(Essay 341) I recently finished my 109th semester as a college teacher. It was a good semester. I was happy about most things. In case you are interested, 29.3 percent of my students earned the grade of A (standing, as I tell them, for “excellence”).
However, as I say after every semester, “It could have been better.” I had great students, but too many students got (and deserved) C’s. I always wonder what I could have done to entice a bit better work out of those C students.
The winter break is a wonderful time for some serious reflection. Over the decades, whenever I speak at conferences or on other campuses, I always push the idea of ongoing improvement. Evolution should be the goal of any teacher. Feeling satisfied is usually an open door to problems.
Consequently, after every semester concludes, I spend some serious time thinking about what happened and why. If you have followed this blog for long, you know that I love lists. So, here is my list of the things that stood out to me from these past three months. Making a list is not a bad strategy for starting a conversation with yourself on how you can get better.
(1)—For decades, I have used the 20 minutes that I drive to campus every morning to listen to an audio book. I have read countless books in this manner from East of Eden to The DaVinci Code. This semester, I never started a single book. Instead, I used those 20 minutes to walk through my two preps for that day. I envisioned what I wanted to have happen – what questions I should ask and what learning structure I should create? I had already written down my lesson plans the day before, but I tried each morning to make sure that I had the class mentally organized and fresh. Several times I left my car, walked into my building and directly to my classroom, and wrote down on the board, “Here is exactly what I want us to accomplish today.” Never done that before, but the students seemed to like the tip.
I was surprised by how much I thought those 20 minutes of “envisioning” helped my classes to feel fresh. I did miss reading books but there’s plenty of other time for that. My classes simply seemed more alive to me this past fall and I credit that imagining process for creating a clearer mental outline.
If you have a commute to campus, you might try a step-by-step review each day before you head into class. Just be careful and don’t drive off the road into a ditch.
(2)—I have sometimes observed that as faculty members get older, they often become more easily angered by their students. I always say that the “A” word becomes a sign that a professor should think about retirement. The traditional complaint that, “Students today are not as good as they used to be” can say more about the professor than about the students or about the times.
Since I am nearly 80, I have worked hard to replace any anger with a different “A” word. Every day, I work to be “amused” by my students. That’s not always possible, but as often as I can, I try to find some of the stuff they do as amusing rather than getting angry or upset at them. I’m not sure that becoming angry at students ever does any good for either you or the students.
I want my students to learn because they want to learn and not because they are scared of me. Be careful if you notice yourself growing angry more often than in the past.
(3)—I had the pleasure of watching the movie The Last Class about the final semester of Robert Reich’s legendary career as a college prof. Watching the story of his life in teaching was quite an inspiration for me. It is nice to be reminded of how lucky we are to be in a wonderful profession with the daily opportunity to change lives.
Sometimes we all need our batteries recharged and this was one of the ways that helped me this past semester.
(4)—One of the oddities of the past semester was that in the higher level of my two preps, I had fewer students come my office than I usually expect. One of the things any teacher should watch out for are any changes that are observed. Was this just a random occurrence or was there a reason? Was I not as welcoming as usual? Was the material simpler? Did I grade more easily? I don’t have an answer for this, but I’m going to pay attention and see if this one-semester trend is more permanent. As I often tell my students, “I’m not bored so there’s no need for you to come by unless you think I can be of help.” Evolution is not just about coming up with new ideas but also watching for changes and then considering what those changes mean.
I tell people that I prepare and carry out class trying to emulate successful football coaches who study every aspect of every play working to make their team better and more likely to end the game as winners. I try to observe and study every aspect of every class.
(5)—The quotation that had the biggest effect on me this past year came from page 16 of Why Don’t Students Like School? by Daniel T. Willingham. “Sometimes I think that we, as teachers, are so eager to get to the answers that we do not devote sufficient time to developing the question.” I’m biased on this, but I think any college teacher could improve class immediately if they focused on this one sentence.
When you are teaching a class, what is your prime focus? What are you really trying to do? I won’t speak for Dr. Willingham but, for me, having that perfect question ready to entice the students into caring is a fundamental key to all great education.
(6)—And, finally, I continued my effort not to let my students become invisible in my classes. We live in a time where suicide rates are high, and students complain about extreme loneliness. I call on students by name every day and I email them if they are absent. I try to get them into my office so I can talk with them one-on-one. As my brother once reminded me, “You are not supposed to be a professional friend. You are supposed to be a friendly professional.” That’s advice I try to practice every day. Students can (and do) say bad things about each of us on student evaluations, but I never want to hear any student say about me, “He didn’t know me and he didn’t care about me or my education.” I go out of my way to make sure that never happens.
Those were some of my
end-of-year thoughts. What did you take away
from the fall semester. Take some time
off and sit down with a cup of coffee or tea or a glass of beer or wine and
just reflect on the past few months. You
might be amazed by what your brain tells you.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! I HOPE 2026 IS SIMPLY THE GREATEST YEAR OF YOUR ENTIRE LIFE.
In case you are interested in watching my 12 minute TEDxYouth@RVA talk about transformative education, here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G20tup61ZxI&t=1s
And, my book, Transformative Education, is available as a free download at:
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/375/
If all of that is not enough, you can also go to the following link and where a video where I tell four stories about teaching in college.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT428yjJ0Ls
