As part of my freshman seminar on Confederate symbols in American life, I required my students to watch and analyze any Hollywood-produced movie about antebellum America, or more especially, the Civil War. The instructions were fairly straightforward: “Watch a movie about the Civil War Era, looking specifically for the ways in which the film attempts to…

Although this will be a relatively short post, I consider the topic vitally important. I suggested a few months ago that writing argument comes naturally to those who are seasoned in the art. Thus, I especially struggled on how best to teach crafting an interpretation. I since then have been relatively successful. My next challenge,…

After having completed one-third of the semester teaching two freshman seminars, I have concluded that generating an effective class discussion is the greatest challenge that I face as an instructor. Conversely, I very much enjoy courses with a lecture format on which I have had great success in the past. I will always defend this…

As a quick reminder, I am teaching two freshman writing-intensive seminars on the historical origins of contemporary problems: national gun culture and the role of Confederate symbols in American life. So far, both classes have gone well; the students are, for the most part, engaged and curious.I have dedicated the past two weeks to the…

I have the great fortune of teaching freshman writing seminars at Rice University. Rather than approaching the art of college writing in a detached, theoretical, or “language arts” style, I thought it might be more useful to teach writing on topical studies. Thus, my seminars expose students to the historical origins of two contemporary American…