Giving My First Lecture...

One Song Glory

I will be stepping into professorial shoes for the first time next Monday morning. I've done seminar presentations for the same length of time in my Honours and MA classes but this will be my first official lecture. The prof I TA for is going to a conference so I shall be babysitting the kiddies and teaching Tennyson's "Ulysses" (while frantically trying to finish the much more intimidating 1000-page version for my own class). Has anyone seen the Canadian film "One Week"? Where the protagonist reads this very poem in a booming, passionate voice to an uninspired high school English class? I foresee that being my experience on Monday, but with third-year undergrads. :? Any thoughts?

81

picture the class in their underwear

Dissidentman

I get lectured plenty, however I have no advice for ya.

Maybe "Don't drink so much then"

One Song Glory

81 wrote:

picture the class in their underwear

Haha, probably NOT the best way to go. :?

StillHere

Got nothing, no matter how many I've done, I always get knots and butterflies along with doubts beforehand.

But you know what, it always all turns out OK...and I'm sure your will too.

Just be passionate, or pretend to be at the very least, and you'll be a hit.

Pretend it's PJ your speaking on. lol! Works, it does.

eyedclaar

Well, if I’ve learned anything from the rapid disintegration of the American attention span, you are going to need fireworks and car chases to keep them riveted. Ok, so NASCAR already figured that one out. Hmmm, in that case, just have a race playing on a big screen behind you. To your eyes, it will seem like people are paying attention.

dcfaithful

This is not helpful at all, but I'm just curious as to what class this is that you're lecturing in?

maj4e

I teach college @ night.

I do a form of edu-tainment, I pick on them a little just to keep it light. Also I was born with a complete disregard of what people think so that helps in public speaking.

StillHere

I got it!

Instead of picturing them in THEIR underwear,

how bout you just go in YOUR underwear.

That'll keep their attention. LOL! Right?

chadwick

have fun
good luck

make it fun and engaging
a lot of people are afraid to get up and speak in front of others

you are not that guy

BinauralJam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duZ4VSDm ... re=related

Hope this helps.

unlost dogs

Hey OSG, I can appreciate your discomfort. When I had to give my first big lecture to grad students, my first one as faculty, I was fine until I walked into the very formal auditorium and they were all staring at me.

I put my stuff down, walked outside, called my husband and said, "They're all staring at me!" He said, "Well, that's good. At least they aren't playing games on their cell phones."

He suggested saying, "Not that long ago, I was sitting in the seats. This is new for me, hope it will be helpful for all of us." Something along those lines.

I find it helps to walk around a lot. Avoid podium paralysis and for God's sake don't read every word off the slides.

I'm quite comfortable lecturing now. I mean, who wouldn't want to hear me go on and on and on and on?

Can I get a witness?

Yes/No?

eyedclaar

unlost dogs wrote:

Hey OSG, I can appreciate your discomfort. When I had to give my first big lecture to grad students, my first one as faculty, I was fine until I walked into the very formal auditorium and they were all staring at me.

I put my stuff down, walked outside, called my husband and said, "They're all staring at me!" He said, "Well, that's good. At least they aren't playing games on their cell phones."

He suggested saying, "Not that long ago, I was sitting in the seats. This is new for me, hope it will be helpful for all of us." Something along those lines.

I find it helps to walk around a lot. Avoid podium paralysis and for God's sake don't read every word off the slides.

I'm quite comfortable lecturing now. I mean, who wouldn't want to hear me go on and on and on and on?

Can I get a witness?

Yes/No?

BinauralJam

unlost dogs wrote:

Hey OSG, I can appreciate your discomfort. When I had to give my first big lecture to grad students, my first one as faculty, I was fine until I walked into the very formal auditorium and they were all staring at me.

I put my stuff down, walked outside, called my husband and said, "They're all staring at me!" He said, "Well, that's good. At least they aren't playing games on their cell phones."

He suggested saying, "Not that long ago, I was sitting in the seats. This is new for me, hope it will be helpful for all of us." Something along those lines.

I find it helps to walk around a lot. Avoid podium paralysis and for God's sake don't read every word off the slides.

I'm quite comfortable lecturing now. I mean, who wouldn't want to hear me go on and on and on and on?

Can I get a witness?

Yes/No?

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz hhhuuuhhh whaa oohhh zzzzzzzzzzzzz

One Song Glory

dcfaithful wrote:

This is not helpful at all, but I'm just curious as to what class this is that you're lecturing in?

It's just the standard Romantic/Victorian third-year course in the undergrad program here at Carleton. Because it's a required course in the English canon, most people aren't generally all that interested...myself included. Maybe it's the field I'm specializing in, but everyone I know is looking for an excuse to study video games, pop culture and the Internet under the umbrella of "English." So the trick will be to appear like I think Victorian poetry is the greatest thing since sliced bread, while my own literary interests are pretty much 20-21st Century American/Canadian...with a specialization in Digital Humanities.

But hey, who says I can't teach Tennyson too?

One Song Glory

eyedclaar wrote:

Well, if I’ve learned anything from the rapid disintegration of the American attention span, you are going to need fireworks and car chases to keep them riveted. Ok, so NASCAR already figured that one out. Hmmm, in that case, just have a race playing on a big screen behind you. To your eyes, it will seem like people are paying attention.

