By PHILIP WINTERSTEIN, Staff Reporter.
Students who are taking classes during the spring/summer semesters at Delta College are often times looking for easy credits by taking ‘easy’ courses. Why not take a fun course instead?
Professors Kyle Leathers and Michael Johnston have teamed up, each utilizing one of their courses to form a learning community for the spring semester of 2015 at Delta College.
Leathers received his Master’s Degree from the University of Nevada Reno. Teaching at Delta College since 2010, he teaches classes such as Public Speaking, Oral Communications, and Interpersonal Communications. He also plays the guitar and writes songs.
Johnston earned his MFA Degree in Arts at Central Michigan University (CMU) and currently hosts a jazz program called ‘Destination Out’. Before, he wrote for a jazz magazine called Code of Publications. He has taught at Delta College for 15 years, and teaches History of Jazz and History of Rock and Roll classes.
Leathers explained that he was introduced to Johnston’s music courses and thought of merging their expertise.
“I caught wind of Mike’s class and presented him with the idea to combine my communications course and his history of rock and roll course,” Leathers said. “The Learning Community Course is called ‘Speaking About the History of Rock and Roll’.”
Johnston stated that he is excited to see the course in action because it is both creative and a course that students don’t usually see. The layout of the course will be set up between the two different course sections: Communications and Music.
“The two go hand-in-hand. I’ll be presenting the necessary background information with the history of rock and roll, how it was shaped, and how it plays in society today,” Johnston explained, “Kyle will present lectures on speaking and will be teaching students how to write response speeches to their historical findings in rock and roll. The students will find and provide their own content in their speeches.”
Johnston continued to explain that the class will be looking closely at classic rock songs from classic rock albums. Leathers also added that students who are interested in music and in the history of rock should consider taking their course.
“It should be a fun course because anyone enrolled will be around other students who share common interests in music,” Leathers explained. “We get to learn from each other both in the lectures and in the students’ speeches.”
Both professors stated that the course is not a one-time, one-semester deal.
“The course will be available only during the spring out of the spring/summer semesters in 2015,” Leathers explained. “We want to offer it in the fall semester or the winter semester of next year; it will definitely be available during the spring of next year.”
‘Speaking About the History of Rock and Roll’ will be open to 40 students, and students are already signing up. The course will take place on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. The courses for registration on the MyDelta website are COM-112W Fundamentals of Oral Communication and MUS-119W History of Rock and Roll.
“You can’t have one of the courses without the other,” Leathers repeated.
For more information about ‘Speaking About the History of Rock and Roll’, contact Kyle Leathers at kyleleathers@delta.edu or Michael Johnston at michaeljohnston@delta.edu.