Playing.

One of the perks to teaching a three-hour lab (humanities majors have trouble understanding this; I actually teach a diagnostic pathology LAB--like a science lab--not a TA session of a normal lecture class) is that I have three hours to do with as I please. I lecture for the first half hour or so, then let my students loose to shatter their confidence on whatever tricky histopathological specimens I have for them. As I help them hone their diagnostic skills--

--No; remember, a Leishmania amastigote is found inside what kind of white blood cell? A macrophage, that's right. THAT's an eosinophil. Yeah, I know it all just "looks like blood." Keep practicing and I promise you'll be able to tell them apart.

--I subject them to richly studded playlists of my musical choosing. I love music and I love forcing my taste on unsuspecting others. :-) Four semesters of teaching has taught me the best music for parasitology lab is ambient and people-friendly--something that can play in the background without seeming too out-there, but different enough that if somebody takes the time to really listen they'll make a comment. I start simple, then move into more and more eclectic stuff as my students get to know me. In all honesty, it takes almost as much time for me to prepare my playlists as it does my lectures. And it's way more fun.

Friday's (a work in progress)
Feist, La Meme Histoire
The Weepies, Gotta Have You
Sufjan Stevens, Casimir Pulaski Day
Jay Brannan, Both Hands
Andrew Bird, Scythian Empires
Jenny Lewis, Black Sand
Dar Williams, The One Who Knows
Belle and Sebastian, Mayfly
Kings of Convenience, The Build Up
Rilo Kiley, Pictures of Success
Conor Oberst, Cape Canaveral
Tristan Prettyman, All I Want Is You
She and Him, Thieves
Regina Spektor, Blue Lips
Bright Eyes, Easy/Lucky/Free