Hartford Partnerships

List of 2 items.

• Civic Engagement I

  Civic Engagement One (I) (Designed for the Fourth Form)

   

  The Civic Engagement One (I) curriculum consists of two courses: 

  1) Civic Engagement and Civil Discourse which meets during the fall trimester and

  2) Speech Writing and Public Speaking which meets during the winter and part of the spring trimesters.

   

  The Civic Engagement One (I) course is pass/fail.

   

  1. The course Civic Engagement and Civil Discourse exists for three reasons.

   

  First, through a carefully selected series of lessons, Civic Engagement seeks to help Westminster students better understand who they are and for what they stand.

   

  Second, Westminster School feels strongly it has an obligation to teach its students, explicitly and intentionally, that they have an obligation to engage in their community.

   

  Third, civil discourse is a gateway through which one engages in one’s community—one must learn to listen, one must learn to consider opposing views, one must learn to honor the conventions of courtesy and respect.

  
  

  As an example, last year’s Civic Engagement curriculum (2022-23) included the following topics:

  1. Introduction to Civic Engagement One (I)
  2. The Divided Brain
  3. Wonder vs. Awe
  4. No Rights without Responsibilities: The Statue of Liberty vs. The Statue of Responsibility
  5. Plato’s Cave
  6. The Two Halves of Life
  7. Liberty vs. Equality
  8. Leadership vs. "Follower-ship"
  9. The Challenge

  
  

  2. The Speech Writing and Public Speaking course exists for three reasons.
  
  

  First, being trained in public speaking is an important means by which one can contribute to one’s community.
  
  

  Second, through a carefully selected series of lessons, the Speech Writing and Public Speaking course at Westminster aims to familiarize students with the fundamentals of composing and presenting a speech.

   

  Third, the Speech Writing and Public Speaking course seeks to provide Westminster students with the actual experience of preparing and delivering a speech by asking each student to participate in a public speaking contest. This contest both revives an old Westminster tradition and thus affirms the idea that public speaking is a fundamental tenet of the educational process.

  
  

  As an example, last year’s (2022-2023) Speech Writing and Public Speaking Curriculum followed the general pattern below:

  1. Introduction to the Speech Writing and Public Speaking course:
     a. Course Description — Overview
     b. Westminster School Fourth Form Speaking Contest — Overview
  2. General Terms and Techniques
     a. Introduction to General Terms
     b. Introduction to Key Rhetorical Techniques
     c. Written Expression vs. Verbal Expression 
  3. Identify the key rhetorical techniques in two short speeches
     a. TBD     
     b. TBD 
  4. Speech # 1: The “Sistare” Speech: In Your Own Words
     a. In Your Own Words . . . Write your own short version of Speech 3a or 3b.
     b. Diagram your own short version of Speech 3a or 3b.
     c. Practice delivering your speech.
     d. Submit your diagrammed version of either speech 3a or 3b.
     e. Deliver to the class your own version of either speech 3a or 3b.
  5. Speech # 2: Prepare Your Own Original, Short Speech
     a. In Your Own Words . . . Write an original, short speech.
     b. Diagram your original, short speech.
     c. Practice delivering your original, short speech.
     d. Submit the diagrammed version of your original, short speech.
     e. Deliver to the class your original, short speech.
  6. Fourth Form Public Speaking Contest = Finalists (chosen from Speech # 2).
     Tentative Date and Time: TBD. Format TBD.

• Civic Engagement II

  Civic Engagement Two (II) (2) (Designed for First-Year Fifth Formers, One-Year Sixth Formers, and Post-Graduates.)
  
  

  Civic Engagement Two (II), like Civic Engagement One (I), is a Pass/Fail course that meets one day per week for the fall trimester, the winter trimester, and part of the spring trimester. 

   

  The Civic Engagement Two (II) version of the Civic Engagement curriculum, offered to new Upper Formers, focuses on examining the foundations of both Western and Eastern civilization as a method to achieve the goals described above in the Civic Engagement and Civil Discourse class offered to the Fourth Form. Again, those goals are to aid Westminster students better understand who they are and for what they stand, to teach Westminster students that they have an obligation to engage in their own community as well as the community-at-large, and to help Westminster students learn the basics of civil discourse (i.e., to learn to listen, to consider opposing views, and to honor the conventions of courtesy and respect).

   

  In addition, Civic Engagement Two (II) seeks both to welcome new students to Westminster and to assist them in thinking about the role they can play within the Westminster community as well as the world around them.

  
  

  As an example, last year’s (2022-2023) Civic Engagement Two (II) curriculum included the following topics:

  Introduction to Civic Engagement Two (II)

  The Divided Brain
  Wonder and Awe
  Athens vs. Jerusalem (Reason vs. Faith) 
  Homer, Achilles, and the Heroic Code 

  Socrates and Plato and Aristotle
  Jerusalem and The Wisdom of God
  The Challenge 

  Stoicism

  St. Augustine
  Dante
  Montaigne
  Cervantes
  Shakespeare

  Pascal

  Nietzsche
  Introduction to Eastern Civilization: Hinduism and Buddhism
  Confucianism and Taoism