HF101
First Year Honors Colloquium
Prof. Phil Boshoff
A weekly discussion group for first-year members of
the Honors Forum. Topics might include the evolving goals and methods
of higher education, the nature of research and the ethics of scholarship
in the academy, competing and complementary modes of inquiry, the
intellectual demands of collaborative and interdisciplinary learning,
and the myriad forces that seek expression and balance as we create
a college community. The course will focus on objects of study drawn
from the arts, sciences, humanities, and social sciences. Materials
may include readings from various fields of study, films, performances,
lab demonstrations, case studies, exhibits, historical artifacts,
and site visits. Student work will include participating in panel
discussions and writing essays that address aspects of the major disciplinary
foci.
HF201
Junior Great Books Training
Prof Catherine Golden
This one-credit Honors course is designed to introduce
students interested in teaching on the secondary level to a program
that inspires students’ passion for reading and encourages students
to think for themselves—Junior Great Books. Students enrolled
in this course will undergo an intensive 10-hour training and receive
certification as a Junior Great Books instructor, a curriculum used
in schools from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The training program
teaches participants how to help students build on their critical
thinking and literacy skills—comprehension, speaking, writing,
and listening. In addition to the training, students will meet weekly
with a professor certified in Junior Great Books to put their training
into practice before entering a secondary school classroom setting.
Attention will be given to the formulation of questions to encourage
students to think critically, planning of small group activities to
stimulate debate, and designing of follow-up writing activities to
help students learn to use writing as an aid to reading and learning.
Written work includes a journal and briefs (short papers focusing
on reading and writing activities). Students who enroll in this course
are expected to take HF 200: Junior Great Books Practicum and participate
in the Expanding Horizons Program between Skidmore and the Schuylerville
schools. The course is geared for students interested in pursuing
primary or secondary school teaching or education. Permission of instructor
is required.
HF202
Junior Great Books Practicum
Prof. Catherine Golden
This
one-credit course is a follow-up to HF200: Junior Great Books Training.
Students certified in Junior Great Books will be paired and placed
in a small group setting at the junior high level in the Schuylerville
school district. Using materials prepared in the prerequisite course,
students will have an opportunity to teach Junior Great Books curriculum
in a weekly after school program that will run 10 weeks. A professor
certified in Junior Great Books will supervise students, observing
them in the classroom and offering feedback on their performance.
All students enrolled in the course will meet periodically throughout
the semester to compare and assess their classroom experiences.
Written
work includes a journal and briefs (Short papers assessing the Junior
Great Books Program and their classroom experiences). The course is
geared for students interested in pursuing primary of secondary school
teaching education. Prerequisite: HF200: Junior Great Books Training.
Permission of instructor in required.
HF203
Citizen Studentship
Prof. Steven Pearlman
Citizen
Studentship is the first course is Skidmore's history to be designed
by students. The course gives students the chance to break down
traditional educational structures of authority, thus offering an
alternative method of education that emphasizes participation and
responsibility as a member of the academic community. Students will
challenge each other, generating their own assignments for which they
must think, speak and write critically.
Citizen
Studentship will culminate in the design and fulfillment of a class
project that will help students to find their potential for making
a meaningful contribution to the intellectual environment of the campus
and the community at large.
HF 271A, B, C
Honors Independent Study
See Prof. Phil Boshoff
An independent research or project opportunity for unusually well
qualified first-year or sophomore students working at "honors"
level. In consultation with a sponsoring faculty member, the student
proposes to the Honors Council a project that builds upon the student’s
academic background and interests and concludes in an “honors”
paper or project to be shared with the wider student community. The
Honors Independent Study may not be substituted for available honors
courses. The project proposal must describe the project coherently
and in detail, especially indicating the ways in which the undertaking
exercises sophisticated abilities and methodologies; it must also
make clear why the available “honors” courses are not
suitable for the student proposing HF271/272 (see for further details).
HF272A,
B, C, D
Honors Independent Study
HF301
Honors Forum Senior Symposium
Prof. Phil Boshoff
What is the difference between a public policy statement and a lab
report, between a poem and a philosophical treatise? Just how do different
disciplines conduct their inquiries, define the “evidence”
they employ, and make claims for knowledge and value? These will be
our central questions as seniors from a variety of disciplines work
on and discuss their culminating research and creative projects for
their majors. We will also read current discussions and critiques
of contemporary undergraduate education with an eye to contextualizing
our culminating experiences within wider discussions of the liberal
arts. The main work of the course, however, will be student-generated
discussion of senior-year capstone projects. We will meet one hour
each week for the first half of the course, then two hours every other
week for the remainder of the semester. There will be one student
report and one analytical paper due at the end of the course. Faculty
and administrative guests will be invited to join us on occasion.
HF372
A, B, C, D
Independent
Study
