Abstract:

In March of 2010, I was notified that I was a recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant given by the United States’ government. The grant is called and “Enduring Questions” grant. It supports the development of a new course that addresses an “Enduring question.” My course addresses the nature of Pride, Humility, and the Good Life. This presentation offers some of the fruitful results of teaching this course. The presentation is divided into two parts. The first part of the presentation includes a discussion of the content that we explored in the course. The course draws from classical authors like Homer and Virgil as well as other writers like Lao Tzu, Dante, Ralph Ellison, and Arthur Miller. We also examine works by philosophers like Aristotle, Machiavelli, Nietzsche, and Buber. In addition to this discussion of the course’s content, the second part of this presentation will explore some concrete teaching techniques and tools that seem particularly valuable. Those tools include a daily writing assignment called a QCQ, another assignment using Google Forms, a new approach to exams, and a scaffolded research project. These unique, innovative teaching tools made the course content come alive for the students.

Keywords:

Pride, Humility, Humanities, Seminar.