special post

http://educationvotes.nea.org/2017sja/

Last Day!!

Philosophy - Final Work Day!!

Happy Monday!

So here it is - your final day of in-class time to work on the Philosophy project.

I do not have anything new to add here that hasn't been said before.

You have all been working so hard for these past few weeks.
I hope the journey has been rewarding in many ways.

Your essay is due Tuesday by 6:00 p.m.

We will not have time in class Tuesday to work on it.

Please be sure to put all of the parts into one document, and then double-check that everything is there before you upload it to turnitin.com

Late work, for any reason, means you will take the final.

For the rest of the week, we'll have some time together, including some fun, a chance to say thank you to people important to you, and an opportunity to bring some closure to our community.

I wish you all deep thoughts and the energy to express them clearly!
I can't wait to read your work!

Enjoy Beyonce's "Countdown" to get you through the last push!

Philosophy - Day 10

The buzz of activity in class last week was a positive one! As you start to turn your attention toward part 5, here are a few thoughts and suggestions :

• This section synthesizes your original ideas with those of a literary text, a philosopher, and a peer.  You may address each of these sources in a separate paragraph (recommended), or organize this section by ideas / questions, or whatever other structure works for you.
• The goal of this section is to name how you are now answering your question. It may be that you have a definitive answer, or new questions, or more confusion, or anywhere in between - all of these, of course, are acceptable responses.
• You do not need new evidence in this section, but you may include some if that works for you. All of the previous evidence you quoted is considered part of the paper at this point, and you may refer to it as much as you need. You do not need to re-quote it.
• You are writing in the first person - this is all about the "I" voice.  Therefore, you may also want to speak about the process - which steps were most helpful to you, and why? Which ones were the most challenging? Which ones made you see different perspectives on your question?

As always, I am happy to conference with you about this or any other section of your essay.  Happy writing!

Philosophy - Day 8

Happy Monday! Happy May!  Sorry I'm not there to say all of that in person today. I'm at a conference for the day.  I hope you had wonderful weekends and are ready to start your final month of high school!

Please take 30 seconds to complete this brief check-in survey. No worries - I just want to have a quick sense of where everyone is.

• Philosophy project check-in survey

As for section 3, here are a few thoughts and reminders:

• The goal for this section is simply to present the work of a philosopher (or more than one) and what that person has to say about yout subject.
• Think of it as a report - summarize their main ideas - quote and explain their points - break it into sections to clarify the different ideas they have.
• You do not need to bring in your personal perspective at all - save that for part 5.
• You do not need to link this section to your book or the dialogue or anything else - save that for part 5.
• I know you are reading complicated stuff - use the tools available to you. Read through that passage from Aristotle or Hume or Aquinas and then check out what different internet sources have to say. If you do happen to find them helpful, just cite them and don't pretend it is your own. No points off or harm in getting assistance for this section.

Are you still looking for your philosopher? Keep trying different keywords in your searches on the Stanford site.  Find articles that sound interesting, and then read the parts that seem relevant. In those parts, find the names of some of the philosophers who wrote about your topic. Then, go find that article. If you need help with that, let's meet on Tuesday.

Good luck today!!

Philosophy - Day 7

Thursday = Dialogue Day! Follow the directions from yesterday's blog post.