10.i.08: Foundations of Verbal Communications II

In this class I had three goals:

1) to distribute and review the syllabus
2) to solicit from students five topics each of sufficient interest to carry through the entire semester
3) to present the worksheets for the rhetorical analysis of poetry project, and to model the project myself.

I managed to meet these goals, despite starting the class twenty minutes late. There were two carry-overs from the scheduling conflicts which arose (or rather came to my attention) on Tuesday the 8th. But these were resolved, in the end, and I was able to proceed with class.

The students discovered a typographic error in the text of the syllabus which proved quite amusing.

The third paragraph of the syllabus should have read, in part: "We expand the work on the physical aspects of public presentation: posture, enunciation, projection, gesture, and expression. As preparation for the two major (and graded) oral presentations, expect to engage in a good deal of class discussion and practice. Some of the practical exercises are a bit silly."

However, the first sentence included a spelling error -- not, though, caught by spell check, for in fact the spelling was correct, but the meaning of this passage was greatly changed -- "pubic" for "public". So, we had great fun considering the importance of posture, projection, gesture, and expression in a pubic presentation, how presentations might be preparations for oral presentations, just how important not only discussion but practice might be in preparing pubic presentations, and it certainly should not be a surprise to realize that such "practical exercises" would be "a bit silly"... As J.G. Bennett said in a similar situation, "sometimes one makes a joke without meaning to".

After class, I showed the unedited document to one of the art history instructors, the dean of students, the registrar, and the librarians -- and not one of them caught the error without being specifically directed to it.

Kudos to the FVC students!

Most of the students in the class were inmates with me last semester -- we have lost three students, and one simply chose not to attend today -- but one new student looked more than a bit concerned by the proceedings of the class. It is difficult to be the new person in a group of thirteen who all know each other and have little "in jokes" an so on. We will have to work diligently to welcome and incorporate the new student, who was in another section of FVC in the fall.


I asked students to read the legal requirements in the syllabus, but we will have to return to the syllabus on Monday. I did present a general notion of the reason for the collection of topics. What I did not develop in my explanation was that I hoped to tie the students' interests in to material in our texts The Tolkien Reader and Always Coming Home.

I distributed blank worksheets for the rhetorical analysis of poetry project and modelled the project by giving a brief biographical sketch of Tolkien and then partly reciting, partly singing (with guitar accompaniment) and partly reading "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" in the eponymous collection in The Tolkien Reader. I also distributed a structural analysis of the poem.

The topics the students presented to me suggest a much more interesting and exciting group of students than even I suspected. I have not included student names here, but have indicated with boldface students' number one choices and with italics their number two choices.

Language -- particularly Shakespearean but language in general as well.
Gay bashing homophobes/racists fuck them all
brain functions -- how it works, how it makes people who they are

Mythology -- Celtic, specifically; pan-Celtic
Ancient history, Celtic specifically
Primitive wilderness survival skills
natural / Ayurvedic medicine
organic farming
whole food cooking
Steiner education

Martial arts!
Christianity
Holocaust
psychology
languages
cultures

The effects and uses of caffeine
the social rules of labels such as Punk, Goth, Emo, Chic, Snob, Gear Heads
How the human mind works on topics of learning language
Development of human language through the years
clothing designs

Vegetarianism
the death penalty
closed minded people
animal rights
homophobic/racist people

abortion
freedom of religion (Christian belief)
animal rights/vegetarian
marriage/gays (do not believe)

gay relationships
adoption
respect of today's generation
abortion
how race affects society

dinosaurs (arguments on extinction warm/cold blooded)
Yellowstone Park
Importance of Isreal [apparently, not so important as to merit spelling it correctly]

the difference between film and digital cameras
music
why film is better [than digital, I presume]
video games [even if they use digital images... sorry]
rock music

coffee -- around the world
love -- true love and how the world's obscured it
jazz music -- its influence, growth, genius, etc.
creation of language
James Bond / espionage -- how it's shaped modern culture

music in general
the development of different kinds of musical instruments
why do women wear make-up? (And other stuff about people wanting to change)
Illustration -- how'd it develop and why's it important?
Animals, specifically rabbits
Yoga
theatre -- live theatre, I mean
video games [multiple second choices here -- I concentrate on YOGA]

public view on beauty
the affect [sic] music has on people
environmentalism and deforestation
religion and how it affects [sic]people
school districts eliminating art and music departments
war & fighting, violence
how our culture affects children and people
[psychology] -- how people's experiences affect their lives, etc.
[phobias] and how [they] affect [sic] people

music's affect [sic] on people
history of anarchism [this student did not mark a first and second choice, so I used the first and second in the list as first & second respectively]
capitalism vs socialism
existentialism and nihilism

That means that 5 out of 13 students included something about MUSIC as one of their topics. Two of these listed the effect of music, one listed music and then specified rock, another specified jazz, another listed music in general but them also the development of musical instruments. Still, I think we have a common ground for discussion and shared research.

4 out of 13 students included some interest in language: language in general, languages, development of language and the way the "mind works on topics of learning human language", creation of language. I think again here is a potential discussion and shared research ground.

4 students expressed some interest in either gays or homophobes. Perhaps this could be deferred to the behavioral and social science block next year. Same with the 3 students who expressed interest in race (it's the same group of students).

3 students indicated either vegetarianism or organic farming and whole foods cooking.

3 students mentioned religion, two specifically pointing to Christianity.

2 students pointed to martial arts or yoga.

2 students included abortion as a topic.

2 students pointed to caffeine or coffee. I wonder whether that is a commentary on Achtermann?

An intriguing group of topics, and I think some real possibilities for dialogue. A good start to the semester!