Tonight I attended the New Adjunct Faculty Orientation at the university where I’ll be teaching.  Yay!  Can I tell you how excited I am to be back in the saddle classroom again?  I truly enjoy teaching and interacting with students, I think I learn just as much in the process as they do.

For me, learning is a collaborative experience between the students and the instructor.  If I stand in front of the students droning on and on about whatever, they learn absolutely nothing but when the students are engaged and challenged, oh my gosh, you can see the wheels turning.  Seriously, nothing is better than hearing a student say “You made history come alive for me.”  Yes!

I went to the meeting tonight planning to teach one class and left with two. Yes, it’s short notice and, yes, that means a few long nights for me but I thrive under pressure.  I can’t wait for classes to begin.  I’ll be teaching on Wednesday nights from 6 to 10 and on Sundays from 8 to Noon.

So, what am I teaching?  American National Government!  Don’t groan.  The class will be oh~so~interesting.  The course will be mostly discussion based with a few writing assignments and, of course, a final.  The topics will be broken up into four sections:

  • Constitutional Principles
  • Rights and Liberties
  • The Political Process
  • Policy~Making Institutions

And with each section I plan to show an episode of either The Twilight Zone or All in the Family to facilitate the discussions.  Bet you’re interested now, huh?

So wish me luck while I get back to cranking out this syllabus!