A key concept in effective teaching is diversity. As a
teacher, I consciously choose diverse topics, authors, methods and modes of
teaching, and assignments. Such diversity in teaching is necessary because my
students are diverse. They have diverse identities, cultures, backgrounds,
interests, knowledge, skills, needs, and goals. Though there is no way I can
tailor all of the lessons and assignments to every student, by providing a
variety of lessons and assignments that are taught and workshopped in a safe
environment, students are able to flourish. My philosophy aligns with John C.
Bean’s findings on designing assignments in a variety of genres, “Different
genres tap different kinds of strengths, allowing more students to succeed”
(61). A testament to this comes from my own experience. Recently, I had a
student who struggled with her written assignments and even her oral
presentation. However, the final project was a multi-modal trailer for a movie.
The student, who I thought might be having difficulties analyzing the material
in class, produced a brilliant and moving trailer. Her use of images and music
gave me chills, and her project set the bar for the rest of the class. After
class, I asked her if I could use her project as an exemplar for future
classes. The student who had practically hid in the back of the room now
beamed, and she said, “Of course!” and then told me, “The best part was
watching your reaction to it in class.” The experience reinforced my belief in
the need for a variety of assignments produced in a variety of modes and media
to help more students be successful.
Learning is not a test, it is a journey. I remember
agonizing over teachers who seemed to pride themselves in catching students’
errors. I envisioned them wringing their hands while uttering a sinister
“mwahahaha” right before brandishing their sharp red pen to circle my failure
and deduct points from my assignment. I never want my students to feel that way
in my courses—fearing to submit an assignment. My job, as a teacher, is to help
students develop ideas, apply knowledge, and hone skills. The assignments I
create are not punitive tests but opportunities to develop and learn. One way
my assignments encourage development and growth is through drafts. Any larger assignment,
paper, or project is done in multiple phases. Drafting along with individual
feedback in the form of conferencing allows me the opportunity to tailor my
feedback and assistance to each individual student. This individualized
feedback and guidance helps the students develop their understanding and their
skills.
Though I love to learn for the sake of learning, I am aware
that most of my students are in my classes to either fulfill a requirement or
learn something to help them succeed in one or more of their academic or professional endeavors. Therefore, I
believe it is important to communicate and even demonstrate the relevance and
transferability of the material in my courses. Students will not only have more
“buy in” if they feel the class will be useful, but they will more likely
retain the knowledge and skills. Moreover, students need to understand that a
class is not a vacuum isolated from the rest of the world. Helping students
connect the dots between the lessons in my courses and both other disciplines
and real word applications promotes integrative and life-long learning. For
example, in one of my literature courses, populated completely by nursing
students, after having read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the
assignment was to describe a time when they were like Alice, trying to navigate
through a new and confusing place. Then they wrote about how their patients are
like Alice, disoriented and even afraid in the confusing world of the hospital.
Finally, remembering how they felt when they were like Alice, they discussed how
they could help their patients navigate their experiences in the hospital. The
vulnerability of Alice, for them, was translated into their patients’
vulnerability, and, through their empathy for Alice, they developed a newfound
empathy for their patients. Children’s literature helped make them better
nurses.
My classroom is filled with individual human beings, not
names on a roster. I try to remember that my students have entire, complex, and
complicated lives outside my class that affect their performance in my class. A
few years ago, I was reminded of how much I don’t know about my students. I was
teaching a second semester composition course in which there was a student who
struggled with her writing because she did not speak Standard American English.
This same student often would disengage from class discussions and spend a
great deal of time staring at her computer screen. When we had our first one on
one conference for a paper in that class, I was trying to explain to her that
she was going to need to put in extra effort with her writing conventions in
order to be successful in the course and with her written assignments for her
other courses. I told her that going to the tutoring center for additional
assistance would be beneficial to her and that she could also make additional
appointments with me. Then I began going through her paper and tried to discuss
with her areas that needed clarification, elaboration, and support. About two
paragraphs into the paper, she began reading emails on her laptop. After the
conference, I was sure that the student did not care about the course or about
her writing skills. I also thought she had been disrespectful. A few days
later, I stopped by the tutoring center to find out if she had made an
appointment. The director of the center told me that she had been in three
times already with her paper. I was in shock. The director also told me that
the student gave her a list of things that I had told her she needed to focus
on in her writing. Again, shocked. She was listening and obviously cared. The
director also said that the student thought I was being extremely hard on her
and even mean. "Me, mean? What? I was the one taking my time to help her
when she was blowing me off reading her emails!" That was my initial
response. Then I thought about her dedication to her work by going to the
tutoring center and realized that we had both misread each other.
It was then I was reminded that what we see from our
students in the short time they are in our class or an office visit is only a
brief fragment of that student and the student’s life. I asked the student to
meet with me, and we discussed our misconceptions of each other. I told her the
reasons why I thought she was disengaged, and she explained that was her coping
mechanism when she was stressed or felt inadequate. We learned a lot about each
other, and I learned a lot about what it meant to be a teacher. We formed an
alliance dedicated to helping her through the course and with her written
communication skills. We worked through her papers page by page. We created an
alternate schedule for her work to allow her to work closely and often with me
and the tutoring center. Her work improved, her attitude in class improved, and
our relationship improved. Moreover, my awareness, appreciation, and empathy
for my students improved. Since that time, I have been more conscious of
students who seem to be disengaged or struggling in class. My focus, when in
front of the classroom, now goes beyond the lessons and assignments and looks toward
my students’ learning obstacles. I have become more aware that I have students
who are extremely introverted, have PTSD, are from a culture that looks at
asking for help as a weakness, and the list goes on. I put in extra time and
effort not just helping these students feel comfortable in my classes but to
learn and perform at their highest possible level.
During my years of teaching, what I have learned is that I
must always be learning. I need to learn about new developments in my field and
in pedagogy. However, more importantly, I need to learn from and about my
students. My teaching focuses on the needs of my students and how best to help
them acquire the skills and knowledge to succeed in my classroom and beyond.
Bean, John C. Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to
Integrative Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom.
2nd ed., Jossey-Bass, 2011.
