The Sacred Journey:
Religions of the World

Core Discovery Course 166

Assignment 3: Class Discussion and Reflective Writes

In order to more fully explore and, in turn, understand the rich meaning and insight messages offered in the assigned readings, you will be expected to attend all class and evening sessions, and have the assigned readings for spring (CORE 166) semester completed before class sessions.  Come to class prepared to discuss.  There will be two opportunities for you to share your interpretations and questions on the assigned readings and class sessions, one verbal and one written. 

Field-Trips and Out-of-class Activities: At various times throughout the semester we will have an opportunity to engage in activities and events out-side the classroom setting.  Some activities will be field trips to local religious sites or to religious events.  Other activities could include service learning opportunities.   For each of these activities, you will write a short (two page) reflection on the significance and meaning of the event as you interpret it for the adherents, as well as the significance and personal meaning of the activity for yourself.   See "to reflect" below.

Class Discussion: At various times throughout the semester you will be called upon to add your voice to the class discussion, responding to questions posed by the instructor or other students, as well as contributing your own questions to the class dialogue, all relating to the assigned readings and/or class presentations or evening sessions. 

Reflective Writes: In addition, you will be periodically asked  to respond in writing to a specific question posed by the instructor on a given assigned reading, evening session, or class presentation.  These responses will ask you to reflect on the significance and meaning of a specific passage or idea conveyed in the reading or presentation.  The reflective writes will be a timed exercise, lasting no more than ten minutes.

To reflect is not to summarize, but to seriously contemplate and consider the cultural meanings, assumptions and implications of a specific text, i.e., a textbook reading, a guest speaker, or a video.  Your goal is two-fold.  1. Seek to articulate your own cultural and religious perspective, as well as, 2. seek to understand what you consider to be the cultural and religious perspective of those represented in the encountered text, be they from the Christian Orthodox, Muslim, or Jewish tradition, for example.  A key question would thus be: what are the larger implications of a specific text, as they relate to a particular religious tradition and as they relate to your own spiritual orientation?

To help you articulate and reflect upon both your own cultural assumptions and those whom you are encountering, apply the "eye juggling method" as considered in class.  Ask yourself how your own religious and cultural meanings and assumptions similar and different from the religious and cultural meanings and assumptions of those whose lives you glimpsed in the encountered text?  By juxtaposing that which is distinct along side that which is at hand, though often veiled, the contours of one's own cultural territory are more clearly revealed.

Grading criteria:

• For field-trips and out-of-class activities: Participate with respect to your host, and with full engagement to the learning activity.  Be open to the new and different, and learn from it.   Write a two page reflection for each activity.

• For the Class Discussion:  Respond with clarity and relevance, as well as an informed position to any class questions asked of you.   Pose your own poignant questions and effectively contribute to the entire class in discussion of the reading assignments.  Participate in a constructive fashion, spawning a lively discussion within the entire class. 

• For the Reflective Writes:  Reflect on the implications of the points posed in the text of the reading assignment, both from the perspective of an adherent of that tradition, and from your own spiritual perspective.

• There will be approximately 15 Class Discussion/Reflective Writes during the course of the semester, each worth 2.5 points (points depend upon the actually number of reflective writes assigned).  There will be an additional 20 points awarded, divided among the number of field-trips and other out-of-the-class activities.