March 2nd, 2009

as presented by Doctor English (aka Dr. Gian S. Pagnucci, Interim Chair of IUP English)

Super Powers 101

• Cue Superhero Theme Music
• Secret Decoder Ring Prizes: To be awarded for making the geekiest comments of the day!
  • Superhero Theme Songs CD
  • Superhero Stories CD
• Our hero (or is he secretly trying to take over the world?"
  • Doctor English
  • By day a mild mannered English department chair and lifelong comic book junkie
  • Published a few articles related to comic books and given a few presentations on the subject
  • Interested in the marginalizing of the comic book medium
  • IUP Comic Book Course: English 481--The Literature of Comic Books, Graphic Novels, and Superheroes
  • By night his magic pen gives him the power to rewrite history
• Riddle me this, "Would you rather have the power to fly or the power to turn invisible?"
  • The Super Powers Survey
  • Small Group Discussion Focus: What trends do you see in your super powered data?
  • Full Class Discussion: Examining super powered trends
  • Previous Data: Statistics on Invisibility vs. Flight
• Audio Recording: This American Life (from Chicago Public Radio)
  • "Superpowers" (Episode 178, originally broadcast on 2/23/01)
• Ok, but aren't super powers just something out of funny books?
  • Real Life Super Powers
    • Invisibility Cloak
    • Invisibility Cloak 2
  • Why are we interested in super powers anyway?
    • A Super Powered History
    • Small group discussion of super interests
    • Full Class Discussion of super interests
• Continued next issue: "Who's the greatest superhero of all time?"
• Cue Superhero Exit Music

Useful References

    Dr. Gian S. Pagnucci -- Web Site Copyright Information

• All information on this individual web page and this entire web site is Copyright © 1996-2008 by Dr. Gian S. Pagnucci. All rights reserved.
  
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