Ideas for a first time comparative teacher
Wayne Berbert who teaches at Syosset HS on Long Island introduced himself on the "Teaching Comparative" online discussion site. He wrote, "Comparative Government will be a brand new course for the school and myself. I am quite nervous as I am not sure if I will be able to go to one of the week long classes and have no connections (besides the list-serve and this site) to materials, pedagody etc. Looking forward to sharing ideas and picking peoples brains to make this class as successful as can be."
If you are facing the same task, with similar aspirations and anxieties, get in touch with Wayne by commenting here or by posting a reply at the online discussion site.
If you prepared and taught the class for the first time last year, your experiences would probably be especially relevant, so you ought to get in touch as well.
Or, if you've taught Comparative several times and have suggestions, make them here or at the online discussion site.
I said, " I'm in favor of integrating comparative methods and theory with the study of individual countries as much as possible. Units on individual countries might be the backbone of the course, but comparative exercises, in my mind, ought to be included from day one. If you begin with the UK, you can ask your students to do comparisons with the US. And you can ask them what kind of comparisons they recognize and what kinds of difficulties they have in making the compaisons.
"The parliamentary system compared to the presidential/congressional system is a natural. Ask students what factors would make it difficult for either country to switch to the other's system. Then ask what factors would facilitate the switch."
posted by Ken Wedding @ 5:01 PM
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