Private Lives, Public Intellectuals:

On the Philosophical Essay

Core assignment: weekly essays650 words

Blend personal/meditative with analytical/argumentative modes

Individual essays ungraded

Overall, worth 40% of the grade

Designed by Stephen Parkin; offered Winter 2013.

Survey course (English and Comp. Lit.)

11 students; mixture of majors and years

Course GoalsAnalyze the modes of self-formation and self-presentation; approaches to knowledge creation

Critique published literary criticism; produce own sophisticated criticism

Synthesize our disparate readings into a coherent, rigorous models of the phil. essay, its themes and concerns, and how it has adapted to novel contexts.

Successes

Weekly essays: risk taking, genuine challenge

Peer editing: in-class exercises, handouts, standard setting through sharing work

Extensive, but varied, small group work

Student-designed final unit

Weaknesses

Too broad a range of readings, even for a survey

Only one major peer-editing assignment (midterm); should have repeated for final

Should have included peer editing in weekly essay assignment (perhaps alternating with my comments)

Should have developed more comprehensive rubric for the weekly essays (for pragmatic reasons)

Self-Evaluation: Reflection and

CommunicationInformal evaluation:

Ask students during class, office hours, etc.

Happens at all levels—lesson, methods, curriculum, etc.

Formal evaluation:

Written feedback (solicited, end of course evals)

Observations, e.g. Individual Teaching Consultation

Assessment

Quality/improvement in student work (frequently!)