FIVE WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR TEACHING OVER THE SUMMER (PLUS A BONUS OR TWO)

 

Jackie Robinson was the first Black to play major league baseball.  I am old enough that I can remember watching him on television.  That had to be an unbelievably difficult challenge for him but Robinson was a person with style and grace and a fabulous amount of talent. 

His own words are inscribed on his tombstone,

         “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” 

I suspect that none of us will ever come close to facing the challenges that Jackie Robinson endured and conquered.  Nevertheless, his words must ring out to all of us who think of ourselves as teachers.  You and I have the wonderful opportunity to impact hundreds and thousands of lives through our classes.  If you believe Robinson’s words, that gives us the chance to mold a life for ourselves that has true meaning.  Who could ask for more than that?

 --“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”

--Perhaps I am simply getting old but I cherish that opportunity more every year.

--I wish I had 50 years left to keep on teaching.

For most of us, this semester is done.  The 2020-2021 academic year is finished.  If you have read this blog for long, you know the question I ask myself at the start of every summer, “A year from now, will I be a better teacher?”  

My longtime readers know how much I believe in the power of evolution, the importance of trying new techniques and tactics to see what might make my teaching better.  It can be difficult to improve a course during the school year because everything moves so quickly.  If you and I are going to get better as teachers by next year, the foundation for that improvement must begin right now.  As I say often to my students, “Procrastination is your biggest enemy.”  Putting off the battle for improvement is probably the single most significant reason that holds us back and prevents our evolution. 

DO NOT PROCRASTINATE, SPEND TIME RIGHT NOW THINKING ABOUT HOW TO BECOME A BETTER TEACHER DURING THE NEXT YEAR.

I am going to provide five suggestions on how to get better as a teacher.  There is no need to try them all.  Instead, pick one or two just to see where they might lead you over the next few months.

Suggestion Number One:  Break through the psychological ceiling.  I rarely meet teachers who have not established a ceiling in their minds as to how good they are going to be as teachers.  They will practically chant these mantras, “I am as good as I am ever going to get” or “I am good enough for this place” or “I am as good as time will allow.”  I am never sure whether these teachers (a) actually believe this nonsense or (b) use this artificial ceiling as a convenient excuse for not working to improve or (c) believe that teaching is essentially unimportant and not worth additional effort.

Stop telling yourself such limiting stories!!  The main thing that holds any of us back is ourselves.  As Shakespeare wrote, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings.”  I believe that absolutely.  It is a theme in my life.

During the summer, work on a new story for yourself, “Teaching is important.  I am having a real effect on the lives of my students.  I AM going to find ways to improve during this coming year.” 

Suggestion Number Two:  Make better use of your emotional energy.  Many of the teachers I speak with seem perpetually annoyed with something.  “Students are not like they used to be.”  “The administration does not appreciate how hard this job is.”  “I can only teach what the department tells me to teach.”  “The school has the wrong priorities.”  “The other departments are ruining this university.”

Stop and listen to yourself.  Complaining is fine and often justified.  Obsession is different.  Would the people who listen rate you as a positive or as a negative person?  How much emotional energy are you burning up by being annoyed?  Think about switching that energy to more positive channels like, “I had a bunch of great students in the spring.”  “Several students really wrote great papers this semester.”  “I truly enjoyed working with my classes, even during the pandemic.  Now and then, they were just brilliant.” 

How much benefit are you getting from your emotional energy and how much of that energy are you wasting by being annoyed at your own favorite grievances?

Suggestion Number Three:  Ask a proven talent for advice.  If you want to become a better teacher, you need ideas.  Unless you are Picasso or Bob Dylan, you probably cannot get enough interesting ideas purely from inside your own head.  I have often told my children, “If you want to have a few great ideas, then you must first seek out a whole lot of ideas.”  I think that approach is so very important for success.  Lots of ideas à a few great ideas.  Become an idea gathering machine. 

In every school, college, and university, there are professors who are known across campus for being great teachers.  Pick a few and send them an email, “I have heard from many that you are an excellent teacher.  I am trying to get better.  I want to improve as a teacher.  Can you provide me with one or two pieces of advice as to what has helped you become such a good teacher?” 

I am always mortified that teachers do not do a better job of sharing the secrets of the trade.  You never have to follow their advice, but why not seek it out?  I will bet that any truly excellent teacher can give you a couple of pieces of fabulous advice right off the top of their heads.  No one becomes a great teacher by accident.  Be brave enough to ask for advice. 

