I wasn't sure what to write about this week. I could write about how I've been feeling like lately that I'm burning the candle at both ends pretty hard, but my commitments are set for the semester, so I just need to get over that feeling and deal with it. So, in the spirit of positive thinking and not wanting to sound whiny, I thought I'd write about teaching.
I've never understood the phrase "Those who can't do, teach." Makes no freaking sense. To teach someone else something, you have to be able to understand your subject pretty darn well. I think there are huge misconceptions about teachers at any level. I can't really speak for K-12, but as a university professor, I very much feel like people think that we're a bunch of lazy, overpaid bastards who work 12 hours a week (12 hours is a full load in my department at ESU) and sit up nights thinking of ways to fail people. Let me enlighten you - I'm not overpaid, I could make far more in industry than I do now. If you broke down the actual workweek of most of my colleagues and figured out our average hourly wage, if would be ridiculous. Like, ridiculously low. So why do it? Because there's nothing else like it.
This semester has been crazy busy, to say the least, but it hasn't gone unrewarded. I've had some amazing moments. I have a Monday night hour in my A&P course, and since it's at night, we can go longer than 50 minutes if people want to. One night we were reviewing muscle contraction (which has a lot of steps) and I'd explained it about 4700 different ways trying to make them understand it (biology isn't just memorizing a bunch of crap, BTW, I really, really want people to understand what they're learning). Finally, the students looked at me and several of them started saying, OMG, we get it! And then started coming up to the board where I'd drawn things out and tried to explain it to me (and they were right). Have you ever explained something to someone and seen the lightbulb go on in their head? They're excited, you're excited. Pretty damn cool feeling.
I have about 55-60 people in my class, but I'm trying to learn all their names and one of my goals every semester, every class is that I want people to feel comfortable. I want them to freely ask questions, I don't want them to feel like they can't talk to me. This week in particular, I had a first. A student came to me asking about study tips, which happens a lot. We were talking, and they said that they felt like they knew the material until they saw the test, and then their mind went blank. So we talked about test anxiety and I gave them my best tips that I normally give everyone who asks. Then they asked if there was anything else. I NEVER bring up religion with my students, unless I've literally bumped into them at church and we comment on Father Rich's sermon or something. For one, I'm private about it, and two, I teach in a public university and I teach science, not religion. But I took a deep breath and told them that I didn't know what their religious beliefs were, but that in grad school I prayed before every exam I took. Nothing long or drawn out, just a short, 2 second affair asking for guidance and peace. Well, ok, and an A. :) The student smiled at me and said that they'd never really thought about doing that, but that their dad was a minister and they were religious and would definitely try it. I'm extremely open with my students about my medical history (I teach A&P after all!), but that was the first time I felt like I'd really shared something deep with a relative stranger. But I felt like I'd helped, and that was pretty cool.
So, it's a total cliche' to say that you do something (it's a joke on med school applications) "because you want to help people", but that really is a big reason I enjoy teaching. I love getting to know my students. I love seeing the lightbulb go on. And, let's face it, my multimillion dollar salary and my unbeatable, 12-hour workweeks don't hurt either. ;)
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