Dem
47
GOP
53
Here is the question we put before readers two weeks ago:
M.R. in Lowell, MA, asks: I am going to start teaching full time at a university this fall. Any suggestions?
And here some more of the answers we got in response:
C.S. (husband, student affairs administrator) and B.S. (wife, adjunct faculty) in Philadelphia, PA: Two responses from us:
C.S.: Get to know your colleagues who provide student support. Students are coming in with more and more mental health concerns and unmet needs (financial, food, housing). If you connect with your students, they will open up to you. You are not expected to solve their issues; however, referring them to the right people can. Also understand campus policies regarding academic dishonesty and disruptive classroom behavior and seek appropriate support from those staff. The student and institutional culture may be significantly different from where and when you went to school. Take time to learn it.
B.S.: Have good shoes and stay hydrated. Walking to and from classrooms and offices takes more time than you think. Learn the classroom technology (your online learning management software, for example) and use free resources that are available through your institution and on the Internet. Be prepared to be inundated with trainings and information and expect to be busy. Walk through the school to get a feel of things outside of your class and department. Despite being a reading instructor, I use the art gallery regularly in my assignments.
K.G. in Columbus, OH: A professor for 39 years now, I have taught at a big university, a couple of small colleges, and a law school. I have taught everything from remedial courses of a dozen undergrads to large lecture sections of law students in arena-style classrooms. And, for what it's worth, I have won a couple of teaching and advising awards. My biggest piece of advice: Assert your authority early. This advice does not mean that one should be a dictatorial jerk; quite the contrary, one can—and should—conduct a class in a good-humored, respectful, and enthusiastic way. But I always think of that "here's a dime" scene in The Paper Chase. I know it's an exaggerated fictional situation, but there is no doubt that John Houseman's character, Professor Kingsfield, is the expert, and he is the one running the show. Ultimately, students respect and admire him. And they learn.
So many administrators (many of whom are failed teachers) spew out bromides about faculty being mere "co-learners" or "facilitators" who "learn just as much from their students as they do from them." Don't listen. You are there because you know your stuff better than any other person in that room, and you have the rare privilege of sharing all you know with a receptive audience. Enjoy every minute of it.
M.G. in Boulder, CO: When I was going to start teaching, one of my favorite teachers advised, "Learn their names. Then they think you know them." It works like magic. Students feel acknowledged, and when you know which name goes with which face, you can attach the name and face to whatever they say or write, and you do begin to know them. It also means that you can grade more fairly because you are seeing a whole picture, rather than just averaging numbers. In addition, students are more comfortable in class because they feel they know their classmates. One student said, "This is my favorite class, and it's NOT my favorite subject." (By the way, this also works with hospital personnel if you are ever a patient. Everyone appreciates being acknowledged as a human being.)
I taught at a university originally built to serve non-traditional students. They were encouraged to use our first names and we did the same, which encouraged a non-threatening atmosphere, something those students needed. At the school for young men where I first taught, students were made to use our titles and last names, while teachers referred to students by last name only. I used Mr. and last name and had many fewer discipline problems.
Something else that can be useful: Get to know your library and the librarian who specializes in your subject area. Many libraries have librarians for specialized areas (bibliographers), and they choose the books the library holds on each subject. If your bibliographer knows you, you'll have a greater influence on the book collection in your areas of interest.
Some libraries have library instruction programs. If not (or even if so), you can work out a tour of the library for your students. Check the library literature for some older articles (now classics) on instruction by Lori Arp and Betsy Wilson. They divide libraries into three main departments: (1) Reference (encyclopedias, dictionaries, fact books) for short, fast information; (2) regular check-out books (for in depth, detailed information); and periodicals (newspapers, magazines, and journals) for current or time-of-the-action information. It's useful for students to know that reference books include general encyclopedias (e.g., World Book) and specialized encyclopedias (e.g., The Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Take your students to those areas so they know where to go. Also explain why the library is different than the Internet (library material is carefully chosen to be the best available). When my library began our Arp/Wilson-based instruction, we were startled by the reactions of the professors—they'd never put this information together for themselves and clearly wished someone had done it for them.
One last thing: If you don't know where to go in a library, find the Reference desk. That's where they keep librarians (people with degrees in library science), whose expertise is in finding information.
R.A.G. in Seattle, WA: Decide now what brought you to teaching, and why it gives you joy. Write it down. Remember it in the classroom every class. Say it to yourself before each time you interact with a student. Do that every time you interact with a colleague, administrator, or dean.
