The Most Influential College Courses

A friend recently asked me how many college courses I have taken in my life.  The question made me think and dig out all my old transcripts just out of curiosity.  After browsing through decades of learning, I thought I’d write about my five of my favorite college courses, and I would like to ask you do the same.  Post them in your comments, or blog it and send me the link. 

I’m simply curious what people think have been their most influential courses.  There is nothing more important to me than education; learning has the power to change the world.

Intercultural communication

Not only does a good intercultural comm class teach you about world cultures (how do Americans communicate compared to the rest of the world, for example) but a good class will also teach you about co-cultures.  Co-cultures are the sub cultural categories among a bigger common culture.  For example, co-cultures include race, religion, gender, political orientation, educational level, socioeconomic status and more.  This course demonstrated the idea of being able to detach from my co-cultures in order to understand others better. It presents the big question: is there any really one right in the world? Is there one belief or way of doing things that is the only right way (like in religion and politics, but let’s not go there)? It also illustrated differences in communication styles and that no one way of communicating is superior.  For example, we know men and women communicate differently, but if we demand others communicate in the same way we do, then we’re being arrogant and ignorant about our differences.  I fell in love with this course years ago, and am thrilled to say that I now teach it at the college level.

Shakespeare

It may be a typical class a former English teacher would support, but I don’t think any human being should go without a full, intense study of as many of the bard’s plays as possible.  More so than any other, Shakespeare fully understood human nature, love, authority, gender roles, and relationships, and he loves to explore the dynamics in each of these categories.  It’s one thing to read them on your own.  It’s better to read them with an experienced professor and a class full of curious minded students.  This class resulted in some of the best discussions on being human that I’ve ever had.

Religion in the Modern World

Regardless of your religious belief or lack thereof, I would argue all people should explore religion from an academic viewpoint.  This course explored the belief systems in contemporary America and many academic theories that analyzed not just the specific belief systems but the overall need for belief.  It also analyzed the contemporary world of science and the role science plays in affecting religious belief.  The academic theories opened my mind to a new world of possibilities and explanations.  Today, too many people only believe in what they have learned at home or in a specific church or domination.  If we could understand why we believe the way we do (and why others believe differently), we’d live in a much more peaceful world.

Critical Thinking and Reasoning

This was an entire course devoted to teaching people methods of thinking!  In my classes, we naturally discuss reliability and validity. How many people have you known to share a meme or a news story on Facebook or Twitter without even checking to see if it were true? I’d argue that an entire semester devoted to critical reasoning would be a good addition to college education.  This course not only taught how to argue, but how to analyze arguments through logical appeals, emotional appeals, fallacies, and much more.  Even better, the skills learned in this specific course were applied to the top selling political texts of the time, newspaper editorials, and more.  It sure opened several eyes to the illogic that supersedes logic in today’s mass media and general thinking. 

Controversial Legal Issues

This course is well-suited for the critical thinker concerned about law and policy in contemporary society.  This was one out of two actual law courses I took from a law professor in my first master’s program, and the course set up a variety of interesting issues to be debated.  The primary challenge was to separate oneself from political and religious points of view and examine each issue through the historical precedent of law.  More so than the specific cases, it was the forced detachment from my own personal beliefs that was the most challenging and rewarding aspect of the class.

Even when I look at these five courses, I get a better understanding of myself.  My top five reflect my interest about culture, my desire to be practical and fair to different cultures, my passion for discussing the multiple aspects of human nature, my need to understand various religions and belief systems, my goal to promote and learn stronger critical thinking skills, and more. If you have a chance and see these courses or similar ones listed at your college, SIGN UP!   

So now it’s your turn, and I hope some of you do participate.  What are your most influential courses?  Why?  Post it in the comments, or blog it and share it with me.

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Make some noise and make a difference

I hate a quiet classroom. I love laughter and noise.

I think if I had a dollar for every time a colleague shut my classroom door, I could retire by now. Early on in my career, I understand the noise wasn’t always positive. When you first start teaching teenagers, it’s going to be a little rowdy. If I ended class early, they’d talk “too loudly” some would say. One colleague, a friend I still admire, even moved classrooms to get away from me, I’m convinced. My classes were pretty rowdy. There were moments when I humorously screamed to get their attention, threw chairs across the room, or even jumped on desks. Face to face teaching, I believe, requires a performance.

A few years later, I sat down to talk with my high school principal about a variety of topics. One was noise.

“Don’t you think some of our classrooms are too quiet?” I asked.

“Way too quiet,” he said.

I knew I liked him. If all we are doing as teachers is forcing kids to shut up, read, write, take this test, be quiet and listen to my lecture, etc, then students could learn everything they need online. They don’t need a classroom full of other students; they need somewhere where they can sit quietly and be undisturbed and do their work.

How boring.

Students should share ideas, speak freely, even engage in the occasional heated debate. And they should be laughing because real teaching and learning should bring joy, and laughter is a consequence of joy.

