Seminar Skills
Organized in chronological order.
Seminar Setting Goals & Self Assessment 8/19/2021
In LIBS 302, Introduction to Liberal Studies, one of the first things we do is fill out a self-assessment on seminar skills. Since LIBS 302 is for transfer students, this is done so we can assess our growth in this area during our time in the program, mainly because most of us have never participated in a seminar class before.
I had severe social anxiety for most of my life, so it was scary to return to in-person school in an environment that I was unfamiliar with after being fully online for two years, and I was very shy about sharing my opinions. As shown in the assessment here, the lowest scores I gave myself were in participating in seminar vocally. In contrast, I put a pretty high score in listening skills and caring about others' opinions.
Clips R Us Discussion Guide
The Effects of the Market and Social Pressure on Comedy
Links from assignment:
Spring 2022 - LIBS 320D: (Anthropology of Humor)
I noticed that the topic of cancel culture was coming up a lot in my Anthropology of Humor class, and I disagreed a bit with what my classmates were expressing. I also noticed that we would focus a lot on whether specific jokes were "okay or not okay" during seminar. So when Eric gave us this assignment, I had an opportunity to present how I felt. The assignment was to pick some comedy clips and outline a discussion for us to go over in class.
I chose two clips of comedian Kat Williams. The first clip (from 4:24-5:03) was from one of my favorite Kat William's specials when I was in middle school. I picked this as an excellent example of what a lot of comedy back then was like. My second clip was Kat William's recent opinion about cancel culture in comedy, which was a rational rebuttal to the claim that cancel culture is "ruining" comedy. My focus of the discussion was how certain external events might have influenced the joke cycles of the early 00s, what impact the market has on these changing comedic trends, and whether the "canceled" are appealing to a market. I was also definitely over-prepared because I was nervous about leading a discussion.
Unfortunately, I did not get to lead this discussion due to COVID exposure, and (being high-risk myself) I did not want to take the chance of possibly getting someone sick. However, looking back at this discussion, I am proud of my connections to our course readings more than anything else about this assignment. I also feel like the clips I chose were very relevant because they showed the same comedian being "problematic" 16 years ago and then their wise reflection to accompany it. In addition, I like my questions regarding why certain events in the early 00s could have influenced why offensive jokes were more popular and who the target demographic was for those jokes. Specifically, my questions about what "canceling" really is and if there is a financial incentive to claim the badge of "canceled" were some of my favorite questions that I wish I could have heard my classmates' opinions on.
Seminar Setting Goals & Self Assessment 12/9/2022
Since I transferred to SSU as we all returned to in-person school, and things were still weird, I didn't have many assignments to showcase my growth in seminar skills. However, I did have my self-assessment for seminar skills from right when I started the Hutchins program. So I thought I could retake the self-assessment to see how I have improved in seminar during my year in the program.
Compared to my first self-assessment, what I already scored myself pretty high on either stayed the same or improved. For example, thinking about my thinking stayed high at a 10 this whole time because I naturally do that as a person. However, I would like to point out my most noticeable improvements:
I gave "asking questions during seminar" a 2 in the beginning, which increased to a 7 now. I gave "explain your ideas" a 4 on the first self-assessment, which increased to a 9! Before Hutchins, I was much more hesitant to share my ideas regarding school-related topics, and I felt intimidated by everyone in Hutchins. It was a lot scarier than before I got comfortable with what seminar is like. For "build on what others have said," I initially gave myself a 4, but now I give myself an 8.
I frequently agree with what someone else has said and have more to add, so I do! For "try to improve the seminar discussion," I originally gave myself a 3. Now, I give myself an 8. Every Hutchins student has experienced the awkward feeling of no one wanting to start or say anything during seminar. Our professors do not let us off the hook and force us to stew in awkward silence until someone speaks. The awkwardness always pushed me to contribute my ideas, even when I didn't want to share them for whatever silly reason. The silence is worse than the potential embarrassment of sharing a stupid idea! On my first assessment, I gave myself a 1 on introducing new ideas to the discussion, but now I give myself a 5. It is easier for me to build on someone else's ideas because it involves less vulnerability, so I find this part more challenging. However, I did improve on this more so during my spring semester. Finally, I gave myself a 1 for "deal with difficult problems or questions" on my first assessment. I gave myself a 6 for this one because, while I still shy away from conflict most of the time, I had dealt with difficult problems or questions more than I thought I would when I started the Hutchins program and have even bravely done so in seminars. One of the most concrete examples of this led to my research paper on memes and Alt-Right radicalization in LIBS 320D.
I entered the Hutchins program nervous about seminar, and every time I spoke up, I was surprised that I did so. As time passed, I became more comfortable with it until I was no longer nervous about attending my seminar classes.