Lesson Report:
Title
Busy vs. Truly Living: Seneca, Reflection, and Orientation Wrap-Up
In this capstone session, students conducted a close reading of Seneca’s On the Shortness of Life to interrogate the distinction between mere busyness and purposeful living. They connected philosophical ideas to their own experiences, revisited their “aspirational names,� synthesized course takeaways into advice and questions for next year’s cohort, and completed end-of-program feedback. Administrative time addressed portfolio formatting and final program logistics.
Attendance
– Students mentioned absent: 0
– Notes: Several late arrivals; no explicit absences recorded.
Topics Covered (chronological)
1) Opening logistics and portfolio check-in
– T-shirt reminder: Instructor repeatedly asked students to wear the program shirts (administrative requirement; purpose not specified).
– Portfolio submissions: Most have been reviewed and look fine if they followed instructions and included all required elements.
– Formatting issue flagged:
– Many students used Canva in presentation/landscape format.
– Requirement: Portfolio must be portrait orientation (like a printed sheet of paper) to match its purpose as an academic writing sample for FYS instructors.
– Suggested solution: Flip slide/page orientation (PowerPoint known to have an easy portrait setting; Canva likely can as well).
– Purpose of portfolio reiterated: To provide FYS instructors a primer on who the student is and a sample of current writing capacity.
– Support offered: Time during this or the next session can be used to fix issues (missing content, unusual formatting).
2) Private free write (3 min)
– Instructions: Final private free write; remains private (ungraded, not collected).
– Prompt (optional): Describe the moment you received your first cell phone—what phone, how you felt.
3) Close reading: Seneca, On the Shortness of Life
– Text and pages:
– Reader p. 244, Passage #3 (popcorn reading). Key claim introduced in class: “It’s not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste much of it.â€� Emphasis on stewardship of time akin to managing wealth: careful deployment vs. poor management.
– Reader p. 255, Passage 14.1 (popcorn reading). Key claim: Only those devoted to philosophy are truly at leisure and “really live,â€� because they annex every age to their own—accessing wisdom across time expands one’s life.
– Method: Popcorn reading with instructor modeling the first sentence; students alternating aloud.
4) Reflective free writing: Busy vs. truly living (3 min) and discussion
– Prompt: According to Seneca, what is the difference between being busy and truly living? Draw on the passages and personal experience.
– Student contributions:
– Adler analogy (How to Mark a Book): “Owningâ€� a book by annotating ≈ “owningâ€� one’s life by active, reflective engagement—not passively turning pages or going through the motions.
– Meaningful action criterion: Busyness can be chores/routine; truly living requires meaning—creating new experiences, memories, or contributions with purpose for oneself and possibly society.
– Philosophical contrast:
– Seneca: True living requires intentional, reflective activity that expands the mind (e.g., philosophy).
– Camus: One can find happiness in repetition; meaning can be forged within routine. Students noted productive tension between these views.
– Instructor synthesis: The class recognized the distinction between activity and purposeful living, and the possibility of finding or creating meaning even within routine.
5) Administrative feedback activity (10–12 min)
– Two Google Forms distributed in the class chat:
– Form 1 (to instructor): Anonymous feedback on this specific course design and experience (free-thinking vs. academic writing balance, activities’ usefulness, etc.). Students encouraged to be candid; length flexible.
– Form 2 (to program lead, Camelia): Feedback on the overall orientation experience.
– Timing: 5–10 minutes allocated; extended by a few minutes to accommodate finishers.
– Clarifications on past activities:
– Loop writing recap: Iterative add-on writing; one version included adding compliments to a peer’s original piece.
– Dialectical Response Notebook: Some confusion resolved—students did complete dialogues; instructor briefly acknowledged earlier memory lapse.
6) Instructor program reflection and context
– Pedagogical balance: Instructor strives to balance:
– “Thinking stuffâ€� (open prompts and philosophical reflection),
– “Hard writingâ€� (structured essay/academic writing), and
– “Funâ€� activities.
