Tips from the AEJMC Teaching Committee
Being a Crash Test Dummy for My Students
By William C. Singleton III
AEJMC Standing Committee
on Teaching
University of Alabama
(Article courtesy of AEJMC News, January 2021 issue)
My fellow Ph.D. graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) and even
some of my professors tell me I shouldn’t.
“That’s not wise.”
“You’re inviting trouble.”
“Keep your distance.”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
In many academic publications that offer tips for teaching professionals, it’s not advised.
That I don’t have my own office with a university phone doesn’t help matters. This plus the fact I want my students to understand they’re going into a career in which they must professionally bother people.
So, at the beginning of each semester, I give my students my cell phone number and tell them if they have any questions about a story assignment, AP Style tests or anything pertaining to the class, they can call or text me at any time. Of course, I admonish them to be wise about when to call (“At 1 a.m., you’re likely to be greeted with sleep babble.”), but I don’t want them to be shy about asking questions if they don’t know the answers – a fundamental curiosity they’ll need to succeed as reporters.
Then, I provide the reason I’m entertaining their inquiries and opening myself up to be bombarded by calls and texts throughout the semester: if you’re scared to ask questions of your sources and the questions you didn’t ask manifest as holes in your story, a meticulous but ornery editor is likely to demand you call your sources back and get answers to the questions you should have asked the first time.
And your cranky editor likely won’t care if you have to arouse them from a sound sleep – the type that results in incoherent rambling. “Trust me, I’ve been the one who’s had to make that call,” I say. “So I’m your crash test dummy. Start practicing this skill with me.”
Surprisingly, of the five classes I’ve taught, no student has ever called me, and only a few have texted me. I don’t know whether this has to do with “fear of the instructor” or if students are less inquiring than in previous generations, but it is somewhat disappointing, particularly the aspect of not wanting to talk through questions. I’ve noticed that more students prefer to email questions, but even those students represent a small percentage of the 30 to 40 aspiring journalists I teach per class, per semester.
I guess my naivete will wear off one day when my approach backfires and my cell number becomes a part of some elaborate prank or when I receive a full‐time professorship with my very own university phone. Until that day, I walk the path of the graduate teaching assistant, experimenting and learning as I go.
This idea of being the crash test dummy may be unappealing to those with or working on their Ph.D.’s. Obtaining a degree at the highest level of academia entitles one to the professional respect and courtesy that accompanies his and her endeavor. But, in a general sense, being the crash test dummy means providing experiences in class that will ready students for the real world of journalism. Even our mistakes – and theirs – can be great teaching tools to introduce students to real‐world scenarios and experiences that can help them avoid later pitfalls. And I don’t mind playing the role of the crash test dummy to sharpen their fledgling journalistic skills before they get on the road of life and career.
Among my approaches is that I inform students that they can challenge me on grades as they relate to their story assignments. I tell them if I kill one of your story ideas or you think your story deserved a better grade, you can make your appeal. I’m going to defend my position and explain why I gave you your grade, I say. But I want you to learn to stand up for your work because that’s what you’ll need to do when you pursue stories as journalists. And your news editor won’t always see eye‐to‐eye with you on a story idea. I rarely have students take me up on this challenge.
But one young woman did. I could tell she was nervous because she was trembling as she explained why she should receive a better grade on her story. And I gave her a better grade simply for stepping out of her comfort zone. I felt it was just as important to journalism education for her to learn to approach people she may not want to confront as it is to understand subject‐verb agreement.
Also, because I’ve spent much of my journalism and public relations career in Birmingham, I’ve developed a number of professional contacts I call upon when I need guest speakers for my class. I enjoy supplementing my teaching with media professionals because it reinforces points I’ve made in class and because it gives my students an opportunity to pick the brains of someone currently working in the business, and, more important, gives them the opportunity to make a professional contact. During one visit, a media professional asked for a volunteer to help him role‐play an interview. None of my students responded. I later told them that was a golden opportunity for them to stand out and make a professional contact. Sometimes I wonder if I’m like Charlie Brown’s teacher speaking unintelligibly to my students. Then, I receive an encouraging correspondence that makes it all worthwhile – a thank you email from a student who took me up on my offer, reached out to one of my guests, maintained contact and now has an internship at his television station. (#mesmiling)
As the commercial goes, you CAN learn a lot from a dummy.
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