Apologies for the lack of updates. I have honestly been buried underneath Powerpoint presentation, quizzes and homework assignments.
These first few weeks haven't been easy. Because I have never handled a class from A to Z before I'm on an extremely steep learning curve and it's been difficult to catch my breath until now. I view my class/dealing with my class in two major categories: the material and the students.
I thought that the material would be the easy part since I know the subject well. Yeah, not so much. Problem #1 - I know the subject well. I often assume people know much more than they really do and I forget how long I've been studying science. Problem #2 - Even though I know the subject well, it's been a long time since I took General Biology and have had to think about things in this way. Subsequently, preparing for each lecture (printing off my Powerpoint slides and making lots of notes) is taking me a very long time - at least a full day, if not two. Problem #3 - Speaking of Powerpoint......I've used it forever and I got good during graduate school at making presentations that weren't word-heavy. Mostly I use pictures and do all of the talking based around those images and it's been successful. Well, at the beginning of this class I decided to use the Ppts. given to instructors by the editors of the book rather than Ppts. designed by me. There were two reasons for this: 1 - it was easier. Because I was taking so much time "re-learning" the material it was a huge time saver for me just to use these pre-canned slides. 2 - I didn't want my students taking too much time scrambling to write down every word I say. I would prefer that they have 95% of what they need in front of them, can pay more attention to me as I guide them along the slides and only have to write a few notes here and there for themselves.
And so, what was supposed to be the "easy" part of teaching has turned out to be an area of readjustment. I'm constantly reminding myself now that not everyone has studied science for 12 years if at all. I've slowed down my lectures accordingly and take more time explaining and drawing things out. I'm still going over every chapter in excruciating detail for myself but I'm getting more efficient at it. And I discovered that the book's Ppt. presentations were doing everyone more harm than good. The students were bored since it appeared as though I was reading off of the slides - they saw it as me being superfluous to the slides rather than the way I had intended - as a way for them just to pay attention and not have to take notes. And I wasn't confident and comfortable with the presentations. I just didn't know them well enough to sound great lecturing from them. Now, I'm using those as a starting point. I go through each chapter and rearrange the order of slides. I'm deleting most of the word slides. I'm adding extra images to get harder points through. It's taking up a TON of time and up until this last weekend I was barely finishing in time to get to class but I can tell that I'm lecturing much better and the students are clearly responding better. And that was the easy part to adjust to........
Dealing with students is, well, interesting. My associate dean was most worried about my ability to manage the classroom since I look much younger than I really am. This hasn't been too much of an issue. I'm assertive when I start the class or when I call them back from a break/in-class work. Until last Thursday's class, students who are a little slow to stop talking when I start quiet down after I say a sentence or two loudly. I finally had a group just not stop talking and joking and laughing and my talking louder wasn't working. Survival "if I don't handle them right now then they'll handle me for the rest of the semester" instinct kicked in and before I really had a chance to think about it I was saying something to the effect of "You can leave if you'd like to talk. This is an adult education class, you all are free to come and go as you like, but if you're going to be in here then I would ask that you not talk when I lecture." You could have heard the proverbial pin drop. But it worked - and with the exception of 1 out of 4 (she faced the back wall of the classroom, arms crossed for the remainder of the class - because we're 5), they didn't seem to care that I had to be "mean" for a minute. I've had to deal with hearing students complain loudly about me in the hallways because I don't give enough examples in class before giving homework. Of course they don't understand that homework is a lot less effective if I explain it all to them before letting them try on their own. And, I've had to deal with a student look me right in the eye and tell me that I'm not very good - 10 minutes before class. Thanks to very supportive co-workers, family and friends I've managed to put that in perspective, but it was tough at the time.
Don't get me wrong - 95% of my students are great. Some are getting A's, some aren't. But with the exception of those few, they are comfortable coming up to me and asking questions. They'll raise their hands in class to ask for clarification. They do their work and they do it on time. That they don't all love me or biology can be difficult, but it certainly doesn't deter me from wanting to teach. In fact, it really only makes me want to teach more.
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