Beginning Teaching Career - What Do You Wish You Had Known?

[Charlotte]

Hello all,

I am looking for resources and advice for just starting to teach at the college level.

I have been a TA and learned a great deal but feel very unprepared.  I am interested in hearing from this group. What do you wish you had known when you first began?

Any tips for classroom management as a young, fresh out of grad school female?

How do you handle the inevitable moment when you are asked a question you are not prepared for and you don't want to lose credibility in the eyes of your students?

Is this a situation where you just have to accept that you will make plenty of mistakes but eventually will be better prepared for anything that comes up or are there ways to avoid making the mistakes in the first place?

Any tips at all? I'd love to hear them!

[Parasaurolophus]

How do you handle the inevitable moment when you are asked a question you are not prepared for and you don't want to lose credibility in the eyes of your students?

I think it's best to be upfront and say you don't know, but you'll find out and tell them next class, then do so. (Women are sometimes punished on evals for admitting they don't know something, but I still think it's the best policy, especially if you're not constantly saying it.) You can also throw to the class and hope someone knows the answer. Do that for brain farts, when you can't call up the answer but will recognize it when it's thrown out. Or you can set it as a problem for them to work on in groups while you nip out and look it up.

But also: be unapologetic. Don't apologize for being late, not knowing, etc. That's the sort of thing students pick up on, especially with women, and then reflect on in their evals. (Unless you really fuck something up. In that case, apologize once.)

[marshwiggle]

How do you handle the inevitable moment when you are asked a question you are not prepared for and you don't want to lose credibility in the eyes of your students?

I think it's best to be upfront and say you don't know, but you'll find out and tell them next class, then do so. (Women are sometimes punished on evals for admitting they don't know something, but I still think it's the best policy, especially if you're not constantly saying it.) You can also throw to the class and hope someone knows the answer. Do that for brain farts, when you can't call up the answer but will recognize it when it's thrown out. Or you can set it as a problem for them to work on in groups while you nip out and look it up.

But also: be unapologetic. Don't apologize for being late, not knowing, etc. That's the sort of thing students pick up on, especially with women, and then reflect on in their evals. (Unless you really fuck something up. In that case, apologize once.)

To follow up on this, there are lots of topics that come up in my courses where I point out that I'm just barely scratching the surface, and there are experts on those specific things, but I'm not one of them.  This illustrates very clearly for them that education is a lifelong process, not a destination.

Also, when  doing projects, I point out to them that by the time they've done one or two phases of the project, they are the experts on it; I'm not. I am more familar with the process, but they've spent more time on the specific details of their work. (This is also what's going to happen when they graduate and get a job; because they were hired for X, people are going to expect them to be the expert in X. Showing them how, as Parasaurolophus said above, you can get up to speed on some particular aspect of X as needed, prepares them for their life after school.)

[ergative]

Be excited about what you teach. One thing I really enjoy about teaching is that I have to cover a broader set of topics than my own sub-sub-specialism, and it's so cool to read up on these things and remind myself about all the cool work that's being done. Have fun doing that, and model that kind of excitement for your students. They'll pick up on it.

Give students the benefit of the doubt. Not about plagiarism or academic dishonesty, but about things like extensions or absences. It's not worth it to hold a hard line, and so often a few days extension here or there doesn't make any difference to your own grading schedule anyway. Especially in weird times like these, there's nothing to be gained by trying to teach 'discipline' or 'accountability', and it's too easy to slide from genuinely believing in discipline and accountablity into weird little power trips that make life more difficult for your students and do nothing to make your work easier.

[dr_codex]

Hello all,

I am looking for resources and advice for just starting to teach at the college level.

I have been a TA and learned a great deal but feel very unprepared.  I am interested in hearing from this group. What do you wish you had known when you first began?

Any tips for classroom management as a young, fresh out of grad school female?

How do you handle the inevitable moment when you are asked a question you are not prepared for and you don't want to lose credibility in the eyes of your students?

Is this a situation where you just have to accept that you will make plenty of mistakes but eventually will be better prepared for anything that comes up or are there ways to avoid making the mistakes in the first place?

Any tips at all? I'd love to hear them!

