Jumping In for the Long Haul

 Unlike a 45, 50, or even an 80-minute introductory class, the first meeting of a weekly seminar poses special challenges.  For one thing, dispensing with preliminaries is nearly impossible.  In a class that meets frequently, I know I will be seeing students in a day or two. I can send them out with a reading assignment for the next class that includes the syllabus and avoid the deadly ritual of going through the syllabus for the course together during the first class. And in a setting like UMass Boston, there is often enough change in personnel between the first and second classes that I’ve found it to be far more efficient to hand out the syllabus on the first day, but wait to talk about course assignments and expectations until the second—or even the third—class meeting when the roster has stabilized.

But in a three-hour seminar that meets weekly, there isn’t much of a choice; we have to talk about the syllabus on the first day—students need to have a sense for what they are getting into while they still have a chance to get out. I’ve started sending out the syllabus prior to the first class, so we aren’t looking at something completely new; nevertheless, the activity of going through the syllabus inevitably elicits questions from the braver students in the class that may be shared by the quieter students. If nothing else, going over the syllabus lets me talk a bit about my philosophies of teaching, learning, and responding to student work (including grades!) that I think students must understand before they sign on to a class.

But each class meeting is precious in a weekly seminar—so what other priorities are there? In a workshop-style class, where students will actively share their work with one another, it’s important to me to establish a sense that the classroom is an active space where it is safe to experiment and okay to fail.  Teaching engages me because it is always new; always improvisational. If students are actively engaged, they will surprise you with new insights. You will learn together. And to quote the title of Peter Filene’s book, that’s the joy of teaching. At least for me.

So how did we try to establish this kind of environment right away? As I mentioned in class, the last time I taught this course, we had snow days each week on the night our class met.  By the time we finally shared a classroom, the students and I had been corresponding, posting work on the class blog, and responding to one another’s posts for nearly a month. We never really had a first class.   We started in the usual way of the graduate seminar, with introductions, which I personally hate but that are something we have to learn to do in the academy. But last night I did something I had never done before: As you were introducing themselves I wrote your names on the board. And, surprise, you all used one another’s names! Why have I never thought of this before? Probably because no one ever did this in any of the graduate seminars I took as a student. I have the roster in front of me, and last night I learned that it made a difference for you to have the roster in front of you, as well.  Teaching is learning, even after many years of practice!!