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This last year I taught a few classes at a local university here in LA as part of their commercial music program. They sought out people who were working in the music industry professionally, and talked us all into giving up two days a week to come teach kids how to do what we do. It was a blast.
One thing that my students said they appreciated was the depth and organization of the syllabus. I mapped out the entire semester ahead of time (i knew I wouldn't have time mid-class to be planning on the fly) and gave them a course calendar of what each lecture would be on, when the reading was expected by, which assignments were due when, and what dates the tests were on. I also made it available on the website as a Calendar import, so they could drop it into Outlook or their PDA.
One thing that worked to my advantage was to set up a little bit of an "Us and Them" vibe with the students. At the beginning of the semester, I told them that my worst nightmare would be to walk into Guitar Center and see them shilling Mexican Stratocasters to junior high kids, so I was going to hold them to the same standards that I would hold my production assistants, my arrangers, and my engineers to. Not all of you will pass, because not all of you have the skills or the drive to do this professionally, but for those who do, you'll leave this class ready to work at a pro level.
It upped the ante for the whole class. I tried hard to make it a flunk-out course, set the exam and project standards really high, and the class average for this last semester was still 88%. I've even hired two of the students to tech for me on a project this summer.
So, there ya go. Whatever. Have fun. Be an ass. Be pompous, long-winded, lacking in personal hygiene, use puns, and insist that khaki pants go with vans skateboarding shoes. Try to revive archaic language, and insinuate that only people with extremely high intellect will understand your sense of humor. It is, after all, your lark, not theirs
-sm
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