Listed!
Ha! My focus group for winter quarter is now listed in the course catalogue! Scroll down to CHID 496.
…guess that means I need to finish my syllabus!
Category: Academics
Classes and coursework.
Course Description: Stepping through the Stargate: Applied Ethics with a Kwoosh
Science fiction offers a fertile ground for the exploration and study of ethical issues, but is often set in dystopian or utopian cultures very different from our own. This coure intends to utilize the near-present science fiction television series Stargate:SG1 to explore issues of applied ethics as they relate to our contemporary society. Set only a week or two ahead of our own time, this show offers an ideal framework to explore a broad variety of culturally relevent ethical issues.
A variety of applied ethical topics will be discussed, including (but not limited to) human torture, just war theory, bioethics, environmental ethics and population control. We will read from a variety of classical and contemporary sources, including Thomas Hobbes, Jeremy Bentham, Daniel Dennett, and Brian Massumi, and discuss the readings in relation to individual issues of the episode, which will be viewed at the beginning of class each week.
Students will be expected to write a final 3-5 page paper and participate in weekly class discussions in order to receive credit for this course. Knowledge of Stargate:SG1 is not required. Some philosophy or critical theory background is encouraged, but also not required.
Twitch
A bad mood snuck up on me Monday afternoon. I shook it off as low blood sugar, got some food, and seemed to be okay. It crashed down on me again yesterday, right after lunch. Okay, not a blood sugar issue.
A person issue.
Great.
I’ve lost a bit of my zen calm, it appears, and have let someone’s constant challenging of authority get under my skin. And it’s not that I even see myself as an authority – not even when I’m standing up lecturing about something. If I did see myself in such a light, you can sure as hell bet I wouldn’t 1) go out drinking til who knows when with students in my classroom, 2) be willing to sit down and talk with any students at any point about anything or 3) make jokes and other comments on papers while grading them.
I have to keep reminding myself that the other person may have been having a bad week. Perhaps two sour moods just hit and mixed badly. Or hell, maybe they really do have an issue with me – whatever. I need to not take it personally…
…except that’s really the problem with the pedagogical (if you will) method that I inhabit. This is personal for me. I pour everything into what I do, and to have that rejected sucks. More than that, it hurts. I just want the best for the folks I happen to get into student/instructor relationship with. Hell, I tend to be possessive and watchful of them long beyond when I should be (failing of mine, I admit).
I just don’t want what feels like the constant battle, and feel like it’s really stupid for it to even be there. And so I indulge in petty fantasies of handing back a paper with little to no markings on it, of removing myself from conversational opportunities, and withdrawing and becoming distant. I have too much a sense of responsibility to do the first, but I suspect the latter two will indeed happen in outside-my-classroom spaces. If I don’t want to get engaged in that sort of thing, I need to remove myself from the potential.
And if you think you’re detecting a note of sour grapes, yes, you are. I don’t want to remove myself from conversation with a dynamic, interesting person. Of course, the other option would be the mature route – the one that sits down and says “what the fuck is up with you?” and goes from there. Maybe when I regain a bit of center and balance, I’ll even take it. Right now, it’s more fun to fantasize about being six.
Syllabi and High
I’m up early, working on my syllabus for Winter quarter. It was one of those things that seemed so daunting when I first set out, and now I’m actually enjoying myself. There’s something really satisfying about rummaging through saved course packs and printed articles and books – just the sheer knowledge at my fingertips – and piecing it together into a coherant whole. This is also the first time that coherant whole is me; sure, I’m stealing liberally from Phillip and a few other sources, but the end result is a hodgepodge all my own. Am I planting the seeds for “my” class – that one class I’ll teach a variation on for the majority of my teaching career? The idea is exciting!
Of course, someone just sent me a link to Piled Higher and Deeper, so now I’m laughing myself into a coughing fit and not actually focusing on the syllabus, but that’s okay, too.
A Good Day
I had a good day. A good Monday. Does this bode badly for the remainder of the week?
I want to get this out and down while I’m thinking about it. It’s been weird, today, the convergence of school and friends. Specifically, I was listening to a CD given to me by one of the musicians in 390; stuff he’s worked on over the past while. It finally clicked, after several days of heavy rotation, that one of the bands reminded me strongly of Crowded House. This, of course, meant listening to Neil Finn, and whenever I listen to Neil Finn I think of Lisa and I smile. A good thing, and something that probably means there is now a link between this student, Lisa, and smiling for the rest of my neural life.
The 390 focus group went well tonight. We ended a bit early, but it was a good place to stop and I knew two of the students needed to talk with me. Ended up spending several hours chatting with one, and just had a lovely time. I really like getting to know people better in those one on one situations; it makes me feel good about my meager role in this whole life-thing. She’s a smart girl, and I think things will smooth out quickly.
Focus group – right. We focused on travel, and what Flaubert and Nightingale have in common with one another, and then ourselves. Why do we travel? Why did they travel? What are their reasons versus our own, and their attitudes versus our own? It was a fun discussion, with much side conversation about the Ick-Factor of Flaubert. If they only knew the half of it (for which I’m ever so “indebted” to John for sharing). I felt really good about the class, and pleased with the constant participation. Adam really nicely picked up and ran with things (especially given he’d not been around for the planning of it).
Phillip, as usual, is right – teach from your passion, and everything will fall into place. Step outside that zone, and things will fall apart. I already know what I’m doing for Thursday, and am confident it will go well.
Plus, hugs and congratulations from Phillip, as well as a sweet “I told you so” and verification that he has much more faith in me than I have in myself. Yeah, a good day – I’m feeling very confident and good about myself; it’s nice to have that feeling stick around a few days. Maybe it will even stay a few more.