This nuanced piece by @dgooblar on lectures and learning gives me much to reflect on as I prepare to lecture, yes lecture, for a portion of my FYE humor writing seminar tonight. chronicle.com/article/Do-Stu…
@dgooblar Students are in the midst of working on a team project, an original humorous creation, and as they work on it, I like to bring in material dealing with the First Amendment, libel/slander, etc...They should know this stuff if they're creating public-facing humor.
@dgooblar I will start by asking them to write down their present understanding of the First Amendment. We will discuss a bit, bat the different impressions around, etc... After that, I will "lecture" for about 15-20 minutes on the 1A and humor/comedy.
@dgooblar The lecture moves from general stuff about the 1A, its original intent and later restrictions (School speech, why you can burn the flag, but not your draft card, etc...) before pivoting to comedy specific discussion about Jerry Falwell suing Hustler.
@dgooblar For this who don't recall, Hustler published a parody ad that said Falwell's first sexual experience was with his mother who it was also implied had slept with everyone in town. Hustler/Flynt were not guilty of libel, but Falwell was awarded damages for emotional distress.
@dgooblar Supreme Court ultimately reversed that judgment. This is information and context I want students to have before we pivot to talking about the issues their work may be confronting. The best/most efficient way to deliver that information is a short lecture.
@dgooblar What the lecture is for, its context in the class, what else students do or don't know, what they're expected to do with the information all play a role in determining if a lecture is warranted.
@dgooblar The experiments that allegedly show that lecture does or does not work are always (by necessity of experimental design) narrow and decontextualized. They are the opposite of helpful because they distract from the deeper questions we should be wrestling with.
@dgooblar I'll bracket this little rant with the same link at the top. Read @dgooblar on this, then go enjoy some time thinking about what you're doing and why and the result will be good stuff. chronicle.com/article/Do-Stu…
