The most effective college teaching begins with student engagement at the classroom level in a positive environment facilitated by challenging and welcoming faculty. I believe teaching must be student-centered where teachers utilize best practices while students actively take part in their own learning. Learning starts with effective teaching but also includes students taking initiative and engaging with the material on their own terms. Students have a responsibility to be prepared for class, tolerant of opposing views, and industrious, while faculty should be enthusiastic, encouraging, and fair but rigorous.
I use varied teaching methods in every class meeting, especially where students themselves discuss, present, and debate key ideas within sociological inquiry, emphasizing application to current events in today’s society. Last summer I experimented by having at least one activity for every class session where students had to actively participate, in addition to simply talking in class. Because I feel that sociological theory is an essential foundation of an Introductory Sociology course, we began the semester with a speed dating activity. Students were asked to first write down their responses to the prompts below:
1. In one of his famous quotes Marx said, “The ideas of the ruling class are the ruling ideas.” Think about whether you agree or disagree with Marx and come up with an example or two to support your argument.
2 Think of some situations where you obey authority. In these instances, do you obey this authority because of rational authority (formal rules), traditional authority (established beliefs), or charismatic authority (personal qualities of the leader)? Are there any instances where you obey authority for some other reason?
3. In one of the first sociological studies on race, DuBois made the following statement: “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line—the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea.” Do you think this statement is still accurate today? In other words, is the problem of the twenty-first century still the problem of the color line?
Then, we arranged the classroom as if for a speed dating event, each student facing one other student. For 3 minutes pairs had to discuss question 1, then switch partners and repeat for another 3 minutes, and switch one more time. This activity was repeated for questions 2 and 3. In the end, students were talking, arguing, and engaging in the material, applying these classical theoretical frameworks to real word problems of 2019. Moving away from traditional lecturing and toward an active learning strategy was labor intensive but well worth the effort as students were now taking the vital steps necessary toward their own learning.
I want my students to leave Introductory Sociology with the content knowledge in social interaction, social inequality, and social institutions, as well as with the ability to critically examine their own society. By developing a keen sociological imagination, students will be able to see how their own seemingly individualistic lives are shaped by societal forces, and will be able to assertively navigate the social world in a way that improves, enriches, and expands their lived experience while working toward a more just society.
Matthew West 