In recognition of this, we would like to present you the opportunity to investigate the paths not traveled within seminar, and to offer your findings and thoughts to the rest of the class on such issues.  These are not necessarily issues or topics for which you are an expert, but rather those ideas for which you are particularly interested in and would like to pursue in greater detail.  This is also an opportunity to share with your colleagues in seminar; both to share of your abilities and skills in teaching a topic, and to share your thoughts, findings, and resources with your peers to better assist them in their roles as educators.

There will be two class sessions set aside in March for the presentations you will make.  You will work in groups of four to find and present information and ideas on a topic which might not otherwise be dealt with (explicitly or otherwise) within the seminar.  Each group will have a little less than an hour to present their topic, so it will be important that your group develop an effective method of presentation to share ideas about these issues and to allow for questions or discussion about these topics if need be.  As you are acting as the resource on this topic for your colleagues, it would also be helpful for you to find and/or develop resources which can be used by other educators to assist them with this issue.

In the past, students have developed presentations on a variety of topics including: influence of music and music lyrics on adolescents; child abuse; drug abuse; charter schools; dyslexia and other learning disabilities; school athletics; extracurricular organizations; eating disorders; teacher unions; use of games as a pedagogical tool; and a variety of other ideas.  This is a chance for you to develop further knowledge and understanding about issues critical to you as an educator, and to share this information with your colleagues to better assist them.  This is also a model for a type of teaching tool to cover a wide variety of information, commonly called a “jigsaw” activity by educators.

We encourage you to examine the list of ideas and topics which will be developed by the MAC faculty over the coming months, and find areas which might not be covered for which you have a particular interest, or areas which might not allow for specific elements of larger issues to be examined.  We would also encourage you to develop resources for your colleagues so that they might have something to take with them from your presentation to better assist them with these issues.  You might also find that the book you would choose for the end-of-year book review might contribute to your topic, which allows you to “kill two birds with one stone” (an archaic, but useful metaphor for “double counting”).

Deadlines: 
Dec. 3, 1998 
A one-page proposal outlining your group and the proposed  topic you will present.

March 2, 1999 
Final notification for audio/visual needs and a “lesson plan” and agenda for your presentation.