Congratulations on your job, and welcome to the Fora!

There's no magic secret to good teaching, but there is a lot of wisdom on these boards, and (if it ever is accessible again) on the old Chronicle of Higher Education Forums.

However, there are a few things that seem to be almost universal:

1. First impressions really, really count. They are even more important when you have no established reputation with the student body. Think long and hard about what you want to do on the first day, and how you want to come across.

2. Students will forgive a lot, as long as they think that you are engaged, working, and fair.

3. It's a lot easier to drop something (reading, quiz, test, unit, whatever) than it is to add something.

4. When you do make a change in a policy, assignment, deadline, or something else, get buy in from the class, and make sure that it doesn't hurt anybody. (E.g.: You can either write essay #7, or use the the highest grade from your other essays...)

5. "Cliff policies" in your syllabus -- "If you hand in something late for any reason you will fail the assignment/class" -- are risky. Use them sparingly, and only for the hills on which you are prepared to fight.

6. Not having an immediate answer to everything is a virtue, not a vice. Among other things, it's a sign that your students are working, and thinking. Also, saying that you will look something up will reduce the number of times that you have to subsequently correct off-the-cuff answers.

7. You probably know this from you time as a TA, but unless you are straight-up lecturing, you cannot cover many substantive things in an hour. What's the big picture?

8. Related to #7, getting the timing and pacing down are probably the skills that take the longest to refine. You'll probably run long more often than not, but sometimes you'll run short. When that happens, it's useful to have a few 10-15 minute "mini-activities" cued up. A video about a related issue in your field. A group/team discussion question. A problem or puzzle or task. Some students will appreciate being allowed to leave early, but others (especially older students and people who commute long distances) will resent it.

9. You don't have to outrun the bear. You just need to be a little bit ahead of the fastest student.

Go wow them!

dc

[marshwiggle]

9. You don't have to outrun the bear. You just need to be a little bit ahead of the fastest student.

Go wow them!

dc

Related to this about grading. You may have already discovered this as a TA, but if you grade a good student's work first, it gives you an idea of a reasonable upper bound. For instance, if a good student didn't understand part of an assignment, then probably few other people did, so you want to revise it. (And it's OK to just make the assignment out of 8 instead of 10 if you realized nobody got those last 2 and you have to revise it for the future. Those things still happen to people who've been doing it for decades.)

[the_geneticist]

Dress nicer than your students.  I am also female and look very young.  You don't want to be mistaken for a student by your clothes.
Find a "trusted senior faculty member" to go to for advice.  This is someone with tenure who is typically NOT the loudest voice in the department. 

Be organized.  Have your syllabus planned out before day 1.  Build in a flex day or two in case you get a bit behind or need more time for a subject.

Show up early so class starts on time.  I know this sounds a bit silly, but it takes some time to turn on the computer/organize your handouts/etc.  If you are teaching in person and someone else has the room before your class, that means that you need to be confident enough to enter the room as soon as their class ends.

Don't worry about not knowing everything!  If the question is not quite on topic, say "Hmm, interesting, why don't you and I both take a look and we can discuss during my office hours".  If the question is on topic, toss it back to the class.

If you want your students to do anything besides listed to lecture (I'm assuming yes), then have them do that task or activity during week 1.  Make it worth points.  It's really hard to add in something new (group work, quizzes, discussion posts, written summaries, etc.) after the first week.

See what the "department norms" are for things like late work, attendance, make up exams, extra credit, etc.  Don't necessarily go by what they put in their syllabus - folks are often more lenient than what they put in writing.  Go with what's common, even if it's not really what you would do.

Lastly, since you are new, make a good effort to get to know others in your department.  That includes the faculty, but also the office staff, lab support, and cleaning crew.  They have lots of good secret knowledge (e.g. where to get the good markers, who is the department grouch, etc.)

Congratulations on the new job!

[spork]

Hello all,

I am looking for resources and advice for just starting to teach at the college level.

I have been a TA and learned a great deal but feel very unprepared.  I am interested in hearing from this group. What do you wish you had known when you first began?

Any tips for classroom management as a young, fresh out of grad school female?

How do you handle the inevitable moment when you are asked a question you are not prepared for and you don't want to lose credibility in the eyes of your students?

