Strategic Thinking Elective -- Accountability Resources?

[Saddlemomma]

My DD (incoming Freshman) wants to take a Strategic Thinking elective.  She's chosen the GCP course, "Masters of War: History's Greatest Strategic Thinkers" as her spine.  This is fine with me.  We've also chosen to read the books, The Art of War and 33 Strategies of War, as part of this class.  

 

I'm running into a sticking point with the accountability resources, however.  Yes, she will answer the two questions at the end of each of the lecture notes, but I'm thinking there needs to be more.  

 

One idea I'm toying with is to integrate her RPG into this class. This is what I mean:

 

DD has an older sister (by 12 years).  Her sister is the author, facilitator, and coordinator of a medieval-type live RPG that gathers twice during the year to actively role-play over two weekends as a major, live-action game event that has quite a following. During the rest of the year, they continue the game together via computer.  Now that DD2 is 14, DD1 has asked her to join the game.  Over the past week, DD1 has been working with DD2 individually to get her caught up in the game.  DD2 had to get through 12 levels by Tuesday night, which she did, and subsequently, her character was introduced to the other players during the live game on the computer last night.

 

Now all through this, DD2 has been relaying her adventures to us and the various strategic decisions she has had to make to progress through the game and how those decisions have affected both the game and her character.  This is where I think we could do something with her class.  What if I asked her to write about a scenario she was in, in which she had to make a major strategic decision then acted upon it.  She would have to explain why she chose that avenue of action, whether the outcome was positive or negative, and how it affected her character and the game.  Lastly, looking back, was it the right strategic decision, or could a different strategy have proved more effective or improve the outcome.  She could do this type of essay two or three times.  Another option would be to keep a journal of her decisions and the outcomes, something along those lines.

 

Does this sound like it could be a justifiable measure of accountability, or should I look elsewhere?  Do any of you have any suggestions on what else we could do to make this a 1/2 credit or possibly full credit class?  Any suggestions would be appreciated.  

 

TIA

[Julie of KY]

Sounds like a fun elective to me.

 

As are as a measure of accountability, I think it is fine to have anywhere from very little accountability to lots for an elective. On the low side, you could simply have her discussion what she's reading and call it done. You could certainly make her write about it, but not every elective has lots of writing. The RPG sounds fun. Be careful not to destroy the fun she is having learning by making it work. Does writing come easily to her? One of my boys I could easily make write up things on the books as well as the RPG. The other would resist writing so much that he'd rather not do the elective at all. In other words, don't destroy her desire to learn by adding too much for her - each child is different.

[Saddlemomma]

Sounds like a fun elective to me.

 

As are as a measure of accountability, I think it is fine to have anywhere from very little accountability to lots for an elective. On the low side, you could simply have her discussion what she's reading and call it done. You could certainly make her write about it, but not every elective has lots of writing. The RPG sounds fun. Be careful not to destroy the fun she is having learning by making it work. Does writing come easily to her? One of my boys I could easily make write up things on the books as well as the RPG. The other would resist writing so much that he'd rather not do the elective at all. In other words, don't destroy her desire to learn by adding too much for her - each child is different.

 

This is what I'm most concerned about.  I talked with her about it this morning, and she said it may be fun to integrate the game, and she'd be willing to do it on a limited basis. I thought that was fair.  I would maybe ask her to do a paper at the end of the class asking her about which strategies she applied from her class into the game and how it affected the game, or looking back, what have been her biggest strategic moves in the game that may be reminiscent of things she learned in her class and the outcome, ramifications, or positive resolutions in the game.

 

Thanks for responding and assuring me I don't have to have as much output for electives as for core classes.  That relieves some stress and a lot of the workload from my shoulders.

[Mike in SA]

Participation grades have a legitimate place, and this may be one.

 

For other strategic readings, also look to political philosophers like Plato and Machiavelli. You'll find plenty of resources there, and can have some very interesting discussions on ethics and effectiveness. You can also throw in game theory topics for variety.

[Saddlemomma]

Participation grades have a legitimate place, and this may be one.

 

For other strategic readings, also look to political philosophers like Plato and Machiavelli. You'll find plenty of resources there, and can have some very interesting discussions on ethics and effectiveness. You can also throw in game theory topics for variety.

 

We've read some Plato and plan to read quite a bit more during her Ancient Lit class next year.

 

I gave her the College Bound Reading List so she could choose her required summer reading.  I gave her a certain number of books she had to read for the summer and she chose 2 extra. This kid loves to read.

 

One of the first one's she chose was The Prince by Machiavelli.  Other choices included Dr. Faustus and The Screwtape Letters. 

 

DD asked for The Art of War by Sun Tzu for Christmas.  She did get it, and we plan to use it with this class.  However, I see that Machiavelli also has a manuscript by the same title.  Do you know anything about that one? Would it be worth us reading that as well?

 

Thanks for your thoughts!

[Mike in SA]

Art of War is super, super simple.  Machiavelli's The Prince is very challenging, but is the classic for strategic thinking.  I've never read anything else by him.

 

Of course, there are others - Thucydides and Clausewitz spring to mind.

[Saddlemomma]

Art of War is super, super simple.  Machiavelli's The Prince is very challenging, but is the classic for strategic thinking.  I've never read anything else by him.

 

Of course, there are others - Thucydides and Clausewitz spring to mind.

 

When I took a look at The Prince, I asked her about the difficulty and whether or not she wanted to save that for class and choose something different for the summer.  She said no that it was all good.

 

Yup, Thucydides is on our Lit list for next year. However, I've never heard of Clausewitz.  Off to go check that one out.  Thanks!