Adventures in Teaching: Space Opera Course Recommendations?
In the upcoming fall semester, I will be teaching an upper division modern science fiction course on American space opera. That’s right. A whole entire course just on American space opera. Though I have a few ideas for texts to teach, I realize that space opera is a massive field and that I would be […]
Ideological Rigidity (With a Side of Genre)(Adventures in Teaching)
Several semesters ago, I experienced what I’m going to call the indoctrination of young Americans. No, I am not necessarily referring to a specific political indoctrination, though one of the examples I will describe below falls along a left/right political spectrum. Rather, I am talking about the odd absence of critical thinking skills among college-age […]
American Literature Syllabus: Suggestions Open!
For those that don’t know, the syllabus I had designed for an American Lit. survey course got rejected. The reasoning behind that rejection makes sense, and I’ve been told point blank that if I want to teach that same course in the Spring (under a World Literature heading), it’ll happen. But that means I’ve got […]
Teaching Rambles: A Very Non-Traditional “American” Lit Syllabus (Nuevo Mundo!)
This fall, I am teaching a survey course in American Literature. While I think my previous syllabi for this course have been non-traditional, this time I am opening up the flood gates. Instead of teaching what we might call “American Literature,” I am deliberately challenging the very idea of a single, identifiable “American” anything. And […]
Book Suggestions for “American” Lit Syllabus (a terrible title…)
If you don’t follow me on Twitter, then you are unaware that I am attempting to teach a somewhat unusual American Lit survey in the fall. Basically, I am not teaching the traditional American canon (i.e., the greats of U.S. literature). Instead, my course will offer a broader interpretation of “American” to include works from […]
Teaching Rambles: If You Could Teach It…: The Space Opera Edition
One of the things I hope to do one day is teach a class on Space Opera. Thus far, that opportunity has not arisen just yet, but the future is bright (as they say). For this teaching-related post, though, I’d like to offer a suggested reading list for two different Space Opera courses and then […]