Commitments Expected of Students in the Course

This seminar will be conducted as an inquiry into issues related to understanding the arts. It will involve all of us in extended conversations that will occur orally and in writing, both during class and outside of it. Your success in the course depends, in large part, on your willingness to make and fulfill the following commitments:

1. To attend all scheduled classes and events on time (for performances, early is good). There are no excused absences. If you must miss a class, email me immediately with an explanation and check in with your classmates to find out what you missed. Also check our class blog every few days for changes and updates. Excessive absence will affect your grade.
2. To write frequently and extensively during the course and at home. Our class blog will be the primary place for ongoing and sustained communication. You will be expected to read the blog regularly (at least two or three times a week) and to go there for updates and changes in our schedule or reading assignments. Blog posts will be organized by events and by class reading assignments and will take the following forms:
   • Responses to events and performances: You are expected to respond in writing to each event and performance we attend (as soon after the event as possible but within two or three days at the most). These entries can be informal; you are invited to write honestly and personally (no plot summaries, please) about what you are thinking and feeling and to raise questions about things you want to know more about. Experiment, at times, with writing in the present tense…as if the event is occurring as you write. And always proofread your entries! If you miss a scheduled event, you must visit another venue in NYC and write about your experience. This is the place to record your imaginative acts of attention.
   • Responses to readings: These are open-ended entries, also posted on the blog, in which you record your questions, responses and reactions to whatever we are reading, citing page numbers, using quotes from the text, and writing out any arguments you may have with the author as well as random thoughts, speculations, insights, etc.; these responses will often serve as the basis for class discussion.
   • Photos, art work, links: You are invited to enlarge our understanding of the arts by uploading photos of events we attend or links to art work or websites of interest to you.
   • Shaped Pieces: This refers to two term projects:
     1. One piece of creative writing that you take through drafts and revisions until you have reached a point of satisfaction. This writing will be the basis for the creation of a digital story or prose poem that will be posted on the blog during the first half of the semester;
     2. An end-of-term multimedia project that relates to the theme of the seminar. Options include:
        • Making a piece of art that addresses an environmental issue that matters to you with an accompanying artist’s statement;
        • Reporting on how an artist of your choice is addressing an environmental issue in a new and compelling way;
        • Creating a final piece that shows how your thinking and actions have been influenced by your immersion in the topic of climate change.

        Your final project will be presented to the class and posted to the blog.

        Due dates for topics and timelines will be addressed in class.

3. To participate in collaborative reading, writing, and arts presentation groups. During the course, you will be asked to work with other members of the class as follows:
   • When we work on shaped pieces, digital stories, and multimedia projects, you will be asked to bring in copies of your work-in-progress and to share them with others in your group for feedback and response. Learning how to listen and respond respectfully and generously to your peers will be one goal for this activity. The other will be to help you create work that speaks to others in thoughtful, honest, revealing, and powerful ways.
   • In teams of two, three, or four, you will be asked to present a short overview about a specific art form we are planning to view during the term. Your presentation should include a brief history of the form, important artists, a video of the artist we will be seeing at work, and critics’ reviews of the work. Dates and topics will be organized during the second week of class.
4. To visit at least three exhibits in New York City using your Cultural Passport and to post your analyses and reflections on the blog. You may comment on the architectural space itself, the type of work exhibited (describing at least one work in depth), the audience viewing the exhibit, and your sense of what you were seeing. In class, we will discuss the various venues available to you.
5. To participate in all required Macaulay Honors College events, including the activities associated with Snapshot Day and its exhibition in December.
6. To be cognizant of the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity (go to www.lehman.edu/lehman/about/policies_pdf/CUNYAcademicIntegrityPolicy.pdf) and to submit work that represents your own thinking and/or that of others with appropriate citations.