Last week, a college colleague very politely stuck his head in and asked if he could shut my door. “Of course,” I said. I typically do shut my door, but we have a new security system at the college, and all doors are now locked when shut. So if I’m missing a few students, I tend to keep the door open in case they are running late.

I smiled when I was asked to the shut the door though. You see, my students were laughing too loudly. That thought made me smile even more.

Sure, I have some classes that look like they are in misery. I call them out for that. “Don’t you think learning should be a joy? If you’re enjoying what you are learning, let me see it on your face. If you’re not enjoying it, I’ll keep working harder, but sooner or later you’ll need some serious self-reflection as to why you are in college. This could be the best time of your life, but only if you make it so.”

I’ll take a rowdy class over a quiet class any day. You see, I can take the energy from those rowdy students and redirect it into class discussion and activity. And when that’s done right, there are no better days in the classroom. But for those who lack energy, it’s so much harder to create it. I’ve thought of bringing espresso shots to class, but I don’t make that much money.

When I first started teaching college, I worried if I’d have the same effect on adults. I’m not trying to say I’m great; I’m saying I have a lot of fun doing what I do. But I do want to be great. Many of my college students are only a few months older than some of my previous high school kids were. There’s not a lot of difference between a senior in high school and a freshman in college. But in college, we do get a variety of ages and students in our class.

My first college class: I had a woman who didn’t smile much. She became my challenge. So many of my students in that class laughed and participated, but she was a quiet one who only listened. She was older than me, African-American, and Muslim. She couldn’t have been more different than most students I had worked with in the past. She taught me something important though: some people do prefer to listen than speak, and that’s ok. After all, listening is a prerequisite for understanding, and as teachers, we must recognize that our students will have a variety of personalities as well as learning styles. She was quiet, and that was ok; I still had a dozen other students laughing and sharing thoughts throughout each lesson. But she bothered me, for in the back of my mind I was worried that she was not enjoying the lessons.

And the end of the semester, at the end of my very first college class, this older woman came up to speak to me privately. She said something I cherish and always will, and she shattered my fears that I wasn’t getting through to her.

“Don’t ever change. Don’t ever let the system change you. Don’t ever get burned out. You are the best teacher I have ever had,” she told me and shook my hand on the last day of our class.

Now I was speechless. Here’s this woman who I worried was not enjoying my class. This quiet soul who listened and rarely spoke unless forced. But the few words she volunteered on her own were some of the nicest words anyone has told me.

If you are out there—and let’s face it, how many older African-American Muslim students have I had? (a few, actually)—and you ever stumble across this blog, thank you. Thank you deeply for giving me confidence that I could teach successfully at the college level to any audience.

So teacher-friends and friends of learning, what were your favorite classroom experiences? Favorite teachers? I’d love to hear your stories too.

Back to school

A silly little poem I wrote and shared on Facebook the day before school started this year, Aug 17, 2014.

Another summer come and gone.

Reflecting on a Sunday evening,

Students and teachers alike

Hope for a school year with meaning.

I’ve set my coffee maker timer.

And I’m ready to motivate.

I hope by 9:00 a.m.

That I’m ready to communicate.

It’s year 14 for me
And I want it to be fun.
But I swear if a cell phone goes off,
That kid better run.

I’m excited to lecture, excited to write.
Will it be the same come December?
Or will Christmas come early
And turn me into a Grinch by November?

Will I change the world?
Will I be clever?
Will I at least get a red hot chili pepper
On Rate my Professor?

I hope for at least some,
My class makes a difference.
I’m sure for at least one,
We’ll be happy to say good riddance.

Some will have drama,
Others will have tears.
Some will have babies,
And some will find careers.

So here’s to another school year,
To the good and the bad,
But when you’re excited on a Sunday night,
You know this job ain’t half bad

Rabbit in Red, my upcoming novel, is quite a different tale than this poem, but I'm excited to introduce you to it. Just a little over a month away!

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On writing, and a re-introduction to the blogosphere

I’ve had several journeys with blogging. My first attempt was a blog devoted to politics, and I’m still surprised at the number of views the blog received and the number of real friends I made (and lost) due to those discussions. While I’m still politically active and always open to a good face to face discussion, I deleted the political blogs. I was tired of fighting, tired of ignorance. There are only so many bigoted people in the world that I can deal with at one time. So I focused my energy on my other life passions.

And I do have several. Teaching is #1. I’ve been a teacher for 14 years now, 10 of those at the high school level where I taught all sorts of English classes, from American literature to creative writing and everything you can imagine in between. Now I teach communication classes at the college level, an intro to comm class, public speaking, intercultural communication, comm theory, and more. It’s fantastic.

