LACK OF EXPERIENCE IN TEACHING: LESSONS FROM QUICK STARTERS

"Teaching can overwhelm you because most junior faculty have failed to
receive either careful supervision of their teaching or coaching in the
tricks of the trade. If they had received these in graduate school,
they would begin their careers as more effective, efficient, and
comfortable teachers. Because they are usually unprepared as they take
their first job, they can feel intense anxiety about their duties in the
classroom. As their research and writing are put off, their anxiety
intensifies."

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The posting below gives some excellent advice for beginning faculty on
how to make their first teaching experiences as effective and enjoyable
as possible. It is from Chapter 6: Good Practices in Mentoring, in
Faculty Diversity: Problems and Solutions, by JoAnn Moody. Published in
2004 by RoutledgeFalmer, 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
[www.routledge-ny.com]. Copyright (c) 2004 by Taylor and Francis Books,
Inc. RoutledgeFalmer is an imprint of the Taylor and Francis Group.
Reprinted with permission.

        LACK OF EXPERIENCE IN TEACHING: LESSONS FROM QUICK STARTERS

Teaching can overwhelm you because most junior faculty have failed to
receive either careful supervision of their teaching or coaching in the
tricks of the trade. If they had received these in graduate school,
they would begin their careers as more effective, efficient, and
comfortable teachers. Because they are usually unprepared as they take
their first job, they can feel intense anxiety about their duties in the
classroom. As their research and writing are put off, their anxiety
intensifies.

What can a new teacher do? Some new faculty express remarkable
satisfaction with and enjoyment of their teaching and receive high
ratings for their teaching effectiveness from students and expert
observers. These new faculty, whom Boice dubs "quick starters," exhibit
many of the following traits (Boice, 1992b, 2000).

Quick starters are student-friendly. Arriving early to their classes,
quick starters chat informally with their students. Showing interest in
their students, they work hard to learn their names. Quick starters
hand out very informal class evaluations early in the course, to find
out anonymously what students are finding most helpful and least helpful
thus far about the course, the class discussion, and the like. The
quick starters then review these anonymous points in class, encourage
students to react, and explain what refinements and modifications,
usually minor, will be made as a result of this evaluation and ensuing
discussion. Students usually appreciate this invitation to give
feedback. In the class discussion prompted by it, the students come to
better understand the professor's pedagogical goals and strategies,
better comprehend the professor's pedagogical goals and strategies,
better comprehend how they can improve their own class participation,
and sometimes ! better grasp the dynamics of groups and group
discussion. Finally, quick starters enhance the classroom experience of
all students by dealing with students who may be obstructing productive
class discussion. Quick starters don't shy away from cordially
"dampening down" monopolizers.

Quick starters regard their teaching as somewhat public and continuously
improving. These wide individuals refuse to have preparation for
classes take up their whole workweek, to the near exclusion of
scholarship/writing and professional networking/collegiality. Instead,
they take the initiative to seek teaching advice and tricks of the trade
from junior and senior colleagues on their own and other departments.
Visiting colleagues' classrooms, inviting others to theirs,
experimenting and at times briefly co-teaching with diverse
colleagues-these are typical moves. Another is to track down the
exceptionally accomplished teachers on campus and consult with them.
Such treating of teaching and learning as open-ended and public
enterprises (rather than closed, private, and proprietary) should be
come more widespread, according to the American Association for Higher
Education, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and other reform-minded groups.

The Internet is quickening this reform, because faculty can now
communicate about their teaching problems and successes via several
bulletin boards sponsored by the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, the National Science Foundation, the Sloan
Foundation, and several disciplinary societies. Talking, reading, and
thinking about their teaching and their students' learning are enjoyable
to quick starters; they say they plan to experiment even more to
increase effectiveness and stimulation for both themselves and their
students.

Quick starters take their time in the classroom. Boice notes that going
too fast through lectures, discussions, problem solutions, and the
assigned materials are predictable mistakes made especially by nervous
beginners. Furthermore, slow starters believe lecturing is the only way
to teach. Delivering perfect "facts-and-principles" lectures is their
consuming goal. They present too much material too rapidly in the
classroom. They try to ignore the bored and sometimes hostile reactions
from students. Overpreparing for their lectures, they teach defensively
so to avoid being accused of not knowing their material. Above all,
they fear being exposed as an imposter. They have few plans to improve
their teaching beyond improving the content of their lectures and making
student assignments and tests easier.

Quick starters, on the other hand, realize they must slow down their
class presentations and in various ways check to see that the students
are not being left behind. Early on, quick starters try to promote
critical thinking by their students; they make sure that their students
are preparing for class and that they, not just the instructor, are
doing intellectual work during the class period. In their courses, they
spotlight some of their own specialized research interests and projects:
Both the student an the instructor usually enjoy this examination of
something fresh and new, and usually a few students will be drawn in as
apprentices to the instructor as a result of this intellectual sharing.

Determined to generate productive student interactions, quick starters
also experiment with a range of discussion techniques until they find
what works for them and their unique personalities. According to Duke
University professor Anne Firor Scott, an "important part of a teacher's
responsibility is to plan classroom experiences that promote a sense of
discovery." The point is "to activate an intelligence to begin learning
on its ow and help students learn how that knowledge came to be and how
it can be used to think through problems and organize concepts" (1995,
p. 187).

How can the professor, junior and senior, become more comfortable and
competent in promoting students' discussion and critical thinking? In
her article "Why I Teach by Discussion," Scott shares her tricks of the
trade regarding how to do this: First, carefully design the syllabus for
an active-learning course; conceptually ready the students for active
learning; ensure students' class attendance; be ready to jump-start
student discussion and to deal with occasional "dead silence"; keep
discussion on track; summarize frequently; model mannerly and respectful
behavior during spirited arguments; and design appropriate examinations
and evaluations for an active-learning course. Conceptually, the
approach in Scott's classes is to cover less (material) and discover
more-an approach I recommend to the doctoral and dissertation scholars I
coach who are preparing to be college professors. Scott concludes:
"Keep thinking about the educational process, what it ought to
accomplish, h! ow one can make it work better" (1995, pp. 190-91).

For helpful pointers on how to use case studies to nurture class
discussion and a learning community in the classroom, check the Harvard
Business School Press's Education for Judgment: The Artistry of
Discussion Leadership (Christensen, Garvin, and Sweet, 1991). Writing
case studies for one's own classes is within the realm of possibility.
Try it! It can be fun. Here's another tip. In a large lecture class,
stop the class once or twice per meeting; pose a question (try to make
it funny sometimes) and ask for a show of hands for one of three
answers; then ask each student to take five minutes to convince a
neighbor of the "correct" answer; then after five minutes; ask for
another show of hands. Minds can change through animated talking.
Harvard professor Art Mazur has documented that his students comprehend
and retain more when he uses this technique in his large lecture course
(Teaching Science Collaboratively videotape). There are many more such
techniques; ask your!
  colleagues, near and far, what works for them.

Finally, a new teacher must concentrate on learning to be efficient and
wise about the use of time. a memorable analogy is offered by Assistant
Professor Kim Needy in industrial engineering at the University of
Pittsburgh. She observes: "Teaching preparation can be more like a gas
than a liquid or a solid. In other words, it will fill all the space
available to it if you let it. You can always add a case study, improve
an overhead, and revise a handout. At some point, you have to put a box
around it and say, 'enough'" (quoted in Reis's Listserv, March 16,
1998).

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Received on Thu Oct 21 16:22:40 2004