Wednesday, March 24, 2021

DO YOU HAVE A TEACHING PHILOSOPHY? PART ONE


My students (I hope) realize that I take teaching very seriously.  As a result, they often talk with me about teaching or share some of their ideas on the subject.  A couple of weeks ago, a student who had been in my class here at the University of Richmond a few years ago sent me an email.  He said that one of his current teachers had shared a website with the class created by one of her teachers. My former student simply said that he thought I would find the website interesting. 

I was intrigued and followed up.  What I found was fascinating.  I am so glad that I was led to this site.  It is inspirational.  I wish I were as creative and organized in my work.  The website is the creation of Aswath Damodaran, Professor of Finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University.  Here is the URL.  I hope you will click on the link and enjoy.  This site is clearly the work of a dedicated and thoughtful college professor. 

 http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/

One of the first things that caught my attention was Dr. Damodaran’s teaching philosophy.  I have always been hesitant about putting out a teaching philosophy for public consumption because my philosophy seems to change a lot over time and even seems to change according to the individual student.  On this blog, I have written approximately 300 essays on teaching, yet I have rarely talked at all about a personal teaching philosophy. 

Nevertheless, as I read Dr. Damodaran’s words, I was struck by how much I agreed with his thoughts.  Time after time, I found myself mumbling agreement, “Yeah, that is exactly what I believe as well.”  I found his words comforting and supportive – he verbalized what (for the most part) is in my mind about teaching.  I especially liked the sentence, “There is nothing else I would rather do than be in front of a classroom, teaching a topic that I enjoy, trying to alter the way people think and act.”

 “Trying to alter the way people think and act.”  Good stuff. 

Because I appreciated his thoughts so much, I asked him if he would mind my sharing them on this blog and he graciously agreed. 

Below is the teaching philosophy of Aswath Damodaran.  If you are looking for a teacher as a role model, his words certainly seem to provide excellent guidance for all of us. 

I was so inspired that, in my next blog posting, I am going to, once and for all, write out my own teaching philosophy.  After 300 essays on teaching, it is time to be brave and develop my own teaching philosophy.  I am not sure what I will choose to say (I might simply copy the words of Dr. Damodaran) but I am challenging myself to make a decision.  You might make the same promise to yourself.  What is your teaching philosophy?

Now, from Dr. Aswath Damodaran:

This may sound like a cliché, but I love teaching. There is nothing else I would rather do than be in front of a classroom, teaching a topic that I enjoy, trying to alter the way people think and act. Here are some of the core beliefs that I try to stay true to (but sometimes fail to):

1.    Preparation is key: Paraphrasing Edison, teaching is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration. If you are prepared for your class, you are well on your way to being a good teacher.

2.    Respect your students: I did not care for those teachers that I had, when I was a student, that looked down on their students, either as being less learned than they were or less motivated. I believe that anyone who sits on my classroom is as capable as I am, though perhaps not as experienced, and is passionate about learning.

3.    Be fair: I don't believe that students dislike or punish tough teachers, but I do believe that they dislike and punish teachers who are unfair, either in the way they test students or in the way they grade them. I know that I will make mistakes, but as long as I keep an open door and correct my mistakes, I think that students will cut me some slack.

4.    Have empathy: It has been a long time since I was a student in a classroom, but I try to keep my memory fresh by remembering the things I liked and disliked in my classes and trying not to repeat them.

5.    Teaching is not just in the classroom: Your impact on students does not come just from what you do in the classroom. It is affected just as much but what you do outside the classroom, in your office hours and in your interactions (online and in person) with your students.

6.    Have fun: If you look at the joy that young children show when they learn something new, it is obvious that human beings enjoy learning (though our education systems are often designed to stamp out that joy). I want my classes to be meaningful, impactful and profound, but I also want them to be fun. For that to happen, I have to have fun teaching and I will!

***

I could not have said it better myself.

