Author: Anne Leonard (Page 2 of 3)

In class today, we discussed the updated class schedule and noted that teams have until 5pm today to post the revised draft research question.

Please take the midterm survey to give your instructors and classmates some feedback on improving the class. The survey is open through Tuesday, April 7.

Classes are not held April 8-10 and we do not meet next week, Thursday, April 9. Your professors will keep their usual office hours (Montgomery | Leonard). Stay safe and healthy, everyone.

Of interest to anyone looking for paid part-time work with a community service learning component, the deadline to apply to the CUNY Service Corps has been extended to April 19.

The reading and blogging assignment due Tuesday, April 7 is below:

Please read the following 3 pieces: one is an opinion piece by Joseph Alexiou, author of Gowanus: Brooklyn’s Curious Canal. The next is a booklet that explains zoning and offers templates for workshops and activities to better understand this complicated concept. The last is a primary source, a collection of documents from the NYC Department of City Planning, that together comprise the rezoning proposal for the Gowanus.

1. Alexiou, Joseph. “The Gowanus Canal Will Never Be Clean.” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 20 Jan. 2020. https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2020/01/17/the-gowanus-canal-will-never-be-clean-opinion/.
2.  Center for Urban Pedagogy, What Is Zoning? 2013. welcometocup.org/file_columns/0000/0530/cup-whatiszoning-guidebook.pdf. Read pages 10-35 and 79-105.
3. Gowanus Neighborhood Planning Study from the NYC Department of City Planning, 2018. Explore and skim, but no need to read the entire study.

After you’ve read all 3 pieces, write a 150-word reflective blog post, due on April 7 by 5pm. Please respond to the following prompt:

Alexiou offers an overview of the tensions between development and environment while expressing doubt that current practices will ever result in a cleaned-up, safe environment. The Gowanus Planning Study is an overview of a plan to rezone (or upzone) the neighborhood to allow denser residential development. How could New York do things differently, what does “clean” even mean in 2020, and what right to New Yorkers have to a clean and safe place to live? Your reflection could offer a critique of current NYC zoning practices, a critique of the Gowanus draft study, and/or a critique of the EPA cleanup efforts under the Superfund project.

We can meet via zoom here: https://zoom.us/j/7827527794 or use meeting ID: 782 752 7794.

Email me with a phone # if you’d prefer.

Thanks for a good meeting today. For next Tuesday, each group should post the draft research question as a blog post on their project site, and each member should continue finding and annotating at least three primary and secondary sources that are relevant to the group’s research question. Earlier posts on primary source research and refining the research question might help, and do not hesitate to reach out with questions.

The following readings will give everyone some background information on the Gowanus. Some groups may have already found these in the course of research.

Please read the following 3 pieces: one is an opinion piece by Joseph Alexiou, author of Gowanus: Brooklyn’s Curious Canal. The next is a booklet that explains zoning and offers templates for workshops and activities to better understand this complicated concept. The last is a primary source, a collection of documents from the NYC Department of City Planning, that together comprise the rezoning proposal for the Gowanus.

1. Alexiou, Joseph. “The Gowanus Canal Will Never Be Clean.” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 20 Jan. 2020. https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2020/01/17/the-gowanus-canal-will-never-be-clean-opinion/.
2.  Center for Urban Pedagogy, What Is Zoning? 2013. welcometocup.org/file_columns/0000/0530/cup-whatiszoning-guidebook.pdf. Read pages 10-35 and 79-105.
3. Gowanus Neighborhood Planning Study from the NYC Department of City Planning, 2018. Explore and skim, but no need to read the entire study.

After you’ve read all 3 pieces, write a 150-word reflective blog post, due on April 7 by 5pm. Please respond to the following prompt:

Alexiou offers an overview of the tensions between development and environment while expressing doubt that current practices will ever result in a cleaned-up, safe environment. The Gowanus Planning Study is an overview of a plan to rezone (or upzone) the neighborhood to allow denser residential development. How could New York do things differently, what does “clean” even mean in 2020, and what right to New Yorkers have to a clean and safe place to live? Your reflection could offer a critique of current NYC zoning practices, a critique of the Gowanus draft study, and/or a critique of the EPA cleanup efforts under the Superfund project.

