It
has been a long time since I've blogged due to writing other things
like journal articles (a bit on short film, SF film, global film, see
here for titles), some SF starts, random internet threads about theory,
and a dissertation. Those dissertation things sure take a while.
I've
also transitioned back to the Pacific Northwest and I am teaching at
Western Washington University this year as a Visiting Assistant
Professor of Film Studies. This is an exciting opportunity, because I
will be able to teach classes based on some of my writing/research
interests. This fall, for example, I am teaching a class on 'Film and
Television in the Pacific Northwest.' Teaching in the Pacific
Northwest, and especially at Western, offers so many opportunities
for a class like this. Early on in the course I will be taking the
students to the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies on Western's
campus and the Whatcom Museum to look at archival materials. They'll
be looking at these materials alongside The
General (1927),
which should give us a rich sense of the 'Pacific Northwest in the
Past.' I am also currently organizing a multi-projector screening of
Harry Smith's experimental Heaven
and Earth Magic (1957-1962)
– particularly
exciting, because Smith was from Bellingham, but I'll have to
dedicate another post to this further down the road. I'm also having
local filmmakers from Hand Crank Films
(www.handcrankfilms.com)
come in and talk to the class about local film and video work, which
will be exciting because a few students that are signed up for the
class have been talking to me about their post-college career goals.
Hand Crank's
success
illustrates the need for more graduates with a background in film.
I'm also setting up an option to create a film for students
interested in production – excited about the possibilities for
video essays and documentary in particular! Part of my goal with this
class has been to utilize the resources and community of Bellingham
since we are, in a way, studying Bellingham! I hope that the
student's work will contribute to local resources and future classes
on the subject.
I
recently got back from a working retreat set up by the Teaching
Learning Academy and library at Western. The theme was 'Backwards by
Design' and we looked at ways of approaching curriculum design from
what we want students to learn in the end, rather than moving forward
starting with content and assignments. It seems simple, but when you
commit to approaching design this way I find that it results in
subtle yet fundamental changes and innovative assignments. I think it
is easy to get into a rut in assigning 'typical' assignments, but
approaching these same assignments with a desired learning
objective/threshold concept in the foreground reveals, at least to
me, the ways in which such assignments aren't always sufficient if
we're building real critical skills into our courses. The concept I'm
working on in my Pacific Northwest class is the way that approaching
an object of research from a particular method/discourse/theory
presupposes a certain type of knowledge – borrowing from
Feyerabend's Against Method,
but we could also look to discourse theory in the vein of Foucault
and Gee. This seems important to me for this class, because we will
look at diverse types of film and television, each which provides a
certain insight about the Pacific Northwest based on its formal and
thematic modes.
I'm
really happy that Western has these sorts of professional development
opportunities, because it means that there is always a community for
thinking through my work. The retreat was also an excellent
opportunity to meet other faculty at Western! Glad to make some
friends there and network with other Western folks interested in
film. While I am teaching in the English department, I've made
contact with faculty in Art History, Fairhaven College, the library,
and Modern Languages who all research or teach film. There is some
real interdisciplinary potential at Western for film students!
Well,
I can't promise I'll start blogging more, but I'd like to repurpose
this blog a bit and shift towards my teaching. I'll still probably
post about films I've seen recently every once in a while, but
writing about 'teaching film' seems like a useful exercise.
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