OAC Modern Western Civilizations
Icons Seminar

Introduction
     The goal of the seminars is to present to your classmates research regarding significant Historical events, people or ideas that have become part of our cultural identity. The seminar is not your essay read to the class. In fact, it is to be on a different topic altogether. Each student will choose a recognizable symbol to research. The more recognizable it is, the better the class discussion will be during the seminar.
     A good seminar will be one in which students leave the class with a better understanding about something that they thought they already understood. There should be an examination of why the symbol is something that exists in our cultural consciousness and why our perceptions might be clarified. Finally, as a class we should come up with a comprehensive context for the symbol, that is, determine how it relates to other things we know or think.

Plan of Action

1. Start with one symbol - a photo, image, logo, etc. of something relating to the last 100 years of Western Civilization. The image can be pre-historic, but it must be relevant to the 20th century.
2. Place the image:
   • in its original context - how did it start?
   • in mass media - how is it portrayed?
   • in today's context - how has it changed?
3. Present to the class, in the form of a 20-30 minute seminar, the "story" of the image which meets the goals outlined above. The fancy word for this is Deconstruction.

Timeline
The seminars will run every Monday, beginning in mid-October, depending on the number of students in the class. We will have 3 students present each Monday. A seminar should be planned to last approximately 20 minutes.

Sample Icons
      You may choose from this list, or select one of your own. If possible, try to choose a topic which is primarily European in origin.

Winston Churchill	Margaret Thatcher	Pol Pot	Mao
Lenin	Stalin	Hitler	Nelson Mandela
Karl Marx	Berlin Wall	Gandhi	Picasso
Star of David	Eiffel Tower	Olympic Rings	Titanic
David Livingstone	Swastika	Vietnam Memorial	Cruise Missile
Pearl Harbour	Atomic Bomb Cloud	Flanders Fields	Peace Sign
Beethoven	Edmund Hillary	Robert Oppenheimer	St. Peter's Square

Evaluation
     The seminar is worth 10% of your final mark. There are four components of the evaluation. The first is a Conference with your teacher, to be held in the week preceding your seminar. It will be graded out of 20, and will be used to ensure that you are well prepared and are not omitting anything of importance.
     The seminar itself will be teacher evaluated (20 marks), peer evaluated (10 marks) and self evaluated (10 marks). The seminar evaluation will be based on:

your critique of Mass Media & visual bias of North American culture

Each category is marked on a scale of 1 - 5:

• Context
  • Icon explained
  • relevant visual
  • topic defined
• Events
  • seminar planned
  • creative/interesting
• Discussion
  • relevant to icon
  • relevant to course
  • informed
• General
  • seminar useful
  • seminar meaningful
  • seminar enlightening

2001 Icons
Dates, Groups and Topics

Conf. Date	Seminar Date	Seminar Leaders	Seminar Topic
24 Oct	29 Oct
31 Oct	5 Nov
7 Nov	12 Nov
14 Nov	19 Nov
21 Nov	26 Nov
28 Nov	3 Dec
5 Dec	10 Dec
12 Dec	17 Dec

Please note:

• The seminar dates are firm. A group of three may trade dates with another group of three, provided all six students are in agreement.
• The conference dates are flexible, and can be changed by mutual agreement. All 3 members must attend the conference on the same day and time. Conferences will take place in room 112 at lunch unless otherwise agreed upon. Bring cookies.
• Any conference changes should be to an earlier date if possible.
• A second conference is optional, however you should expect to be meeting in your group at least once after the conference with your teacher.
• Do not come to me the day of the conference to re-schedule. You must do so at least one day in advance, as a group.
• Please be fully prepared for your conference. It will be marked according the IS package you have already received. Fully prepared includes being able to:
  • speak knowledgeably about your icon
  • identify the origins of your icon
  • explain the current significance of your icon
  • dispel myths about your icon
  • have an idea about how you will spend your 20 minutes of seminar time
  • bonus: having a group plan for your hour of seminar time

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