This course features a flipped classroom: you come to class having already seen the lecture, and so having already heard whatever I may have to say to you about the text. Class is now your chance to talk to each other, rather than to listen to the instructor.
I make the lecture available via different formats: video, podcast, and transcript. Though I recommend the video format (I do go to some effort with the videos, and include images where that seems relevant), you may find other formats more convenient and accessible. You can listen to the lecture in the car or on the bus. You can rewind or go back when you do not understand a point or want to hear it a second time.
By preparing and editing the lectures in advance, I have been able to keep them fairly short: not much more than twenty minutes each (though there are exceptions; some lectures are little longer). But this means they are also perhaps a bit denser than normal classroom lectures.
In every case, there is a question about halfway through, accompanied by a drinks pairing. I strongly suggest that you pause, and write down an answer in your notebook. These questions aim to help you think differently or more deeply about the text.
Some people like to watch the lectures before they write their blog posts. Some like to watch them afterwards. So long as you watch them before coming to class, I don’t mind.
The entire series of (revised and sometimes expanded) lectures, in book format, is here: Romance Studies: Manifesto and Method. Twenty-Eight Lectures, with Drinks Pairings.
But you can also find, individually:
Often, if not always, there is in addition a conversation video, in which I talk to a colleague or expert about the text. The idea here is that you get a different perspective on the reading, and that we model what it means to discuss and compare different readings. This also you need to watch before class.
Finally, then, the entire point of the flipped classroom is that you then come to class ready to participate and contribute your own thoughts. As we mostly have just one class session on each text, we only get one shot at it. Let’s do the very best we can.
Please note this course’s policy on classroom etiquette: you are to participate actively, with respectful disagreement and minimal use of electronics.
