New approach, bad unit to try it on

I was pumped for my seminar tonight. I thought I had taken a new approach that would not only be more engaging but encourage more critical thinking. The unit was on Human Resources. I wanted the class to vote on a "management" position, draft the job description, and then go through a mock interview. We didn't even make it through the job description :(

As I mentioned, this week we discussed Human Resources. One of the earlier assignments had a scenario where the hiring person made a decision not to hire a candidate because she was pregnant. The class had to answer whether they agreed with the decision or not. Some agreed but gave very good supporting reasons why (including the other factors they would have to know about to make an informed decision). Let's just say...not all of them picked up on the topic of discrimination being illegal. Well, somehow, that whole topic and thread came back up in seminar. I struggled to keep them on topic yet didn't want to squelch their debate. Near the end of class, they brought up hiring obese people. It started to get heated because my guess is some of the women in my class are overweight and some of men in my class were not being sensitive to who they were talking to. I keep telling myself it wasn't as bad as I am making it sound but I not so sure. I had a few moments where I wondered if I should moderate all their posts or put them on a time out session!

Now I have whole week to freak out about teaching the economics unit next week! YIKES! This is a topic I have NO interest in what-so-ever. Wish me luck. I think for that unit I may stick to definitions and basic lecture. Not so sure I can be creative with that one...