Thursday, December 18, 2008

10 Things I Learned About Teaching

Originally, I was going to list the top ten things I learned not to do in the composition classroom for this post. But I was being a bit down on myself that day, and I realized I learned some things that work extremely well. So, I decided to present to y'all a list of things I learned--both good and bad--and hopefully some of you experienced teachers will offer me advice. If there's one thing I can't seem to get enough of, it's teacher advice. So here goes, in no particular order.

10. Never let students revise every paper. Doing so only ensures that the teacher is always grading and the students are always turning in shitty first drafts.

9. Be OCD about your course policies and make sure you list EVERY CONCEIVABLE THING in your syllabus. I failed to list that failure to turn in one major assignment for the course would result in a no credit grade for the class and wound up doing some fancy footwork when students were surprised they couldn't pass having not even bothered doing one of the major papers.

8. Don't use blogs unless you are dedicated to keeping up with reading and commenting on them. Students get offended when you don't comment on all their posts.

7. Ignorance is often bliss. Sometimes, it's better to pretend you didn't hear what the frat boy in the back of the room said about you to his buddy. Usually, you don't want to know the reason little Johnny came to class with a black eye and busted lip.

6. Never, EVER check your comments on ratemyprofessor.com. They will only give you a misguided view of how you're performing in the classroom.

5. Make a grading rubric, share it with the class, and always remind them to check it before turning in their papers. I swear if I hear one more gripe about my "inconsistent grading" I'm going to explode.

4. Let students know you care about their ideas. The best assignment I gave this semester was a group research project where students got together and worked on developing a research question, then researching that question and presenting it to the class. They all really enjoyed working with like-minded individuals researching stuff that didn't seem like school work, like the BCS, internet pornography, and online gaming.

3. Be critical, but be positive. Sometimes I found myself writing more scathing comments on student papers than I should have. Thank God I grade in pencil. Com 1 students need guidance and nurturing more so than any other student, I think.

2. Never accept/review emailed drafts. Always have students come to your office hours with hard copies or you'll find yourself, much like I did, reading the same student's paper 10 times before you actually *grade* it.

1. Know that YOU control the classroom. You're not their friend; you're their mentor and, in Comp 1, their homeroom mom, to a certain extent. It's okay to love them, but you still must maintain an authoritative position in the classroom. (Sometimes I wasn't so good at that one...)


It was an okay semester, y'all. I loved my kids. Each and every one of them, even the frat boy in the back who cursed me under his breath. I really love teaching, and I want to do it for a long, long time. It gets in your blood, doesn't it?

How were your teaching semesters?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your first semester Tim. It sounds like you had a good run of it.

Laura said...

Oh, lord, I hear you about drafts by email. If they don't care enough to come by, they don't care enough. Email can turn very passive-aggressive with first year students. And RateMyProfessor? I avoid it (unless I am taking a class...)

I do allow more revisions than I probably should, but I always do it individually, not offered to the whole group. This semester, I let them submit revisions via email and I will not be doing that again. If it is inconvenient for them, they are more thoughtful.

Anyway, this is a great list.
Laura

Monda said...

You've learned a lot this semester! I think the emailed papers, all papers required to pass, and unending rewrites lessons are the real deal-breakers for me. I remember when a syllabus was a course outline instead of a legal agreement. Those days are long gone.

I'll add a little ditty to your list - late papers lose big points. Slap that in your syllabus and mean it. I deduct 10 points a day, and not just for class days. I'm also careful to click off the papers as I receive them and ask students about missing papers before they get out the door. That way there's no "you must have lost my paper" business. They may test you once, but those papers will be on time thereafter. There are too many students and only one YOU.

Keep up the good work, Mister Sisk, I'm proud of you!