Individual & Community Seminar
IC 101.07 honors

Professor Joni Doherty
Phone: X1025 (Home: 924 0206, please do not call after 9 p.m. unless it is an emergency!)
Email: doherq@fpc.edu
Office: Edgewood 005B
Office hours: Mondays, 1:30 to 2:30 pm; Tuesdays, 10:00 to 12:00 noon; or by appointment

Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:40 to 2:55
Location: CR205

Peer Advisor: Melissa Taylor
Phone: 2961
Email: taylorm@fpc.edu

Course Description
The questions raised by the relationship between the individual and the community form the connective theme of the general education program at Franklin Pierce College. As the first step in the sequence of our interdisciplinary core curriculum, this course begins the exploration of these important questions by examining aspects of community life in modern America. Students will be invited to participate in a semester long study and discussion of the responses to the experiences that our living together continually produces. Readings, writing assignments, and activities will be used to stimulate thinking about the various issues that arise as we examine our social nature and develop personal approaches to issues that require us to balance the claims of membership in a community with our rights as individuals.

Course Objectives

• Become familiar with the FPC Individual & Community Integrated Curriculum
• Develop critical thinking skills
• Accept the academic challenge of college level writing and oral communication
• Learn collaborative skills
• Become actively involved in our community
• Explore the tensions between our rights as individuals and our community responsibilities
• Understand the evolution of concepts such as free choice, beliefs, values, independence, and autonomy in the context of their relationships to community standards.

Required Materials
Border Texts Randall Bass, ed.
Granny D, Doris Haddock
Diversity Consciousness, Richard D. Bucher
Money & Politics, National Issues Forums
Violent Kids, National Issues Forums
Racial & Ethnic Relations, National Issues Forums
Brown Accordion Folder
I&C Binder and Inserts

Grading
20% Civic Engagement Project
30% Writing
15% Midterm exam
15% Final exam
20% Participation /preparation

Course Requirements

Formal Writing
You are required to do 14 pages of formal writing. Guidelines will be distributed in class. You should select three pieces, including the 5 page paper, for your portfolio. Late papers will not be accepted. The grades for formal writing will depend on thoughtfulness, organization, length, grammar, and spelling. College Writing grading standards will be distributed with the first paper assignment.

Oral Presentations
This will consist of a 5 to 7 minute presentation that will be based on the 5-page analytical review essay of a reading from Border Texts. Guidelines will be distributed in class.

Civic Engagement Project
In order to complement the classroom discussions, all IC101 students participate in an experiential learning process through working on a civic engagement project. Our class will do this as a group project. First, you will receive training on how to moderate deliberative dialogue forums. Then, working in teams, we will moderating forums for students at nearby schools. Each student will write a 3 page paper reflecting on this experience (Guidelines will be provided later in the semester.)

Informal Writing
The relationship between writing and thinking is a close one. Writing helps generate deeper thoughts. Therefore, you will be asked to write a number of informal pieces.

Exams
There will be a midterm exam and a final exam. Both exams will be in essay format. The midterm will be cumulative to date; the final exam will cover all the semester’s materials. All final exams must be taken during the time scheduled by the college for these exams.

Participation/Preparation
Active involvement in class activities is an important part of this course. Students will be given a grade for participation in every class.

In lieu of regularly scheduled class meetings, our class will attend two Deliberative Dialogue Forums, one on each of the following topics, and the lectures listed in the course schedule.

• Money & Politics
  Tuesday, September 24, 6 to 8 pm, Cheshire Hall
  Friday, September 27, noon to 2 pm, Manor
• Gender: What Difference Does It Make?
  Tuesday, October 29, 6 to 8 pm, Cheshire Hall
  Friday, November 1, noon to 2 pm, Manor

Students are urged to attend other College events (plays, lectures, concerts, etc.).

CALENDAR

A PUBLIC VOICE

Tuesday, September 3 – Introduction
What is a Liberal Arts Education?

Thursday, September 5 – Complete reading Granny D. Book 1
Questions for Book I dui today

Friday, September 6 – Doris Haddock lecture, Tent, 12:30 to 1:30

Monday, September 9 – Last day to add/drop classes

Tuesday, September 10 – Complete reading Granny D.
Questions and 500 word essay due today
2 page response to Doris Haddock lecture due today.

