The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2020

30 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL If you are depending on a lucrative post-FS career to pay for your kids’ stratospheric college tuition, teaching may not be for you. heads and let them know what classes you would be qualified to teach if they ever have a need, as well as what new classes you could design and teach that could address gaps in their cur- riculum. Chris Kojm, professor of practice in international affairs at The George Wash- ington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, recommends preparing a one-paragraph summary or a one-page syllabus outline of your proposed course to provide with your résumé. The outline, he noted, should spell out both the course’s learning objectives and the skills the course will develop. Once hired, you may be able to plug into an existing course with a prepared syllabus. Most often, however, you will need to develop material from scratch, including reading lists, lecture notes, PowerPoint presentations, assignments, simulations and tests. Teaching is not just telling war stories; do not underesti- mate the amount of work that goes into designing and preparing a coherent and compelling syllabus. This is a matter of both art and elbow grease. However, you can often draw on resources at your academic institution. Many universities have offices devoted to helping teachers teach more effectively, offering workshops and consultation for instructors, including part-time instructors. Do not hesitate to ask your new colleagues for help, as well. Students typically enjoy active learning opportunities, such as simulations of National Security Council meetings to weigh policy options or diplomatic negotiations to implement policy decisions. Designing simulations is very time-intensive, but there are numer- ous resources to assist. The State Department’s National Museum of American Diplomacy (formerly called the U.S. Diplomacy Center) has an education outreach program that provides simula- tion materials and support for teachers, as well as other useful