Assignment #2: Habits of the Mind. You must turn in the answers to Step 1 at the end of class on September 29th. You will begin your viewing chart on Tuesday, September 29 and end on Monday, October 5. You must turn in your viewing chart on October 8th and be ready for a class discussion.
- Step 1: Spend 15 minutes writing answers to the following questions:
- How many hours of television do you think you watch a day?
- How many hours do you think you spend on your computer that is not related to school each day?
- Do you watch television with other family members, friends?
- Do you think about what you watch?
- What does watching television add to your life?
- What does spending non-school time on your computer add to your life?
- How would your life change if you stopped watching television?
- How would your life change if you cut down on your non-school computer time?
- Step 2: Chart your television and computer programs viewing for a week. The chart can be set up in any way that best helps you get an understanding of what they you watching. For instance, it could be an actual chart or a type of journal. On the chart/journal, you must include the following:
- Llist each of the television shows you watched. Write down a few sentences describing what you thought about the programs, and how each program did/did not contribute to your life.
- At the end of the week, calculate the amount of hours spent watching television for the entire week.
- List the types of social media and other things viewed on your computer for non-educational purposes during the week.
- At the end of the week, calculate the amount of hours spent on your computer for the entire week
- Describe how the time you spent watching television and working on your computer did/did not contribute to your life.
- Write a brief paragraph describing how your pre-assignment in which you guessed how many hours you spent watching television and using the computer for non-educational viewing compared with your calculations found during the week you charted your actions.
- Step 3: Be prepared to have an all-class discussion to compare and contrast all students' findings on October 8th on the day the assignment is due.