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COUC 747 Week 6 Discussion Board Blog 6: The Red Pill: How to Write It

This guide is for COUC 747 Week 6 Discussion Board Blog 6: The Red Pill, start to submission. A blog thread of at least 400 words on "The Red Pill" drawing on the course readings, then substantive interaction with 2 colleagues.

COUC 747 is Instruction in Counselor Education, 3 credit hours, in Liberty University's PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision. Canvas and the course guide file print the code as COUC747; it is the same course.

CourseCOUC 747 Instruction in Counselor Education
Module/Week6
Points80 points
LengthBlog thread at least 400 words
RepliesSubstantive interaction with 2 colleagues' threads
SourcesThe course readings
Faith integrationNot required by the guide
FormatDiscussion board blog

What COUC 747 Week 6 Discussion Board Blog 6: The Red Pill asks for

There are 8 discussion board blogs meant to build collaborative learning and critical thinking. You incorporate the course readings to dialogue with like-minded professionals, posting 1 blog thread of at least 400 words and interacting substantively with 2 colleagues' threads. Blog 6, "The Red Pill", is due in Module/Week 6 with Freire chapters 1 to 4. Worth 80 points.

Where it fits in COUC 747

In the published schedule, Discussion Board Blog 6: The Red Pill is one of 13 graded written assignments in COUC 747. It follows Week 5 Case Study Part 2 and comes before Week 6 Book Review. The same week also has Book Review, so plan the week's writing together.

How COUC 747 Week 6 Discussion Board Blog 6: The Red Pill is graded

Liberty grades Discussion Board Blog 6: The Red Pill with the rubric attached to the assignment in Canvas, worth 80 points in the published guide. That is about 8% of the course's 1,010 points. Read the rubric first. Each row is a criterion, and the wording of the highest column is the closest thing you have to a model answer.

Course grades in COUC 747 use Liberty's point scale: an A is 940 to 1010 points of the course total. Missing the length or source minimum usually costs points on several rows at once, which is why the checklist below starts with them.

Timing in the published guide: Each course module/week begins on Monday morning at 12:00 a.m. (ET) and ends on Sunday night at 11:59 p.m. (ET). The final module/week ends at 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Friday. Check the due dates in your Canvas section, which govern.

The COUC 747 Week 6 method, step by step

  1. Read the prompt against the week's material

    Open the Discussion Board Blog 6: The Red Pill prompt in Canvas and list every question it asks before you read anything else. Most COUC 747 prompts ask two or three linked things; a thread that answers only the first is graded as incomplete no matter how well it is written.

  2. Take a position in the first two sentences

    Lead with the claim, not the background. One sentence that answers the prompt, one that says why, and the reader of your COUC 747 thread knows exactly what the next paragraphs will prove.

  3. Build the body from course concepts

    Each body paragraph should carry one idea from the Instruction in Counselor Education reading, put to work on the prompt. Define it briefly, apply it, and say what it changes. Repeating the chapter back is the most common reason threads score in the middle of the rubric.

  4. Place the sources where they do work

    Meet the source rule (The course readings) inside the argument, not in a closing sentence. Cite the textbook where you define a concept and a peer-reviewed article where you make a claim that needs evidence.

  5. Connect it to practice

    Show what the answer changes in a real setting: a unit, a team, an organization or a client. Graders in COUC 747 look for the line between the concept and its use.

  6. Write replies that add something

    Replies are graded too (Substantive interaction with 2 colleagues' threads). Agree or disagree with a specific point, add a source or example the classmate did not use, and ask one real question. Praise alone does not meet the word count in substance.

Write in a thoughtful first-person scholarly voice, cite the readings, and connect them to your own teaching or counselor education experience. These blogs can later serve as material for the reflective essay.

A structure for COUC 747 Week 6 Discussion Board Blog 6: The Red Pill

Word targets are planning numbers for about 600 words of body text, set by the length in the guide; the rubric decides where to spend more.

SectionWhat it must doTarget
OpeningAnswer the main question of the prompt directly and state your position.~100 words
ConceptDefine the course concept from the week's reading that the prompt turns on.~160 words
ApplicationApply the concept to the case, setting or question in the prompt.~180 words
EvidenceBring in the required sources where they support a specific claim.~120 words
CloseRestate the answer and what it means for practice or the field.~40 words

A topic angle that works

The title alludes to awakening to a hidden reality. Freire calls this conscientization: learners recognizing the forces that shape their lives. Reflect on what Freire's critique of banking education means for counselor educators.

Model paragraph with notes

An original paragraph written by our desk to show the register that earns full rubric credit. It is study material: learn the moves, then write your own.

COUC 747 Week 6, sample blog excerpt

Freire criticizes banking education, in which teachers deposit knowledge into passive students. Reading him was a kind of red pill: I recognized how often my own lectures treat students as containers. Freire's alternative, problem-posing education built on dialogue, aligns with counseling itself, where we help clients discover rather than tell them what to think.

  1. Banking education.
  2. A self-recognition.
  3. An alternative.

Mistakes that cost points on COUC 747 Week 6

  • Summary without reflection.
  • Under 400 words.
  • Interaction that only agrees.

Checklist before you submit

  • Length: Blog thread at least 400 words
  • Sources: The course readings
  • Replies: Substantive interaction with 2 colleagues' threads
  • Every question in the prompt is answered, in order
  • The thread is typed into the text box, not attached
  • Each rubric row read against the section that answers it

Questions students ask

How many blogs are in COUC 747?

Eight, one each week; seven are worth 80 points and the last 40.

How many points is COUC 747 Week 6 Discussion Board Blog 6: The Red Pill worth?

80 points in Liberty's published course guide for COUC 747, out of a course total of 1,010 points (about 8% of the grade). The rubric attached to the assignment in Canvas shows how those points are divided.

Is COUC 747 Week 6 the same in every section of COUC 747?

This guide follows Liberty's published course guide for COUC 747. Liberty notes that course content can change from term to term, so if your Canvas section shows different instructions, a different week or different points, follow Canvas and your instructor.

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