Faculty Excellence at UMUC

Interviewer:

Please tell us about yourself—what made you decide to teach at UMUC? What kind of work do you do when you are not teaching at UMUC? Are there any life experiences that have influenced your teaching at UMUC? If so, please share one story.

David Norris:

For two years, I taught onboard US Navy ships deployed to the Pacific and Indian Oceans. I had never taught in the military setting nor traveled in Asia at that time. The four ships that I rode took me all over Asia and into the Gulf of Oman. Teaching in the military community continues to be the most rewarding teaching that I have done. I remember standing in the parking lot in front of the library at Yongsan Base, Seoul, Korea, on a cold January day in 1987. I did a 360 and took in the view of where I was and thought about what I was doing with my life. I made a wish. My dream was to live in Seoul and teach for UMUC Asia. That dream came true the following spring. "It's funny how that stuff works," an old mountain man once told me. His words still ring true in my ears.

Well, I spend a lot of my time outside of the classroom reading the essays that have been turned into it. That is the plight of all writing instructors. Recently, I served as one of the two judges for the annual "Life in Korea" essay contest sponsored by the Association of the United States Army. I have done this for the past nine years. Also this year, I was asked and agreed to be the judge for both the essay contest for adult submissions as well as the poetry contest for the same age group at the Yongsan Base Library here in Korea. In my free time, I travel when I can, and read and write.

There are so many. This is the richest teaching environment that one can imagine. My students range in age from 18 to their 60s. They come from all over the world and from every segment of American society. My gift has always been in helping the non-traditional students who have difficulty in moving from their pre-college days into the college classroom and feeling comfortable and confident there. I had to make this difficult transition myself when I started out, and this helps me to empathize and recognize the places where holes need to be filled and fear removed. I keep a folder in my files that I go to on days when I feel a bit down. It's called "Kind Words on My Teaching." Here is a quote from that file: "I don't think I even dared to dream this big when I first stepped into your classroom. . ." This student made an A and is now in graduate school and doing quite well.

Here is another story.

I remember one young man who walked into my class many years ago when I first started teaching. English had always kicked him, had always beaten him. I gave him the California Achievement Test, and he scored seventh-grade, second month. Three weeks later, he took CAT test number two, and he scored 12th grade, ninth-month, high school graduate. He stood there with a look of disbelief on his face when I showed him his results. Then he broke out in a great big smile. He had to look at the score as it had been recorded to believe it. Then he stuck his hand out, shook mine and thanked me.

He walked to the door, turned around and asked, "Did I really do a 12-9?"

He walked back. "Did I really do it?"

I said, "Yes."

He shook my hand and thanked me again. Then he walked to the door, turned around, and did it a third time.

Interviewer:

How would you describe your teaching style or philosophy? What experiences or person(s) have influenced your style or philosophy?

David Norris:

I have a tape of Theodore Roethke reading his poems. In the intro to one of them, he says that he truly believes that the real teaching starts when the teacher is willing to learn from the students. I never walk into the classroom thinking that I am the smartest person in the room; I am always willing to learn from my students as well as share what I know.

This is a fun question, and it takes me all the way back to when I was 18 and coming straight out of high school with a disastrous academic history. I had taken no college prep courses and had left every day at noon to go to work under the Distributive Education program. Thus, I spent my first year of study at the local community college playing catch-up. Dr. Mary Balaz was my first mentor. She is the one who encouraged me to write and even helped me to find a part-time job in the college library. Machel Biggs, my math teacher, taught me compassion. Jim Barnes, my government teacher, taught me to always have time for my students. Clydie Hefner taught me what not to do. Later in graduate school, Dr. Michael Linn taught me humility and the importance of remaining honest in the classroom, of putting on no airs. Dr. Mary Bevin taught me to take chances and to be creative, to try something new if something old was not working. At a poetry reading in San Francisco, Robert Bly taught me that in reading poetry, one does not have to treat it as a sacred text, that we can have fun in sharing verse. He stopped in the middle of a poem and said, "I like that line, I'm going to read it again." I've stolen that little trick and incorporated it into my own performance of reading poetry in class and sometimes on stage.

Interviewer:

Please explain if you do something special or unique in your teaching and what made you develop this.

David Norris:

I did not teach for the first five years upon completing my studies. I was too shy to stand in front of a classroom. I lacked confidence. Then an odd set of events in my life put me on the ships teaching, and from there I found my way into the UMUC classrooms in Korea. In fact, I've never taught on a "traditional" campus in my life. I taught my first class at the Virginia State Penitentiary in Richmond, Virginia, during my student teaching. From there, I went to the ships and from there, to military bases all over Korea. Perhaps the most unique aspect of my teaching is the ability to connect with our students, my understanding of how tough it is to write an essay in the back of a Humvee in the freezing cold or on a ship doing 45 degree rolls. I've learned to teach in very difficult circumstances and to make it work, no matter what conditions we have to face.

Interviewer:

What do you think it is about your teaching style that appeals to students?

David Norris:

Many, if not most, of our students come from a non-traditional background. I come from that same space myself. Furthermore, I am proud of it. I firmly believe in the American tradition of "pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps." I am the first and the only person in my family to ever attend college, and it has changed the way I see the world. I tell my students that the way we see the world through educated eyes is far different than the way we see it otherwise. Perhaps it is my lack of pretense that appeals to them?

Interviewer:

Do you teach face-to-face, online, or both? Do you have a preference between teaching face-to-face and online? If so, please explain.

