Teaching is Teaching

I've been teaching and working in K-12 schools for about 18 years now. About seven years ago, I started teaching as an adjunct at the local state university. Over the past couple of years, I have realized the teaching assignments are not all that different. Yes, college students are a bit older (sometimes a lot older), and yes, they are paying for their school, but it's not as different as you might think. Much of what I teach in K-12 is useful for teaching college, and I think that's what makes me a good college instructor.

Anyone who has gone to college, from a local community or state college to a high profile university, has had the experience of a less than stellar professor. You know the ones I'm talking about. Often referred to as brilliant or so knowledgeable in their field, these people are not necessarily great at teaching their expertise to others. Stated simply, they are not teachers. It's just another way society at large, and disappointingly, the academic community, undermines the knowledge, training, and skill of educators.

That's not to say there aren't great college level instructors who haven't been teachers by trade. But let's face it, many of them in various fields spend the later half of their careers teaching college with little to no experience teaching. Unless it's specific to their fields, I would venture to say they also have little knowledge or experience with human development, learning theory, or curriculum. But, no biggie. They're researched and published in their own fields so they must be able to teach it to others. Fortunately, sometimes, maybe even a lot of times, it's true.

However, last year I was asked to teach in the college of undergraduate studies. Previously, I had only taught in the college of education. That was natural, as I was an educator teaching future educators. In the college of undergraduate studies I was teaching a course in the area of interdisciplinary studies. It's an area the university designed specifically to have instructors from all different colleges on campus teach using a core syllabus and reading list. The instructor selects two of the three texts and is free to put their own spin on the course, within the set guidelines. I prepared myself, and I was off and running.

I'm a teacher. That's what I do. So perhaps I know no other way than to just teach. I used a lot of the same methods and strategies I always use to teach, and just tailored them to a different audience. I used collaborative in class activities. I found outside media of interest that was related to the course content. I spoke of my interest and devotion to the content. And of course, I brought writing into the course- though much of it was required by the course anyway.

What I found from student feedback at the end of the course, was they identified the "teachery" aspects to the course as the things they liked and that helped them learn. They loved the way I didn't lecture. They enjoyed developing relationships with their classmates through partner and group work in class. Most of them felt I helped make the course content relevant to their various fields of study (one of the course objectives). They loved the interaction we all had with each other. They felt I was invested in their success and that I was available to them. I sat on all the feedback for awhile, and it seemed so matter of fact. I'm a teacher and that's what I do. And I'll do it again. Semester starts next week, and I can't wait.