Freshman Seminar & College Writing
Developing Essential Skills in the First Year
In their first semester, NEC students enroll in a 2-credit Liberal Arts Seminar (LARTS 211) and a 2-credit College Writing course (LARTS 111), which together help students build essential college-level skills in critical reading and thinking, writing, and public speaking. In these paired courses, students explore focused topics of study through intellectually challenging readings and class discussions. Seminar and Writing classes are both small in size (15 students maximum), providing students with a great deal of individual attention as they work on their writing and public speaking skills in a relaxed, supportive environment. (Note that non-native English speakers who have scored below 230 on the TOEFL (CBT) will not register for a Liberal Arts Seminar in the first semester).
Seminar participants are challenged through group presentations to work on interpersonal relations skills, independently resolving issues of leadership and accountability as they form a coherent panel that can successfully field questions from both their instructors and the other students in the seminar. In midterm and final written projects, students work on improving their analytical writing skills by creating a thesis, developing it in a series of logical paragraphs, and placing it in academic discourse through the skillful use of multiple sources.
Although the Seminar and Writing courses are independent, the teachers of both work closely together to support each other’s course plans and thus provide a practical model to their students of the value of collaboration. Seminar and Writing teachers schedule individual conferences with their students twice per year (or more often if necessary) and work closely with the NEC Writing & Learning Center in order to ensure that each student’s particular academic needs are being met in this crucial first year of study at NEC.
2011 Seminars
During the summer before their first year, incoming Freshman are asked to indicate their preferences among the seminars being offered. NEC Advisors hope to honor but cannot guarantee these preferences since section sizes are limited and other scheduling factors may come into play. The fall 2011 seminar descriptions are listed below.
Diversity and Difference
Taught by Jill Gatlin
“Diversity” has become a buzzword for universities, communities, artists, businesses, and politicians, but what does it really mean? This seminar explores diversity and human difference as subjects of both celebration and controversy, through the study of personal experiences and observations as well as literary, popular, and scholarly writings. We will examine how we—as individuals, community members, and citizens of different nations—experience and define human difference and diversity on a daily basis. Looking at how race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, age, religion, (dis)ability, and other differences shape people’s lives, we’ll consider both destructive and constructive uses of the idea of difference.
Cultural Studies: Consumption and Waste in America
Taught by Jill Gatlin
This seminar examines habits of consuming and discarding at the individual, community, corporate, and national levels to think about the concept of “culture.” We may be accustomed to thinking of “culture” as the opposite of “trash”- yet nearly everything we consume becomes or produces waste. Looking at fiction, essays, poetry, visual art, advertisements, architecture, and waste itself, we will question how throwaways, garbage, and waste - labels for not only what we throw in the trashcan but also groups of people, art, or even landscapes - define culture. In addition to short written responses, students will develop a unique argument regarding an object or phenomenon of “waste” of their choosing, using skills of detailed observation, close analysis, and interpretive questioning.
The Hero's Journey
Taught by Patrick Keppel
The myth of the Hero’s Journey is common to all cultural traditions: the story of an individual who is called away from an unsatisfactory life condition, who overcomes obstacles (often with supernatural assistance), and who then returns to share his/her healing wisdom with those left behind, thereby assisting their personal and social transformation—their own ‘hero’s journeys.’ This seminar will explore hero myths from various cultural traditions, including The Epic of Gilgamesh and Their Eyes Were Watching God, and will examine how the myth is portrayed in contemporary films such as The Matrix, Avatar, and Thelma and Louise.
Senses of Self
Taught by James Klein
The development of a sense of self has become not merely the central issue of modern psychology, but the most popular device of fiction, social criticism, and even historical analysis. We will read major works that, from contrasting perspectives, assess the role(s) of social, historical, and psychological forces in the emergence of individuals’ sense of themselves, and discuss the consequent struggle between the individual and the larger world.
The Idea of Rights
Taught by James Klein
The question of rights is one of the most important political and personal issues today. But to understand our rights, we need to consider not only what rights are—and who has them—but also their origins, character, and purpose. Students in this seminar will read, analyze, and discuss historical documents defining rights, contemporary essays proposing (or recognizing) new rights, and legal evaluations of what rights we do (and do not) have.
Intimate Immensity: The Role of Play in Learning & Artistic Development & Practice
Taught by Robin Dash
In this seminar we will explore the surprising nature of play and what happens to our sense of time, space, and concentration during play. Students will examine how different individuals and societies can be understood by studying the different ways they play. Through field observations, readings, reflection journals, drawings, essays, and group presentations, students will study the role of play in learning and performing. Improvisation and collaboration will be explored through different kinds of open forms and strategies that chance and choice determine. How does invention and problem solving emerge from experimenting with arrangements, correlations, and contrasting or conflicting elements or concepts? Engaging the complicated merging of serious play and playful work will encourage students to achieve a greater understanding of the deep creative exploration to which mature artistic practice is dedicated. Readings will include essays by Gaston Bachelard, Walter Benjamin, Henry David Thoreau, D.W. Winnicott, Anna Freud and others.
An Owner's Manual for the Brain
Taught by Jean Chandler
Through videos and reading, this course will expose students to some of the latest research on the human brain. We will learn about the basic structures and processes of the brain and the mutual effect of brain on behavior and behavior on brain. Among the topics this seminar will explore are sleep, learning and memory, stress, meditation, and music. We will experience the scientific method by developing hypotheses and then aggregating and analyzing data from ourselves about such things as how different cycles of sleep affect different kinds of learning and memory and how practicing music mentally compares to practicing physically. Each member of the seminar will present information or lead the class discussion on one topic after consultation with the teacher.
2011-10-04
WANDA LANDOWSKA