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As true on other fronts this year, adjustments have to be made based on the stress we’re all feeling & the issues that are hard to ignore no matter what we’re teaching. And some adjustments are experimental b/c we’re not getting guidance nor should we. It’s unchartered https://twitter.com/HC_Richardson/status/1267433161086164993
territory. Anything too heavy-handed from anywhere can’t feel good. Still shaping exercises, but know that in addition to that, they will have once a week a prerecorded lecture that lasts 12 minutes (studies show att’n spans are already challenged at 6 min so I doubled b/c if all
goes well, they will stick around to listen as they’re not looking at me yapping or reading lectures, but talking over ambient images I stitched from 16 mm black and white b-roll from a doc I made years ago. A record store in Iceland does this.
Erykah Badu recently did this when she had an old Bruce Lee film playing behind her while she was reminiscing w/ Jill Scott on instagram. Well rec’d. As much as we loved those singers, we still get distracted if they’re just talking or playing music. We’re highly stimulated.
We’re used to doing two things at once. You can’t just make a student stop checking a smartphone for a text or whatever. Most people do stop to see a mundane image if it’s curated right. Like I said, it’s experimental. They also have a reading or “visual” text that
requires engagement of thematic material that, if I do it right, should be easily digested. All of that is self-paced, but due everyday for four weeks. Extra credit if they post or elaborate on a Discussion Board. The cluster chat will be a place to deepen that work in a fun
way. Not everyone wants to referee these hard topics nor share their truest thought. But there’s no way a course named American Swagger can be narrow. It has to be expansive while engaging historical methods etc. The content demands it.
Now, I’m waiting for the right day to sit in front of a backdrop I’ve already made (just fun fabric hanging) to straight up talk/lecture. I’ll record using my smartphone. I’ll later put that under my B-roll. iMovie software is easy. You hit one button to upload audio. Another
to upload the video. It sounds like a lot of work, but the hard work is all the stuff clamoring around us. We have teach from an authentic place & know our audience. Lotta threads on that so I’ll leave it there.
As I come up with the cluster chat exercises, happy to share. In the past, I’ve asked students do anything from completed a sentence to filling in the blanks of a historical play recast for our class, sketch etc. 1 wrote a rap song. Was deeper than any student essay I’ve read.
Pardon all typos. No AM caffeine yet.
