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.”