Author: CAITLIN ZOZAKIEWICZ

This semester has really been a whirl wind introduction to the art of teaching at the undergraduate level.  I am truly grateful to have had this experience and have learned a lot about teaching, students, and myself.  In a lot of ways what you learn about teaching double as really important  life lessons.

One of the most interesting things I learned about teaching was that, much like a comedian, you have “set pieces.”  You have to create a few different sets for each lecture and you have to practice them to gain confidence in your delivery.  (Not so much of a life lesson parallel with this one.  However, it is important to be confident in yourself and your knowledge and your abilities as a teacher and an individual.)

There are such a wide range of ideas and behaviors about teaching techniques.  You have to do things that you are comfortable with and confident in.  There are always so many opinions out there on how one should look, act, etc.  You have to be your own person and decide what works for you and learn not to take all of those opinions and criticisms to heart.

Humor is very important.  Having a good sense of humor will not only make life easier on you but make the classroom more relaxed.  If something funny happens, laugh.  If something embarassing happens, laugh.  You need to look human to the students and humor is one of the best ways to relate on a humanistic level.  I need to be able to work a little more humor into my lectures to help myself relax and relate better with the students. 

Humor also helps with the entertainment factor.  Lectures, classes, school, needs to be entertaining.  It does not need to be an extravagant circus and you do not need to pull out all of the bells and whistles all of the time.  However, it definitely increases attention and participation from students.  My mom often comments on how she feels as if she is there to entertain 25 third graders all day.  She has to make math and writing and science fun to encourage all of the students to want to learn the material.  I think this entertainment factor tends to have a greater focus with younger children, but it is equally important for college students.  We do not like to be bored to death either!  I know of a professor who has a condition which causes him to lose his voice frequently.  In the event that he has lost his voice, he will play a cassette taped lecture to the class and write on the board as the tape plays.  He has every one of his lectures on tape!  That quite possibly means he has not changed his material in thirty years.  I can not imagine having to sit through an hour and half lecture on tape.

I have also realized how important it is to stay current.  Use current pictures, current studies.  Students really do value pictures and examples they can relate to or have heard about.  That helps them connect things they have seen in their lives with the topics you are discussing.  The more connections they can make the better!  If you use current issues/studies/pictures, the students are also more likely to be exposed to them outside of class time.  Hopefully, acting as reminders and reinforcers of what they learned in class.

You have to be ready to change and adapt to any situation.  You have to remain be able to adapt for the spontaneities of life that occur personally and in the classroom.  You have to be willing to try new things and experiement with new ideas.  You have to consistently be willing to challenge yourself and never stop your learning process.  I think it is incredibly easy for teachers to get stuck in a rut and not extend themselves or try new things.  In the beginning, they find a few things that work for them and keep doing those year after year.  Eventually they will get bored and that boredom will show through when they teach. 

I truly believe that one should never stop learning, doing, or experiencing.  Humans are not static creatures.  They are dynamic.  You have to be willing to grow and change at every stage of your life.  You have to be ready for new challenges and open yourself to the new lessons you can learn throughout your lifespan.

Throughout my interviewing process and this class I have had to really consider what is going to be important to me in my future careers.  What I am really going to focus on and make my goal.  I truly believe that all educators (really anyone who works with people) should work to help that individual reach their own optimal development and learning outcomes.   Each person comes from a very unique family background and history that shapes them.  Each person has their own abilities and talents, as well as challenges and struggles.  There are times when we have to tailor learning so that is able to reach a mass of people.  However, supports need to be available for people all over the spectrum of ability.  We need to begin investing in each person in order to improve not only their individual well-being but the well-being of our society. 

I do believe that with age, more responsibility should fall on the individual.  They have to be willing to learn and open to support in order to continue to grow.  However, being able to take responsibility for yourself is something you need to start learning and practicing at a very young age.  I do not feel we can blame young adults who were never taught to take care of themselves.  We cannot expect them to know how to be responsible, active members of our communities.

I once took a class in which the professor had the students create the class rules and specific discussion rules.  She went around the room and each student had to contribute one rule (obviously smaller class).  She had an open word document and was typing them on the screen for us all to see and amending them as needed.  There were actually times throughout the semester (amidst heated debates) in which students would actually raise their hand and remind us of one of our rules.  I think that this worked incredibly well.  As the students created the rules we felt an obligation to uphold them and we were all well aware of what they were.  This gave us a feeling of control and allowed us to take responsibility for the class.  People shouldn’t need reminders to be respectful and kind, but most do.  This really contributed to her “setting the tone” for the semester.

I’ve been in numerous classes that try to force discussion.  I had one professor literally put a check behind your name, each time you talked, every single day.  It drove me nuts!  I am the kind of person that does not like to be forced to do something.  If I have something I would like to share with the class, I will.  If I feel like talking, I will.  So, I tend to rebel against this kind of approach and not talk at all.  I also think it does damage to the student/professor relationship because they are trying to force communications and police discussions.  I also think it discredits their ability to provoke discussion and create lectures interesting enough for students to participate in.  In these types of situations students also become consumed with saying something, anything, to get their points for the day.  Some students just hurry and do not make well-thought-out comments that really don’t positively influence others.

