[Leslie]

Hello, I’m a parent of a junior in high school who just started RC Sproul’s philosophy class on Compass. I’m so thankful for the timely addition of this new course as it aligns very well with her Philosophy class curriculum (The Consequences of Ideas and ND Wilson’s, Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl) in her Classical Conversations Challenge 3 community. Looking forward to getting ideas for research projects.

[Thomas Purifoy, Jr.]

So glad this is useful to you. We have been hurrying to try to get it ready. We are putting quizzes and assignments together now, but would love any feedback on it – please feel free to make comments/ideas/requests here. Also, can you tell me more about CC’s approach to philosophy? What could we do to make the class sync with what you’re doing? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Leslie]

Hello Mr. Purifoy,

So thankful you are uploading quizzes & assignments now. We are already on Aristotle, which doesn’t have those resources. We are doing one chapter per week, so time is of the essence for these resources, please. We will depend greatly on the quiz results for proof of mastery and a non-subjective measurement for grade compilation on her transcript. CC has students annotate their reading from Consequences of Ideas and make a study guide for class discussions (Socratic style) and when they are assigned to lead the seminar. This is to help them outline heavier college texts in the future, be able to recall important/interesting concepts (philosophy, influence, people) for discussion, and effectively lead a seminar using the 5 common topics. They use CofI in conjunction with ND Wilson’s, “Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl”, to jolt them out of their complacency/acceptance of status quo thinking. I really like Frame’s textbook readings to round out each lesson, I appreciate the review & vocabulary section as a way to make sure she has caught the important concepts, and all of us who have subscribed love the RC Sproul videos. He is a very engaging teacher. Thank you for your work on this project!

[Thomas Purifoy, Jr.]

Whoa – are you all are moving quickly. 🙂 We have a college philosophy senior who is creating the quizzes, but it’s taking us a bit longer as it always does. It’s possible you will outstrip us at this speed. You can always look at the questions in the Summary/Vocab sections and the questions at the end of John Frame’s chapter. They have a lot of options. I have to be honest and say proof of mastery is not going to come from quizzes in the realm of philosophy. The subject is just too complex. You can understand facts and figures, but concepts are far more subtle. I hate to say this, but there are few students who can master this knowledge at this age anyway. Rather, this is a way of exposing them to the most important ideas and stretching their minds. If they just do all the readings and the journal entries, they will be accomplishing a lot. If they can explain what a philosopher thinks, they will know more than 99% of high school graduates in terms of philosophy. If they make it through and do all the readings and basic assignments, that’s worth an A or B alone. It’s not easy. The quizzes are just a way to reinforce and explain from another direction. Perhaps someday we can add in a grader, but we’re not there yet.

To clarify, are you using the Consequences of Ideas book or the videos in CC? Thanks for all your feedback – very helpful.

[Thomas Purifoy, Jr.]

Here’s another thought: I could likely have some people moderate this group to answer questions and join in discussions if that would be useful to students. Just let me know. They could also use it to talk to each other about what they are reading – the Film class does this.

[Leslie]

Thank you for your offer of a moderator! With the pace of our class and the fact that she has a weekly (philosophy) study session with one of her classmates, plus their Socratic discussion group, we would not require this. BUT others may enjoy/need that!

[Leslie]

Yes, it is a one-semester course, so Intro + 14 chapters (we’ll do 15 & 16 on our own) by May 2nd. I understand your comment about mastery, but there must be a measurable component (quizzes are best/easiest) for our transcript. [The writing load this year in CC is off the charts, so I am not looking to add another paper, no matter how short as part of weekly work.] Unfortunately, the Summary/Vocab sections stop prior to Aristotle, but if you can get those uploaded quickly, I will follow your advice. We are implementing Frame’s chapter study questions. CC does not use Sproul’s videos, only Wilson’s. We (personally) are using them (along with a couple of other families) because we all have subscribed to the course.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by  Leslie.

[Leslie]

Yay! I see the Summary/Vocabulary review sections have populated through Kant–that’ll hold us for a while! As suggested, I made the quizzes from the Summary/Vocab info. That worked well.

[Thomas Purifoy, Jr.]

Great, I’m glad. Thanks for your patience. 🙂

[Leslie]

And to clarify: CC only “officially” uses Dr. Sproul’s book, but CC have given us access to his videos, which our director has recommended the kids to view.

[Leslie]

Yay! The quizzes are up! Thank you SO much!

[Leslie]

Hi Mr. Purifoy,

I hope this finds you well! While working on Lesson 9 Locke, we found Berkeley listed within the review material (I believe this small section should be included within the next step, Lesson 10 Berkeley and Hume). Thank you again for the quizzes: they are marvelous!

Leslie

Review: Locke – My Compass Classroomhttps://mycompassclassroom.com/courses/philosophy-consequences-of-ideas/lessons/9-locke/topic/review-locke/

Review: Locke

[Ben Crist]

Thank you for the tip, Leslie! I was able to move the section to the correct spot.

[Aubrey]

Leslie, my daughter is doing the same thing. We are excited about this addition and what it will be to our discussions and learning in CC as well.

[Leslie]

Hi Aubrey! Yes, we are excited, too! Good success to you and your family in the coming semester!