09-12-2011, 07:56 AM
Well, so far so good. Either these students are all really smart and conscientious, or I've caught them just before they've discovered the joy of beer, pot, sex and skipping class.
Maybe my personality is just suited to it, but so far it's been actually pretty fun. We've had some great discussions, and they are super eager and interested in everything I have to say. I feel like a damned comedian up there with a drunk and warmed up crowd. Thursday I had, what can only be referred to as, an epic lecture. I ran an in class experiment to illustrate in-group out-group bias, showed a video on the Stanley Milgram obedience study/Stanford Prison experiment and then we talked about how that all relates to people becoming monsters. Then I showed them the results of the experiment from earlier in class, which conveniently proved my point, showing that they were all little monsters in the making. I blew their wee brains straight out of the top of their heads.
For material we are using http://www.amazon.com/Monsters-Unnatural...019533616X (it's actually not too bad) as a "text", reading Grendel, Frankenstein, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and excerpts of Beowulf and a bunch of other stuff. We're also watching a bunch of movies: Beowulf (CGI), Bladerunner, American Psycho, and then a bunch of vampire and zombie movies.
Maybe my personality is just suited to it, but so far it's been actually pretty fun. We've had some great discussions, and they are super eager and interested in everything I have to say. I feel like a damned comedian up there with a drunk and warmed up crowd. Thursday I had, what can only be referred to as, an epic lecture. I ran an in class experiment to illustrate in-group out-group bias, showed a video on the Stanley Milgram obedience study/Stanford Prison experiment and then we talked about how that all relates to people becoming monsters. Then I showed them the results of the experiment from earlier in class, which conveniently proved my point, showing that they were all little monsters in the making. I blew their wee brains straight out of the top of their heads.
For material we are using http://www.amazon.com/Monsters-Unnatural...019533616X (it's actually not too bad) as a "text", reading Grendel, Frankenstein, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and excerpts of Beowulf and a bunch of other stuff. We're also watching a bunch of movies: Beowulf (CGI), Bladerunner, American Psycho, and then a bunch of vampire and zombie movies.