[Another Spring semester is upon us, and with it my annual Spring semester previews. This time I’ll focus on one skill I’m excited to be teaching as part of each of these courses. Please share what you’ve got going on this semester and year as well!]
I’m not
gonna lie, probably the hardest part of my Spring semester is going to be the
week we watch Fruitvale Station in my First-Year Writing II
classes (as part of a unit where they write a comparative analysis of a couple
films/TV shows/multimedia texts). I wish I felt we were in a better place as a
country than we were 15+ years ago when that film’s events took place, or a
decade+ ago when the film itself was released. I wish it didn’t seem so clear
to me that so many of my fellow Americans would watch that film and argue that Oscar Grant
got what was coming to him, or worse. But a central aspect of what we do in the
classroom is to try to engage with our toughest conversations, to develop
individual voices and ideas, but also and perhaps especially as communities. So
this hardest part of my semester might well be the most important part of the
semester as well.
Next
preview post tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What’s
on your radar?
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