Suggestion Number Four:  Read a book on teaching.  Here is another suggestion about generating ideas.  You have a summer.  There are a great many excellent books on teaching:  Make It Stick, What the Best College Teachers Do, any book by James Lang, Teaching for Critical Thinking, and so many more.

Go to Google and type in “What are the best books about teaching in college?”  Take a few titles to Amazon and read the reviews to see what appeals to you. 

Do not read these books like they are novels.   Read 2-5 pages per day at a maximum.  Write down one or two things you learned each day from those pages.  You want to draw the reading experience out as long as possible.  You want the reading to become a type of daily devotion.  You read a bit and then you let those words bounce around your brain until the next day’s reading.  By the end of the summer, you will be amazed by how many teaching ideas you have generated from your reading and from your own reflections.

(If you have a teaching book that you really like, send me a note at Jhoyle@richmond.edu and tell me about it.)

Suggestion Number Five:  Focus on what you learned during the pandemic.   Hopefully, we will all go back to “regular” teaching soon.  However, we cannot abandon the lessons of the past 15 months.  We should evaluate what we had too learn quickly and consider how to make the best use of that going forward.  We should think about blending our old teaching with our new teaching. 

For example, I have never been a technology person but I am amazed by how much I learned in working with our learning management system (Blackboard).  Videos on YouTube and LinkedIn were a great help.  With a little patience, you can learn to do virtually anything. 

In addition, I have grown extremely fond of Zoom videos.  They are easy to make and post to YouTube.  Students can then review the material whenever they need a second look. 

So, as a bonus feature for this blog entry, I have made a YouTube video with a few additional suggestions for better teaching.  I used Zoom.  It was easy.  It will not look like it was made by Steven Spielberg, but I believe it gets the message across. 

And, it is unlisted on YouTube so the only way to get this extra bit of teaching help is to go through this blog.   Here is the URL.  Hope you enjoy.  It is only 11 minutes.  I am biased, of course, but I think it is worth 11 minutes of a teacher's time.

 

https://youtu.be/TOzwdtobPKc

 

Suggestion Number Six:  Write out your thoughts.   Okay, I lied about passing along five ideas.  Here is number six because I had one more thought that seemed worth bringing up.

I have long said that the one thing that helped my teaching the most (by far) was creating this blog.  For many years now, I have had to force myself once or twice each month to write about my teaching.  More than anything else over the past 50 years, that writing process has helped me improve as a teacher. 

--Because I write about my teaching, I have had to become very observant as to what is working and what is not working.  That consideration has been extremely helpful.  Good days are not accidental.  The same is true for bad days.  Watch and you will figure out what happened.

--Because I write about my teaching, I have tended to become more experimental so that I will have material to write about.  If I lectured every day, I would never have a blog.

--Because I write about my teaching, I have had to probe deeper into what is happening and why.  I cannot just dismiss a classroom or student occurrence as an aberration.  I find that I think more deeply about such events so that I can understand them myself and deal with them. 

Creating a blog is great and I would highly recommend it as long as you will force yourself to write 8-12 times per year.  However, a journal will work as well.  I think you need to write as if scores of people are going to read and think about what you have to say. 

Do not be shy.  People are interested in your teaching so start writing down your thoughts.  You will be surprised by how quickly that process will help you become a better teacher.

I added the following few lines several days after the original posting.  This morning I was reading a novel.  One of the main characters is a song writer and she says, "I write songs to discover what I want to say."  I immediately responded to her as if I were talking with a friend, "I write compulsively about teaching to explore the very depths of what I think and believe about teaching."

MY TEACHING PHILOSOPHY (AFTER 50 YEARS ON THE JOB)

This is the 300^th essay on teaching that I have written for this blog.   Thanks so much to everyone who has consistently read my thoughts over the years and passed them along to others.  I hope they have helped you become a better teacher.  At present, the blog has had 567,500 pageviews.  That is, at the very least, half a million more readers than I would have expected when I first began posting.

On Monday, April 26, at the end of my third class of the day, I will complete my 50^th year as a college teacher.  300^th teaching essay.  50^th year as a college teacher.  Good time to take stock. 

I tell people that developing into an outstanding teacher is like learning to be a chess master.  The subject is so deep and complicated that a dedicated person can study forever and never do more than scratch the surface.  That is one reason I enjoy teaching so intensely.  The complexity is mind-boggling.  Any teacher who does not embrace that complexity is destined for a frustrating career.  The number of possible permutations to consider moment by moment during any one class period is endless.  Student personalities vary from person to person day to day.  They walk in the classroom (either virtual or live) happy or sad, prepared or lost, interested or distracted.  Their needs and moods change constantly.  The subject matter never stops evolving.  Teaching, as the saying goes, takes “A minute to learn and a lifetime to master.”  That is the reason I have avoided retirement.  There is always more to learn.

