Weekly Reflections on Teaching Political Science
Below are weekly, short reflections of teaching an Introduction to Political Science course a few years ago. Week One: Syllabi & Assessment The first week of…
Below are weekly, short reflections of teaching an Introduction to Political Science course a few years ago. Week One: Syllabi & Assessment The first week of…
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” –Maya Angelou The term “woke” is associated with increasingly widespread…
Cana Academy's interview with Lee Trepanier is available here.
The general goal of my Introduction to Political Studies class is for students to develop the capacity to think critically and insightfully about political reality. Thus, they…
The fourth and final subfield I cover in my Introduction to Political Studies class is Comparative Politics. This subfield is the most problematic and difficult for two…
Having considered politics from above from the Socratic perspective, and from within from the perspective of my students own regime, Canada, we now move slightly outward, to…
After considering the “big picture” questions about politics, my first-year students turn to the study of Canadian politics (in the U. S., this subfield would get covered…
In my previous posts, I explained how I try to introduce the activity of politics to students. Following my “great books” approach to introducing political science, I…
In my last post, I outlined some of the challenges in teaching an introductory class in political science. In this and the next few posts, I shall…
Teaching my university’s first-year Introduction to Political Studies (Poli 1000) is a challenge. In fact, it’s the most challenging course for me to teach. The students taking…
Introduction: Mythic Consciousness and Philosophy Philosophy is commonly misunderstood as one subject among many that you might take up in school; it is often confounded with whatever…
The dominant school of thought when it comes to teaching philosophy is for the professor to hide his opinions and to strive for an objective and neutral…
A number of years ago, I abandoned a secure, well-paying high school teaching position and took up a job picking litter for the city’s Roads Department. At…
“Your total ignorance of that which you profess to teach merits the death penalty. I doubt whether you would know that St. Cassian of Imola was stabbed…
In The Apology, Socrates brought up the question of whether he was paid for being a teacher, like the Sophists, who were paid for their skill in teaching whatever it was…