First Seminar | University Seminar
Note: For notes about collaboration and writing faculty roles, see the Negotiating Writing Roles on the Program Resources main page. For SAGES Learning Outcomes, visit: http://www.case.edu/sages/fellows.htm
First Seminar
In the fall of the freshman year, each SAGES student enrolls in a First Seminar. The seminar's defining feature is its small size. With enrollment limited to 17 students, every First Seminar promotes active engagement and discussion, allows students to learn from one another, and offers a vigorous introduction to academic inquiry.
Each First Seminar focuses on one of four interrelated themes: The Life of the Mind; Thinking about the Symbolic World; Thinking about the Natural/Technological World; and Thinking about the Social World.
Several aspects of First Seminar are especially valuable to students as they begin their undergraduate careers.
Intensive Advising and Mentoring
Each First Seminar is led by a Case faculty member who also serves as the students' first-year advisor. Under this system, students receive guidance from professors who have observed their academic performance firsthand and with whom they interact frequently, both inside and outside the classroom.
An Emphasis on Writing
In SAGES, writing instruction is integrated into the seminar experience. Most students do not take a separate expository writing course. Instead, they concentrate on their writing throughout the SAGES sequence. All of the seminars—First, University, and departmental—are designated as writing-intensive courses. And most students receive feedback on their writing both from seminar leaders and from co-instructors (usually graduate students in English) who participate in all aspects of the seminar experience. We believe that our students' development as writers is enhanced when their work emerges from ongoing engagement with a seminar topic. Opportunities to Explore Other University Circle Institutions
In addition to three hours of class time each week, First Seminar includes “fourth-hour activities” at the scientific and cultural institutions that constitute University Circle. These include the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Cleveland Botanical Garden, the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Cleveland Natural History Museum, and the Western Reserve Historical Society.
- > First Seminar Template
- > First Seminar Sample Syllabus 1
- > First Seminar Sample Syllabus 2
- > First Seminar Sample Syllabus 3
- > First Seminar Sample Syllabus 4
- > Writing Instruction Outline - Emily Clark created this rough schedule for use in multiple first
seminars. It is provided here as an example. The schedule lists general
discussion themes, reading assignments from the handbooks, and exercises
broken down by week, as well as brief descriptions of the goals of each
of the four paper assignments. The rough schedule and assignments can be
modified in consultation with seminar leaders.
- > First Seminar Diagnostic Assignment - This document includes the memo from Peter Whiting asking instructors to give a writing diagnostic prompt to their students on the second day of classes. The purpose of this diagnostic essay is to identify writers who, because they are non-native speakers of English, may have trouble keeping up with the pace of reading and writing in the seminar. Such students must be indentified to the SAGES office before Friday of the FIRST week of classes. In addition, this document describes other uses for the diagnostic essay (e.g., to help gauge writing strengths and weaknesses before the first major assignment, to establish a habit of writing early in the semester, etc.)
- > Inventing the First Seminar - Molly Berger & Chalet Seidel are sharing their exciting ideas about designing their First Seminar on the SAGES Wiki.
- > Reflections on the Interview Assignment - This document (Word) offers reflections from SAGES Co-Instructors about their experiences with the Interview assignment (one of the four writing projects required in the First Seminar Template). To add your comments, email Kim Emmons (kke1@case.edu). See also Chalet Seidel's Interviewing Tips, a handout for students.
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University Seminar
After completing a First Seminar, students take two University Seminars by the end of their second year. Though the writing and discussion proceed at a more advanced level, University Seminars have a family resemblance to First Seminars. Enrollment is still limited to 17 students, and the thematic “worlds” introduced early in the sequence—social, symbolic, natural/technological—are retained as organizing principles of the curriculum. The course topics generated from this framework are remarkably diverse.
As noted above, all SAGES seminars are writing-intensive. Upon completion of their University Seminars, students submit a selection of their seminar papers in the form of a digital portfolio.
The leaders of University Seminars include faculty members from Case's professional schools, as well as professors from the schools and colleges that grant undergraduate degrees. Seminar leaders are also drawn from the ranks of two SAGES-inspired programs: the Presidential Fellows and the SAGES Fellows. These programs enable SAGES students to interact with guest scholars from other universities, curators and educators from University Circle institutions, and distinguished professionals whose backgrounds in journalism, politics, and other fields equip them to bring fresh perspectives to SAGES and to the University generally.
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