[This week, I start my 21st year at Fitchburg State! So as usual, I’ll offer some previews of the semester ahead, this time focusing on individual moments I’m looking forward to in each class. Leading up to a weekend update on my plans for season 2 of my podcast!]
At a lot
of colleges/universities, the more senior faculty members don’t tend to teach
introductory-level courses like First-Year Writing. But while this class does
bring with it a ton more papers and thus grading than upper-level lit courses or
the like, I am being 100% genuine when I tell you that I’m so, so glad I get to
teach at least one first-year writing section every semester (and will have two
this Fall). For lots of reasons, including the chance to meet and work with
some of our new students every year (and, yes, possibly recruit some to be
English Majors and/or Minors!). But also because these classes bring with them
some of my favorite units and assignments—such as the third Unit and fourth
Paper in my FYW I class, where students practice the skills of close reading by
analyzing a song of their choice. Every time I learn
about at least a couple artists I didn’t know previously, and as an
ancillary but not unimportant benefit I also get to help students realize that
they do enjoy poetry, just in the form that the vast majority of us experience
in our lives.
Next
semester preview tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What
do y’all have coming up?
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