Welcome to the Medieval Universities of Europe & Africa

Hope you all enjoyed your whirl-wind tour of medieval universities on two continents!

For next Tuesday, please read the New York Times article, "In Italian Schools, Reading, Writing and Recognizing Fake News" after reviewing the the related teaching activities. Your written answers to the questions in the teaching activities are to be submitted in class on Tuesday.

Have a good look at the Annotated Bibliography assignment sheet I handed out today. If you were not in class, you can find the handout on the campus portal. Make sure that the instructions are clear to you and bring questions to class if they are not.

Give some serious thought to what our research project assignment should be. I suggested that we divide up the twelve Empirically Validated Strategies to Reduce Stereotype Threat and work from there to create research that is also an opportunity to serve others. I am open to other research topics, but we have to move fast.

SAVE THE DATES

• Fall 2017 Social Justice Speaker Series, Wednesday, November 8, at 5 p.m., in the Chapel. mark! Lopez is the Executive Director of the East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice and is the 2017 North American recipient of the Goldman Environmental prize.
• Freshman Research Conference, Thursday, November 16, 3:30-5, location TBA.

Midterm Exam

On Thursday we will have our midterm exam. To prepare, review the class blog and your notes. You will need to be able to briefly define/summarize the neurosciences concepts we have explored:

1. Growth vs. Fixed Mindset; 
2. The Adolescent Brain; 
3. Stereotype Threat; 
4. Effects of Stress; 
5. Neuro-plasticity; and 
6. Values Affirmation. 

Strong summaries will include an example of an experiment described in the article or talk.

You will also need to be able to identify on a map the locations of the ancient schools we've visited and, in a sentence or two, describe the education system of each place and the purposes they served in their societies:

1. The Eduba of Mesopotamia
2. The Imperial Examination System of China
3. Greece (Athens and Sparta) & Rome
4. The Tēlpochcalli and the Calmecac of the Aztec Empire

Finally, you will write a reflection on the NDNU Hallmark of your choice, explaining why you think it is important and how it relates to your Call to Action Day adventure and your NDNU experience.

1. We proclaim by our lives even more than by our words that God is good.
2. We honor the dignity and sacredness of each person.
3. We educate for and act on behalf of justice and peace in the world.
4. We commit ourselves to community service.
5. We embrace the gift of diversity.
6. We create community among those with whom we work and with those we serve.
7. We develop holistic learning communities which educate for life.

Values Affirmation and Reflecting on Call to Action Day

Patti Andrews has requested feedback from our class. Please send her a quick email at pandrews@ndnu.edu, letting her know 1) How are you feeling heading into midterm week, and 2) What would help you feel more confident of succeeding. There is extra credit for anyone who sends her a note by Friday 4pm.

More extra credit can be had if you attend tonight's presentation and peer-led panel on Test Anxiety, at 6pm in the Academic Success Center. We seriously need at least four people from the class to go and report back about the program.

Today we reflected in the Chapel on our Call to Action Day experience. How does what you did at CTA Day relate to what we are exploring in our seminar? I will post some photos from our adventure with the Belle Air School 5th Graders shortly.

We also reviewed the problem of stereotype threat from last week's reading and discussed a dozen practical ways to ameliorate it, including self-affirmation of values.Please have a look at this short article from Stanford, "The Value of "Values Affirmation"."

Next Tuesday, we will review what we have learned so far this semester and create a mid-term exam together, which you will take on Thursday.

Coming Soon:
Volunteer and fun opportunity: Halloween in the Tenderloin, October 31, 4pm-7pm. More info soon.

Welcome to the Tēlpochcalli and the Calmecac (& Call to Action)

Important!: Please meet on Tuesday, at 9 a.m., on the Quad to pick up your lunch and sign in for our trip to the Marine Science Institute in Redwood City. We will be taking a school bus with the 4th graders from Belle Air School in San Bruno (you may get crazy flash backs). Please do not be late because making a bunch of 4th graders wait for you on a bus seems like a really horrible idea.

I hope you all enjoyed your way-back machine visit to the Aztec schools on Tuesday and the presentation by Sister Rosanne this morning.We've talked in class a lot about what the society or government wants to achieve through education, but we have until now not thought a lot about a society or government that works to keep its people uneducated and why. Now let's consider getting educated as a form or rebellion against exploitation.

We will meet on Thursday to reflect on our Call to Action Day experience, and to continue our discussion about Stereotype Threat and Self-Affirmation of Values. Class will be held in the Chapel (for real this time.)