ALEXIS CAMARENA
Staff Writer

It’s not every day you walk into class to find your professor dressed as a fuzzy bunny.
However, for the students in Professor Emile George’s class, it’s just another day in Methodology in Teaching Social Studies, a graduate-level course for students in the QUEST education program that meets every Wednesday.
Though the class revolves around history, George does not teach his students about the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, or any other historical event. Instead, for the past four years that he has taught at FDU, George has been teaching his students creative and experimental methods of teaching history by dressing up, decorating the classroom, making projects and everything in between.
“You’re never going to be bored in my class,” George said.
Loren Kania, a fifth-year student in the QUEST program, has fun in George’s classes.
“Professor George teaches in very unconventional ways,” said Kania. “In my five years here, there’s been no professor on campus that comes close to the way he teaches.”
To demonstrate to his students one way of taking a history lesson to the next level, George had them write political platforms for both the Republican and Democratic parties and also one for Peter Rabbit.
“He came back into the classroom in the bunny suit and handed out carrots and bunny papers with ‘Vote for Peter Rabbit’ on them,” said Kania.
For any given class, George will set an atmosphere to complement his teachings.
“He’s very big on classroom environment,” Kania said. “Every night when we go to class, he has a different set-up.”
For a lesson on the 1960s, George plans on dressing up as hippie, playing The Beatles and examining the drug culture of the time period.
“I discuss often music’s influence in history,” George said. “I often play music to set an atmosphere when I teach. Teaching is about creating an atmosphere for a lesson, and that’s something I want my students to learn.”
After teaching public middle school and high school for 45 years, George retired and decided to try his hand at college education.
Having so many years of experience, George has plenty of insight to provide his students with a perspective on real-world education and the “do’s and don’ts” of teaching a class.
“Kids learn by doing, I believe in that. Research has shown that students learn more by seeing and by doing, than by hearing,” said George. “Teaching social studies should not be a lecture course; it should be a hands-on course.”
That being said, George’s class is not strictly a social studies class.
“A class like this doesn’t really teach you content but ideas and different ways to make your own students absorb material better,” said Kania.
“As the course is at a graduate level, the students should know the content,” George said. “My aim is to teach them how to apply that knowledge to teaching in a way that’s meaningful.”
The class has become pretty popular, with class size of over 20 students, slightly larger than most classes at FDU.
“I enjoy his class very much,” said Colby Thompson, a junior in the QUEST program. “He teaches in so many different ways and constantly changes up the class, that I am writing down or learning something nearly every second.”
However unique and unorthodox George’s class may be, the class is not so different from any other in terms of its workload. George’s students must complete a reaction paper every week and four projects throughout the semester.
“I still follow the departmental syllabus, though I’ve adapted it to my teaching style,” he said.
George expresses much enthusiasm and devotion to teaching the class. “I love what I do, and I love the students at FDU,” he said. “They’re bright, they’re enthusiastic, and they want to learn.”
George went on to say that the students give him feedback. “We discuss what’s good and what’s bad,” he said. “We critique every activity we do. We learn from each other.”
“As interesting as he is, he has emphasized to us to find our own way of teaching,” said Kania. “If we don’t feel comfortable dressing up in a bunny suit, then that’s not what we should do. He’s into us finding our own interesting path.”
George said he doesn’t remember a lot of “meaningful classes” from his college career, and he wants to give his students a memorable learning experience.
“I want my students to become outstanding teachers, and they will be,” he said.