It's August Already?

August. 


It's a Miyazaki morning here on this misty Wisconsin morning. So far, it's been Kiki's Delivery Service followed by Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea. 


The countdown for back-to-school has begun. My contract year (for which I still do not have a contract outlining my salary) begins August 26th.


As a newly-tenured professor, I will get a pay bump. One that will be completely wiped out by the new insurance co-pays and premium increases. Really happy about that.


OK I am not going to complain in this post. I am going to write about what I am looking forward to in this upcoming academic year, namely my SF lit/film course.


ENG 28(4): Science Fiction Literature and Film. Here's the course description from my 2009 syllabus:

“Commerce is our goal here at Tyrell. ‘More human than human’ is our motto.” –Dr. Eldon Tyrell Blade Runner (1982)

For almost two centuries, science fiction (or speculative fiction) has existed as a genre that explores, more than any other, the question “What if?” This course will examine what it means to be human in an engineered age—what responsibilities do we have, if any? How far will we go to push the limits of science? Is there such a thing as ‘too far’?

The consensus among SF writers and filmmakers seems to be…yes. We will spend considerable time in and out of class pondering the impact of technology on our lives—the moral, political, and social ramifications of our dependence on machines—a dependence as old as civilization itself. Some of our themes will deal with the idea of progress; industrialization (and its ancillaries: capitalism and globalization); the corporatization of society; feminism; and we will wrestle with the question of postmodernism.

I absolutely adore this course. The whole thing is centered around what it means to be human in a technological age, and it's long been my opinion is that this is the central motif in all SF lit and film. All other questions are ancillary to question "What does it mean to be human?" (I'd argue that this is the prime question for all creative human endeavors--that those who create are seeking answers to this question.)

The course starts with Frankenstein (the novel, then James Whale's 1931 adaptation), progresses to Metropolis (1927, Fritz Lang), Asimov's I, Robot stories ("Robbie" "Escape!" and "Evidence"), watch I, Robot (2004, Alex Proyas) and round out the first half of the semester with Vonnegut's Player Piano. I love that I get to mess around with critiquing capitalism. It's one of the things that makes this class so much fun.

The second half of the semester is devoted to the development of cyberpunk, starting with Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982) which is one of my favorite films of all time. We read C.L. Moore's 1944 novella No Woman Born, which slots in really well with Frankenstein and the Prometheus idea. We do James Tiptree, Jr.'s "The Girl Who Was Plugged In" and I wish to heaven I had time to show and discuss Avatar (2009). I have them read three stories out of William Gibson's only short story collection Burning Chrome ("Johnny Mnemonic" "The New Rose Hotel" and "Burning Chrome") because I found in 2007 that we didn't have time to properly examine Neuromancer (1984). We finish out the semester with Ghost in the Shell (1995) and The Matrix (1999).

I could do an entire course devoted to cyberpunk, and I think that the next time I teach SF lit (Fall 2013) that's what the course is going to have as its prime focus. There are so many stories (Bruce Sterling, Lester del Rey, Neal Stephenson, etc.) and films (Akira, Terminator / Terminator 2, etc) that I simply don't have time but would love to teach that I think it's time to re-jigger the course again. As I'm teaching it this semester, I'm going to plan for the next time instead of leaving it go.


And don't get me started on steampunk...I know, I know, I'm way behind on my book reviews. Stay tuned...

Thirteen days away...

The contract year begins 8/26--next Thursday--but classes do not get underway until 9/2. I still have not finished my reading/assignment calendar for my English 101 (composition) course, only because I chose to use a different book this year. I wanted to return to something more pop-culture-y, so I'm using Remix: Reading and Composing Culture because the exam copy I got last year had some interesting stuff in it. So far I've chosen to do readings on identity, entertainment, and progress--mainly because they involve asking intelligent questions that don't have easy answers, which hopefully means I'll get some good discussions going.

That's provided my students actually read what's assigned.

I have struggled quite a bit in recent years with this particular aspect of my job. It's led to some issues in my tenure dossier, because as part of my self-analysis, I ended up ...complaining... without accurately expressing how I was searching for solutions.  So this year's make-or-break dossier is going to be all about the search for ways to engage my students--beyond the type of reading quizzes they got in high school. I will be highlighting the reading I've done over the summer, and I'm going to work my tail off at showing the EC that I'm engaged with engaging my students.

As a new experiment this semester, I'm going to try having my students blog about their reading; instead of "encouraging" them to keep a journal/log, I am going to have them blog about what they're reading and how they're reacting to that reading. My friend and colleague Jessica is going to help me get started on it so that I don't have to reinvent the wheel. 

The biggest problem I can see with this is that it is going to involve a LOT of reading on my part. A LOT. I may do it for the literature course alone, but the ENG 101 readings seem to be made for this sort of thing as well. I am not going to grade the content per se, but will try to figure out a way to grade the level of engagement. Perhaps I will use the blog in place of the traditional semi-formal assignments I've been using. The more I think about it, the more I think I will do it this way, if only to cut down on the amount of reading somewhat.

I love my job. I love reading about how other people approach this job and its challenges. I draw the line at using Twitter, and I'm not giving out my phone number because I am not a 7-11 (open 24-7) but I do use a variety of ways to engage with my students. What puzzles me is that the students seem to expect this level of engagement (or higher) from me, yet my expectations of them are shock-inducing (e.g. my attendance policy, my no-late-major-assignments-without-a-doctor's-note policy, my hard and fast D2L drop-box deadlines). If you're reading this and you're a teacher, what do you do to engage your students with the required materials (beyond quizzes and exams)?

Anyway, that's all for now...I've got Thing Two asking to get into my lap and there's just no way to refuse this face...