A detailed family tree appears on the computer screen and history department head Marshall Cohen’s Aunt Bertha smiles through centuries. Cohen has recently started a new teaching method in which he uses his own personal history as well as students’ histories to “learn about [historical periods through the] view of people who lived then.”
Many South teachers find that incorporating their own lives and background into their classes can be effective in teaching students, though only to a certain extent.
Cohen's personal has proven effective in his lessons. He said that while reading textbooks, students can easily forget that “history is really individual histories of individual people.” For students to establish a connection to history, “you have to infuse people into the story,” Cohen said.
When he focuses on the Industrial Revolution, for example, Cohen will tell stories about his grandmother, who had a spinning jenny in her living room.
Junior Hannah Maleson, one of Cohen’s students, believes his style is helpful and enhances the course. “It makes it easier to relate what we’re doing and make sense of it,” she said. Although Maleson enjoys Cohen’s method, she added that she sometimes doesn’t “get all the information … about actual history, and it can be kind of distracting.”
English teacher Joseph Golding has a different take on sharing personal information with his students. Golding recently took a two-week paternity leave from South after he welcomed the arrival of a new baby in early August.
While Cohen makes a point of sharing details regarding family members, Golding uses his personal experiences only to “illustrate a point, or because [I am] going to be out [of school],” he said.
Cohen explained that he is comfortable describing family members’ stories partially because most of the relatives he discusses have passed away. “If my grandmother was alive, I might feel a little twinge at telling people all about her life,” he said.
Golding, however, does not find it appropriate for personal information or stories to be largely discussed in class and consequently, he relays minimal information about his paternity leave to his students.
History teacher Michael Kozuch believes strongly in sharing personal experiences “if it helps the educational mission of our school or in building a strong classroom community.”
Openly gay, Kozuch understands and is directly affected by same-sex marriage controversies and laws. When discussing Constitutional issues, same sex marriages serve as the perfect example, and Kozuch uses his own marriage as a reference point.
Junior Chris*, who was a student of Kozuch’s for sophomore history, appreciated Kozuch’s openness in class. “I thought it was good that Kozuch in general was very open with the class and that he felt comfortable discussing with us and talking with us," he said.
Kozuch comes out to his classes at the beginning of the school year, but he said that he feels this is no different from a straight teacher discussing his or her significant other. “Heterosexual teachers come out without thinking,” Kozuch said.
Chris agreed. “I think [being gay] was just part of his personality,” he said. “It was something about him, and he wanted to share it with the class, and it’s not different than [anyone] sharing about his girlfriend,” he said.
Woodworking, architecture and robotics teacher Jennifer Stephens presents another take on sharing personal stories in the classroom. Stephens, who made the transition to living as a woman this year, encourages students to ask questions and informs them of the changes she is going through.
She has found that when students are more aware of their teachers’ lives, they are more likely to see that teacher as “a real person, not just an authority figure.”
Because she is in voice training lessons to master speaking in a voice that matches her appearance, she sometimes uses different voices, a high voice and a low voice, in class. “It’s really hysterical,” she said. To put her students at ease, she lets them know that it’s okay to laugh.
“[Students] go from having straight faces to realizing, ‘phew, I can laugh,’” Stephens said. In her case, Stephens’ sharing of personal information creates a more relaxed classroom environment.
Although Stephens is willing to share more of her life than Golding does of his, she agrees that in general it is not appropriate for teachers to share extensive personal experiences with students.
One who has experienced benefits of sharing his personal life with students, Kozuch recently received an e-mail from a former student who was not out when he had Kozuch as a teacher. “He told me how important it was to him to have an openly gay teacher," Kozuch said. “I don’t know if I saved his life or if I made him feel like he could go on, but that’s enough for me.”
