Non traditional teaching week 3
So our second class on the Iliad went so well! The gentlemen got into a long and serious debate over who had the most agency and bore the most responsibility for the events in the Iliad--the gods or humans. There were a good 25 or so minutes where I had to say nothing where the gentlemen just talked about different episodes in the text trying to prove one side of the debate. It warmed the cockles of my heart. This is something my ivy league freshmen have yet to do in 7 semesters of teaching. This semester's students are particularly reticent, and stare glassy eyed at me when I ask a question. I have not figured out how much of that is the 8:40 am factor and how much is a lack of preparation. However, so far not even cold calling on people when there is a silence has gotten them to come up with things to say.
On the other hand, I passed out the first paper assignment and their reactions made me realize how much I rely on out of class contact as part of my pedagogical approach. Having only 1 class a week and a 14 week semester means that there has to be a fairly fast turnaround (class meeting wise) between handing out assignments and their due date. Normally this would not be a problem since I have office hours and am available via email. However, those avenues are not the case with this class. So we talked about it in class, I though a bunch of writing aides at them, and now I just have to hope it goes well until they turn in their thesis next week.
In addition to not having the option of email communication with them the class has highlighted my reliance on technology. When trying to get them to see "canonical" writers are approachable instead of uncriticizable paragons, I mentioned the prevalence of fart jokes in Shakespeare. I could not think of an example off the top of my head. Also, I was trying to give them examples of different poetic styles and systems and could only come up with fragments of Kipling's "If," Hopkin's "The times are nightfall," and the final stanza of Eliot's "Little Gidding" all of which I had memorized at some point. Technology is such a crutch in my life, and it is hard extemporizing without being able to check things on my iPad. Time to start working on building up the word hoard again.