Before you continue into the body of this post, read “Splitting the Atom,” a teaching essay about analysis and emulation:
It should take ten minutes to read and probably another 30 minutes to click through the necessary links.
Note that you can ask questions about any of this in the comment section that follows the examples below.
Project-Based Learning: ETA
The reason you’ve been asked to read “Splitting the Atom” first is that true project-based learning is about skill, not just passion. The flexibility of being in high school is that you really shouldn’t have the skill to work at the level of the models you read. You’re still learning.
So you need to see examples that were crafted by experts. You will get better only by studying better, and you can’t emulate without analysis. That’s the difference between creating your own work and simply enjoying the work of others.
In this Humanities makerspace, you are invited to create your own work. That is also the requirement to earn credit. Just as in the real world, it isn’t all idle inspiration; you are pushed by deadlines and crises and obstacles to be creative. You are pushed by your own internal workings.
Each of these examples were chosen in the spring of 2020. They represent a small fraction of what is available at any given time, if you know where and how to look.
In this case, some creators used the Humanities to make sense of the COVID-19 crisis. Existential dread, personal desire, the power of literature — that is the stuff of the Humanities.
Other creates were driven to add meaning in others ways, which is why you see infographics on learning Korean and a guide to beatboxing. That is the connective, aesthetic stuff of the Humanities.
When you analyze any of these examples, you should take some of what you loosen with you. That’s the assignment, which is really just a way of being a thoughtful consumer of this sort of content: Be inspired to make your own version of what you just watched or read.
I suggest that you look briefly at every single artifact listed below, if only to expose yourself to different voices and ideas. There’s a wide range of perspectives here. You’re also strongly encouraged to explore the other videos, essays, infographics, etc, that will pop up in these sites’ side menus and suggested links.
Example #1: When Can Mario Retire?
This video shows you how to gather research, organize ideas, employ humor, and grapple with the realities of life. If you know you don’t have time to make a video this complex and long, make a short version of it. Make it an essay.
The key to the Unraveled series of videos is the balance between pop culture — the listicle format, the focus on video games, the irreverence — and exceptional research and analysis. The use of experts, of math, etc, is why, I think, the subject of Mario is perfect.
Example #2: How Fictional Pandemics Reflect the Real Thing (Feat. Lindsay Ellis and Dr. Z)
This is from a PBS series on literature. This particular entry was posted as the COVID-19 pandemic was just starting to take shape, and it tackles the crisis through the lens of literature. It gives a little life to the rote opening of so many analysis essays: “In literature, as in life…”
Example #3: Learn to Read Korean in 15 Minutes
This one is a good bit older than the rest of the list, but it contrasts nicely with the other examples. It’s a how-to guide, or a process analysis, formatted as an infographic.
This sort of guide works best when it is accessible, exact, and stylish. The tone of this is worth emulating, for instance, because it’s ironic in a way that is endearing. Look at the third image (“So what do I do with them?”) and it’s faux-exasperation: “I mean, GOD, why do I have to do everything?”
Example #4: 13 Levels of Beatboxing
This may look like it’s far too much to put together yourself, but you can emulate elements, concepts, structure — your work doesn’t have to be a studio-quality breakdown to be meaningful. This is beatboxing from an expert; if you have expertise of your own, you can do a low-budget version of this.
And low-budget is good! One impact of the pandemic has been a pervasive feeling of low-budget creativity. Media feels much more accessible.
Example #5: 42 Scientifically Proven Ways to Improve Your Mood
Another infographic. This one is useful because it makes the research required for any good project much more visible. Look at the list at the bottom of this site: These are the links that justify the use of “scientifically” in the title.
This infographic is especially useful right now, and that can be a focus: You use this space and these project prompts to create something that will help others.
Example #6: We Are Living in a Failed State
Another way to help others is to grapple with what’s happening around us. This particular essay explores America as “a country with serious underlying conditions,” and in a different world, it would be worth reading together. If we can’t look at ourselves and our country with some self-awareness, we can’t improve. That’s the message I take from this.
For you all, it is probably best to use this essay as an example of real-world discourse. If you are inspired to emulate it, I will work closely with you.
Example #7: Respect the Invisible Man (1897 Novel)
This last example is here because it is weird and fascinating. It’s a “respect thread,” which is an annotated, detailed accounting of all the strengths and weaknesses of a fictional character. This one uses the Invisible Man from The Invisible Man, a novel by H.G. Wells.
You could read the entire novel, by the way, for free online, and it wouldn’t take long. It is the shortest novel ever taught in the high school — and also one of the strangest. There is a strangely limited narrator, no real protagonist to speak of, and an existentially bleak ending.
If you wanted to do your own “respect thread,” it would demonstrate research and analytical skills, and it would give you a subreddit as a potential audience.