Teaching Thoughts

I thought now would be a good time to reflect on my teaching experiences. Today is Sunday, October 09, 2005, and this upcoming week is the last week of the first quarter. That means that we’re all trying to squeeze in assignments to give the students more chances to bring up their grades, we’re calculating all of the grades, and getting ready for the faculty retreat next weekend. For me, this means the coming of a new era in teaching. The first few weeks of teaching were, in all honesty, a trial run. It was an experiment. That doesn’t help my students much, but come on, we all know I was thrown into the fray of the teaching battlefield, willing but inexperienced. I have learned a lot in these past 7 weeks of teaching. I am eagerly awaiting the second quarter because I can finally change my pace, some of my teaching methods, and my whole planning in general.

So here are some thoughts for current teachers, new teachers, and those thinking about teaching. I’m not saying that I will about to impart any wisdom for new teachers, but these are just my experiences that I would like to share.

First of, I got some feedback from my Juniors last week that I would like to share. I asked them questions such as, “How challenging are the assignments I give out?” “Are my lectures and assignments clear?” and I asked them to list some general problems with the class and specifically me. Some examples I wrote for them to choose from were “The Professor speaks to fast” “The Prof.’s examples are too complicated” “The Prof’s outside help is not helpful.” Things like that.
Generally, my Juniors like my class, they like how I present the material, and they understand what I’m trying to say. Here are some common problems I need to work on, however:
-I speak way too fast.
-I move through some lessons too fast, especially going over new vocab words.
-I need to spend more time on vocab words, for instance, using them in sentences (however, sometimes I even have trouble with that. Yeah, I’m college educated.)
They also complained that I do not do that many fun things in class. I lecture too much, or I do not change up the assignments. I’m tough on them, meaning I am trying to get them ready for college, but maybe I should have a fun assignment every now and then, and get less serious. No too fun, though. Some wanted to play outside more. Typical high school student comment, I think. But those are the main things I need to fix.

Reflecting on the pace of my lessons, I really need to slow down. Someone once said it’s not about how much information you know, but how well you know it. For my Junior English Skills, I should maybe slow down a little. We had our two big assignments (Descriptive Essay and Personal Narrative Essay), and I have the whole second quarter to work on the last two (Expository Essays and Persuasive Essays).
My Sophomore World History class, however, is not going well. I cannot wait for this quarter to be over. As I have mentioned before, I was supposed to teach the sophomores everything they were supposed to cover their Freshman year in a few weeks. Those weeks turned into an entire quarter, so I’m a little behind in general. I haven’t even started the Sophomore Year curriculum yet. I rushed through too many things with my sophomores, and there is a huge gap between really smart students and students that have trouble with English and studying. But after talking to Anne, our principal who graduated from Notre Dame 4 years ago, said that it is OK to slow down and even skip chapters if I needed to. That made me feel a lot better, so I’m going to be a lot more selective in what I teach and spend a lot of time on what’s important instead of trying to frantically teach them everything they should know.
So after this week is over, I will slowly move into the Romans, which is actually part of Freshman Year, but I don’t want to rush through the Romans.

My friend Kristin Wheeler sent me an article about this book someone wrote about what makes a good teacher. This author read over a hundred autobiographies and examined their thoughts on their teachers. He discovered three common things memorable teachers had: 1) knowledge for their subject, 2) care for the individual student, and 3) a unique character. I think the first quality is lacking with me, because I am not experienced at all. I usually learn what I teach the students a week or a few days in advance. There have been those fun days when I learned my lesson the night before. Those made for fun lectures. The second two I think I have down. I love office hours and having informal conversations with the students about their classes, the subject, and life in general. I do a good job helping the students who come in for extra help. I encourage that a lot. The unique character part…well, I assume I have a unique character, but I cannot really put my finger on that. Hopefully my students can sense that. But that first quality comes with experience.

So this first quarter was a roller coaster ride, but I’ve learned a lot. I will definitely slow things down and go over the lesson a lot until everyone gets it. I will also try and work on trying to teach multiple intelligences (teaching the geniuses of the class as well as those who are struggling) and I will need to vary up my lessons.
I have the reputation for giving the hardest quizzes in the Sophomore class. They dread my quizzes, which I think is great. It really makes them study and take these things seriously. The sophomore class is a little, well, troubled compared to the rest of the school. We think it has to do with a new type of selection process that started with that year, and the Senior class last year was apparently really spoiled and had an awful attitude, and the Senior class usually mentors the freshman class and leaves a big impression on them. The sophomores don’t like to try that much, and their attitude in class is a bit sub par. My quizzes certainly wake them up. They keep telling me that my quizzes are like tests. I respond, “well, just wait for the actual tests!” Then they look like they have a big stomach ache. It’s a great look.

I’ll let you know how the faculty retreat goes next weekend, and maybe I’ll add to this blog. Give me your thoughts on teaching if you are a first time teacher or an experience one. I’m learning, slowly but surely.
Peace
AJ