Ha, well my big research interest is all about flashy avant-garde techno shit...so maybe my attention span is equally shot. McLuhan tried to warn us all but we wrote him off as a lunatic. I like to think I'm not a lost cause even if I do study digital media; my favourite book is 700+ pages long AND I'm willingly reading the much scarier Ulysses for a second time.

Even though I guarantee that a crash course in Digital Humanities would blow their little minds and hold their attention, methinks I need to stick to the basics here...so that I can continue to get paid to go to school.

At least it's only a 2-page poem. They SHOULD be able to handle it. I'm not asking them to read Joyce!

One Song Glory

Mission accomplished!

RKCNDY

How did it go?

One Song Glory

Really well actually. I can apparently fake a wealth of knowledge of Tennyson...by complementing it with tangential knowledge of everything else. And class participation was fantastic.

dcfaithful

Congrats on a successful first lecture!

RKCNDY

Yes, congrats! :thumbup:

rhcpjam1029

as an undergrad myself, i have seen many TA's get nervous up there. but coming first hand, don't be nervous. we're just as nervous as you are and we have no idea what's going on. good luck.

One Song Glory

rhcpjam1029 wrote:

as an undergrad myself, i have seen many TA's get nervous up there. but coming first hand, don't be nervous. we're just as nervous as you are and we have no idea what's going on. good luck.

Haha, it's done now but thanks! I think my biggest issue was the context of the class. It's a third-year course that I literally only took two years ago, so I'm not that much more experienced than many of the students in this class and I didn't feel qualified going in. I could absolutely lecture about my own research area with plenty of confidence, but my specialization is contemporary North American lit, specifically Digital Humanities...so my knowledge of Victorian poetry is really not all that more developed than my third-years' own knowledge. I was able to fake it well enough today and the class seemed to enjoy it.

catefrances

One Song Glory wrote:

Really well actually. I can apparently fake a wealth of knowledge of Tennyson...by complementing it with tangential knowledge of everything else. And class participation was fantastic.

aah... you gotta love intertextuality.

pjfan31

One of my lecturers always make it fun. At the start he will have a top 10 list, gets us going. his list the other day was top 10 childrens books that will never be published. he had

The new Rohl Dahl classic 'OMG WTF BFG'

'BI Curious George and the inappropriate touch'

If you are interested, I can email you the lecture (vodcast), to see. I know that it sets the mood on what can be a boring time for students


Good luck

One Song Glory

Random update: The prof who completely inspired my research interest is letting me do a fucking guest lecture in his fourth-year/MASTER'S course next semester...and I'm only a Master's student myself. :shock: Holy shit!

He and I have become really good friends throughout my first grant proposal process in the fall and he's brought me into the inner circle of the super-elite (read as super-paranoid!) digital media people at my university. We were at the campus pub tonight with my research supervisor and he randomly turned to me and asked if I wanted to do a "real" lecture in his class. (Apparently Tennyson isn't "real" enough for the folks I hang out with!)

He said I can basically teach anything I want whenever I want as long as I give him enough advance notice to officially add it to the syllabus. It's a huge huge huge honour and i'm so unbelievably excited! Now THIS kind of shit I could go on and on about for 3 hours easily! AND make it interesting.

Becoming friends with profs clearly has its benefits!

catefrances

small town beck

Very cool.

I noticed you are in Ottawa, nice to find another PJ fan in the area. I just moved here in August for school.

One Song Glory

small town beck wrote:

Very cool.

I noticed you are in Ottawa, nice to find another PJ fan in the area. I just moved here in August for school.

Carleton or U of O?? And how are you liking it so far? Also, are you aware that we have a kick-ass marathon 12-day music festival in July? You'd better stick around for the summer!

small town beck

One Song Glory wrote:

small town beck wrote:

Very cool.

I noticed you are in Ottawa, nice to find another PJ fan in the area. I just moved here in August for school.

Carleton or U of O?? And how are you liking it so far? Also, are you aware that we have a kick-ass marathon 12-day music festival in July? You'd better stick around for the summer!

I am actually take PR at Algonquin but I live near Carleton...sort of. I am a mature student so it has been interesting to say the least Are you from here? I have heard something about it and it sounds fab!! I just missed it last year as I didn't get here until August.

One Song Glory

small town beck wrote:

One Song Glory wrote:

small town beck wrote:

Very cool.

I noticed you are in Ottawa, nice to find another PJ fan in the area. I just moved here in August for school.

Carleton or U of O?? And how are you liking it so far? Also, are you aware that we have a kick-ass marathon 12-day music festival in July? You'd better stick around for the summer!

I am actually take PR at Algonquin but I live near Carleton...sort of. I am a mature student so it has been interesting to say the least Are you from here? I have heard something about it and it sounds fab!! I just missed it last year as I didn't get here until August.

Ah, my bad. I usually forget about Algonquin. :? I'm a veteran Carleton student (I also did my undergrad here) so this is my fifth year living in the city. I'm from the Toronto area originally and missed being around for the infamous Ottawa show by a year. :( Ottawa's definitely home now but alas, my Master's supervisor has said that he would absolutely kill me if I even apply to do my PhD here (academic suicide to do three degrees at one institution) and U of O doesn't have the proper programs, so I'll be leaving at the end of August. Ideally headed for UVic or Waterloo, although UVic is more appealing all the way around.