Class Begins Tomorrow

You’d think that someone who has been teaching as long as I have wouldn’t be nervous, but I always am. It’s a new group of students and a class I’ve never taught before in a location I visited once three years ago. So it’s a good thing most of the students won’t know about my nerves until class tomorrow is over—though some of them will probably bring their laptops and may know before then.

Am also nervous because I’m trying something new with this class. Since there are only 10 students in this class, I’m going to ask them to help me design the class. Oh, not completely. Like most teachers, I’m too much of a control freak for that. They will pick several of the films we watch.

For the section on representations of life in the concentration camps, they can choose one of these films: Life is Beautiful, The Counterfeiters, or The Boy in Striped Pajamas.

For the section on resistance, they can choose one of these films: Sophie Scholl, Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg, Black Book, Europa Europa, or The Pianist. It may not be obvious, but I regard hiding as a kind of resistance.

In each case I’m asking the students to provide a rationale for the film that they choose and to argue for their choice. I also plan to show brief clips of each film and provide them with a summary of each film. Although they really can’t go wrong with any of these films, it will be interesting to see why they pick a particular film. Listening to them discuss their reasons will also give us all a chance to get to know one another better.

The students can also determine how much each of the following assignments should count in terms of their final grades: wiki assignment (film terms); blog (personal reflections); exam; analytical paper; participation. Even though I want students to come to terms with difficult content and the way that material has been represented in film AND to spend time doing different kinds of writing (analysis, definition, reflection), I want them to come up with a rationale for this particular class and to make this class their own. They've obviously chosen to study abroad for a reason (because they are interested in Italy or they’re interested in film or for some other reason), and I’d like for them to help construct a class that is relevant and memorable for them.