Rene Stienke's Lecture

            I also went to another lecture at the Vibrant Word Writing Festival held by Luther College on October 30. In her talk called “The Beautiful Strange: Writing a Novel,” the author Rene Stienke talked about the importance of literature in people’s lives. She spoke of how things that seem strange can also be beautiful and compelling and how her own experiences have made an impact on her writing. Stienke’s lecture was interesting but not very engaging. Her topic was interesting and she did have some very thoughtful things to say. However, her lecture felt very scripted (she was, after all, reading from her paper almost the whole time) and the audience did not have the opportunity to be an active part of her lecture. Stienke was much livelier when she was not reading from her script and it was then that I really wanted to pay attention. It was easy to see her passion and enthusiasm better when she wasn’t so focus on what she had written down, but rather on how she herself was connected to the material. Rene Stienke definitely approached her lecture as a writer, rather than as an experienced educator.

Michael Sandel's Lecture

Michael Sandel’s lecture on justice on September 30, 2010 was fascinating not only for its content, but also for Sandel’s lecture style. Sandel challenged his audience to think about very difficult choices, choices that, hypothetically, would cost people their lives. He presented them with situations such as: if you were driving an out of control trolley car and had no choice but to hit someone, who would you hit? Five average people, or spare the five and kill the one person who had the cure to cancer? He proposed the question and allowed his audience to ponder their own answer and look to their own morals. Yet he never provided any concrete answers or forced his own opinion. The presentation was more of a conversation between Sandel and his audience than it was a lecture from an expert to college students.

            I found Michael Sandel’s presentation style to be very interesting and engaging. I especially liked that he entered into a dialogue with the people listening to him. He proved to be a very adept listener, constantly using his audience’s responses to construct the discussion. He displayed the wisdom of a teacher who knew his students and could change the lesson to suit their needs accordingly. Other qualities that I noticed about Sandel were his patience with people who had not quite kept up with the discussion and his ability to make hypothetical situations relevant to real life. Michael Sandel’s method of teaching through demonstration and active audience participation was very effective.