I have been lax in posting on this class. Here we are day
four and I have yet to discuss my intent or the process of the class. It has
been a number of years since I taught this course and I am anxious to get back
to it for a number of reasons. First, I find the subject fascinating. It really
does build off of the ideas discussed in the postmodernism class. So in that
sense it is like a part two for me and perhaps a handful of students. Another
reason is perhaps a bit more personal in that I have had this paper about chaos
and dramatic structure in my head for ages and I have just not written it yet.
I am hoping this class will push the ideas along. Since I restructured the
class as a project based course I want to see how these ideas play out in that
format.
One of the things that struck me before the term even began
is that I have 10 out of 26 students that have already take a project based
course with me in one form or another. Typically the number is more like 1 or
2. That means that the conversation already starts at a certain level. The
element of surprise is lost, but at the same time what is gained is that we can
perhaps move a bit farther along in addressing the projects. The other concern
about this is that as I discuss things like pedagogy many of the students
already get what I am after. Again – the element of surprise or discover is
lost, but what I think can be gained by this is how to continue to develop this
type of work independent of the education structure. What I mean by that is I
feel that in order to remain moving forward as a creative individual or artist
finding way to challenge yourself is a necessity. The class offers a paradigm
of how to do this – a process of asking questions. My hope is that students
that have returned to this type of class can begin to see that.
My final concern has to do with energy and repetition. Part
of what I rely on with these types of classes is discovery – both on the
student’s part as well as my own. Having sat down and talked through what I
have learned about these types of classes this past summer there is an element
of this course that is beginning to feel repetitive. The subject is different,
but the process is the same. The comment I made in class today is that all of
my courses are set up like a well made play – the first week or so is
exposition then we work on rising action toward a climax and then dénouement. I
need to be aware that the climax doesn’t happen too fast – as it has in some
courses – as well as what I do with the ending. In the past I have pulled away
or disrupted the pattern to allow the students to take the lead toward the end.
This time I will be asking them to apply what they have learned to a handful of
pieces. We shall see what happens.
So these were my concerns as I began the class. The first
day can be little more than introductory material. I familiarize them with the
subject matter, the syllabus, the rules, the projects, etc. then we get to the
class part. The physical warm up and mental warm up. As awkward as this feels
at times I know that these pieces are necessary for moving forward with these
ideas. The exercise for that day was called “one second late” with the premise
that someone or something awoke a second later than usual and because of that
time gap the following 5 events occurred. The answers were interesting, but all
had a kind of linear pattern to them – one thing happened that lead to another
and another. Not necessarily the intent of the question, but a good starting
point to discuss narrative form and how chaos can challenge it.
The next class I was out. I had them play the chaos game and
(hopefully) watch the youtube version of the Nova on Chaos Theory. Here they
would see more of the ideas behind the chaos game. I wanted them to do the painstaking
process of rolling dice and plotting points because one this is run out to
hundreds of places a pattern that is hard to see by hand emerges. The point is
to try and get some of these ideas into the body and not just a mental exercise
.
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