J.P. in Horsham, PA: In your syllabus, put in a comment that is in the greater headers but not really visible to human readers, that will make Large Language Models (like ChatGPT) say something completely ridiculous and not related to any specific assignments, so you can know whether or not your students aren't doing the actual work.
D.A. in Brooklyn, NY: I've been a full-time computer science professor for 45 years. Two pieces of advice: (1) Have high goals but expect to fail. Make sure your failures are glorious, ones that you can be proud of. I've never taught a class the same way twice. I keep searching for that elusive success; (2) Remember that your class is just a small part of the life of each of your students. Give as much as you can to them, but realize that what they can put into the class will vary, and never take it personally.
A.C. in Kingston, MA: I'd like to welcome M.R. in Lowell to the teaching ranks.
So much teaching advice is specific to the subject area, the age/grade level, and/or the teacher's own experience in the field. But the number one hallmark of a great teacher is their ability to be reflective and willing to adjust.
First, ask yourself throughout the semester, how did it go today/this week/this month? What went well? What didn't, and how could I change to make it go better?
Second, establish and maintain a climate of respectful and open communication with your students. Be open to feedback when they tell you they're not understanding something, or that an assignment is unreasonable.
Third, find colleagues who will support you and help you improve your teaching practice. Good teachers steal ideas from other teachers all the time! (In fact, I'm happy to let colleagues steal my ideas—what's good for my students is good for their students.)
And, a classic for any new teacher: Think back to your experiences as a student. Who were your favorite/best teachers and why? Who were your least favorite teachers and why? My first years teaching, I was inspired more by my least favorite teacher: I'd always ask myself what he did, and then resolve to do the opposite. It seems to have worked, as I'm starting my twenty-fifth year of K-12 teaching and my fifth year as an adjunct college instructor.
P.B. in Redwood City, CA: Watch the movie Stand and Deliver.
A.L. in Montreal, QC, Canada: I've going into my seventh year teaching as a university professor, and my advice is that it's both easier and harder than people think. It's easier because so much of good teaching has nothing to do with fancy techniques or creative methods; instead, by far the biggest determinant of quality is the amount of effort that one puts into one's teaching. This is also why it's harder than people think—most people underestimate the sheer amount of effort it takes to plan a good class. When new faculty members in our department ask for advice, I always tell them that their first year is going to feel terrible. No matter how qualified someone is, it's just a lot of work to teach a course for the first time. There's no two ways about it. But it gets better.
To make things marginally easier, I strongly recommend asking older colleagues for their materials. The vast majority of people remember how hard it was when they first started, and are more than happy to pay it forward. I wouldn't lecture off their notes verbatim, but it's a tremendous help to have a starting point that you know is at least passable. (And if you're in a department where senior colleagues don't want to help out, polish up your CV and get out of there as soon as you can!)
Finally, treat your students with respect. While there are certainly some bad actors, most students are interested in learning. I'm often surprised by the number of my colleagues that aren't able to empathetically remember what it was like to struggle as a student. Be upfront with students and transparently explain pedagogical choices. Some choices that you make will be unpopular, but usually at the university level the students are mature enough that they appreciate statements like "I know you suggested X, but I'm going to do Y, and Z is the reason I'm doing it."
Good luck! Be kind to yourself and treat yourself to something nice when it gets stressful!
C.S. in Lake Elmo, MN: Define your job. I suggest the correct answer is "to energize and inspire."
B.D.M. in Tempe, AZ: For university teaching, I think a key is to communicate with your departmental colleagues who teach the same course, and work together on as many consensus policies as possible for your syllabus. It saves a lot of discussion when you can explain to a student that your policies are not arbitrary, but are a departmental policy or consensus. Then the student won't waste time complaining about rules and might then focus more on the subject matter.
S.H. in Duluth, MN: As a current undergraduate student who started this fall, I wanted to tell M.R. in Lowell that if they wanted to be popular with the students, one thing they could do is have the weekly homework due on a Sunday rather than on a Friday. I think I speak for my fellow college students well when I say that we generally like it when we are granted the weekend as extra time to do work.
We got so many good responses, we're going to do one more week of this. Then we will follow that with a VERY appropriate follow-up question.
There's still time for other respondents to weigh in. Submit your answers to comments@electoral-vote.com, preferably with subject line "Teaching Assistance"!