Jan. 11, 2005 issue
One of the major reasons I like working at Eastern Michigan University so much is that, in practically every class I teach, I can count on there being a high percentage of teaching majors. These are individuals who are looking forward to teaching in their own classrooms and their own students in the very near future. And this phenomenon almost always translates into classroom experiences rich with energetic students who are engaged in the course materials in profoundly exceptional ways.
The most exciting thing about teaching to me is realizing that, as an educator, I am part of a continuum. In other words, what I am doing in the classroom now, if I am lucky, might influence not only my students today but also their students five or 10 or 20 years from now. This is sometimes exhilarating, sometimes overwhelming. As faculty here at Eastern Michigan, I've always believed that we are responsible not only for providing the basics of academic experience (content knowledge, practical skills, professional information), but we are also modeling behavior for these future teachers that will, whether we realize it or not, shape the dynamics of the next generation's classrooms.
I learned to teach by watching those instructors I admired when I was a student. These were individuals who made the material come alive. They were always as entertaining as they were knowledgeable. That is the kind of instructor I try to be. And, when I can pull it off, I try to incorporate humor and compare literary situations we might be dealing with to contemporary pop culture — television, films, music — that many of my students have a lot of contact with.
One of the most rewarding experiences I have is when a student approaches me after they've taken one of my courses and tells me that he or she never liked literature before my class. That student might be a math major or business major or simply someone who, for one reason or another, has been thoroughly panicked by the thought of having to take a literature class. Being told that you changed the way a student looks at the subject you teach is one of the highest compliments, I think, that an instructor can ever receive.
Eastern Michigan University has a wonderful reputation for training and graduating great teachers. I don't expect that to ever change. I feel wonderfully privileged to be part of that experience.
