Re-Gaining the Student's Perspective in the Classroom

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.]

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