In my previous blog entry, I included the teaching philosophy of Dr. Aswath Damodaran of NYU.  At that time, I promised I would outline my own teaching philosophy in my next posting.  After all these years, I wanted to put my personal teaching philosophy into words.

Consequently, I have been thinking about my teaching rather diligently for the past few weeks.  I started with a question that has long puzzled me.  I have known scores, if not hundreds, of outstanding teachers.  I have listened to them and learned from them.  One characteristic of all those teachers has struck me over the years:  They each seem excellent in their own unique style.  Some lectured in large classes.  Some held seminars with only a handful of students.  Some were gruff and demanding.  Some were kind and comforting.  Some were funny and engaging whereas others were not.  Some gave lots of high grades.  Some gave virtually no high grades.  Some taught grad students.  Some worked only with first-year students.  Some taught with words and thoughts.  Some taught with numbers and logic.  Some motivated with carrots.  Others motivated with sticks. 

Nevertheless, somehow, they were all outstanding teachers.

With my fascination for teaching, I have long looked for a common thread running between all the excellent teachers I have known.  Surely, some identifiable aspect of teaching cuts across all styles and is present in each of these outstanding individuals.  What do they all have in common?

After decades of observation, I have arrived at the conclusion that at least one characteristic can be found in all great teachers.  It forms the basis for my teaching philosophy.

     Outstanding teachers manage to convince their students to believe in them. 

Those eleven words seem so simple but I cannot think of a single excellent teacher who did not have this aptitude.  Like soldiers being urged into a fierce battle by a great general, the students of these teachers seem willing to do whatever is asked of them and do it with an impressive degree of enthusiasm and tenacity.  They work hard and love it.  Those students study late into the night.  They complete assignments on weekends.  They do not look for short cuts.  They do the work the right way.  They willingly make sacrifices because they believe in their teacher with a faith that is unshakeable. 

--If the teacher asks students to read a chapter in a textbook, they do it without question because they are convinced that the teacher would not make the request if it was not reasonable and important. 

--If the teacher asks them to solve a complex problem, they put in their best effort because they trust that the benefit will outweigh the cost. 

--If the teacher asks them to write out an explanation for a theoretical concept, they complete the assignment well and without question.

To be a great teacher, I must convince 100 percent of my students that what I am going to help them become is worth the effort that I will demand of them.  And, if they do what I suggest, they will succeed.  Those two sentences form the foundation of my teaching.  Maybe most challenging, I have to earn this faith anew each semester.  Student trust last fall has nothing to do with student trust this spring.  Every new student walks into class as a skeptic. 

If your students come to have this type of belief in you as a teacher, you will be amazed by the wondrous things they can accomplish.  You can help them learn to leap tall buildings in a single bound.  There will be no limit to what your students can accomplish if they believe in you. 

That leads to the obvious question:  What are the keys necessary to generate this degree of faith?  I suspect all great teachers create their own unique paths to this goal, but I will list a few attributes that I believe are essential. 

(1) – Clear and honest communication is absolutely imperative.  This will always be number one on my teaching list.  Communications can be used by the teacher to encourage and guide, to explain and intrigue.  Or, to put this in the reverse position, a failure to communicate well is a deadly problem.  Students cannot read your mind.  Teacher must be transparent as to what they are doing and why.  “Trust me, I know what I am doing” is never a winning teaching mantra. 

The method you use to communicate with students is up to you.  I rely on email.  I begin emailing my students two months before the semester starts and about 7-10 times per week once classes commence.  Keep the communications short and to the point.  You are trying to be helpful and not a burden.

I want my students to know what I want from them each day and why.  I want them to know what I believe and why I find the material interesting and useful.  I want them to know why I do what I do.  I want them to know that I have faith in them.  That level of understanding can only be achieved through a successful communications strategy.  By the time each semester is completed, I actually do want my students to be able to read my mind. 

No student is going to believe in you unless you take the time to talk with them either orally or in writing.  So much of the remainder of my thoughts tie back to the ability to communicate your reasons and intentions.

(2) – Teachers need to have a clear understanding of how they want their students to be changed by the last day of the class.  If there is no intended growth, there is no reason for the course.  It is all a waste of time.  No one achieves greatness without clearly delineated goals.  Never fall back on vague platitudes such as “I want smarter students” or “I want my students to be well educated.”  Those sound fine, but they are not helpful in any practical sense.  Focus on your vision of the last day of class.  You are going to work with these students for an entire semester.  At the end, how do you want them to be better?  Until you can define that goal in specific terms, the students will sense that your aspirations for them are mediocre or, worse, nonexistent.

