UH professor Douglas Erwing begins a three-hour nighttime study session with the students of history class by sitting at the front, cutting up the fresh orange he plucked from his garden and asking “So what’s going to be on this test?”
He quizzes them guiding them to deliver intelligent, calculated responses to his thought-provoking questions. He pushes his students to think beyond the text and begin to create their own questions for the exam.
Erwing has swam in the Nile River, spent a year teaching in China and is currently practicing real estate law in addition to being a professor in the Honors College, but he said one of the biggest thrills in his life comes from working with his students in the classroom and during these study sessions.
“I enjoy sharing and interacting with young, bright minds and exchanging big ideas. I am perfectly well aware that there are a healthy number of the students who are in fact smarter than I am and more capable,” Erwing said. “I enjoy just doing my little part in helping spur (my students) into being the best they can be.”
Inclusive approach
Erwing has been conducting these study sessions for his students since he came to the University to teach three years ago after finishing a dual J.D./Ph.D program at UH in 2007. He got the idea for these sessions while he was still a student attempting to study for his own finals.
“I had become frustrated with being ambushed by questions on an exam. I would read the questions and think, ‘That’s a good question. Why didn’t I think of it?’” Erwing said. “So from my undergraduate years and my experience as a student trying to take the material to a new level and be intellectually active with it rather than just learning the dates, I realized a good way to do that is to come up with your own questions (with other students).”
In addition to these nighttime group studies, every semester Erwing invites his class to his house for dinner.
Students are invited to sit on his screened-in front porch that looks out into his garden, play with his dogs and eat as much as they want.
With a little persuasion, Erwing will even jump into his beekeeping outfit and show his students the honey he has been collecting as a side hobby for about a year.
Inspired by students
Erwing said he loves inviting his students over because it is an opportunity to engage with them outside the school setting.
“(My students) are interesting, bright and engaging people. Teaching is a rewarding experience but it can be a little stifling to just spend the time inside the classroom,” Erwing said. “So I enjoy the opportunity to spend a little time outside of the class. I think it is healthy to be in the company of someone who is older and whom you have had experience with and interact with them. I also enjoy creating a forum for (my students) to get together, shoot the bull and enjoy each other’s company.”
At the end of the study session as his students are packing up and he is finishing his orange, Erwing tells everyone that they will do great on the test and encourages them to get some sleep.
After, he rides off on his bike satisfied with the test he has just created with the help of those being tested.