Re-Gaining the Student's Perspective in the Classroom: A Sabbatical Adventure

In: PS: political science & politics, Volume 38, Issue 4, p. 769-770

Abstract

After spending six years as a tenure-track faculty member and
ultimately gaining tenure and promotion at my home institution of
California State University, San Marcos (CSUSM), I was set to begin
my first sabbatical in fall, 2002. As is no doubt true of many
sabbaticals, one of the great successes of my semester-long break
from teaching was a renewed interest in the classroom. "Renewal" is
frequently identified as one of the primary purposes of a
sabbatical; Good (1992, B3), after all,
wrote that he became "surprisingly nostalgic for the company of
students once the initial shock of being on leave ha[d] worn off."
But my renewed excitement for teaching came largely from once again
entering the classroom as a student. Given my own experiences in
returning to student life, I enthusiastically encourage faculty
colleagues to take occasional opportunities to step away from the
instructor's podium and enjoy a class as a member of the student
body: not only did I have the opportunity to expand my perspective
on interesting subject matter, but re-experiencing life from the
student point of view reminded me of why I began teaching in the
first place and reinforced important aspects of good teaching
practices. [Editor's note: This
manuscript was accepted for publication by PS: Political
Science and Politics in September, 2004.]