The Syllabus is a Lie: Spring Semester Shake-down

When I was a college student in Iowa I traveled around a fair amount moving between home and campus. The roads in Iowa wind and twist through the natural rise and fall of the landscape. If you have only ever seen Iowa from I-80 you’re really missing some of the most beautiful scenery in the midwest. Anywho, I had a standard route I would take from home to college and back. It was a 90 minute highway drive broken into four stretches. I traveled it hundreds of times. Snaking through downtown Grinnell, stopping at the Casey’s in Tama, the big turn just before Traer, and the endless final stretch just before Cedar Falls ending with the UNIdome and my theatre.

One day because of flooding, I went up through Marshalltown instead. I was unsettled and alert as I navigated my way on roads that were unfamiliar. This was before cellphones and GPS and cars that told you what direction you were facing. All I had was the Atlas my dad had given me when I first went away to college, now crumpled and stained with dirt and pepsi. It wasn’t rocket science. And I got there just fine. But I noticed something much later.

The entire experience was jarring. Nervousness and uncertainty led me to become more aware of not only what I was doing but of the landscape rolling out in front of me. I watched where roads lead, the map, the horizon. I saw details in my surroundings that were exhilarating and exciting. I did not fall into the sleepy trance of the road often traveled. And when I finally made it to my destination I was a little disappointed that the drive was over. Quite different from my usual feeling of relief and mild annoyance at so much time wasted.

That’s the way I feel about teaching sometimes. And I know that our students feel that way. I’ve seen it in their faces. I think that every professor wants to engage their students. I think that a lot just don’t know how. There’s a lot of different ways to go about doing that but I promise you that none of them work unless you are engaged in what you are doing.

Has the class you are teaching grown old and just . . . well . . boring? Throw it out. Start over. New textbook. New syllabus. Non-traditional space. Hell, get new shoes too. Too much work? For what payoff? When your class starts in 30 minutes how do you feel? Annoyed at being interrupted or excited to go get some shit done? It doesn’t always have to be the second but if it NEVER is, you’re doing something wrong. And if you are never excited about teaching then get a different job. There are thousands of passionate teachers who want to engage students and change the world, get out of the way, you’re holding up the evolution of my universe.

If you are still skeptical I have something I want to share with you. Just you and me. Everything you have learned about teaching is made up. All the teachers you learned from . . . well they learned from someone who learned from someone who learned from someone. There is no magic bible of teaching somewhere where the best message is writ never to be changed. You can do whatever you want. You can fail. It won’t kill your students. Some of my best classroom experience were later revealed to be horrible failures by my professors at the time. Education is a living thing.
Wake up with me and give it a try. The next step is waking up your students. This is not easy. Some will even resist. You will have to completely disassemble their well-traveled route. Change their landscape. Challenge their expectations. Give them ownership over the class that they are taking. Expect protestations. Expect bright eyes and misplaced smiles. Expect challenges. Expect magnificence. Expect frustration. Expect failure. Expect surprise.

When you leave yourself open to everything, you can be disappointed by nothing. But you, young teachers, old teachers. You have good instincts. You do not have to move within the confines of a system just because it is there. I am giving you permission to run up the down escalator. Where jeans and a mohawk. Throw the textbook out the window. We are the new generation of teachers. Teachers have alway moved and crafted their landscape. Why are we so reluctant in the classroom?