This was a wonderful post! Push back on #12 however. I worked my entire career in corporate training and development. Sometimes I gave instructional presentations in the classroom. I had terrible anxiety in the beginning. I did not self medicate. Instead I found other techniques to control it. I found that exercise in personal growth was very satisfying and rewarding.
100% agree with all of this. Learned the hard way early on NEVER to admit that you're nervous. They rightly pulverized me for that, once. I try to find the sweet spot, as many of us who care a lot about teaching do, between coming across as Pantsy Knowitall and offering a balls-to-the-wall demo of what 'imposter syndrome' feels like. I would only add 'read the room, always'. I try to pay close attention to their energy level, enthusiasm, discomfort, confusion, --even in a 200 person class.
I'd quibble with the recommendation to limit prep time. I agree that spending a great deal of time so that a class session goes exactly as planned and so that the instructor gives a flawless talk is not well spent--a class session works better if there's room for flexibility, and being a perfect presenter isn't the best way to relate to students. But I think that devoting much time to reflecting on past classes, on how students learn best, on ways to make a session more meaningfully interactive...that takes time, and it's time well spent.
I think we agree. Preparing a good course takes a lot of time. I just think that people sometimes go overboard on this, at the expense of other priorities.
I've seen that too...a great teaching wisdom to have is knowing when more preparation will help students (and knowing what kind of prep is needed) vs. recognizing when preparation is just anxious frittering or when it's done with the mindset that teaching is meant to be a perfect performance that will dazzle students.
I really like #8, partly because it’s an opportunity to make a link between last week’s class and today’s. Paul, since you asked for more in the comments, these are from my list of tips for English tutors:
10. Treat your student’s written work with the utmost seriousness.
16. Get very, very close to the text, but also be willing to leave it behind completely if the discussion takes off in another direction.
62. ‘[H]e seemed rather to study with than to teach me’ (Jean-Jacques Rousseau). ‘[A] teacher [is] simply a man to whom his book is true’ (John Williams).
64. When in doubt, ask your student: What do you think it means?
This was a wonderful post! Push back on #12 however. I worked my entire career in corporate training and development. Sometimes I gave instructional presentations in the classroom. I had terrible anxiety in the beginning. I did not self medicate. Instead I found other techniques to control it. I found that exercise in personal growth was very satisfying and rewarding.
100% agree with all of this. Learned the hard way early on NEVER to admit that you're nervous. They rightly pulverized me for that, once. I try to find the sweet spot, as many of us who care a lot about teaching do, between coming across as Pantsy Knowitall and offering a balls-to-the-wall demo of what 'imposter syndrome' feels like. I would only add 'read the room, always'. I try to pay close attention to their energy level, enthusiasm, discomfort, confusion, --even in a 200 person class.
I'd quibble with the recommendation to limit prep time. I agree that spending a great deal of time so that a class session goes exactly as planned and so that the instructor gives a flawless talk is not well spent--a class session works better if there's room for flexibility, and being a perfect presenter isn't the best way to relate to students. But I think that devoting much time to reflecting on past classes, on how students learn best, on ways to make a session more meaningfully interactive...that takes time, and it's time well spent.
I think we agree. Preparing a good course takes a lot of time. I just think that people sometimes go overboard on this, at the expense of other priorities.
I've seen that too...a great teaching wisdom to have is knowing when more preparation will help students (and knowing what kind of prep is needed) vs. recognizing when preparation is just anxious frittering or when it's done with the mindset that teaching is meant to be a perfect performance that will dazzle students.
I swear, every semester, I am floored when I rediscover the nonexistence of Mrs. Pound.
You can’t keep getting away with this.
(Great post.)
I really like #8, partly because it’s an opportunity to make a link between last week’s class and today’s. Paul, since you asked for more in the comments, these are from my list of tips for English tutors:
10. Treat your student’s written work with the utmost seriousness.
16. Get very, very close to the text, but also be willing to leave it behind completely if the discussion takes off in another direction.
62. ‘[H]e seemed rather to study with than to teach me’ (Jean-Jacques Rousseau). ‘[A] teacher [is] simply a man to whom his book is true’ (John Williams).
64. When in doubt, ask your student: What do you think it means?
(therestisliterature.com/p/what-do-you-think-it-means)
Best wishes,
Josh.