My Personal Pedagogy

I just finished one E-Seminar on Tuesday and started another one on Wednesday, and papers for the marking scheme are due on 1 February. This is sheer bliss for me! I love having seminars deadlines to meet and papers due at the same time. For me, the two form my own personal pedagogy, which is important in a self-directed learning program. For me, in seminars, writing papers, and when using Study Guides, it all comes down to questions asked and answered. The questions we ponder in seminars and Study Guides are didactic, of course, so I like to ask myself a few things before I begin writing, ‘What is this question telling me about the text,’ ‘why are these particular questions being asked by my tutor,’ are great ways to become more attuned to the question, and my process for responding to it.

Bí Ullamh

Years ago, as a boy scout the motto Bí Ullamh was drilled into me. It’s the Irish for “be prepared” and although it didn’t turn me into a overly cautious fretter who couldn’t leave home without a pen-knife, waterproofs and matches in a Ziploc bag, it did make me aware that anything can happen. And it usually does.

Which makes it all the more galling when I lost an entire WordPress website a few days ago because I hadn’t backed it up.  It was a hard lesson. All I needed was to install the BackUpWordpress plugin, which backs up the site automatically.

25 January: Shall We Celebrate?

Walking Cairo streets, contemplating places that have witnessed 18 days of courage, cooperation and sacrifice, I started thinking “shall we celebrate?” Shall 25 January be an anniversary or a memorial – a memorial of the revolution’s spirit? Have we lost the genuine spirit of the revolution, or is it still there awaiting an invigorating stimulus? Were the revolution days as ideal as we claim or did we just look at them as though?

E-Seminar Inspiration!

This week I have the lucky chance to enjoy an E-Seminar. I look forward to the seminars all year-long because hey are so helpful and so inspirational. You might guess at some obvious benefits like being more closely connected with the University of London through seminars while engaged in a Distance Learning program, or getting feedback from University faculty and tutors. These points are very important and hugely helpful, but there are some other benefits and inspirations like managing multiple study projects to a deadline, a narrow focus on a topic, the stimulation of new and different questions, being inspired to think in different ways, and working with other students. For me, participation in the E-Seminars is the best inspiration for the second half of the term as I begin to prepare for exams. Preparing for exams is very much on my mind during seminars; May, exam month for my degree program, is getting closer. It is also the cold, dead of winter here and I have been studying hard for several months. A little inspiration is welcome.

What Was The Question?

This is going to be a snowy, beautiful weekend in my corner of Pennsylvania. It is crisp and cold; perfect ‘fireplace weather;’ I have 5 days to settle in with Jelly Bean and my treasured notebooks. This week I decided to schedule a 5 day break so I can have uninterrupted writing and study time. The submission deadline for essay marking schemes is very soon, on 1 February. Over the next few days I am going to write four papers under exam conditions, and schedule my writing to simulate taking exams 3 or 4 days in a row.  When I have to work out a plan for a challenge like this I start with an idea of how my day will ideally unfold, or what my ideal essay will contain.  My ideal essay is completed in less than an hour, answers the question completely and represents an organized, articulate argument. How do I reach the ideal I aspire to? Thank is a very good question.

New Year in Egypt

Surrounded by a peaceful breeze, I sat on warm sand watching the marvellous scene of sun rise. I looked at the pure sky while sun rays were ascending in a wonderful glory reflecting a fulgent shadow on the crystalline waves of the red sea. The birth of a new day always fills one with hope and passion, while the ebb and flow of tides motivate endless metaphors. A vigorous wave followed by a tranquil one just resembles the movement of Egyptians in revolutionary protests in January followed by their flow to arbitrative polling stations in December.

Stimulated by natural beauty, I started reading in my Social Policy subject guide. Reading on ideological perspectives on an Egyptian soil has a special taste; reflecting my studies on the current situation in Egypt is particularly challenging. As shown by the first parliamentary elections after the revolution, the overarching ideology in Egypt is an Islamic one, which is not archetypal of any of the ideologies I’m currently studying. However, what is tremendous about the University of London courses is that they provide one with the analytical tools applicable to any setting.

For Islamist parties in Egypt, winning a majority after being banned of engaging in political activities for over half a century is an accomplishment. Nevertheless, history suggests that real achievements are to be judged based on sustainability. As an electoral, I can tell that our votes in the first free elections were driven by trust and it is clear that Islamists have proven successful in trust-building on the national level. However, voting in subsequent elections would naturally be based on actual performance which is the real challenge facing all political parties in Egypt, especially the ones that Egyptians have put their trust into.

As the early morning urges one to look for what the day has to bring, the first year of the Egyptian revolution urges one to look for what the future has to bring. An appreciation of the historical and cultural background of the country makes one anticipate distinctive outcomes of the Egyptian endeavour.

Learning To Read

This term I really learned how to read. When I decided to read Literature of the later Middle Ages I thought it would mean indulging in some imaginative, romantic, and perhaps fanciful texts. The language seemed intimidating and I could not begin to think how I would apply any of the theory and criticism from other units to texts that seemed as remote and inaccessible as those from 800 years ago do. Quite unexpectedly, how I read, theory and criticism is exceptionally important to me in this unit. I have been to ‘The Ends of Allegory,’ as Dr. Sayre Greenfield titled is book, and back.

Happy New Year Y’all

I do enjoy cross referencing things and this week there are many opportunities. In America we are getting ready to celebrate the New Year—which, interestingly, is a term of Middle English (1150-1200) origin. This term I am reading Literature of the Later Middle Ages and became very curious about references to New Year. I wonder what word and traditions people used with reference to the New Year before 1150.

This New Year I am celebrating in a southern city, Washington D.C. My home, Pittsburgh, is close to Washington DC and is also very near the Mason Dixon line. The Mason Dixon line is a survey boundary that separated the Union and Confederate states in the American Civil War. I live in a place referred to as ‘The Gateway to Appalachia’ (pronounce it Apple – At – Cha) Although we are a few miles north of the Mason Dixon line, the New Year traditions in Pittsburgh are very southern, especially among the ‘old’ families who arrived before the great waves of immigration America and Pittsburgh experienced in the late 19th and early 20^th century. In addition to its southern traditions, proximity to Appalachia, and great immigrant communities, Pittsburgh is also known as the ‘Gateway to the Mid-West’ and the ‘Gateway to the North-East.’ That’s a lot of cross referencing and a bit of a puzzle when it comes to understanding the complex story of this community.

Prodigy or Prodigal Student?

Did you know that ‘Prodigy’ and ‘Prodigal’ are found on the same page in the ‘Oxford Dictionary Usage Guide’? They share a page, and quite nicely frame the academic dilemma that occurs around this time of year. My academic dilemma revolves around the exam time tables and marking scheme papers. Both deadlines are quickly approaching making this a time of year for nail-biting and a general student-angst.

A New Year and a New Egypt

As one approaches a new year, the first thoughts that come to mind usually are the achievements of that year which is about to end. Looking at 2011 as whole, I find this year very special both on the national level and on the personal level.

History will never forget this date, 25^th January 2011, which has sparked the light for the Egyptian Revolution. For Egypt, the major achievement of 2011 is taking the first steps towards real democracy. Since the first days of the revolution, Egyptians have learned that it is the power of unity that can make them change the world and it is unity that will enable us to continue our path. One hopes we will never disregard the lesson.