I think requiring online discussion is good.  It does not create the same stress that forcing discussion in class does but still allows for the professor to gauge students’ understanding.   I actually think it is a better way to create discussion because students will have to put a little more effort into writing.  It causes them to think about topics outside of class time.

I know you had thought about having the pods some how meet in class and I think that would have beneficial.   I scheduled a specific original meeting that no one attended.  I was also available right outside the classroom and had no one introduce themselves to me.  I had so little contact with any of my pod members and I think a face to face greet would have facilitated greater contact.  Meeting in the pods would have also allowed students to meet other students and perhaps exchange emails/numbers.  Maybe create a greater sense of community in such a large class. 

I’m not sure how to encourage more students to take advantage of the study tables.  Perhaps, meeting in the pods would help that.  For the first study session/table, you could offer a bonus point to anyone that attends one that is hosted by their pod leader.

I think the pod email rate was good.  We don’t want to overwhelm the students but we do want them to know we are here for them and thinking about them, etc.  I don’t really know how to improve on the email communications without increasing the work for the TA.  I thought about sending out a tricky question or a quiz with a candy bar prize or something for a winner.  Just sending out some review questions in general might ellicit some questions from students.

Sorry for the late post, I did my reflection right away but I did not have internet access until tonight!

I know that when I am nervous I talk fast.  I am aware of it but yet, every time, I talk fast!  I even wrote on my paper to relax and smile and slow down!  I really liked how you said to think of it as a conversation.  That really made sense and helped me.  If you think of lecturing as a conversation it will help you relax and make it easier for students to feel comfortable approaching you.  It’s not like you are talking down to them or acting as if you are a know-it-all (even if you are!).

I am not used to presenting slides with so little information on them….so I spoke too quickly for them to take notes both because of nerves and because I wasn’t used to being the only source of the information.  After the student in the front row asked me to go back a slide, I felt I slowed down and relaxed a little more.

I did notice I had some nervous “ums” in there as well.

I also was a little concerned about my body language.  I felt that my hands were ok but I didn’t really realize that I was crossing and uncrossing my feet until after.

I didn’t use the mic and I’m glad I didn’t.  I think I would have felt more self-conscious hearing my voice over the speakers. It seemed like everyone could hear me and I didn’t feel like I was straining to project myself at all.  However, if I was talking for over an hour I would probably need to use a mic.

I am glad that I didn’t have too much individual clicking on my slides.  I think it’s distracting to click every line on the slide and I think that I would forget to do so some of the time.  I think animation and timing is beneficial for emphasis of a point.  That seems to be the only time that Dr. Gurung uses it….like when he was talking about the study on if men or women would have a one night stand.

I definitely felt more relaxed after the clip and as I talked to the class.  I think that in the future, I would start with an activity or something more interactive so that I would relax more and remind myself that I’m only having a conversation. 

I know that it is definitely more stressful and nerve-wracking for me to talk to college age individuals than high-school or younger.  I know that with time and practice I will feel more confident doing these types of things and I will be able to figure out what works best for me.

A few quick things first:

A few students kept shouting out answers really quickly.  So, we began calling on people specifically.  This worked out really well for the smaller group because we could figure out where the person was faster.  I also would go around the room and ask other people if they agreed or disagreed with that answer.  We also asked some of the students to explain or define their answers.

After about five students were in the room I asked them to begin looking through their notes.  I wanted to give a couple extra minutes for those that were running late.  I kept standing by the door of the room in the Commons so that I could flag down any lost looking people.  No one came up with questions during our silent part so we began the slides.

After each Chapter section of the slideshow we asked again if there were any questions on that material.  We only had one question the entire session.  It was a clarification on correlations.

At about 11:30 our attendance doubled.  I’m not sure if they thought that’s when the session started or what happened.  After we made it through the slide show one time, we asked for any more questions and then I offered to go back over the beginning part.  Josh had to head to class.  Most of the late attendees stayed and went through the first part.

After each section of slides, we asked a couple questions from the study guide.  Most of the people didn’t really seem to know that it even existed.

Reactions:

I really wasn’t very nervous about having to be in front of this group or talk to them.  I was shaky on the questions and I think that that was the biggest stressor for me.  Had I been able to feel confident in all of the answers I think that I would have felt more prepared and confident overall.  I’m sure that I knew most of the answers but I just kept second guessing myself.

I wish that Josh and I would have had a little more time together to connect and explicitly plan how we would approach the situation together.  I realize we both had extremely busy schedules and we did try to get together (we were together for about 20 minutes :).  I think neither of us really knew what to expect either.  On the second one, we’ll all be feeling a little more prepared.

I really feel like I am able to respond naturally to questions and situations (like a student always shouting the answer).  I feel like I can adapt to that pretty well.  I’ve felt pretty confident in other similar roles that I have had.  However, I really feel like I am thinking about why I make those choices and taking a more indepth look at my behaviors. I am also gaining knowledge of other ways to approach situations and excite discussion and teach.  I know that the focus here has been on the university setting but I really feel like what I have been observing and learning is applicable to the K-12 level as well. 

OKAY THAT WAS REALLY LONG 🙂

IS IT SUMMER YET?!?!?!  Not that I am wishing for school to be over…but could the snow really just STOP!?!?!