A Letter to New College Instructors: Follow Your Instincts

I recently finished up my last semester teaching international college students, and subsequently handed the reigns over to some new instructors I’ve trained during the past few months.

One instructor who shadowed me during the Fall term, a NASA liaison at our university, is trying teaching on for size during the next year, and she expressed her concerns about doing things right as a first time instructor.

I had almost  forgotten what that felt like.

It’s only been 7 years since I started teaching, but it’s easy to forget how confusing navigating the teaching world can be. There are nagging questions in the back of your mind, and you constantly wonder if you’re doing things the ‘right’ way (and by the way, there really is no right way).

You wonder: Am I too easy on students? Too hard? Is lecturing the more appropriate method in the classroom? Are activities better? Are classroom discussions just filler? Or are they a valuable use of class time?

I’m sure these sound familiar, and that’s just scratching the surface. It can be hard to know if you’re heading in the right direction or veering way off track.

Although I don’t think about these questions as much as I used to, they still hang out in the back of my mind. Through reading teaching blogs, books, observing others’ classrooms, and following my own ever-growing teacher instincts, I’ve become more self-assured in my own teaching methods.

In an effort to impart some wisdom to my new instructor friend, I sent her the following email. I hadn’t planned on sharing it with anyone, but honestly, it would have made my life easier as a newbie if someone had shared this with me.

If you find yourself lost and confused in the world of college teaching, I hope this provides some reassurance that as long as you trust your instincts, you’ll do just fine.

~

Hi Amy,

I’m glad we got a chance to hang out a bit this semester. If you ever need anything, or want to meet up on campus to discuss strategies, don’t hesitate to ask (especially since I’ll have more time working from home!).

So one more time, I can’t say it enough, the book What the Best College Teachers Do will be a lifesaver. It will make you feel 100 times better about using your own best judgement (and no one else’s :)), when in the classroom.

It can be intimidating lecturing on new material, so feel free to use some flipped classroom methods, and you can always assign ‘public speaking tutorial’ type videos or my own YouTube speech content as homework, and have a class discussion about it with students later (It doesn’t have to be you preparing like a madman to create a lecture for most class periods- you can absolutely use flipped classroom ‘shortcuts,’ classroom activities, borrow materials from online sources or other teachers, etc., but everyone will have a different opinion about every approach!).

Lastly, remember, it’s not about working your tail off to prove yourself (not that you have anything to prove :)). At the end of the day, it’s about doing things that mean something to students, increase their knowledge in a meaningful way, and impact their education. When it’s all said and done, that is the only goal.

That sounded more profound than I intended lol, but you’ll do an amazing job! Stay in touch :).

Erin