Materials Developed

Many elements of this course were already in place from previous semesters; however, Dr. Kelly Sax and I developed a new presentation together based on the recently released film Paris, je t’aime. We integrated the film into the class in stages. First, each student watched just one of the 18 short segments of Paris, je t’aime; then, in groups of three, students discussed the segments they had watched. Following this activity, students then watched the entire film and discussed it as a class, focusing on what themes they had noticed and how they had been realized. These discussions led up to the culminating activity, the creation of their own short films, Bloomington, je t’aime. In keeping with the original, any theme of love could be embodied, and some of them were quite creative – one group told their love story from the perspective of three dogs.

I also wrote my own final exam for this course, evaluated with the accompanying rubric. To help alleviate exam nerves, I incorporated some prompts to guide students’ preparation before beginning the role play.