September 15, 2009

Outside

On the first day of class, I warned my students, “Wear jeans when you come to this class – or some kind of pants you don’t mind getting dirty. And bring a textbook that you can use as a writing surface.”

These sunny days of September could be the last sun we see until April. So I try to hold class outside as much as possible.

My students are hugely in favor of this plan, and they cooperate fully. We sneak out of the back of the building to find a quiet place on the grass that’s half shade, half sun. (I say sneak, because I use a swipe card key that’s given only to faculty, and an alarm on the door will go off if it’s held open for longer than 15 seconds. So we gather in the hall outside the door, I open the door, and they all race out quickly to beat the clock. So far, we haven’t set off the alarm yet.)

I tell them that they have to sit very close together so that we can hear each other – and they do. Sometimes they work in groups, each gathered around a textbook they’re using as desk surface, but often we’re sitting in a a circle, cross-legged, getting into intense discussions about the essays we’ve read and sharing bits of our own writing aloud.

We’ve been talking about environmental issues – I’m using an anthology called The Future of Nature, which is a collection of articles from the magazine Orion. It just doesn’t seem right to talk about our connection to the earth while we’re sitting in a windowless classroom with harsh overhead lights. So instead, we sit outside on the ground, in the sun and the wind, listening to the wind rush through the trees while we talk.

6 comments:

YourFireAnt said...

Really nice post. Especially that last paragraph.

T.

Magpie said...

That's lovely. There is indeed something magical about leaving the classroom - to go outdoors, or anywhere else. I have fond memories of graduate school classes at the West End bar, while the Mets were in the endless playoff games in 1986. Beer, ethnomusicology, baseball - perfect.

sherry said...

Your writing about your students makes me want to go back to school. If only I wasn't about to pay for two college educations.

Ianqui said...

Careful, all that sitting together closely could help out the swine flu... :)

jo(e) said...

Ianqui: I thought about that last weekend when we took the students on an all-day retreat and did a Ropes course with them. We were all in such physical contact the whole day -- breathing on each other, holding hands, spotting each other on low ropes elements, etc. It's great for bonding but it's really a recipe for how to spread the flu.

And of course, H1N1 has already hit a college less than sixty miles from here, a college we have lots of interaction with. I"m afraid we're next ....

kathy a. said...

i'm with magpie -- getting out, doing something different is just magic.

as for the flu -- what you are doing is still casual contact. if students keep their hands clean, refrain from sneezing and coughing on everyone, and don't share food and drink, they aren't at particular risk because of these activities. [hand sanitizer, anyone?] and from what i can find, the swine flu is not more deadly than regular flu -- some simple precautions will help keep all of it from spreading.