"The Cult of Hawthorne"

In my first post on this teaching and learning blog, I referred to a great little book titled Teaching with Your Mouth Shut. Written by a classics professor who taught at Evergreen State until his death in 1999, it explores the variety of ways in which students can be challenged to learn that don't require one to "profess". All those PowerPoint outline makers will be sorely disappointed!

It was a helpful book. One piece I've taken away in planning courses for the fall is to have the readings interact with each other. I have intentionally laid out the course design in one course so that the books overlap. In another course, I'm asking subsets of students to read an additional book beyond the "required for all" list, so that they can look for the interactions between the common readings and their specialty reading. In my criminology class, I'm working on a strategy to engage the class in case study trials to force the application of the material, using the students as specialists.

This isn't the first time I've tried something like this. And it certainly won't be the most effective. That prize goes to a class experience in a Sociology of Religion class at Sterling College in the early 90s (I think it was the spring of 92 but I'm not certain). On our recent trip to Michigan to close on our house in Jackson, we visited one of my former majors, Jennifer (Losey) Masar, whose husband works at Tabor College in Kansas. As we were remembering old times and she reported on it on Facebook, a number of the Sterling College connections began bringing that class to life again.

It was a pretty simple class session. I was exploring the sociological implications faced by religious organizations experiencing exponential growth. Simplicity and Charisma quickly give way to Formalization and Concerns Over Orthodoxy. To illustrate, I suggested that we imagine that the class was a cult and I was the leader (my class, after all). We then explored what would happen when we went from 10 to 40, from 40 to 120, 120 to 240, and so on. Very quickly, we get to the need for middle managers, seminaries, doctrinal statements, compliance mechanisms, educational institutions, and succession plans. It was one of those great socratic moments and I felt that my unit goals had been achieved.

I had no idea!

When I entered the room for our next class meeting, I was stunned at what I found. All of the students had come in costume (70s hippie garb, I've never known exactly why), had cans of coke (which I brought to every class), and held up masks with my face on them (thanks to Jeralynne for providing the picture used). One of the students, Joel Noble, had found a big curly wig and an "appropriate" sportcoat. Clint Walker gave a great introductory speech and Janelle Miyasharo (von Storch) had developed a chant they intoned as I came in. The class became a party.

It was one of those wonderful moments in teaching where the relationship between faculty and students destroys the power imbalances that are often present in the classroom. We enjoyed the fact that we had been together through the experience. Based on the comments on Facebook in recent days, it was something we all quickly remember. I think that one class experience stayed with them. They even remember what it was about!

I'm looking forward to more surprising experiences like that one where the joy of learning by the students takes over the best laid plans of those who "profess".

Postscript: Somebody found the picture taken of the whole class. It helps explain what I tried to describe above.