COR 142-J
Guidelines for writing
assignment: Course Journal Reflection Response
Essays Final
Course Essay
TO: Participants in USM's Summer Course,
COR 142-J:
"Baseball and American Society: A
Journey"
FROM: Mike Brady and Al Bean
RE: Preparations and Protocols
DATE:
The summer course
for which you have applied and been accepted, “Baseball and American
Society: A Journey,” has been designed
from the start as an academic experience.
We have undergone the rigors of getting this course approved by the Core
Council of the
There are three books we expect all
participants to read prior to boarding the bus on July 27th. The books may be purchased in the USM
(Portland Campus) bookstore or anywhere else convenient to you.
Viva Baseball: Latin Major
Leaguers and Their Special Hunger.
by Samuel
Regalado.
The Faith of 50 Million:
Baseball, Religion, and American Culture
Edited by
Evans and Herzog.
Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy by Jane Leavy.
The USM –
In addition to the "core readings,”
people taking this course for three
undergraduate credits are required to select and read one book from the
accompanying bibliography. Select a
book that is of particular interest to you,
read it carefully, and come on
July 27th prepared to share a summary of the book as well as what you believe
to be its major implications for understanding the relationship between the
game of baseball and American Society.
We'll schedule these book reports at appropriate times during the
course.
Whatever book you chose to read, it is our
hope that this assignment will enable everyone on the journey to widen their
exposure to baseball literature and otherwise benefit from this experience in
"peer teaching." As far as
we're concerned, this has been one of the highlights of the learning experience
we enjoy in this course.
In the tradition of intensive summer
institutes at USM, credit students will be expected to read and write prior to
the actual class experience and submit written work to the instructors several
weeks after the completion of the course.
Please refer to "Guidelines for Writing Assignments" for
information about how to organize and manage this writing.
We also strongly encourage the
non-credit participants to consider keeping a personal journal. Our plan is to begin each bus trip with a 10
- 15 minute period of reflection and writing so people can gather their
thoughts, write down meaningful experiences, note important observations,
and/or keep a record of questions.
While this journaling is required of students earning USM academic
credits, it should enhance the learning experience of all other participants as
well.
A detailed itinerary of sites to be
visited, motels (with telephone numbers), and other information will be mailed
to you by early July. We'll also
include guidelines about what to bring on the journey.
If you have questions or concerns, Mike
can be reached at 780-5312 E-Mail: mbrady@usm.maine.edu and Al at 780-5588
E-Mail: albean@usm.maine.edu
).
We are looking forward to meeting you
and sharing this experience of "Baseball and American Society: A Journey."
COR 142-J: GUIDELINES
FOR WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
(To be read carefully by all who are
taking this course for university or re-certification credit. Others are welcome to read about these
writing assignments in order to come to a better appreciation of the academic
nature of this course-journey).
Each student taking COR 142-J for three
academic credits will keep a journal of reflections on the journey. This journal will be a reservoir of ideas,
questions, quotations, observations, and personal reactions. It will also serve as baseline data for your
final course essay (see part III).
You may bring any form of journal you wish
on the trip (this is your document).
One suggestion would be to purchase a 5 x 7" loose-leaf journal
which you can divide into various sections:
thoughts on films, ideas generated by discussions, observations at
ballgames, meaningful quotations, unanswered questions, etc.
Most of this journal will be for your eyes
only. However, one of the post-institute
requirements will be to submit (along with one re-written "Reflection
Response Essay" and the "Final Course Essay") what you consider
to be your five best pages of journal
entries. All of the rest of the
journal is intended to (1) to serve as a baseline of thoughts to help you write
your final course essay and (2) represent a memoir of this unique
travel-learning experience.
II. Reflection Response
Essays
For each of the four course books (three
"core" and one that you will select), write a 3 - 4 page
(double-spaced) response. Each
reflection response will include the following sections:
(a)
A summary of the main points of the text. Think of this as a Cliff's Notes for other students.
Explain what the main points are and what key issues the author(s)
treat.
(b)
A section that explains how the book expresses relationships between
baseball and American Society. You might
consider issues such as race, gender, money, attitudes toward fame, "The
American Dream," melting pot, the frontier, business, career ladders,
entertainment, etc.
(c)
A final section that describes and analyzes your attitudes toward the
text. While you need not respond to all
of them, below are a list of prompts that may help to guide your thinking and
writing:
*
What are the book's strengths and weaknesses?
*
What issues do you wish the text had covered?
*
What should have been covered more fully?
*
How does the book misunderstand or analyze correctly?
*
How does the author's viewpoint differ from yours?
*
What is your overall evaluation of this book?
*
How is this book similar to or different from
other works in
its genre?
Please bring one copy of each of these essays with you on July 27th. You may wish to bring a second copy of the
book report on the book you have selected in order to make reference to it
during your oral report.
The spirit of this writing is to be
"reflective" rather than "finished." We are interested in the quality of your
ideas and how the books have stimulated thinking about baseball's relationship
to American Society. After the journey
you will be asked to re-write one of these reflective essays, improve it by
integrating ideas learned from the course experience, and submit it along with
the other post-institute assignments.
III. Final Course Essay
Write a 6 - 8 page (double spaced) essay
on the relationship between the game of baseball and American Society. In your essay, you may find it helpful to
reflect upon one or more of the following quotations (although using these
quotes are in no way required for this assignment):
"Next to religion, baseball has furnished
a
greater impact on American Life than
any
other institution."
(Herbert Hoover)
"Whoever wants to know the heart
and mind
of
(Jacques
Barzun)
"Baseball's legends are, in some ways, the
most
enduring part of the game. Baseball
has
even more of them than the Civil War,
and its
fans prize them highly."
(Bruce
Catton)
“
metaphor
for the other.”
(David
Lamb)
"I
don't have to tell you that one constant
through
all the years has been baseball.
only to
be rebuilt and then erased again.
But
baseball has marked time with
(W. P. Kinsella)
Use whatever insights and observations
you have derived from your pre-course readings,
our discussions, guest speakers,
your ballpark observations, and any other source derived from the class
experience. Your journal reflections
should be of great assistance in supplying material for this essay.
By
400 – B
Bailey Hall, U.S.M.,
(1) Photocopies of what you consider to be your
five
best journal entries from the journey.
These
should not be edited or revised.
Simply photocopying them from your journal
book
is fine.
(2) One re-written Reflection Response Essay
(based on one of the three "core" books or the
book
you have personally selected). Please
also
submit the original version of this
response essay - that which was prepared prior
to
the journey - for comparison purposes.
(3)
Your final
course essay