Thursday, March 4, 2021

STOPPING TO THINK

 

I was interviewing one of our students yesterday (on Zoom, of course) for an outstanding student award that is given each year at our graduation.  This particular student is one I know quite well.  I have respect for her opinions.  So, I asked her a question that I have been thinking a lot about recently, “What is the very best thing about being a college student during a pandemic?”  For a very slight moment, she looked at me like I had lost my mind because it was not a question she had heard before or even considered.  We all seem fixated on the bad parts of the past year.

As I expected, this student recovered immediately and gave a fabulous answer, “I have learned to do so many things that I never thought I could do.  I have become comfortable with all kinds of technology that I did not even know existed.  In many ways, I was in a rut and the pandemic has yanked me out of that rut and pushed me to become a better student.” 

I image that, at some point in the future, we will look back on this weird time and there will be a few things we are grateful for.  Of course, COVID is horrible and the number of deaths and serious illness around the world is a terrible tragedy.  Nevertheless, many of us (and I certainly include myself at the head of this list) have been yanked out of our daily ruts and forced to adapt and evolve.  “Adapt” and “evolve” --- two of my favorite words. 

As is so often the case, our attitudes influence how we judge the life that goes on around us.  One of the things I hope to do soon is evaluate my life over the past year and consider in what ways the pandemic has been helpful to me.  How have I adapted?  How well have I evolved?  Is it all horrible or can I find positive changes that have made me a better person and a better teacher?

A friend of mine, Dick Minot, Clinical Assistant Professor at Loyola Marymount University, recently sent me his thoughts on remote teaching during the past year.  His words have pushed me to consider evaluating the changes I have faced and my reactions to them.  This is not a bad exercise for any of us.  You might be surprised, if you think carefully, at how many positive effects have resulted.  They certainly do not outweigh the sickness and suffering but, I think, it helps our mental health to realize that it has not been all bad news.


REMOTE Teaching: One Professor’s Reflections by Dick Minot

As I am writing this, it is just before we dismiss for Spring Break 2021.  I am in the midst of my second full semester of REMOTE teaching/learning. This Spring Break will be like no other and most certainly unlike the 2020 Spring Break where the “new normal” was just beginning to show itself. In fact, in my case, I was preparing to head to New Zealand to see friends at the end of their summer for a few days. I was cognizant, at least somewhat so, of the buzzing that surrounded this “COVID 19 thing.” Well, Spring Break for me lasted about 3 days as I soon found myself in almost daily Zoom meetings with my school and department. In what turned out to be a period of 14 days, we had to prepare for this REMOTE teaching/learning that was about to become our new way of life.

Panic. Frustration. Helplessness. Angst. Inadequacy. You name it and the emotion was there. REMOTE teaching/learning was here. No one had much time to think about it. It was just:  “Do It.” And, by the way, don’t lose anything in the transition from the classroom to REMOTE.

In my case, I completed the Spring 2020 semester without too many issues. I then went on to teach a summer session in REMOTE format and that went pretty well. That was followed by the Fall 2020 semester that again went pretty well. I was gaining my stride and confidence in this REMOTE teaching/learning mode. Now here I sit with half of the Spring 2021 semester REMOTE teaching/learning behind me. And I have decided to take stock of where I am in all of this.

You may notice that I refer to the new norm as REMOTE teaching/learning. I do this as this is truly a team effort between “instructor - teaching” and “student - learning”.  We can say that this connection has always been the case but let’s try to agree that we took this connection for granted in the past as we were able to be in the classroom with the students each week. As a teacher I know once said, learning is like a dance. In order for it to work I can lead but the students need to follow. In pre-COVID days, the connection was more obvious.  We could look into their faces and see their eyes change as we made a good point or a bad point. We have lost this connection to a certain degree. If we are doing REMOTE teaching/learning in an asynchronous fashion we may never see the faces of the students or hear their voices. If we are doing this synchronously then we can maintain some of that feeling so long as the students maintain video contact with us.

