Finally!

Reading “Finding my Teaching Voice” was my favorite of the class thus far. It took the intangibles that I really struggle with and voiced them in a meaningful way. The idea of last minute extensions which only benefit those who wait rung very true for myself as a student and I am glad we are addressing the aspect that I fear the most in teaching.

I want students to respect me and value what I’m teaching but there are so many effective ways to do this and I don’t even know which one is me. I think I try to be funny to be engaging but honestly with blank stares coming back at you – you soon realize you might not be funny. I think I bring to the table enthusiasm and openness. I know I always hated power point slides in class – I think they make everyone less engaged (students and teachers alike) but I also know that writing everything out can be pretty slow – which is not always great for an objectives oriented class. I like the idea of projects and working together because that is very much how my field functions in the “real world”.

Experience, practice and iteration seem to be the keys to achieving one’s authentic teaching self. Coming to the course with an explanation of why you do what you do and allowing students to express their feedback has always been productive for me but I also worry about students for whom school is not their highest priority. I have been extremely privileged to be able to work only part time through school and to not feel significant financial stress because of my chosen educational path – but that isn’t true for everyone. I really appreciated that idea of one on one meetings with students to build a relationship with them but I also am afraid of getting roped in to too many things. (I’ve heard from numerous young female faculty that they are often times much more likely to be requested to help with student orgs and events and its very hard to say no ( and I’m bad at it to begin with)).

Finding my true teaching self was something I was hoping from this class. I wasn’t sure what to expect and didn’t really expect this class to have so many students but I am glad we are addressing it and I hope I can use some of this advice to help me going forward.