Tips from the AEJMC Teaching Committee

Fun in the Classroom? Seriously, Here’s How

(Article courtesy of AEJMC News, November 2011 issue)

Part of my job as an associate dean is to mentor junior faculty about teaching. As a professional school, many of our hires come from industry and the transition from running a meeting to running a classroom can be trying.

So each August, I join a colleague to discuss teaching tips with our Future Professoriate Program. My talk focuses on identifying classroom management pitfalls and setting strict parameters. Be tough at the beginning. Set high expectations. Tell them your pet peeves (texting! stapling! tardiness!) and don’t let them off the hook if they break your rules.

And, as I was wrapping up the talk this time, I realized I sounded like a big pain in the butt.

Graciously, my colleague reassured the group that I was indeed, an excellent teacher, having won a few teaching awards in my time. And even though I sound really tough, the students love me.

Why would they, I thought, based on the picture I had just painted? And then I realized I left out half the story. I used the time I had to discuss rules, but I didn’t tell my new professors about the creative assignments, fun stories and occasional oddball things I do in class to nurture learning.

These memorable moments are intended to help them learn. While I believe strong structure is very important, so are laughter, inspiration and understanding. Think of my approach as salty-sweet.

To wit, I offer some examples:

I teach a class in media buying and sales. For a group sales presentation project, students have to invite me very creatively to the presentation or I tell them I will not show up and they will get a 0. This is real life…if I am a super-busy client, I won’t make time for a sales rep unless they pique my interest.

I tell my students not to spend a lot of money or scare me, but otherwise any idea is fair game. They just need to invite me in a way that shows off the medium they are selling, and be inventive. They have planted billboards in my front lawn at 2 a.m. (accompanied by my barking collie when they set off the sensor lights); shown up 10 minutes before my then-favorite Desperate Housewives show with a dinner tray, promotional ABC placemats, wine and cheese; met me immediately outside a faculty meeting for a taste test, an event enjoyed by several trailing faculty members; and plastered the revered I.M. Pei-built Newhouse I with floor graphics up three flights of stairs and through my hallway.

Humor helps memory, but it must be used with care, and not as a put-down. Sarcasm can work, but it’s a fine line to walk. Self-deprecating humor strengthens the connection with your class. While describing how the size of the Super Bowl-viewing audience is measured, I relate how I am a Buffalo Bills fan and suffered terribly through their string of four consecutive Super Bowl losses, finally resorting to watching the game by myself. Now no self-respecting advertising person watches the Super Bowl alone (that’s just lame!); it’s supposed to be a party. The anecdote gets my students to question the process and accuracy of Nielsen estimates.

I try to design in-class examples that drive home key messages. To explain how the appeal of radio station formats change with age, I have students write down the following: what song was No. 1 when a) they graduated high school b) they were a freshman in high school and c) when they were 10. Billboard has the answers, which I download from iTunes and play in class. Usually their 10-year-old song is already on Adult Contemporary radio. Last semester it was Janet Jackson. I do my best impersonation of her dance moves (sans wardrobe malfunction), which apparently is quite comical, judging by the tweets I’ve seen from students.

One day soon, I tell them, one of their favorite high school songs will be on an AC station and it will freak them out. It will be one short step to the groovin’ oldies station, and then when they hit 45, they will listen to only news and their life will be over. They groan and instantly relate it to their family members, but are only mildly depressed as they are still busy laughing at my dancing. I also play the three songs for my age and, happily for me, they can still recognize the No. 1 hit when I was 10: Midnight Train to Georgia. Woo-hoo! Of course, this only cements in their mind that oldies stations are for old people.

Now not every teacher should perform silly dance moves in front of their class, because the first rule of good instruction is that each teacher must work in a way that is true to that teacher’s own personality and core self. But every teacher should be on the lookout for ways to bring energy to the classroom and make memorable moments that foster learning.

By Amy P. Falkner,
Syracuse University,
AEJMC Teaching Committee