It’s thrilling to know that I no longer have to apply to eke out living every few months, in hopes of doing what I am doing now. I’m content, happy in my job, and still being challenged, which is what I have wanted all along, no? I don’t hold back on buying the good $10 bottles of wine anymore. Also, I have cable AND Wifi in my house, a first for me. Moving up a social class or two still makes me feel uneasy but I like to think that I manage it well most of the time. My department and the school have been incredibly welcoming! I already have a semblance of a social life which is remarkable, fun, and comforting after little more than a month in town.
That said, let’s get down to the business at hand: teaching. I began a list of “things to remember” or “best teaching practices” based on previous and current teaching experiences. The list is short right now, but I will update it as time goes on, and I would appreciate suggestions to add.
1. Do not let your ego get in the way of good teaching practices.
More specifically: Jen, you cannot reach all of the students all of the time, especially not in an introductory class.
2. a la bell hooks: teach to the students where they are, not where you want them to be (but also give them the tools to build the bridge to get them where they want to be or you want them to be)
3. Don’t apologize or over talk.
As a woman, I have been socialized to do this and I’m sick of it!! I’m new, I don’t know the ropes. Bear with me.
4. Be enthusiastic, creative, and mix it up. Think outside the box. Be open to new teaching methods and not just the same old, same old. As a 36-year-old, I am now officially old enough to be a generation older than my students. I need to be up on the technology but also not cater to their perceived need to be connected at all times. In other words, my rule of NO TEXTING or LAPTOPS stands. I yelled, loudly, at my students today and threatened to “make an example” of those who refused to listen to my texting warnings: no more attendance points, I will ask you to leave the classroom, and I will make an embarrassing example of you. I felt instantaneously better and worse after I yelled this.
I should go to bed. I’m not sleeping enough but that’s to be expected, right?
Hi Jen,
We met a couple years ago in Fargo. I teach sociology at Concordia in Moorhead. Lynne Isaacson introduced us.
Maybe you remember, I’m doing work on the mosque in Fargo. I’ve been thinking about your work as I’m on sabbatical this fall and am writing. May I read your diss.? What have you published related to Fargo? Would enjoy being in touch (though I imagine you’re at least as busy as you’ve ever been).
Congrats on the job! That is huge. I remember the flush of relief, pride, ambivalence about status shift, but also settledness when I landed the first “real” prof. job. Enjoy the ride!
MY email: lindholm@cord.edu
By: Matthew Luther Lindholm on September 17, 2010
at 5:16 pm