When Lance Rhoades walks into a classroom, he's thinking as much about his own learning as he is about his students' learning.
"I don't see myself as being very different from my students," he says. "I think of the class as a chance for us to explore the material together."
Which is why his main teaching method involves asking questions — questions for which he doesn't have answers. "I may have hunches," he says, "but not such a degree of confidence that I don't expect to learn more by talking about it with people who are engaged in the same thing."
It's a method that earns enthusiastic praise from students:
"Mr. Rhoades was a great teacher because of the way he initiated an open atmosphere for dialogue and brought all members of the class out of their shells and into our discussions," Katherine Copland wrote in her nomination letter.
"He has a very genuine interest in the views of others and that is why I believe he will spend so much time listening to what students have to say," Stephen Holmes wrote.
And Troy Lamberte called Rhoades' classes "exciting." The dialogues, he wrote, were so interesting that "many people would have liked the conversation to continue longer than the allotted time."
High praise indeed for someone who hasn't even finished his doctorate yet. Rhoades, a teaching assistant in Comparative Literature, is one of two graduate students being honored with the Excellence in Teaching Award.
He must deserve it. In his nomination packet are 15 letters from students and another five from faculty — an extraordinary outpouring of support. And this quarter he has become the first TA his department has ever asked to teach a core course that is required of all majors. It's a 300-level class that involves writing, and he's alone with 40 students.
"It's a lot of work," Rhoades said in his typically understated way. "It takes a lot of time." But then, he's never been one to avoid hard work or worry about the time it takes. Letter after student letter tells of how Rhoades always had time for them, always was willing to review their essays or talk about their ideas or encourage their dreams. "He makes time," they said.
And not just for class-related work. Rhoades has also made time in his busy life for an extracurricular group for students interested in film. Comparative Literature is the department in which the Cinema Studies Program is located, and he found that many an after-class discussion revolved around film. So Rhoades and some of his students started a group which eventually became the Filmmakers' Collective.
The group actually began, he said, as an opportunity to screen and discuss critically films that were never seen in film classes because they were either far too obscure or far too popular. But Rhoades soon discovered that the group was full of aspiring filmmakers, so it quickly became a place for them to find what they needed. Directors found actors, screenwriters found directors, and people who just wanted to get their feet wet in film found assistant positions.
And everyone found an audience, as the Filmmakers' Collective has arranged for the showing of completed films. Although the group's active e-mail list numbers about 45, Rhoades said as many as 250 people have attended the screenings.
Which of course provokes more of those discussions that Rhoades is so fond of. "I'm very keen on getting people who are working on the artistic end of films together with people who are working on the critical end — really sharing in their experience and perspectives," he said.
Kind of like what he does in class as he draws students of diverse backgrounds into what he calls "active discovery" — a process of conducting a mutual inquiry.
"I think that's the most satisfying thing for me — seeing students take an interest in things that I'm interested in and getting an opportunity to take an interest in what students are interested in," Rhoades said. "That sort of satisfaction comes almost daily in teaching. It's a nice, constant reminder of why I'm drawn to this profession."
