NASSR/Romantic Circles Virtual Pedagogy Contest 2020
A message from NASSR and Romantic Circles:In order to honor, publicize, and share all the intellectual labor our community is doing right now in the form of pedagogy and course preparation, NASSR and Romantic Circles will be hosting our annual pedagogy contest virtually this fall. We encourage teacher-scholars of any rank and location to submit their pedagogy, particularly those materials pertaining to our current situation of COVID pandemic, racial reckoning, and digital/virtual media. We’ll hold our finalists’ roundtable via a virtual panel open to the entire community (link & date forthcoming). Please see below for information on the history of the contest (in its 6th year), its virtual design, and submission guidelines.CONTEST HISTORY: The contest was devised in the hopes of celebrating recent pedagogical innovation, inspiring creative new approaches, and creating an additional forum for conversations about Romantic pedagogy—both its boons and challenges. Teachers of all ranks may submit teaching materials, and a panel of three to four finalists will be selected to discuss their pedagogy during a panel, open to the public, at the annual NASSR conference.Exemplary submissions consider how teaching revivifies Romanticism, in any of its myriad forms. For a list of previous winners and their syllabi, see the Pedagogies section of the Romantic Circles website. Submissions might include a course that rethinks the period; a part of a course that addresses a specific author, theory, or literary problem; a special project, assignment, or a particular pedagogical technique. We welcome the use of multimedia resources, digital techniques, and courses designed to use multi-modal digital platforms for learning and communication, but they are by no means required. Courses and projects should be recent—within the past two academic years—or projected to be taught in the following one.THIS YEAR’S VIRTUAL DESIGN:After submitting a small packet of material, finalists are chosen via author-blind peer review by a committee composed of members of NASSR in the US, UK, and beyond, Romantic Circles, and the NASSR Graduate Caucus. Finalists usually give a short presentation on their courses and pedagogies at a special panel during the NASSR conference; this year we will hold a virtual panel in late October/early November, open to all interested Romanticists for online attendance. Finalists’ and winners’ syllabi will be published on the Romantic Circles Pedagogies website, and the winner will receive a $250 award as well as recognition at the NASSR conference and in the NASSR Newsletter.The contest is sponsored by the NASSR Advisory Board, the NASSR 2020 Organizing Committee, and the Romantic Circles website.TO SUBMIT:Please send a document of between 3-5 pages to nassrpedagogycontest@gmail.com by Friday, September 30, 2020. Please include a separate cover letter with identifying information, which should be left off all other documents. Initial queries and questions are welcomed.Potential materials might include but are not limited to:- A cover letter and explanation of the submission, including an argument as to the course or project’s pedagogical innovation and benefits for the study of Romanticism. If the submission is a project or assignment, it has often helped participants to contexualize it within the aims of the larger course. Please include identifying information in this document, but omit it from the other documents and materials.- Syllabus or parts of a syllabus- Assignment sheets- Multimedia or digital materials