This year, my research & writing course got a complete overhaul and a new theme: American Foodways: The Study of American Food Culture through Research and Writing. I divided the class into 3 sections: Food Memories, Southern Foodways, and Food Politics. One section encouraged students to write autobiographically about a memory they had that involved food (using the book Eat, Memory as a model); the next studied the culture of southern food through Cornbread Nation (a section that involved a food project -- edible research, yum); and the final section, which I'm currently teaching, is the "Food Inc," Omnivore's Dilemma, gritty agribusiness portion of the course.
A miracle occurred. Somewhere between my African student telling about his refusal to eat a sacrificial ox and my Hindi student defending her choice to eat halal, the students became interested -- not only in writing and research, but in each other. They became friends, in some cases, but colleagues, mostly, sharing resources, pairing up to go to Epcot to research The Land, engaging in vegan diet experiments together and comparing notes. It was . . . weird. People were speaking voluntarily, actually completing the assigned reading, and consistently bringing in current events, video clips, and other news references pertaining to the class.
I've been scratching my head trying to figure out what suddenly went right but I've had to admit finally that it wasn't me; it was food. Everybody eats. I wanted the students to love what I loved -- I tried memoir, the South, even a class with open topics. But what I needed was an undeniably common ground, and that, apparently, was food.
3 comments:
It makes sense. I mean, our biggest national holiday revolves around feasting. Every time there is a special event, it is usually celebrated with food - weddings, funerals, graduations, anniversaries, etc. I'm so glad you found a way to get everyone engaged.
Maybe you should celebrate with dinner. ;-)
PS - Do you have any resources to suggest for teaching the writing process? A textbook, online sources, anything? I've tried a million different ways and my kids still seem perplexed...
I would totally sign up for that class! How gratifying it must be to see students actually getting excited about writing! I didn't have to take Freshman Comp (or whatever it was called) at Baylor, but, as someone who loves to write, I remember being so annoyed with everyone complaining about it all the time!
Hope you are feeling great and enjoy a food-filled Thanksgiving!
I think you've generated gastronomical gold, Kacy. It sounds like you've designed a course that will never be predictable, and will always remain interesting...great job. Still, you need to give yourself a bit of credit too. Everybody eats, but there's only one Kacy Tillman. Your awesomness is just parve for the course.
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