A closer look: Love the ’80s? A student seminar is waiting

With dimmed lights and synthetic fog creeping underneath the
classroom doorway, Melvin Jimenez hopes to take students back in
time to the beat of Billy Idol, where mullets ruled and leggings
were a staple.

Teaching ’80s pop culture, Jimenez is taking part in a
unique program that provides upperclassmen with the opportunity to
teach their own one-unit seminars beginning this spring.

For Jimenez, a fourth-year history student, teaching his own
course was a “spur-of-the-moment” decision.

“I pulled a proposal together in five hours,”
Jimenez said, adding that he never imagined he would be selected to
teach his peers.

He also didn’t anticipate the amount of time and research
needed for devising a course.

“For me particularly, finding the readings and narrowing
it down is difficult ““ you can’t cover the (entire)
’80s in a seminar,” Jimenez said.

Growing up as the youngest in his family, Jimenez was drawn to
’80s culture, taking a liking to the era’s fashion and
music. Jimenez joins 15 other student facilitators in their vision
to teach their own seminars, marking the first group of students to
teach courses at UCLA.

“Since we all enjoy our topics, (researching)
doesn’t seem like work at all,” Jimenez said after
coming back from refining his course syllabus.

History professor Teo Ruiz says the topic is
“wonderful.”

“(The) ’80s is a period of history for you,”
said Ruiz, Jimenez’s faculty mentor for his course, on why
students would be attracted to it. “For me it was yesterday,
for you it is a period to be known.”

From the band The Smiths to the TV show “Miami
Vice,” one of Jimenez’s most difficult tasks was
deciding what material on the ’80s he should analyze.

“You have to swallow your own prejudices to encompass
everything,” Jimenez said. “I have to choose topics
that aren’t my favorite ones.”

Jimenez will cover an array of topics ““ such as ’80s
music, film and fashion ““ to show how these mediums reflected
society. Readings will be kept at a minimum, as students will
indulge in classic movies and music such as the film “Sixteen
Candles” and the rap artist Run DMC.

“I’m going to have a lot of fun with this,”
said Jimenez , who plans to dress up like musician Boy George when
exploring the ’80s movement toward androgyny.

Though the facilitators have been taking a course this quarter
to prepare for their teaching endeavors in spring, reviewing
syllabi and discussing topics still haven’t rid Jimenez of
the apprehension in orchestrating his own course.

“It’s nerve-racking,” Jimenez said. “I
can see myself practicing. … I’m going to practice in front
of a mirror.”

Hass Kumiko, associate director of the Office of Instructional
Development and professor of the pedagogy course, says this feeling
of mixed “excitement and anxiety” is normal for any
instructor.

“I don’t think he will have any problems,” she
said. “He will be a great facilitator because of his
personality ““ he is very engaging.”

Ruiz said the only thing Jimenez and his fellow student teachers
need to establish on the first day is that they care about what
they are doing.

“Teaching is a shared experience … a collective form of
learning,” Ruiz said.

Though Jimenez refers to his course as “chill with an
academic spin,” he still wants to assert some seriousness
through several assignments and a creative final project, which he
would not disclose.

Jimenez also finds solace in the fact that his course will be
discussion-based.

“(I’ll) prep for a 15-minute lecture and throw
questions to facilitate discussions,” Jimenez said. “I
can see people engaging in these topics.”

For Jimenez, who did not consider going to a university until
his community college counselor encouraged him to, this course may
lead toward a future career.

“If I get a good vibe from it, who knows where my career
will end up going.”

Until then, Jimenez’s most important task still awaits him
““ picking out his outfit for the first day of class.

“I’m going to tear my room apart ““ I have to
wear the right outfit on the first day.”

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