My office hours are via zoom on Tuesdays from 10-noon and by appointment. I’m here to help with primary source research, refining the research question, or any other aspect of the group project.

Join here: https://zoom.us/j/7827527794 or use meeting ID: 782 752 7794

Working together, teams should develop and refine a draft research question,  due Thursday, April 2, in the form of a post on each group’s OpenLab project site. Teams and individuals can use these resources to help them think through their questions. We will spend time in team meetings next Thursday 3/26 discussing your questions and possibilities for refining them.

Narrowing a Topic and Developing a Research Question [pdf] | Refine your Research Question | Tutorial: Is the Question Too Broad or Too Narrow?

Looking ahead to the weeks after spring break, the outline and revised research question is due Thursday, April 30.

Use this outline template or develop your own; teams can use collaborative concept mapping (MindMeister, Mindomo) to  display all their ideas and the relationships between them, and where more research is needed. The outline functions as a way to show how your research answers your question, and also helps team members visualize the work and divide it equitably.

Hi everyone,

I hope you and yours are staying healthy. Looking forward to our first online synchronous class meeting via Zoom at 9 am tomorrow. Please see Prof Montgomery’s post about how to join the meeting.

A sure way to contact us, your instructors, is via email: JMontgomery@citytech.cuny.edu for Prof. Montgomery and ALeonard@citytech.cuny.edu for Prof. Leonard. We will make every effort to respond within 1 working day; up to 2 days over the weekend and Spring Recess. We still keep office hours: Prof. Montgomery from 1:30-3:30 on Thursdays and Prof. Leonard from 10-noon on Tuesdays. Also by appointment.  This can happen via phone or video call; email in advance to schedule.

To prepare for distance learning, please make sure you have access to your college email and the email address you indicated on the sign-in sheet on the first day of class, the OpenLab,  and zoom. Course content will be documented and linked here on the OpenLab, and groups will use their project sites to document their work on the group project.

If you need help with building your OpenLab project site, ask us, or contact the Community Team – they are remarkably helpful and quick to respond.

We plan to continue with synchronous video classes on Thursday mornings via Zoom, and we will evaluate your participation based on your attendance in that space as well as regular contributions to this course site and your group project sites. Ideally, you will contribute 4 times per week in the form of a blog post, a substantial comment on someone else’s post, a draft of an assignment, or other evidence you are making progress on the components of the final group project: the research question, outline, annotated bibliography, and multimedia project and presentation.

Your questions are most welcome – please comment on this post or reach out via email. We are new at this online teaching and learning thing. If you’ve taken an online or hybrid class before, please share anything helpful that you think everyone should know in advance.

The New York Public Library has suspended all public events through March. Thursday we will meet in our classroom as usual.  Please come to class prepared to work in groups.

Midterm presentations all looked really good. Please review the assignment guidelines to ensure your presentations include all required elements, and don’t forget to upload your midterm presentation to the Dropbox by Sunday morning.  We formed working groups in class:

Diego, Xhulja, Sergio, Ana

Khady, Megan, Farzana

Leandra, Ronella, Jake, Jake

Connie, Ishwar, Chris, Alex A.

Latia, Alex M., Rafael

This Friday morning, Prof. Montgomery will join Elizabeth Goldstein, president of the Municipal Art Society, in a discussion on the Past, Present, and Future of the BQE. The event takes place this Friday 3/6 at 8:30 am in A105. Admission is free, all are welcome, and there are refreshments. RSVP in advance here.

We meet in our classroom on Thursday, March 12. Later that morning we will head as a group for our research visit to the Map Division of the New York Public Library, Schwarzman Building at Bryant Park.