Before I was able to begin last Wednesday’s presentation in Ancient World History, a student asked a question that turned into an hour long discussion; a discussion that lead to me scrapping my presentation. Scrapping my presentation required that I totally revise the first unit I was in the middle of teaching in such a way that nothing I had prepared would work anymore.

Students left class on Wednesday with a homework assignment that puts them in control of Monday’s lesson and possibly next Wednesday’s lesson. Eventually, they will have to design an appropriate assessment for the unit because the assessment I designed has become irrelevant. As they were walking out of class, they were already talking about their plans for Monday and how excited they were to continue today’s discussion which was far more sophisticated than what I had planned to teach today.

It was only the fourth day of class and I had already lost control.

When I recounted this story to a friend, he asked “So, forgive me, but if the students are in control of Monday’s lesson and will prepare an appropriate assessment to show their learning, then WHAT DO YOU DO?” My friend asked his question to tease me in the same way I needle a minister friend each time I suggest that he only has to work one day a week.

If our classes are student centered in such a way that students teach significant portions of the class, what do we do as teachers? Or, in other words, why should the college pay me to sit in the back of the room with my coffee cup while my ancient world history students teach Monday’s class?

Ironically, the less I teach in the traditional sense of the word the harder I work. It would be much easier for me to show and discuss the videos I had already prepared than it will be to sit in the back of the room feverishly taking notes so that I can appropriately respond to the information my students present. Because I am not in control of Monday’s presentations, I must be far more attentive and actively engaged in the class discussion so that I can make sure that regardless of what students choose that the skills they need to develop in terms of the course competencies are met.

Fortunately for students, I am not unique in my interest in providing student centered classes that provide them with both course content as well as skills to succeed in the 21^st century.

Last night, I read a Facebook posting from a university colleague who announced that, “My Romanticism course is broken. Now I’m hoping that… the participation of my class can help me put it back together again.” As part of the discussion, he admitted that it was he that broke the class by destroying the assumptions that were found in the syllabus; a syllabus that I know he had laboriously taken the time to develop. Now he and his students are “spending the rest of the semester reinventing a Romantic Lit survey for electracy.”

Through the grapevine, I have heard that someone with whom I work believes that my non-teaching makes a mockery of our work as professors. Because I do not know the identity of my critic, I can only speculate as to my colleague’s worldview; a worldview that does not recognize the benefits of the student centered classroom or the work involved in allowing students to make significant course decisions. Although my friend was joking when he posed the question to me, I could image someone who has been successful in traditional classroom all of his/her life viewing my non-teaching and seriously asking, “WHAT DO YOU DO?”

Fortunately, we have answers to the hard questions. Our willingness to lose control of our classes or to announce that our well designed syllabus is broken is actually a sign of dedicated teaching rooted in sound pedagogy. Our non-teaching produces student engagement that leads to learning.

Last night, I received the following message from Blaine MacDonald¹, a student enrolled in ancient world history: “This article was given to me by a Muslim friend of mine. I remember you had said you were not very clear on their creation story, and neither was I, but this link should be a very good representation of their beliefs.” Discussing class with a friend and finding this article does not benefit the student in terms of his grade. But, as of the second week in a student centered class, Blaine is no longer primarily motivated to get a good grade. He has become engaged with subject matter he wants to learn. And he wants to help me learn as well.

What do we do as a student centered teachers willing to lose control? Among other things, we provide a foundation of student engagement that allows students to focus on learning instead of grades. Instead of trying to game the syllabus, they can spend their time enjoying a learning process in which they will learn more than what is required by the syllabus.

–Steven L. Berg, PhD

¹After I shared the draft of this paragraph in which he was only referred to as a student, Mr. MacDonald offered to let me use his name if I wanted to do so.

Photo Caption: Michelangelo’s Garden of Eden from the Sistine Chapel. It was a question concerning Genesis 1-3 that lead to my losing control of the class.