I’m now in my second year teaching, and while I’ve learned quite a bit, I’ve still got a ways to go. Here are a few things I’ve learned so far though.
- Students won’t do their readings if they’re not going to tested on it immediately. Solution: require them to fill out worksheets concerning the readings as they do them.
- Test questions need to explicitly ask for details, otherwise students will not provide them.
- Nuances should sometimes be left unsaid, as they can confuse students. There needs to be a balance between the basic required information, and the exceptions to the rule.
- As a general rule, accepting late work is a bad idea. Students will abuse it.
- Bad class performance is most likely due to laziness and not inability to do the work.
- Sometimes you do have students that really can’t cut it. I have yet to learn of a good way to deal with that.
- If you allow your students to be creative, they will blow your mind with their creations.
- Your actions have the biggest effect on morale. You need to be able to make jokes and get them to laugh.
- You cannot be afraid to be wrong.
- Have discussion questions prepared ahead of time. These need to be open ended, and force them to bring many different things together.
Lessons I’ve learned from observing other classes.
- Don’t treat your students as though they are lazy or stupid.
- A harsh word can completely ruin a semester, and force you to lose all credibility.
- If morale gets low, you better get creative, because low morale means low learning.
- If you find yourself ranting about your students more often that praising them, you probably need to reconsider your teaching strategies. And take a break. Students aren’t actually that bad.
- Don’t treat your students as though they are lazy or stupid.
It’s an ongoing process, but I think things are progressing pretty well. I hope to keeping experimenting to see what works best.
Well said, Josh. It is wonderful you are aware of these lessons 🙂
Good stuff! I’m proud. 🙂
Very observant! It sounds like you are becoming an awesome instructor!