Thursday, September 12 – IT Presentation. Meet in Library classroom

Tuesday, September 18 – Models of communication
Read Money & Politics discussion guide

Thursday, September 20 – Money & Politics forum in class today

Tuesday, September 24 – Money & Politics forum in class today

Thursday, September 26 – Attend Money & Politics campus wide forum in lieu of class today

BORDERS OF IDENTITY: STORIES OF SELF AND HOME

Tuesday, October 1 – Read Border Texts pp 1 24; Diversity pp 1 22

Thursday, October 3 – Read Diversity pp 26 51 and Border Texts, pp 20 24, and:
The Quiet House, pp 25 28
Screen Memory, 92 103

BORDERS OF COMMUNITY: BELONGING AND ALIENATION

Tuesday, October 8 Read Diversity pp 57 88; Border Texts, pp 107 112

Thursday, October 10 Read Border Texts:
Two Ways to Belong in America, pp 116 119
Collective Trauma, 186 195
The Last Best Place, pp 196 202

Tuesday, October 15 Class cancelled. Monday classes will be held today due to holiday.

Thursday, October 17 Midterm

Tuesday, October 22 Bibliographic Instruction. Meet in Library classroom.

GENDER: WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?

Wednesday, October 23 Attend lecture on Gender, speaker TBA, Cheshire Hall, 7 pm

Thursday, October 24 Read pp 94 122; Border Texts, The Visitor, pp 29 35

Tuesday, October 29 Read Gender: What Difference Does It Make?
and Border Texts:
The Gravity of Pink, P 55 57
A Long Line of Vendias, pp 144 160

Thursday, October 31 Attend Gender forum in lieu of class today

BORDERS AS BARRIERS: OTHERNESS AND DIFFERENCE

Tuesday, November 5 Read Border Texts, pp 205 210 and:
Helping and Hating the Homeless, pp 229 238
Makes Me Wanna Holler, pp 239 246

Thursday, November 7 Read Border Texts:
Feelings About Difference, p~247 259
The White Man, pp 61 267
Ethnicity: Identity and Difference, pp 295 305

Tuesday, November 12 Read Diversity, pp 127 154
Moderator training in class today

Thursday, November 14 Read Diversity, pp 158 187
Moderator training in class today

Monday, November 18 Attend Cheney Lecture on Religion & Society: Religious
Diversity with Bob Abernathy, NBC News correspondent and
host of Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, Cheney Hall, 7 pm

Tuesday, November 19 Read Violent Kids. Practice forum in class today.

Wednesday, November 20 Advising & Registration. Edgewood 003A 2 to 6 pm

Thursday, November 21 Violet Kids forums in Fitchburg, MA

Friday morning. Violet Kids forums in Fitchburg, MA

Tuesday, November 22 Forum debriefing

Thursday, November 28 Thanksgiving

Tuesday, December 3 Read Race & Ethnic Relations Discussion Guide

Thursday, December 5 Read Diversity 192 203; Border Texts, pp 557 563, and:
The Concept Nation, pp 473 475
Who and What is an American? pp 581 588

Tuesday, December 10 Student Presentations

Thursday, December 12 Student Presentations

Tuesday, December 17 Final Exam, I to 3 pm

DELIBERATIVE DIALOGUE FORUM SCHEDULE

Terrorism (optional)
Monday, September 9, 6 8pm
Location: Alumni Lounge

Money & Politics (required)
Tuesday, Sept. 24, 6 8pm Locations: Alumni Lounge, Cheshire Hall, Cheney Hall or Friday, Sept. 27,12 2pm
Location: Alumni Lounge

Gender: What Difference Does It Make? (required)
Tuesday, October 29, 6 8pm Locations: Alumni Lounge, Cheshire Hall, Cheney Hall or Friday, November 1, 12 2pm
Location: Alumni Lounge

Sex: Creating Public Policy for Private Passions (optional)
Tuesday, November 19, 6 8pm Locations: Alumni Lounge, Cheshire Hall, Cheney Hall or Friday, November 22,12 2pm
Location: Alumni Lounge

VIOLENT KIDS FORUM REPORT PAPER GUIDELINES

Due: Tuesday, November 19 Please type and double space this paper.

Group Project (3 pages)
In this collaborative report you will be analyzing the Violent Kids Forum you moderated at Academy Middle School. The primary goal is to describe the common ground reached by the participants, as well as the concerns that still need to be resolved. Be sure to address the following in your report. You should incorporate results from the pre and post forum questionnaires into your report.

1. Did participants share a definition of the problem? Do they agree on the causes? How did the middle school forum differ from campus forums?
2. Did the deliberation change anything?
3. How did the kids come out on the conflicts, contradictions, and trade offs? What were they willing or not willing to do to solve the problem?
4. Did any general sense of agreement emerge? Was there a range of actions which were consistent with one another that had everyone’s support?
5. What unique information came out of the forum? What implications do the results have for community action or public policy?
6. How has your thinking about this issue changed as a result of the forum

Personal Reflection (1 page)
Each team member also needs to write a personal essay that addresses the following:

1. What did you learn about moderating/ public speaking as a result of this forum?
2. What did you learn about the topic as a result of this forum?
3. What did you learn about yourself as a result of this forum?