Finding New Things

Intro classes, survey class, whatever your particular discipline has--they can be a grind. At the community college, these courses are our bread and butter; they're why students come to CCs. New college students get their feet wet with introductory knowledge, transferring to four-year schools after a while. Four year students drop in during Summer sessions to fill in gaps in their degree program at a lower cost. We're not going to get away from them--and no faculty member would ever want to give up teaching them. Survey classes are where we recruit history majors. Your future colleague may be sitting there in your four hour world history class. It's an exciting feeling, trying to find those topics and ideas which might spark some interest.

Of course, that's not to say that we can't do other stuff. The history area at my institution has been fortunate that our 200-level specialized courses have been popular and enrollment has been high. I've developed courses on the Cold War and American Military History and have revamped an abandoned Modern East Asia course. Our courses in African American, Holocaust, Labor and state history are consistently popular. My colleagues and I often joke that we could develop just about anything and people might sign up. It's a good feeling.

Of course, we have a responsibility to our students to offer courses that will be useful in their education, which has recently gotten me thinking about what might be next for me with my specialty teaching. This is a long term thing--what with administrative procedures for new courses and schedule lead time--probably next winter, January of 2010. Here's a breakdown of my thought process thus far:

• What's my knowledge base? My primary area of study in grad school was modern US history, but my non-US area was medieval Europe and, additionally, I had a strong undergrad background in that as well. So...


• What are we lacking? Our 200-level courses contain only one European topic--History of the Holocaust. So, clearly there's room for? a European class. Put these two things together...


• I've been working on a rough outline of an overview course of Medieval Europe, say 400-1500. It's daunting: even though I cover prehistory to 1500 in World History, I'm having trouble fitting everything in a Medieval course. So, even though this course sounds like a good idea, it leads me to some questions:


• Are 200-level-appropriate materials available and affordable?


• Might there be interest?


• How and where will this course fit into the schedule? Will it reduce my ability to teach adequate numbers of survey courses? Another way to ask the question: am I indulging myself at the expense of the discipline?


So--stay tuned as I work through this process...

Next time: technology

A Scholarly Life?

For those of us teaching history (or any other subject) in the community college setting, the issue of "scholarship" is one that is fraught with difficulty.  We exist in a kind of liminal space between the educational world and the world of our discipline.  This can lead to, for me (and probably others) some confusion about my role in the "universe" of history.

The community college, from my experience (and that only encompasses about 5 years), rightfully privileges professional development in "teaching and learning" over professional development in one's chosen field.  That is not to say that I've ever felt discouraged from taking part in activities that enhance my knowledge of history and its study.  At my institution, however, faculty are required to complete a number of hours of professional development every semester.  As far as I know, these hours must come from the pedagogically focused professional development activities sponsored or supported by the College.  Though I haven't checked, I'm fairly certain that I can't just say "I went to five panels at a medieval history conference this weekend--that takes care of my professional development for the semester!"  So while we are not discouraged from going to history conferences, for example, these activities are in addition to "teaching and learning" events.

Which brings me, in a roundabout way, to the reason why I as a Community College Historian often feel cut off from my field--I just don't have time to spend keeping up with current scholarship in my specific area of expertise.  But even more alienating, I'm not sure it would be a worthwhile activity for me.  Although the bulk of my training is in post-War US history, I spend relatively little time teaching that topic.  We're a small department that is offering more and more sections every semester.  We full-time faculty teach a variety of classes, spanning both world and US history.

Basically, what I'm getting at, is that as Community College Historians, our field of interest is far broader than our colleagues at four-year colleges and universities.  We teach almost nothing but survey courses and, as such, need to be well-informed about an astounding number of topics.  Every semester, students ask me questions that--seemingly--come out of left field.  Often, especially with regard to ancient history, these questions concern new archeological finds that I just haven't heard about. 

I realize this is pretty rambling but it all leads me to recognize the failure of both traditional scholarly engagement and generic "teaching and learning" based models of professional development to adequately provide community college historians to glean knowledge from their peers and effectively apply that knowledge in the classroom (which is why we teach at community colleges in the first place). 

There are some out there who are trying to accomplish this very complex goal.  The Organization of American Historians provides support for community college instructors through its publications and workshops.  Likewise, the World History Association speaks to a wide range of teaching related topics.  And, of course, one must not forget the excellent information published in The History Teacher.  These are all wonderful resources but they don't necessarily combat the sense of personal and professional disassociation from the field as a whole.  The solution is not necessarily an organization or a publication.  The solution, for me, is highly personal. 

The answer is focus and, crucially, a commitment to sharing knowledge with our colleagues both within our institution and outside of it.  Here's what I plan to do to help myself and help others:

• Cast a wide--but discerning--net: seek out information that will be helpful in teaching students.  Peruse journals in print and online with laser-like precision--always asking "how will this make me a better/more knowledgeable teacher?"  For example, in May, I'll be at the International Congress on Medieval Studies not because I'm a professional medievalist, but because I'm actively looking for new and exciting material for the classroom that takes the students beyond the textbook.  Hopefully, I'll find something.  If I do...
• I'll share that knowledge with my colleagues who might not have had the chance to attend such events. 
• I'll also try to share that knowledge with the wider world via this blog and, perhaps, trying to develop more well-thought out ideas and writings on history teaching.
• Finally, and this one is tricky, I'm going to try my hardest to not dismiss Teaching and Learning type of knowledge as being too vague and generalized to help me.  I've got a slight bit of old fogy-ness about me these days and opening my mind to what the T&E scholars are saying might ease that up a bit.

Next time: new course development--the most fun thing ever?