(3) – Focus on puzzles and questions more than the conveyance of content.  I have long asserted that too many college classes have a 1950s feel where the communication of content was both the teaching method and the goal.  Stenography and memorization were valued skills in those “good old days.”  We live in different times.  Pose everything to the students in terms of puzzles or questions so that you and the students can work out the answers together.  Whether you create an entire class session around a single question or use a string of puzzles to guide students through a complex array of information, try to avoid telling your students the answers.  As the saying goes, “The journey is everything.”  In class, the journey to the answer should be more important than the answer. 

(4) – Never, never, never waste the students’ time because they will resent that.  They lead busy lives.  Students are willing to share their time but only when they believe that the work has a worthy consequence.  Over the many years of their schooling, they have suffered through a multitude of assignments that had no legitimate purpose.  Teachers need to think about each reading and each problem and determine how they tie into the course goals.  Sadly, assignments can become a rote part of a course long after they have become ineffective.  It is never a bad idea to ask yourself, “How does what I am getting ready to ask my students to do today get us closer to my goals?”

(5) – Students want you to know them as individuals and not just as members of the hive.  It is difficult to believe in a teacher who does not even know your name.  I am lucky in that my class sizes are usually between 20 and 25.  I try to call on each of my students at least twice each day just so they can hear me say their name and look directly at them.  I want Mr. A or Ms. B to understand that I do know them as individuals.  This can be one of the most difficult part of being a teacher over a long period of time.  After a few years, hundreds of students become thousands of students and the current group starts to meld into the generic “spring class of 2021.” 

It was said that when a person talked with Mother Teresa, she treated them like they were the only person in the world.  She is not a bad role model.  Ask your students to tell you a little about themselves so they stay real to you.  Frequently, before class, I quietly read aloud the names of my students so I have a moment where I think about each of them as a single, identifiable human being.  I find that helps me stay connected to them as individuals rather than merely thinking of them as indistinguishable components of a larger group. 

(6) – Never underestimate the importance of good testing.  Students are raised to believe in the absolute significance of testing and grades.  That is not going to change suddenly when they enter your class.  They are never more interested in you and your course than when it comes to taking a test.  Spend time (a lot of time) writing test questions that are (a) fair, (b) challenging, and (c) interesting.  Each question must be carefully crafted so that the students can demonstrate what they have learned and what they can accomplish with that knowledge.  If the questions are too easy, students will assume that serious work is not necessary for the course and they will oblige you by not giving you any serious work.  If the questions are too hard, students will question the reason for the disconnect.  Were they taught poorly or was the question simply unfair?  I have long believed that the more time and thought you spend learning to write great questions, the quicker you will become an outstanding teacher. 

(7) – Nothing succeeds like success.  I listened recently to Sal Khan (who I believe is one of the most influential people of our time) in a podcast and he stated that giving a student a learning boost provides confidence and that confidence then drives them toward success.  I could not agree more.  Students live up or down to their self-image so you want to push that self-image forward.  “I know you.  You can do this” will go a long way to improve one student’s learning. 

In school and most of life, success comes from believing in yourself.  There are many ways a teacher can help instill confidence but I think getting the student to prepare appropriately before class has to be one of the most important.  If the student prepares prior to entering class and then does well, the chance of ongoing success immediately increases.  A teacher can influence class preparation by telling students exactly what to do prior to class and then making sure that this preparation proves beneficial in class.  Create success during the one class and the student will be ready to do even more and better work for the next class. 

I give students a list of questions in advance of every class.  They run the gamut from easy to complex, from verbal to quantitative, from easy puzzles to hard ones.  Then, in class, I ask students to address each question.  At times, it might seem like I cross-examine them but I want my students to succeed and I am trying to get them there.  I am giving them the opportunity to show me that they did the work.

There is a wonderful feeling when you pose a complicated question to a student and, because they are well prepared, they provide the class with an outstanding answer.  Teaching never gets better than that.  Even if that student has previously thought of themselves as a dummy, you might well start to see a better self-image blossom forth.  Once that happens, there is no limit to what a student can accomplish.

**

None of this is easy.  That is why teaching is so challenging.  Over the years, in this blog, I have often quoted the words from the movie A League of Their Own.  “It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”  I cannot think of a better description of the wonders of being a teacher.  After 50 years, that is my philosophy.

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.

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.