Student disengagement is often treated as a problem to be solved with better tools, tighter policies, or trendy techniques. This plenary argues the opposite: the antidote to disengagement is not innovation at the level of technique, but transformation at the level of being. By drawing a clear distinction between performance and presence, Michael Wesch shows how our fixation on performance—shaped by fear, scripting, self-protection, and the desire to be liked—quietly drains the life from our classrooms and from ourselves. Presence, by contrast, is responsive, relational, and alive in the moment—it is risky, cannot be faked, and is precisely what students recognize when learning becomes real.

Drawing on decades of award-winning teaching and ethnographic fieldwork from campfires in the rainforests of New Guinea to temples in India, Vietnam, and Korea, Wesch shows how great teaching has always resembled a campfire: a shared space of curiosity, honesty, and meaning-making. This plenary reclaims “the great thing” at the heart of every discipline—the big human questions and hard-earned insights that first drew us into our fields—as the center of transformative teaching. Attendees will be invited to confront the barriers to presence, reconnect with their real why, and rediscover the joy of intellectual life and teaching. Emphasizing how preparation and passion outside the classroom translate into presence within it, this talk offers a manifesto for the re-enchantment of the academy and a call to become “undisciplined” in service of what matters most.