Is this a situation where you just have to accept that you will make plenty of mistakes but eventually will be better prepared for anything that comes up or are there ways to avoid making the mistakes in the first place?

Any tips at all? I'd love to hear them!

Are you starting a tenure-track position?

[Charlotte]

Are you starting a tenure-track position?

Unfortunately, no. I plan to stay here for five years or so to gain experience, confirm that I enjoy teaching, get some more publications completed, and then begin searching for another position that will hopefully be more suited to long term.

[downer]

https://teachingcenter.wustl.edu/resources/course-design/tips-for-faculty-teaching-for-the-first-time/

[spork]

Are you starting a tenure-track position?

Unfortunately, no. I plan to stay here for five years or so to gain experience, confirm that I enjoy teaching, get some more publications completed, and then begin searching for another position that will hopefully be more suited to long term.

Uh, this might sound impolite but it is not intended that way. In five years you might not be marketable for a tenure-track position, should one exist. Is this a full-time lecturer position? What field? I can give you better advice with additional information.

[permanent imposter]

I agree, be honest with them about what you know and what you don't know. (Unless you're like me and forget in the middle of class where exactly South Dakota is :/) I don't know if any students still think that professors are bottomless repositories of knowledge, but you can help disabuse them of that notion and show them what academics are really about.

You say that you plan to publish -- I wish someone had told me early on that students can't tell the difference between 70% effort and 100% effort in preparation. Set aside time for course prep, say two hours a day, but don't go beyond that. It was really easy for me to go down the rabbit hole and try to anticipate a dozen different scenarios that would come up during teaching, but they almost never did. If you don't do this, it's too easy to let your own research slide.

If student evaluations matter to you and/or your institution -- when you give assignments or go over modules in class, state clearly which unit of the evaluation they correlate to, i.e. "this assignment helps you understand important conceptual themes in subject matter X."

[polly_mer]

Get a couple trusted mentors in the department who will help you adjust to reasonable expectations for the student body you will be teaching.  The probability is good that where you were as a TA had very different students than where you are now, especially if you won't be getting a TA of your own.

Check with your mentors and department chair what the real goals are for your classes.  Are you to be the fun, recruitment gen ed professor or the weedout front-line for an oversubscribed major?  To what degree are you teaching absolutely necessary prerequisites so the expectation is holding the line versus a more generalized 'how to think like an X' one of several electives?

What is the local culture?  Are the expectations for professors to help everyone who is trying to help themselves as the friendly guide who is cheerful even the third time through for many students?  Are professors supposed to perform education theatre to ensure continued enrollment with a recorded B meaning something more like 'didn't physically assault anyone and submitted at least half the assignments' than 'solid performer well above minimally competent'?

[Vkw10]

If you can, arrive a bit early and set up. Smile and say hello to students as they arrive. Start class on time.

Consider having something on screen/board when students are coming in. I've been known to list next due date, a study tip, a question related to the day's topic, or an essay question from the final exam.

I list relevant library guides in LMS, then if I have dead time in class I can refer to them. Some librarians will build guides for a specific class, which is useful if you have students do library research.

Try to write the final exam before semester begins. Check off topics as you teach. I often tell students that the final includes four questions from today's lecture or an essay asking them to discuss an issue in the two readings for this week.

About three weeks into the course, ask students for feedback. What do they like best about course? What would make the course better?

[Charlotte]

Uh, this might sound impolite but it is not intended that way. In five years you might not be marketable for a tenure-track position, should one exist. Is this a full-time lecturer position? What field? I can give you better advice with additional information.

I welcome advice! The field of academia has quite a few aspects that I don't understand regarding careers.

I am in the social sciences. I'm not able to relocate at the moment so I was limited in my job search to a small area. I felt fortunate to be offered a position at the local community college as an instructor. I thought this might be a good way to get some experience while I'm waiting to be able to relocate. In about five years, I will have much more flexibility in location and will be able to move wherever I get a job.

I am a little concerned that starting out at a community college might limit me in the future, but I was hoping universities might consider it a normal progression to go from grad school to a community college position temporarily until I gain some experience. Is this a mistake?