My #2 passion is tied between fitness and martial arts. I started training in the martial arts over 20 years ago, and I’ve created and taught a variety of programs. I currently host a karate club at the college where I teach. Fitness to me is like breathing—I have to have it every day. After taking dozens of classes and doing home DVD programs, I became certified in a few programs and teach 4-5 group fitness classes each week. Those are also fantastic.

It’s not fair to say my #3 passion is writing. I can’t give it a number. You see, I enjoy reflecting and writing on my passions, so writing is like the skin that holds all those passions together. Without my ability to write, I’m not sure those passions would fully exist. So let’s just say that writing is also a huge passion.

This summer, I finished writing a novel and am in the process of sending out queries and looking for an agent. I’ve written a lot before: other novels, short stories, poems, news articles, theses, and more. I’ve published many articles in magazines (and got paid for it, yeah!), but I’ve never tried to publish fiction. Even though I’ve completed works of fiction before, I never thought they were good enough for mass publication.

Until now.

 I’m fired up, and since finishing a book this summer, actually letting friends read it, and revising, revising, revising, I’m ready to add “author” to my resume. I’ve outlined 3 more books, and hope to write a couple a year. I’m an optimistic person, a go-getter, no doubt. I don’t mean to be arrogant, but I’ve always believed passion and persistence pay off. Of course, one needs patience too. The longer I wait to hear back from my queries (and I’ve only sent a few so far, and only just last week), the more I think about the kind of author I want to be. I’ll keep re-reading and revising my current book as long as I need to do so, and I’ll keep writing other stories until I find an audience.

So that’s why I’m returning to the blogosphere. I’m going to share my writing journey and hope to connect with others who have similar goals and experiences. I’m going to share some writing, much of it old and terrible (can’t share the new stuff yet!). I don’t want to self-publish. Call me greedy, but I want to see that printed book with my name on the side at my local bookstore. That’d be cool!

If you browse through older posts, you’ll likely see a lot about fitness and some about teaching. Hey, like I said, those are my big passions and I have to write about them, even if most of what I have written is personal and has not been shared yet.

I’m going to try and share a lot more. I’m going to try and read a lot more too. So blogosphere—who’s writing and trying to publish? And how’s that going?

Since this is a blog of re-introduction, I’d like to include a little informal bio below. Check it out if you’re curious about my background. Ignore if not, and that’s ok—I’d still like to hear about your writing journey.

-          I graduated from Illinois Central College in 1999 with an Associates of Arts & Sciences (this is where I now teach!). From ICC, I transferred to Eureka College and graduated in 2001 with a Bachelor’s degree in English and a secondary education certification (summa cum laude).

-          I started my teaching career at Metamora High School where I taught high school students for ten years, from 2001-2010.

 -        While at the high school, I pursued more education and graduated from Bradley University in 2008 with a Master’s degree in Liberal Studies, a very cool program that combined science, psychology, literature, law, communication, and religion—it was like an advanced gen ed program but you had to connect all of the subjects.

-          After that (something was wrong with me, I know), I went for a second master’s degree. In May 2011, I earned a another Master’s degree specifically in Speech Communication from North Dakota State University

-          I have studied abroad in Tokyo, Japan at Sophia University, and I STRONGLY believe no college education is complete without a study abroad experience.

-          I’m now beginning my 14^th year as a full-time educator. I’ve taught dozens of subjects including English, American literature, journalism, creative writing, and so much more! This is my 4^th year as a full-time professor at ICC.

-          You can’t teach public speaking and not do it, right? I love inspirational events, and I have been hired as a motivational speaker, performing at all-school assemblies and special events for multiple central Illinois schools and organizations.

-          I’ve won a few awards for teaching, which of course is cool but I have a lot more I want to accomplish. My first award was the Golden Apple Award in 2001 for the best student-teacher from my college; thirteen years later, I won Advisor of the Year for 2013-14 for my work with student organizations at my college.  

-          I also love fitness! I am a certified Turbo Kick instructor and P90X Instructor, and I teach about 4-5 fitness classes a week just for fun at our very own ICC CougarPlex.

-          I started the Cougar Karate Club last year on campus, a free martial arts club our students. I’m also a martial artist. I’ve earned a 4^th degree black belt in karate, and I enjoy sharing that passion too.

-          I run a college food pantry and am always shocked at the number of people who need help. It’s a great joy to provide that help.

-          This last May, I completed the Master of Online Teaching program and am now an official Master Online Teacher. I prefer face to face classes, but I also take pride in improving the online environment. Teaching and learning online is inevitable in today’s world, so I’ve tried to learn more and make it better!

-          And like most of you I’m sure, I cherish my family and friends (and I’d include pets in that statement too—2 dogs and 3 cats make my small home a big zoo some days!) above pretty much anything else.

-          And of course my next big goal is to be a published and successful fiction writer! (And maybe some more non-fiction and memoir too!)

If you’ve read this far, you must be a good friend. Or my grandmother. Or just a really cool dude. Thanks.

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