Hello dearest reader, and welcome back to GSU for Spring Semester!
I started off this semester – and year! – by attempting an English 1102 course, rather than my usual 1101. This course is the second part to the First Year Writing set that GSU offers, and it’s been quite a ride so far. I worked and co-taught with Michelle Kassorla over Summer 2017, and Jenn Olive in Spring, to get an idea of what I should expect out of the course. Basically, we’re supposed to build on the tenets of 1101.
That means we assume, to an extent, students understand the basics of argumentation, Aristotle’s appeals, and Kairos, and can use them to analyze arguments presented to them in order to then create better, more sophisticated arguments of their own. In reality, the first week is spent in a crash course explaining all of this so that students can kind of be caught up when we move into starting the first assignment.
I’ve worked with Jenn a good deal to create both the 1101 and 1102 courses based around the “Gaming” theme, and she’s done an amazing job of fine-tuning the 1102 course. She’s also been wonderfully kind in giving me full access and permission to use these materials to teach with, so I’ve been using her PowerPoint as a lecture guide. So far, we’ve made it about two slides in.
We got a bit bogged down with discussing Kairos and what it means, so instead of, ya know, moving on and using the activity we built in when initially constructing the slides (namely analyzing MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech in light of it being, well, MLK weekend), I decided on the fly to do a more class-discussion oriented activity and throw out a budding thesis on the board to build an argument around.
My class is an absolute delight. They critically examined “College athletes should be paid because otherwise it’s slave labor” and discussed ways in which it was both correct and hyperbolic. We spent most of the hour of class time focusing on particular points, discussing theories and valid (or invalid) sources, counter arguments, and how to piece it all together. We even moved to the more complex theoretics behind adjusting a thesis (based on counter-arguments and rebuttals) throughout the course of an argument itself. They got a bit tied up with that one, but I’m sure, as time goes on and we have the Toulmin verbiage to use, they’ll understand that a written argument works similarly to a verbal one that just follows a few stricter guidelines.
All that to say, I’m looking forward to their Visual Analysis arguments, and their dissection of their first game, Liyla and the Shadows of War, which they’re posting about for their blog posts.
I’m pretty open with my students, so I made sure that they know I’m (a) using them as guinea pigs in this development of the 1102 Gaming theme, and (b) that it’s my first run of 1102. So far, they’re willing to roll with it. I’m hoping that a few meetings with Jenn and other colleagues around campus will help me figure out how to better pace the class, and cover all that needs doing before End of Term approaches.
I think, next, I’ll cover my Summer and Fall of ’17 semesters. I should reflect on them for my Future Self’s benefit, as well as for yours, dear reader. Until then, here’s a link to my course page, where you’ll find my syllabus and all the assignments for the year (eventually). Clearly, I’m one of Jenn’s mentees when it comes to web design as well as course content, just FYI.
The Crafty Medievalist 