Adam Goldwyn is a professor of English at NDSU.  When not at work, he enjoys spending time with his six-year-old daughter and being outside. When at work, he teaches literature survey and theory classes at both the graduate and undergraduate level.

Goldwyn got his bachelor’s degree in history and his master’s degree in ancient history, originally thinking that he would become an archaeologist. “I found it amazing that there are places where you could dig down right where you were standing and see time unfold,” he said. “Then I became really interested in these texts we have from 2000 years ago where we can read their words and hear their voices.” His interest in historical writings led to him pursuing a PhD in comparative literature. After completing his PhD, he applied to an open position in the English Department at NDSU and has been a professor of English since 2013.

Goldwyn’s teaching philosophy is that by learning about people from different times, regions, beliefs and languages, students can learn more about themselves. He believes the best way for students to do this is to read a lot of perspectives and then talk about them together. “By understanding people vastly unlike ourselves, we can understand ourselves better and understand the contemporary world around us better,” he said.

Instead of lecturing for the entire class period, Goldwyn prefers to pose a thought-provoking question or two and let his students take over the discussion. An example of this method working well comes from his History of Rock class, which he is teaching for the first time this semester. The class focuses primarily on the music of Taylor Swift and how it is shaped by culture and musical history. “Yesterday in class we were talking…and at some point the students have just been talking for almost 20 minutes and they kind of forgot I was there, they’re just having a seminar among themselves,” he said. “That was really a rewarding experience for me.”

Students today are used to receiving information from short-form content like social media, and it is less common for them to learn from books and newspapers. This is very different compared to when Goldwyn was in school, and it can be challenging to teach them in a way that they connect with. “I want [students] to conceive of the entire narrative and plot and everything, but they’re used to getting information in fragments and clips,” he said. “That’s one of the challenges I have to adjust to.”

Teaching students who have access to a lot of different forms of media can be educational, too. This was again illustrated to Goldwyn by his Poetry of Rock class. “Usually it’s my job to know a lot and tell them things that they don’t know, but in this class it’s like I know some but I’m nowhere near as immersed in that world,” he said. “They get their information from so many different means and so they have lots of ways to discuss it.”