Annihilation. Performance by Patton Oswalt, Netflix, 2017. Film.
Annihilation is Patton Oswalt’s eighth standup comedy special, in it he combines storytelling, observations, crowdwork, and stream of consciousness comedy techniques to create a masterpiece of standup.
Annihilation came out in 2017, just following the untimely death of Oswalt’s then wife, writer Michelle McNamara. Oswalt discusses the political tensions of the time, observations from everyday life, and the struggles of losing his wife and learning to take care of his daughter without her. Oswalt’s balance of the comedic and the tragic remains a triumph.
Patton Oswalt uses almost every trick in the comedy book to create a brilliant and touching piece that any comedian would aspire to.
Martin, Steve. Born Standing Up. Scribner, 2007.
Comedian Steve Martin wrote the memoir Born Standing Up in 2008, in it he reflects on his youth and his life as a comic. He discusses how he developed his act and how his life influenced his show and vice versa. He reflects on a life in show business and the effects it can have on a person.
Martin’s work, although only about his life, is broadly applicable to life itself, as he discusses his pursuit of his passion in show business one cannot help but relate to his struggle to find his way in the world. Martin shows us the ways that a life spent in show business can take over all facets of your life.
Reading this book was the clearest glimpse I have ever gotten into the world of a standup comedian and after reading it I really felt like I understood the industry. As I engage in my senior project, Martin’s words are sure to stay with me.
Little, Tom, and Katherine Ellison. Loving Learning. W.W. Norton and Company, 2015.
Esteemed head of Park Day School in Oakland, CA, Tom Little, shares the secret to progressive education in his book Loving Learning. Little discusses the many theories and practices behind progressive education to demonstrate how to be an effective educator.
Little explores many methods of progressive teaching from engaging students with hands-on work outside the classroom to teaching beyond the test and towards social justice.
My goal is to be the best teacher I can be and to me that means incorporating progressive education techniques into my repertoire of teaching. The school I am working at during the project is a progressive public middle school and I will need to employ these techniques to be effective in that environment.
Rosenfield, Stephen. Mastering Standup: The Complete Guide to Becoming a Successful Comedian. Chicago Review Press, 2018.
Steven Rosenfield, comedian and founder of America’s most renowned comedy school, compiles his teaching in Mastering Stand-Up. With profiles of famous comedians and descriptions of various methods and forms of comedy Rosenfield gives the building blocks of a successful comedy career.
Mastering Stand-Up starts with a history of comedy and its value and a breakdown of what makes things funny. He goes on to describe the many forms of Comedy and their many proprietors from Lenny Bruce to Bob Newhart to Moms Mabley to Andy Kaufman. He then explains the essentials of writing material, performing and honing your act.
Becoming a good comedian is a process and Rosenfield has created a guide that I believe will help me along that process and accelerate that process during senior project.
Slater, Timothy F. “When Is a Good Day Teaching a Bad Thing.” The Physics Teacher.
Timothy Slater’s article “When Is a Good Day Teaching a Bad Thing?” discusses how to have a healthy teaching and learning environment by breaking down the traditional structures of the classroom.
Slater describes what he calls the hidden contract of the classroom, an agreement between students and teachers that teachers will lecture and explain topics to their students and the students will regurgitate the information back to the teacher. Slater says that to have a healthy and productive environment in the classroom we should abandon the hidden contract and encourage students to discover things for themselves and teachers to learn from the students.
To be the best teacher I can be I will need to keep in mind the dangers of defaulting to the hidden contract and actively find ways to avoid similar practices.