After a lot of contemplation, I have come to the conclusion that REMOTE for me has taken on the following meaning:

Responsible

Engagement

Mentoring

Opportunity

Teaching

Encouraging

 

Responsible

We are Responsible for the teaching/learning that we are performing. This is no different than when we are in the front of the classroom. It is very easy, actually too easy, to make excuses for how hard this is for us to do and do well. In fact, it is hard for the students also. When the students used to see us, we were clearly in charge of the classroom. When the students see us now, when they actually see us via Zoom or whatever technical system is being used, we ARE still in charge. WE have not abdicated that responsibility simply because we are in front of the camera. Many of us are not in the world of those “online universities” that we always assumed did not offer the kind of education that we did. BUT now we find ourselves not only in that online position, but also defending what we do as rigorous and just as good as we did it before this pandemic started. We are Responsible to maintain that quality and we can do it.

Engagement

Engagement is a two-way street in this new normal teaching/learning environment. We recognize that we have a harder time engaging with the students but in order for effective learning to take part, the active Engagement of the students may be more important now than ever. They need to know that the learning is still taking place as the learning process is still alive and well. We are now truly in an era where we are leading students to the water and we need them to drink it now more than ever before. It is too easy for them to just “checkout” and simply “be present”. The teaching may be going on but the learning has decreased. We need to be more diligent in the sessions to ascertain who is Engaged and how we can Engage every student.

Mentoring

Mentoring is probably the one thing that keeps many of us in the classroom. We have the chance to influence the future leaders. What greater thing can be offered to anyone? And it comes with the territory. When you hear a student say, “Hey professor, do you have a minute to chat about something?” what a rush that is.  It is not about a class problem but just a chance to see how you got to be where you are and what advice you might have to offer to them on their path. This is the most vulnerable you will be anywhere in teaching.  Today, we are still that Mentoring person even though we do not have a close physical presence in the classroom or our office. Take those chances to let the student know about you. You will still be richly rewarded for that act and remembered by the students for being open and caring.

For example, what a great chance we now have to drive home the issue of ethics in action. We are faced with the realization that students may cheat. News Flash! Students have always had the opportunity to cheat. We simply assumed that because we are in the front of the class it cannot happen. We now have the chance to Mentor these students on what ethics look like. We can teach them and we can place our trust in them to deliver. If we do this, we know that it is harder for them to disappoint when they are trusted to do the right thing.

Mentoring is not solely directed at the students. We have the ability and responsibility to Mentor our peers who may be having difficulties in their lives and careers during the horrors of this pandemic. Take a minute to just stop and ask your colleagues how they are doing. You might be surprised by the response.

Opportunity

This REMOTE teaching/learning environment is an opportunity for many of us to reflect on a career of traditional teaching and to reengage in learning ourselves. When is the last time that you really put yourself in a situation that you did not feel comfortable? This is an Opportunity for us to truly show what we can do. The students need to know that their part in all of this is an Opportunity for them to show what they can do. This is a great learning exercise of what the business environment will be for many of them. It is not a burden. It is an opening. A true Opportunity for both the professor and the student to show each other what they can do.

Teaching

Finally, Teaching appears on my list! We are still Teaching. The medium has changed but the task has not. Why are we, some of us, now concerned with quantity rather than quality of the content? When we are in the classroom the quality of the content drives the Engagement. But, now that we do not “see” the students it seems like the quantity of content being covered may be a replacement for quality. Busy work may occupy the students time but it does not push them to learn. It is the active part of learning to analyze a situation, to work in groups that Teaching is all about.

Encouraging

Encouraging. I decided to look up the definition and found the following: adjective, giving someone support or confidence; supportive and positive and giving hope for future success; promising. What a time to be Encouraging to both the students and our peers. This REMOTE teaching/learning situation will not last forever BUT the teaching/learning will last forever. What will we learn from this that we will take into our future classrooms when this current REMOTE teaching/learning is just a memory? As one learned professional once said, “If you are doing the same thing in your classroom today that you did five years ago you should get out”.

We are both the teacher and the learner. What will we have learned from our adventure in this REMOTE teaching/learning exercise that we have had presented to us.