Monday, December 18, 2017

1000-Word Philosophy - Call for Essays

This is a call for essays for materials that are ideal for teaching philosophy in many contexts:

1000-Word Philosophy is a constantly-growing collection of original essays on important philosophical topics. These essays are introductions rather than argumentative articles. Each essay is as close to 1000 words (while never going over!) as the author can get it. A 1000-word essay takes between five and ten minutes to read. That’s about the length of a bus ride or a waiting room stay or the lead-up to a class meeting.

We’re always looking for authors to contribute and seek a diverse set of essays, on a wide range of philosophical issues, questions, figures and traditions. If you’re interested in contributing a 1000-word essay (or essays) on a philosophical topic that interest you and that you think would interest our readers, email us. Please either send us your full essay for review, or an essay proposal, or any other inquiries regarding the appropriateness and desirability of your topic and approach.
We are especially interested in essays on topics frequently addressed in introductory courses, as well as topics that are difficult to cover in introductory courses because the relevant literature is difficult for first-year students. We especially welcome material addressing under-represented philosophical traditions, including global philosophy, philosophy of race, LGBTQIA issues, and more.  
Why contribute? 1000-Word Philosophy currently has a few hundred online visitors each day, and we are working to increase those numbers, so your essay will be highly visible to a global readership. We are also looking into ways to try to track the use of the essays, for example, in teaching and as sources for online discussion. We are also planning to eventually compile the essays into an open-access and open-source print collection that will be ideal for classroom use, as well as the general reader. If you are interested in developing ideal materials for both teaching and public philosophy, then 1000-Word Philosophy is for you.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Essay Rubric

If you are looking for an awesome essay rubric, here's one, in a number of formats, by Micah Lewin:

Philosophy Paper Grading Rubric (on One 11x17 PDF Page, on Multiple 8.5x11 PDF Pages, or as a JPEG). 


Sunday, February 26, 2017

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Call for Outstanding Philosophy Teachers

Open call for Philosophers in the Classroom: Essays on Teaching

We write to solicit names of outstanding teachers who might be interested in contributing to a volume of reflective essays on the teaching of philosophy to be published by Hackett Publishing Company in 2019. We are primarily seeking dedicated philosophy teachers who have received an institution-wide teaching award (or some equivalent recognition) for their work in the classroom.

Essays will be approximately 4,000 to 7,000 words and reflect upon some aspect of the philosopher's experience as a teacher. Essays might address:

  • the teaching of a particular class (e.g. intro, ancient, modern, logic or critical reasoning);
  • the teaching of a particular student population (e.g. first-years, advanced majors, pre-college students, economically disenfranchised students, religious students, graduate students, or prisoners);
  • the impact philosophy teaching can have in the world;
  • a specific experience that has come to have broader significance for the author; or
  • some other topic that will educate and inspire teachers of philosophy.

This will not be an anthology of SOTL (scholarship of teaching and learning) papers or "how-to" papers, but an anthology of literary, narrative essays on the lives of distinguished philosophy teachers and their love for teaching.

Please recommend your best philosophy teachers for this project by e-mailing their names, and, if possible cvs, to alexandrabradner@gmail.com with the subject line "Hackett teaching book" by Wednesday, February 8, 2017. If you've received an institution-wide teaching award (or some equivalent recognition) and have an idea for an essay, please send your cv, along with a paragraph or two about your idea, to that same e-mail address by Wednesday, February 8, 2017. 

Decisions will be announced sometime in May 2017. We plan to assemble our final list of contributors through our review of the submissions generated by this call and through some number of invitations. We are aiming for a list that is diverse in all respects: institutional affiliation, career status, philosophical orientation, gender, ethnicity, etc.

Best,
Steven M. Cahn, Former Chair, APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy
Alexandra Bradner, Chair, APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy
Andrew Mills, President, American Association of Philosophy Teachers