– This year’s experiment: Greater emphasis on creative and philosophical work than in past years, less rigid essay-drill approach.
– Constraints explained: Room size and unusually large cohort size; schedule/timing beyond instructor’s control.
– Commitment: Incorporate this cohort’s feedback to improve next year’s seminar.
7) Revisiting “aspirational names� (artifact from Day 1)
– Setup: Instructor shared a photo of the first-day board; students referenced their original aspirational monikers.
– Part A: Write one concrete way to move one step closer to that aspirational identity this coming semester (e.g., if aspiring to be more outspoken, set a specific participation goal).
– Part B: From those plans, extract one word/short phrase—skill, concept, or feeling—you will carry from this program into next semester.
– Group brainstorm of takeaways (as heard out loud):
– Skills/behaviors: Discipline, reading, writing, critical thinking, participation, regular attendance, teamwork/cooperation, focus, going to bed on time, motivation.
– Dispositions/feelings: Stress resistance, resilience, courage, confidence.
– Social: People/friends (carry supportive peer networks forward).
– Note: One student noted a “bad scheduleâ€� (4 sessions on Saturday) as a constraint to manage, not a goal.
8) Synthesis writing: Connecting two community-generated takeaways
– Task: Choose two items you did not personally list that are “in conversationâ€� (e.g., cause-and-effect, mutually reinforcing, prerequisite relationship).
– Write a short explanation of the relationship:
– Examples: “Discipline leads to regular attendance,â€� “Confidence supports participation,â€� “Focus enables critical reading.â€�
– Transformations:
– From this connection, produce:
– One piece of advice for next year’s freshmen (how to attain or link those two goals during orientation/early semester).
– One question about the relationship (e.g., how to cultivate X to achieve Y; whether one can substitute for the other; how meaning emerges from routine).
9) Closing and next steps
– Roadmap previewed: Continue brief writing if needed, then a short final game, then a traditional closing activity, and farewells.
– Timing: Dismissed with instruction to reconvene at 11:20 for the second and final session.
Actionable Items
High priority (before next session)
– Portfolios:
– Identify and assist any students who submitted landscape-oriented or oddly formatted portfolios; ensure all portfolios are in portrait orientation and include required elements.
– Offer brief in-class troubleshooting for Canva/PowerPoint orientation changes.
– Feedback forms:
– Verify receipt of both Google Forms from every student; follow up with any missing submissions.
– Session 2 prep:
– Ensure materials/space are ready for the short game and the final traditional activity.
– Confirm all students know the 11:20 return time.
Medium priority (this week)
– Clarify deliverables:
– Confirm whether the Dialectical Response Notebook/dialogue entries are to be archived or referenced in any culminating portfolio/document, to avoid grading/consistency confusion.
– Debrief list of takeaways:
– Compile and share the cohort’s skill/feeling list (discipline, confidence, etc.) back to students as a reference for early-semester goal-setting.
Longer-term (for program improvement)
– Analyze feedback:
– Review anonymous student feedback to recalibrate the balance between philosophical/creative activities and structured academic writing for next year.
– Structural constraints:
– Document impacts of cohort size and room constraints; communicate with program leadership about enrollment caps/room assignments for future iterations.
– Portfolio purpose alignment:
– Update portfolio guidelines to explicitly require portrait orientation and provide quick how-to for Canva/PowerPoint to reduce formatting issues next year.
Homework Instructions:
NO HOMEWORK
The transcript only describes in-class tasks (e.g., a private free write; popcorn readings of Seneca on pp. 244 and 255; a reflective free write; completing two Google forms “in the link in our group chat� during 5–10 minutes of class) and notes that any portfolio fixes can be done “either during this session or during the next session,� concluding with “we’ll be coming back at 11:20,� with no after-class submissions or due dates assigned.