Here’s the link to my video essay in which I analyze the significance of the three witches within Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, along with analyzing the impact of the number three within the play and within witchcraft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t49RlhELZNU
Category Archives: Sprockets and Springes
Disability From A Caretaker’s Perspective
There is a problem in New Hampshire schools that we are facing. According to UNH’s survey on disability status, ⅛ individuals in New Hampshire report living with a disability. While this is lower than the national average, along with a higher amount of disabled NH residents with higher education degrees, private healthcare, less poverty, andContinue reading “Disability From A Caretaker’s Perspective”
Things that Work
Go home, 2020, you’re an apocalyptic cascade of oppressive systems freshly exposed (again) by a global pandemic, worldwide #BLM protests, and a corresponding surge in public conversations about Racial Justice and Disability Justice. In other news, I haven’t been blogging in awhile. I have been active on Twitter (@nrhelms), and I’ve been quite busy withContinue reading “Things that Work”
Notes on *Sir Thomas More*
My classes begin Thursday, and with them my attempts to better infuse my teaching with intersectional thinking. I’ll have thoughts about successful forays and failed experiments as the semester goes along, but today I only have anticipation. As such, I’m taking the opportunity to post some program notes I wrote for a Resurgens Theatre productionContinue reading “Notes on *Sir Thomas More*”
Brit Lit I: the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries
As the start of the fall semester looms closer, my attention has been drawn away from syllabus construction and blogging and toward a lot of the nitty gritty details of teaching: course schedules, Blackboard shells, writing assignments, and of course scheduling service commitments. In the midst of all that, here’s what I currently have forContinue reading “Brit Lit I: the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries”
Brit Lit I: The Middle Ages
As I select texts for the Middle Ages portion of my Brit Lit I syllabus, I’ve drawn inspiration from Rebecca Futo Kennedy’s site and from episodes 51 and 52 of The Endless Knot. I find myself continually humbled by how much I need to learn and grateful for the work that others have done. MyContinue reading “Brit Lit I: The Middle Ages”
Minmaxing the Syllabus
Before I continue with my Brit Lit I syllabus recreation, I want to quickly import a concept from my hobby, gaming: minmaxing. Simply put, to min-max is to take a game, system, or scenario, lay out all the possible options, and to assemble the most streamlined set of options for your particular goals. In role-playingContinue reading “Minmaxing the Syllabus”
New Recommendations for EN/Brit Lit I
As my title suggests, the biggest change for the EN Lit I survey this year at UA English is the shift from “requirements” to “recommendations.” Here are the new recommendations I promised to talk about in my last post: British Literature Survey (EN 205, 206) Recommended Guidelines The first thing I’d like to close readContinue reading “New Recommendations for EN/Brit Lit I”
Old RollTide Requirements: Teaching English Lit I at The University of Alabama
As I promised earlier this week, today I’d like to talk about the old requirements for teaching English Literature I at The University of Alabama. I taught my first English Literature I survey (EN 205) in Morgan Hall the fall of my first year as a Ph.D. student back in 2009. I had taught fourContinue reading “Old RollTide Requirements: Teaching English Lit I at The University of Alabama”
Decolonizing MY Syllabus
It’s summer! Or rather, it’s four days until the summer solstice and about smack dab in the middle of the awkward, anxious pause between spring and fall semesters. For those outside of academia, the summer is often seen as a perk of teaching, a pure vacation from the stress of classes and students. As aContinue reading “Decolonizing MY Syllabus”
Sprockets and Springes 