Teaching Adjunct

 This past term (Aug-Dec 2024) I have been an adjunct instructor at Utah Valley University (UVU). I’ve had two sections of Intro to Theatre, and honestly, it’s been a lot of fun. There have been two assignments that I have continuously put off grading (I don’t know why), but the students have been great. It’s been interesting teaching two sections of the same course one day after another - we’ve had some slightly better class discussions in the MW class, but the TTh class always got a somewhat more polished ‘lecture’ and slide presentation. (The jokes never went over quite as well in TTh, as it’s always hard to recycle something that was effective and spontaneous, but, like I said, the students were great.)

I developed a massive, nasty ear infection (both ears) right at the start of the term that almost completely blocked my hearing. I had to reconfigure some assignments and adjust the schedule and be out of classes for about a week and a half; everyone rolled with it. I prefer not to have anyone try to conduct online conversations; we moved everything to in-class discussions days with a written follow-up response. They had interesting insights, and great things to say, both in class and in their responses. I tried some new things with my lesson plans, and had some cool successes. And some topics just can’t be made super exciting. 

I gave both classes their weekday off after the presidential election, as they are theatre classes with a solid percentage of theatre students. I had more trans, gay, and non-binary students this term than I ever have before. We all needed some time off to process the election and start dealing with the incomprehensible implications. Two weeks after the election I asked each class if there was anything they wanted to talk about; I didn’t want to ignore what had happened, or blow over the events as if they wouldn’t mean anything. Some students had questions. Others tuned out. We all made at least an attempt not to alienate anyone who had voted for the winner. It was a bit uncomfortable; we moved on. 

This week, the first week of December and the only week in the term after Thanksgiving break, I showed both classes a play (so glad I could still find a copy on YouTube - I really need to try to find a better recording!) and we ran a group chat through an app for them to bring up different elements of theatre that we had been talking about for the last few months. One of the great things about that kind of class is watching the students when they get invested in a story, when they react to dramatic moments and revelations. Then these last two days we had in-class study sessions so they could prep for the final exam, reviewing a study guide comprised of questions written by the students (and edited by me) covering all the modules front the term. I’ll start grading those once the test closes for each class. The test really isn’t the important part; I think they’ll get more out of the review than the test itself. (*evil laugh*)

Yesterday one girl asked for my contact info for real life theatre consultations (basically). A few others thanked me and said I was awesome. Today one student gave me a Christmas card with a gift card; inside they had written “You were born to teach. Thank you for making class a safe space for us.” This same student lost both his parents about a year ago, and has since been made guardian for his older, disabled sister. Just a few weeks ago he missed class to visit a parent’s grave; while he was there a police officer approached him, told him there had been a call from a concerned citizen, and handed him a cup of hot chocolate. He happened to tell me about this incident during a class discussion period; I told him that he had the beginning of a play and I REALLY hope he writes it. Another couple of students thanked me and told me I was the coolest teacher they had, and that they really appreciated me. 

I did mention these students were great, right?

I have also taught dramaturgy and playwriting (scriptwriting) here at UVU, and was scheduled to teach a Theatre History & Literature course next term (it was canceled, not enough sign-ups). I’m also working on a new course with a professor from the Social Work department - it’s going to be on social work and Improv. 

And I have loved and continue to look forward to teaching Intro to Theatre, the most basic of them all.