After Class Four - Jan.28

Many thanks to our first three narrative readers. We listened to comparisons between the educational systems in Pakistan and Canada, the experience of jumping into teaching a special needs class, and what is involved in working in a children's daycare.

This week's story is "The Heifer" by Melissa Hardy. Please finish reading it at home, jot down your impressions and answer the questions that ask you to look at environment, ethics, and self-preservation in the story and in the context of class discussions and readings.

Also have a look at "The Jade Peony" by Wayson Choy, which will start off our new unit. Have a great weekend.

After Class Three - Jan. 21

Great class today with lots of good discussion! There were good insights on how we develop moral awareness and what ethical conflicts might arise in the different professions. Our story, "Barn Burning" by William Faulkner, tied in themes of self-development through facing the dilemma of family vs. society's moral values. Please finish the story, jot down some thoughts around the questions and bring them to class. For those who signed up for narratives next week, please e-mail them to me by next Wed. They will not be graded, but I will give you detailed feedback through e-mail. Have a great weekend - stay warm!

After Class Two - Jan.14

This week we start our postings. You don't have to write a lot; I'm only looking for about two paragraphs. Ideally you could choose a couple of ideas that interest you that are in some way related to today's class. Being a reflective practitioner is to think deeply about a topic, and be aware of how it affects your personal or professional development. You can examine ideas in the textbook readings, compare them to your personal experience; respond to narratives or share your group's discussion; or, comment on either of the stories we've read so far. Feel free to agree/disagree, argue, critique or satirize. There are no right or wrong responses and I'm sure you have lots of good ideas.

Just a reminder: please bring your narrative to the next class and we will give each other feedback in our groups.

The image here is from the cover of Alice Munro's collection of short stories, Who Do You Think You Are? which includes "The Beggar Maid". See you next week!

After Class One

It was great to meet all of you and hear about your interests. By now you should have received an invite to join the blog. Please open a Word document on your computer and write a short introduction to yourself -- tell us your major or field, career plans and anything else you'd like to share. Then cut and paste from your document into the area on the comments page (click on "comments" just on the the lower right of this prompt) to post onto the blog. You don't have to write about any of our class activities this week -- right now we are just getting used to using the blog.

Your homework this week is to browse through the textbook, read the Intro and first section of Chapter One. See you Wednesday!

Welcome to our class blog!

I'm looking forward to meeting all of you and spending this semester together. We will be reading some interesting stories and linking them to ideas in our textbook and classroom discussions.
Hopefully the snow won't interfere and we'll start on Wed., Jan.7th.

All the best to you in the New Year!