I have been teaching college classes for 30 years — I first started teaching in 1993 as a graduate student at the University of Chicago. In that time I have worked hard to understand my students, have compassion for them, and treat them as kindly and respectfully as I can. Much to my dismay the process of understanding my students has gotten much harder in the past couple of years. My students interact with me significantly less, which is making it harder and harder to discern what’s going on with them.

So I’m incredibly grateful that at least for the next three years I have a look into a current student’s mind. My son started at DePaul last year, and hearing him talk about his professors and his classes has given me the kind of insight I really need right now. From him I learned to recognize the signs of anxiety when I was calling on students and changed my approach. He’s a very smart person, but watching him worry about how professors would judge his questions in office hours has helped me to see that being very positive and welcoming when students do reach out is crucial. He reacts strongly to criticism and watching that has helped me to find new ways to phrase things with my students. In fact, my general rule now is to imagine how my son would feel if he were experiencing what my students are. It helps me to feel the same love and compassion for my students that I do for my son, even when my students sometimes make poor choices. And I think the entire process has made me not only a better instructor but also a better person.

Students

, , ,

November 30, 2023

1 Comment