'Pedagogy of the Superhero'

Fyi, an abbreviated version of the powerpoint presentation from Wednesday's lecture has been added to the 'links' section of the class website. (It's abbreviated because all of those pictures made the file so large that it crashed my browser when I tried to upload it. So most of the pictures are gone, but all of the text remains.)

And more importantly, the assignment details - for anyone who didn't write them down or who didn't make it to lecture - are on the very final slide of the presentation.

Thanks again to everyone who came out to hear my lecture! I really appreciated it.

Notes on office hours and assignments...

1) Since I've been able to leave tutorials early these past couple weeks, I thought I'd rework that time into another office hour. So I'm going to be at Treats in the hour before lecture 3 times in the next 2 weeks: Monday the 21st, Wednesday the 23rd, and Monday the 28th.

2) As I mentioned in tutorial, while Steve gave an option between doing either only the 'Who Owns York U' or both of the final 2 weekly assignments (1. today's concentric circles assignment, and 2. my not-yet-assigned superhero assignment), anyone who wants to do all three can do so for bonus. If you have a zero on one of the assignments, I'll replace it with the average of your two final assignments; if you don't, I'll add to one thing that you already turned in. It's not substantial, but if your mark is right on the cusp of the next highest letter-grade, it could make a difference. Keep in mind, of course, that everything still has to be turned in on time.

Important notice, re: Practicum

Remember that you must attach the completed Model Release and Consent Form when you turn your practicum in at the end of the month. They can both be found here. (I'm making this reminder its own post because I know that someone(s) will forget, or will attach the forms but leave sections blank. Don't be one of those people!)

Notes

*A reminder that the 'Voice' assignment (on the main class site), which is due on Wednesday, is 3-4 pages if you choose the email option, 6-8 pages if you choose the transcript. Double-spaced, of course. And worth double the normal value of these projects - it will be out of 6 instead of 3.

*The exam outline is posted to the class website, under the 'What's New' link.

*Presentation marks will be emailed to all of you in the latter half of next week. Remember that i'm only going to be assigning half of your total participation marks, which means that you'll still be able to affect the other half. The remaining marks will be assigned at the end of the year.

Assignment Reminders

1) If the assignment says one page, it means one page, double-spaced, 12-pt font, 1 inch margins. It does not mean 1 and 1/2 pages, or 1 page single-spaced. Being able to express everything that you need to concisely in 250-300 words is part of the assignment. (Though, as I said in tutorial, I'll let the 1 page single-spaced/2 pages double-spaced thing slide for the Barbie assignment, only because it wasn't absolutely clear.)

2) The lateness policy, again: Once tutorial starts, any assignments that haven't been turned in get a zero. I've made a habit of being a couple minutes late whenever an assignment is due, so there's really no good excuse for turning it in 5 or 10 minutes late - give yourself enough time to fit in washroom breaks or account for the possibility of a printer error. (In all seriousness: I didn't appreciate being put on the spot in front of the class on Monday when people sheepishly tried to hand in their assignments late. If it's late, just sit down and move on - I don't want to see or hear about the assignment.)

Brief updates...

1) The Barbie assignment is due next Monday.
2) FYI, I have an appointment that scheduled to run 11:30-12 elsewhere on campus, so I might be running a bit late for my office hour this week.

A few updates...

1) The most recently assigned group activity - "Something to Talk About" - is now on Steve's assignment page.

2) A note about "praxis" and the group presentations: With one and perhaps two exceptions, praxis (even though you may not have known the word) was the missing key element in most presentations. Keep that in mind as we move forward.

3) If you haven't received a presentation mark in your email inbox, that's because you weren't in class last week on Wednesday to give me you email address. If that's the case, email me in the next few days (only email me from your York address if you check it regularly - I'd prefer an address for an account that you use every day, rather than once a week) and I'll send it back to you.

4) If anyone did answer the reading questions for the Marx & Engels, Gramsci, and Althusser readings and would like to discuss their answers or the problems they encountered in answering them, feel free to post a comment in response to this message.

Assignment Reminder

Just to remind everyone, the assignment located here is due next Wednesday by the beginning of tutorial. So if you're going to disappear to get a coffee or something, make sure that you give it to me at the end of lecture - just to be safe. (And, again, remember that this is #1 not a team assignment, but individual; and #2 not a research assignment, but an interpretive piece.)

Note on Monday's presentations

There's some confusion over whether some text on paper needs to be handed in after or before the presentation, so I'll clear that up really quickly - no. The presentation itself is the entire mark and the only thing I need to see.

(As for indicating who did what, that's a requirement for the final group project we'll be doing in July and isn't necessary for in-class assignments such as this one. Everyone in the group will get the same mark.)