Welcome! Over the next two years, we editors will use this blog to communicate with all interested faculty and students–and anyone else–the conversations that we have and decisions that we make as we work on revising our primary course Readers. The process itself is important, and it will involve many faculty beyond the seven of us. We want to make it as open as possible. This blog is our attempt to do that.
One of the features of the introductions in the revised HUM Readers will be a selection of “tags” for each work. Those who write introductions will be invited to identify 5-10 tags that will appear in an information box at the start of the introduction. The editors, including some of us who have already written introductions, wondered about using the term “tag” rather than “theme,” and a healthy debate resulted. The following attempts to clarify what a tag is, how…
Writing and Inquiry in UNC Asheville’s HUM Program, Part I Writing is the circulatory system of a liberal arts education. It extends into all parts of the curriculum, oxygenating and sustaining learning in every discipline. Writing as learning is not identical to learning to write, though. The Buddha once said that his teaching is like a raft: once you reach the opposite shore you do not continue to carry the raft with you (Alagaddupama Sutta). Learning to write is focusing…
When we editors coalesced around the idea of inquiry as the fundamental student learning objective, we began to think of ways to prompt it in the Readers, primarily in the introductions. We imagined several components that would deliver information—timelines, snapshot boxes of dates, locations, genres—and others that would provide “entry points” and invite an active engagement with the reading. Once we had identified those components, the next step was to write or rewrite introductions using them. I chose a rewrite….
The first week of classes has flown by in its usual whirlwind – meeting new students, seeing colleagues after some time, and lining up logistics. While my google calendar slowly turns into a block of dark crimson as it becomes encroached by various committee responsibilities amidst class timings and office hours, this crimson tide is offset by the inherent potential of beginning a class once again from the top. This do-over intentionally brings the knowledge of previous experiential iterations forward…
The editorial team is hard at work this summer in the thick of planning the possible structure and features for the new Readers. This is in preparation for wider faculty discussions about which content will be included within this structure that will be happening this fall. It is an opportune moment to describe how some of the data from the surveys has shaped our editorial conversations and initial decisions. This is an annotated ‘executive summary’ for those who are interested…
Whenever I am in Iowa visiting family, one of the most striking features is the big sky full of clouds hovering over fields upon fields of corn and beans. The horizon is so vast, your eyes have to scan panorama-style to take in the whole skyline, instead of being able to take it all in with your head not moving. In those big billowy, leisurely clouds I begin to see shapes that previously were not present but emerge in the…
After I read Kate’s lovely post yesterday, I kept mulling over one image: “PARs are a way to reach out to students and create a bridge into their initial engagement with the material in an informal, low-stakes, no wrong answers sort of way – a gift freely given. It is a form of intellectual hospitality that invites our students to the table…” Narratives and symbols are important, and I love the image of the shared table. (I love the reality…
It has been raining for days. Storm Alberto is still sending bands of off and on drizzle towards Asheville which has kept people mostly inside. Needing a change of scenery, I headed out to one of our local coffee shops that serves as a remote office at least once a week. Standing in line, I see the headlines about flooding, the undoing of protections by the Department of Education, the fallout from racist tweets, and a variety of political updates…
As part of the first meeting of the HUM editorial team that was first formed in summer 2017 to work on the revision process of the three Readers for HUM 124, 214 and 324, I was excited at the potential to ‘catch up’ the Readers with the many curricular initiatives that have been underway in the program since summer 2013. But I was also nervous. I had spent the month before reading articles on curriculum revision processes from scholars in…