Teaching Through the Pandemic - Part X: Hollywood Squares and Giving Thanks!

I wanted to get there first, but friend, co-blogger, and Nova Southeastern Law colleague Jim Levy beat me to it.  In a blog post for Legal Skills Prof Blog, Jim wrote about the incredible similarities between the game show Hollywood Squares and Zoom teaching.  As I teach my last classes of the semester today--all online (thanks to our dean's promotion of online teaching for the last two class days of the semester)--I continue to be stuck on  and struck by this similarity.  We are not the only ones to note this comparison, of course.  See, e.g., here and here and here.

I have called the Zoom squares the Hollywood Squares more than once during my class sessions this semester.   Unlike Jim, however, I have not yet endeavored to "play host" in a way that mimics the show.  He recalls (as do I) Peter Marshall's lengthy stint as the show's host.  But it does turn out there were others.

As I bid goodbye to the Fall 2020 semester, I leave you with a picture (above) of one of my class meetings earlier this fall.  UT Law alum and entrepreneur Mason Jones (founder of Volunteer Traditions, Inc.) visited our class to talk about the formation and basic governance attributes of the corporation he organized to conduct his business.  It's a super-fun story--very instructive, too--and he is a humble and entertaining guy.  We were delighted to have him join our Hollywood Squares (and even be spotlighted, as he is here!) for this class day.  (Note that I was wearing a hat and t-shirt from his collection that afternoon while teaching.  Go Vols!)

I am still formulating some additional substantive thoughts on my first full semester of pandemic teaching.  I will post those reflections on a later date or dates.  For today, however, in this Thanksgiving week, I merely want to express gratitude--for the Hollywood Squares that are our Zoom teaching world and, more importantly, for my continued good health, my supportive family, my hardworking students, and my student-focused faculty and staff colleagues.  Without these blessings in my life, teaching through the pandemic would be so very much harder, if not impossible. 

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all. 

#HollywoodSquares 
#GiveThanks