Although I have been in education for 31 years, I stopped teaching between 2002 and 2006 while in grad school. Since I returned to the classroom, I have built a series of rules that my students have gotten to know quite well. These rules are not just "rules," they've become both the proverbial compass that guides my teaching, research, and advocacy and the proverbial sword that I live and die by. 

My six rules are very simple, yet I feel that abiding by them will help my students far beyond the time they spend with me. They have grown over time, usually in response to my students and mentees, the best reason to keep working on my Kung-Fu every day!

These are the rules:

rule number one

Rule Number One, the Rule of Terms, was born during my time as a graduate student, when I learned that often folks would be using terms but didn't really own them, just throwing citations like ninja stars. I tried that and was called out with good reason by some of my mentors, and I'm grateful they did.

Rule Number One, to me, is the one that has kept me honest as a scholar and one that I teach my students early on.

In fact, Rule Number One is the foundation behind a little something we do at LSLP called the LSLP Micro-Papers! 

rule number two

Rule Number Two, the Rule of Questions, was one that quickly surfaced on my return to teaching in graduate school. In my class, I always expect my students to answer my questions. When I mentor my students, I expect them to wrestle with my questions. 

However, I also like to remind them that not every question requires an immediate answer and that one should take a moment, even if brief, to think about what one will say. This habit of taking a moment to think, for example, is one that comes in handy when defending your master's thesis or dissertation. 

rule number three

Rule Number Three, the Rule of Words, is another that came during my time as a doctoral student and I practice it till this day. I learned this from my mentors, who told me when I did well and gave me a piece of their mind when I did wrong. 

Although I believe that as teacher, I should motivate my students to thrive, that should be done keeping honesty in mind. Teachers shouldn't lie to their students (and there's a whole story attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas that provides a rationale for this!)

There are some vital real-life ramifications to Rule Number Three. Namely, my rationale for writing letters of reference or recommendation. I usually only write such letters to students I know well enough to make an honest assessment. I have seen too many applications fall through the cracks due to a bad letter for me to a disservice to my mentees.

rule number four

Rule Number Four, the Panic Rule, was the first rule I created during my professorial career, as a response to how some of my students reacted to feedback in my research classes. Students sometimes feel the sky is falling when it isn't and I like to remind them that panicking won't solve anything,

Now, as John Wick would remind us, rules have consequences. A part me thinks that I broke my shoulder at the Panama City airport in 2019 because I panicked, and "life has a funny way," as Alanis Morissette would say.

Rule Number Four is probably the only one that has a corollary:

... and if Dr. Berry panicks, run... or don't... because that probably means the asteroid is coming!

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rule number five

Oh... Rule Number Five... the dreaded Rule Number Five, the Rule of Challenges, the one my researchers fear the most. This particular rule is simply a way to tell my students to rise up to the occasion, to always strive to go for broke (as my lovely hermana Dr. Yolie Sealey-Ruiz would say) and develop a culture of excellence.

Rule Number Five is my way of telling my students that my classes are a space to be creative, not to conform with just the bare minimum and to use the class assignments as possibilities for growth. 

Rule Number Five is so special that it is the only one that has a verb we sometimes use at LSLP: Rulefiveified. My students already know that they'll inevitably be rulefiveified every time they pitch an idea! It is also one that does include a brief caveat in my classes: I always tell students not to pitch insane ideas that might get them (a) incarcerated, (b) unalived, or (c) excommunicated! 

rule number six

Rule Number Six, the Rule of Moral Authority, was the last rule I created as a professor, but reflecting on it, its origin goes all the way back to my student teaching in 1994. I recall my cooperating teacher making me create all kinds of materials for my class, yet all he used for his classes was the textbook and chalk! I also witnessed so many instructors asking their students to do things they don't.

Teaching to me is about moral authority and modeling. You can't ask your students to read if you don't. You can't expect them to enjoy writing if they don't see you writing. You can't tell your students to present at events and publish unless they see you modeling the path for them.

At the same time, I recognize that there are things we don't know how to do and maybe that stops us from coming up with other tasks in our classes. But, if teaching is learning, as they say, why can't we also use the classes to learn with students? That sense of mutual learning and modeling is the foundation for this rule.