David Norris:

I teach face-to-face primarily; however, I also teach Libs 150, which is a Web-enhanced class, a blend of face-to-face and online. I believe we will see more of these kinds of classes develop in the near future.

I prefer face-to-face. I am one of those students who always has a lot of questions in class, and I see this in many of my students as well. I enjoy the interaction that we have in a face-to-face class. However, at the same time, online brings reading and writing back into the classroom in a big way. I like that part the most in the online environment.

Interviewer:

Please tell us about your chosen discipline-i.e., what made you interested in the area initially? What do you do to stay current in your discipline? What do you like best about teaching in your discipline?

David Norris:

Irony accompanies us in this life. My mother was the first person in our family to complete high school. She always insisted that I should be a teacher. I told her, "No money in that." Thus, I decided to major in business for my first undergraduate degree. I preformed well in this academic discipline, even becoming an Alfred E. Lyon Scholar in Marketing. But my heart was not in it, and when I applied for several management training positions, I was given the Strong Interest Inventory Analysis. Jobs that I was certain that I would be offered had not come about on three separate occasions. At that point, I decided that I wanted to know what the "test-givers" knew about me that I did not know about myself, so I made arrangements to take the test. When I received my results, I realized that I would not have hired me either. My top four job-compatibility ratings were musician, writer, photographer and English teacher. Within a week, I had bought a camera, a set of drums and made the first steps to return to college as an English major. Momma was right. Her little boy was destined to become a teacher. It is the wisest decision I have made.

I have attended every workshop to which I have been invited, which has been helpful in all cases. I take online workshops, and recently I completed a seminar on Web-enhancement that was much like the Libs 150 format, one day in the classroom for 8 hours followed by two weeks of work to be completed online. Also, I trade ideas with other faculty by email.

I love the written word and sharing insight as to how to best find the aesthetic joy that lies within. The beauty of multiple layers of creation is a learned aesthetic. As soon as they catch on, my students always show me things that I have not seen before, even though I may have taught the course many, many times. Those epiphanies are priceless.

Interviewer:

What is the most challenging to you in teaching in this area? What teaching strategy do you use when you encounter the challenge?

David Norris:

Waylaying the fear that many students have of the "English" classroom. Turning students on to poetry, as many, if not most of us, were taught to hate poetry in our high-school classes. The first step is always to remove fear from the classroom. The second step is to be open to what the students have to say in terms of their difficulties in mastering the material. Third, have fun! Bring in multiple ways to present the subject. With poetry, I will read in a dramatic and perhaps even over-dramatic fashion at times. Always I will mix multiple voices in a poem, such as with "The Ballad of Birmingham," which works so well with three readers. Bring in tapes and CDs of poets reading their own work. Drop in a video—the Ginsburg interview is a hoot! Provide background bio on the poets. The Anne Sexton-Sylvia Plath-George Starbuck-Robert Lowell connection is engaging lead in to covering their poems. It is also fun to bring in the "other side" of poets such as Rita Dove and Allen Ginsburg and E. E. Cummings, along with some Charles Bukowski. Our literature texts have become too conservative and too proper. Their focus seems to be on playing it safe rather than finding the writers' voices. I no longer find some of my favorite poems in the texts that we read for our classes, so I bring them in myself.

Interviewer:

Are there any special challenges in teaching this subject matter online? If yes, please explain what could be done to meet the challenges.

David Norris:

The biggest challenge to teaching literature online is the lack of spontaneity in class discussions, the electricity that can occur. It sometimes becomes intense in my classroom. This term, one student cried during our discussion of Kaka's "Metamorphosis" when we compared the protagonist to a child with special needs. I've also had students leave the room crying when we read Anne Sexton's "Abortion" and Gwendolyn Brook's "The Mother." All three of these writers lived and died, but their work remains and still can move readers to tears even today. The power released in face-to-face is difficult to create in the online classroom. I realize that audio and video will help to overcome this as it is developed and incorporated more into the online classroom.

Interviewer:

What suggestion would you give to students who are interested in majoring or working in your discipline?

David Norris:

Follow your heart. We have each been given gifts, skills to make the most of in this life. If yours is teaching, learn to share; that is what teaching is all about. Be willing to learn from your students as much as you want to guide them, teach them, and offer them insights.

Interviewer:

In your opinion, what makes UMUC the college of choice for students?

David Norris:

We are rock solid, and we have been around for a long time. We are not some fly-by-night operation. We will be here tomorrow, next week, and in the coming years. We have small classes and personal contact with our students. We recognize the complexities of mixing work, adult life and education together. We always find a way to make it work when our students have to balance out the responsibilities of adult life. We are here, not thousands of miles away, spread out in small local offerings.

Interviewer:

In your opinion, what makes UMUC the employer of choice for future faculty members?

David Norris:

Do you want to travel? Both the Asian and European divisions will give you that. Do you want to see your efforts improve the world by assisting people to elevate themselves on the socioeconomic ladder? If you do, this is one of the best places in the world, for our adult students are seeking the same goal. Do you want rewarding work? I love teaching; I am happiest in the classroom.

Interviewer:

What suggestion would you give to new faculty who are interested in teaching in your discipline at UMUC?

David Norris:

Come in with the proper attitude. Realize that even when austere, your comfort level is better than that of your students who are "out in the field" on military exercises. Realize this is different from the Ivory Tower campus. Approach your students with respect and admiration for what they have learned from the lives they have lived and the places they have been. In closing, I will quote the words of Dr. Julian Jones on the day he hired me: "Be FLEXIBLE."