so to help prepare you for that you will be part of a group that discusses the main ideas and philosophies from the writings - we'll do this in a round-table discussion in class.
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1. Read each document, and take notes on the main ideas presented in them.
2. Think of other areas of human life (law and order, education, health care, environment, politics etc.) where these ideas are used. Pair the main ideas of the writer with these societal links.
3. Write six (6) questions (two for each document). In one of the two questions per document base the question on a quote from the reading. For the other question, make a societal link.
eg: In Plato's Allegory of the Cave, Plato writes, "Those prisoners are like ourselves. The prisoners see nothing of themselves or each other except for the shadows each one's body casts on the back wall of the cave. Similarly, they see nothing of the objects behind them, except for their shadows moving on the wall." In this quote Plato is explaining to the reader that freedom of thought and vision is lacking in the lives of the prisoners. How does this lack of freedom control the prisoners and what does Plato believe determines their lack of actions?
eg: The prisoners is Plato's Allegory of the Cave are bound by physical chains. These chains keep them together, and yet deny them any kind of interaction. How does the high school education system in Ontario achieve the same goals, albeit without the actual use of chains?
4. Write an answer for each of your questions. Use the vocabulary, ideas and philosophers from the unit to fully and articulately answer your questions at the Grade 12 University level.
5. Participate in a seminar. In this format I will moderate and you will participate. This is much like an informal debate or an intense discussion. Someone will start by asking one of their questions and then you will answer, debate or object to their point of view. You will be marked not on the number of your formal questions that you ask, but on your ability to answer and debate the questions of your peers.
The marking scheme will be based on the following:
Evaluation
Preprepared Questions for the seminar
Thinking: /20
Questions are comprehensive, thorough, challenging /10
Responses are thorough, discuss several different possibilities /10
Knowledge /10
Links to modern thought, social structures and law and punishment
are clear, precise and have justifiable examples /10
Mark During Seminar Discussion
Communication /20
Ability to participate with clear responses to questions /10
Expansion of given ideas and creative societal links clearly explained, justified /10
Application /10
Precise, justified and creative contributions made, explaining the significance
of the articles, and your interpretation of them /10
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