And Now for Something Completely Different

I've spent too much time on all that drama from one certain student, so I thought I'd blog about other school happenings.

It's finally Thanksgiving break. I thought it would never get here. As per usual, it felt like pulling teeth trying to get any response out of students who were too burned out to care any more. This apathy is exactly why I save some of the more interesting topics (in case of Interpersonal, nonverbal communication) to spice things up a bit. They have assignments that take them out of their comfort zone to do things, like, stand really close to a stranger and see how they react.

I also show two videos to break up the lecture monotony. One, a well-done documentary called The Secrets of Body Language. Even if comm isn't your thing, most people enjoy seeing how you can "read" someone, what they are thinking what they are feeling, simply by observing their nonverbal behavior. Two, I show them the pilot episode of a show called Lie to Me. It's a wonderful show on Fox and nonverbal behavior, lying, and deception. It really is a great show to use in any comm, pyscholoy, sociology, or even some business courses. Then they have an extra credit opportunity to write a report on Dr. Paul Ekman, the psychologist the show is loosely based on. He's even a creative consultant for the show! It's a great way to show how science and pop culture really do collide. It ends up being one of the favorite assignments of most of my students.