1. Private Lives, Public Intellectuals: On the Philosophical Essay Core assignment: weekly essays 650 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

2. Course Goals Analyze 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.

3. 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

4. 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)

5. Self-Evaluation: Reflection and Communication Informal 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!)