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Klipsun Magazine, 2012, Volume 43, Issue 02 - Fall, Marissa Abruzzini

Klipsun Magazine

Standing on the front row bleachers at the fairgrounds, I could smell acrid gasoline pluming from the exhaust pipes of 10 demolition cars about 500 feet away. My older brother aimed his camera at the line of cars, which looked like colorful beetles from where we stood.

“I can’t see anything from here,” he said. “Let’s go.”

We made our way down to the security tent nudged between the audience and the demolition ring. A man in aviators and a bright blue security jacket stood at the entrance with his arms folded.

“You can’t come back here,” he said. My …

Klipsun Magazine, 2012, Volume 43, Issue 01 - Fall, Brian Corey

Klipsun Magazine

I’m done, checked out. I graduated. Talk about a pivotal moment.

While I write this it is time for myself and many others receiving their diplomas to step into roles as accountants, engineers, teachers and such, but when this hits stands another group of students will be entering their first year. It’s a simple cycle of coming and going. Each person will create his or her own path through college and into the professional world. Sort of like a choose-your-own- ending book. This story, while individually exciting, is very common. The stories within these pages are a bit more out …

The Planet, 2012, Fall, James Rogers, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

Window: The Magazine Of Western Washington University, 2012, Volume 05, Issue 01, Mary Lane Gallagher, Office Of University Communications And Marketing, Western Washington University

Window Magazine

No abstract provided.

Klipsun Magazine, 2012, Volume 42, Issue 07 - Spring, Brian Corey

Klipsun Magazine

Dear reader, “Jump!” “Do it! Go!” “Jump!” She jumped. The river was flowing slowly about 50 feet below. In the brief instance of free fall before she splashed into the water she was free from all havoc, just herself and the summer breeze. Then she hit the water, and the rocks just below the surface.

In a jump she had made numerous times before she made one little error and landed in an area quite a bit shallower than the usual splash zone. Both of her legs broke on impact. Friends were able to pull her from the river. As …

Klipsun Magazine, 2012, Volume 42, Issue 06 - Spring, Elysia Nazareth

Klipsun Magazine

“Time is of the essence” “A Wrinkle in Time” “Times Like These” “Killing time” Whether in contract law, classic literature, pop culture or everyday idiomatic expression, it cannot be denied – time is ever-present.

Commonly used as a measuring system to sequence events and to quantify rates of change, the passing of time can vary from person to person and situation to situation.

For me, with 10 days until graduation, the saying “time flies when you’re having fun” could not be more true. It’s times like these that I can’t help but think about the different events in our lives …

The Planet, 2012, Spring, Becky Tachihara, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

Window: The Magazine Of Western Washington University, 2012, Volume 04, Issue 02, Mary Lane Gallagher, Office Of University Communications And Marketing, Western Washington University

Window Magazine

No abstract provided.

Klipsun Magazine, 2012, Volume 42, Issue 05 - Winter, Elysia Nazareth

Klipsun Magazine

It is in our nature as humans to assume that weakness, in its most literal form, insinuates disadvantage or fault; almost instinctively, our minds seem to formulate the dichotomy between weakness and strength.

We each have our own intellectual, physical and emotional attributes that define our personal singularity. Varying connotations of the word “weak” stand as one such example of our uniqueness and variety, yet despite these different interpretations, we all experience weakness in one way or another.

In this issue of Klipsun, you’ll read that for some, weakness is indulging in our guiltiest pleasures – which may mean secretly …

The Planet, 2012, Winter, Becky Tachihara, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

Backwards By Design Assessment Project, Linda Keeler

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

Currently, KIN 321 Sociology of Sport is the only sociocultural class in the kinesiology program and perhaps, one of the only sociology courses that kinesiology students will ever take. It is quite common that a sport sociology course is the first (and unfortunately only) upper class course that forces the students to critically analyze the underpinnings and values of the sport institution in which many are working so hard to promote. Since the class is approached from a conflict theorist approach (i.e., what I like to call the nitpick theory) and often challenges long held beliefs, a key threshold concept …

Using Service-Learning To Teach Threshold Concepts, Helen Morgan Parmett

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

The course I chose to focus on for the Backwards by Design retreat and for this particular study is Communication 244: Advocacy through Media. This course enjoins students to critically consider how media can be used as a tool to advocate for social and political change, and, especially for social justice. Students engage with scholarly and activist literature on theories of media, social change, and advocacy as well as case studies of media makers who intervene in the process of social change. Students’ critical acumen is sharpened through participating in a service-learning project, where students learn how to apply theories …

Backwards By Design Project Assessment Write-Up, Michelle Saint

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

In Fall 2012, I taught Phil 355: Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art. I used this course as an opportunity to test a new pedagogical technique. I will call this pedagogical technique the Incremental Exercises Model (IEM). Below, I will quickly summarize the course and its learning goals. Second, I will explain my previous method of meeting these learning goals. Third, I will explain IEM and how I implemented it in this particular class. Finally, I will provide some concluding observations about the successes and failures of this technique.

Backwards By Design Implementation Report, Kristina Luce

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

As part of my participation in the Backwards by Design Retreat during summer of 2012, I chose to design the first course of the three-part series of courses on writing required for the Art History Major. A/HI 271: Introduction to Writing and Critical Thinking is also a GUR.

My goal overarching goal was to implement the idea of a threshold concept within the course, and during the retreat I identified that concept as:

In academic writing, well-grounded claims are understood to emerge out of evidence, but in art historical writing, as in any interpretive writing, it is essential to understand …

A Process For Engagement With Threshold Concepts In Spanish Composition, Sean Dwyer

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

Numerous practices and assignments discussed at the 2012 Backwards by Design Curriculum Workshop appeal to me as sources of creativity in the classroom. Some will suit courses I teach in the future. For this year, I faced an issue: I am working with students whose classroom vocabulary is equivalent to that of a three-year-old, because I am teaching first-year Spanish.

The most applicable idea, one that energized me greatly, was the identification of threshold concepts. Working backward from that identification, I sought ways to implement practices that would, I hoped, bring those concepts permanently into my students’ approach to writing …

/Ɡizəskɪfi/ (Give Me A Clue) - Linguistic Features Of Scottish Accents And Dialects, Sarah Knudsen

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Powerpoint presentation describing the author's research, conducted in Scotland, regarding Scottish dialectal features and the sociolinguistic connotations associated with the dialects. Outside research is also incorporated.