At 1:00pm tomorrow, I officially start my new job. (Why 1pm? My boss has to proctor an exam in the morning. Anyway.) I’ll be co-directing a lecture course, plus working on a large research project at PDU (Post-Doc University).
I’m excited to really get down in the trenches and be busy and productive after the rather odd fits and starts and long periods of boredom of my dissertation editing process. I’m also getting nervous. I am now, like, in charge of people. Our course has TAs, all of whom are older than I am, and at least one of whom has significantly more teaching experience than I do (she’s an adjunct who has taught her own courses for years). Also, I’ll be the equivalent of middle-management on our research project, which might involve yelling at people who aren’t holding up their end of the load.
The idea of being in charge of something (OK, co-in-charge) is odd to me after so many years of being the lowest woman on the totem pole. I can’t shake the feeling that PDU must be, in some sense, kidding with this whole thing. You want me to tell people what to do? You’re actually trusting me to be buck-stops-here gal?* What are you people smoking?
Also, while Googling my course co-director to find out his office number for our syllabus, I came across his Rate My Professors page. Students love him. He’s apparently a fantastic, entertaining lecturer, and suddenly I’m feeling insecure about my half of the lectures. I’m a decent public speaker, but I tend to talk way too fast (working on it), and my personality is low-key and quirky-intellectual rather than bombastic and funny. After hearing both of us give lectures, I’m pretty sure the students will feel a twinge of disappointment when they see me stand up in front of the class. But I think it would be worse to be phony, to try to force being funny or hip — I had some profs like that in college and it was always excruciatingly uncomfortable to watch them try that hard to be cool.
Does anyone have teacher-type advice — either from the teacher’s perspective, or from the student’s perspective?
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* I’ve been re-watching a lot of Buffy lately.
The only teacher-type advice I can give is to be yourself, and don’t read directly from anything. Get the students engaged by asking lots of questions, or creating small group activities; you can even let the students take on a topic and teach it themselves.
Good luck!
Don’t stress about your style – I always felt weird around big-personality teachers because I felt like they were more impressed with and connected to the big-personality students (and I was not one of them). Even if the majority prefer his style, I guarantee there will be a handful that prefer yours and a handful is an important thing :)
One day, out of the blue, show up with donuts or cupcakes; unless it’s a 300 person lecture. I’m serious.
I bet that some of the students find the professor who is entertaining to be a bit much and will like you better. I’ve had courses that are co-taught that are wonderfully well balanced between the high energy and low energy professor.
congrats!!!!!!! So excited for you
Good luck! I, too, liked low-energy teachers. And don’t forget, many students will be rooting for you, the new teacher fresh out of graduate school.
I have worked with teenagers a lot, so obviously it’s different, but I would say the biggest tip in working with teenagers is that one does not have to be the funny, goofy person, but it matters that one ACTUALLY listens to and respects the teenagers as people with valuable ideas. That goes a long way with teenagers. I suspect college students are similar, but my experience working with college students is rather limited.
Anyhow, I am sure some of the students will connect more with your “low-key, quirky intellectual” style and you and your co-director might turn out to be a fabulous balance for each other. :) Plus as a university student I always liked it when I had female professors whom I respected. Seems like I always had more male professors and instructors, so when I had a female one who was good, I connected even more with that professor. (Dunno why it seemed to be not too gender-balanced at my university…?)
Wow, this sounds like a big job and an exciting opportunity!
I’m freaked out about lecturing… when I TA’d, I taught courses, but they were short, direct, and more “this is how you do xxxxxx. Now watch me demo the process.”
And now I’m supposed to lecture twice a week with a more theory-based focus… and I keep thinking, “how on earth can I hold their attention?” I remember being bored out of my mind in most college classes (even the ones in which I loved the topic), with a few exceptions. And those exceptions were because of charismatic teachers who made learning exciting. But I’m stumped on how I can become that kind of teacher; my personality sounds rather like yours: low-key and quirky. I don’t mind public speaking and *sometimes* I can even manage to slip in some humor, but I don’t have a commanding presence, etc. :P
Guys, it’s really good to hear that people respond to low-key profs too! I’m hard at work on my first two lectures right now. progressivescholar, I promise not to just type out an essay and read it, tempting though it may be for a first-timer like me :-)
Margaret, I know just how you feel. I liked most of my college classes, but the ones I really responded to and still remember usually had a charismatic, exciting professor. And I worry whether that’s something I can give my students. Also, I definitely don’t have a commanding presence either! I think the best we can do is, well, the best we can do. And even if students aren’t enthralled right away, if we care about what we teach and plan classes thoughtfully I think it will show. I had one quiet, low-key physics professor in college whose class I kind of hated while I took it, but when I took Physics II the following semester I realized how effective her methods had been and how much I’d learned.
Hi,
just read a couple of your postings and I really like this blog, the mood – and, of course, your style of writing!
I mean, you should have had your first week of work by now, and I hope it was fine and you enjoyed it.
I study myself (English and Protestand Theology, doing my M.Ed. and my M.A.), and I have always loved professors who showed me that they loved their subjects.
So just be relaxed and show them that you’re happy to teach them and everything will work out. :-)
Many greetings from Germany in the middle of the night,
Julia ;)