I always thought that teaching was an inherently performative activity. Therefore, I assumed that to be considered a good teacher you must conform to be an actor and entertainer in the classroom. These assumptions were built by watching both teachers and professors throughout my life. Similar to Sarah Deel in her essay “Finding My Teaching Voice” (2004), it wasn’t until I started teaching and working with students myself that I started to challenge these notions. Once I became more comfortable in the classroom I started to find my teaching style. This allowed me to be more creative in terms of activities. One of the best outcomes was that I moved away from the feeling that I was acting or putting on a performance and started to develop meaningful connections with my students.
Shelli Fowler states that in order to discover your authentic teaching self you must also “work to discover who you are as a teacher and choose the techniques that work in concert with being authentic in the classroom” (Fowler). I agree with this statement, it took me too long to realize that there are many different and effective teaching styles in the classroom. Students are easily able to tell when professors are posturing or being inauthentic in the classroom. Therefore, finding your authentic teaching self and incorporating it into your classroom can positively impact the experience for students.
Something that I started doing while teaching was starting my class with something exciting that had happened that week. At first, the students were hesitant to share with the class, maybe out of nervousness or lack of understanding of why we were doing the exercise in the first place. After the second week, I started sharing something of my own that I was excited about and explained that I was interested in learning more about them as whole individuals. This approach seemed to increase engagement at the start of class and I had a lot more students participate. While I’m sure there are many things I could have done to improve as a teacher, I reflect on this experience as a positive outcome of starting to discover my authentic teaching self. I hope in the future I can continue to work with students and learn more about myself as a teacher to support their learning.
References:
Shelli Fowler, The Authentic Teaching Self and Communication Skills
Sophia-- I really liked that you reiterated that students can tell when a professor is putting on an act. I remember thinking back to when I was in undergrad and being able to tell when people were trying to be the "cool" professors or making references to things they think we would understand. It always made me feel like the interaction wasn't authentic, especially when you went to office hours and they were completely different. I think you make a good point also that being your authentic self will encourage others to do the same!
ReplyDeleteSophia,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your assessment of the readings. I wrote in my post, similar things to you. Students can really tell when you are not being genuine and I feel that not only diminishes the knowledge a teacher may have but also diminishes that teacher's credibility, which can lead to problems within the classroom. I think it is a cool thing that you are able to share things with your students about yourself through your teaching style. I think this leads to teacher's being more approachable and fosters a feeling of safety, which we discussed in class is a crucial element to learning. I hope that you can continue to grow as a teacher and that your style suits you as a person as well as an educator.
Chris Clements
Hi Sophia, I really like this approach! Sharing something first makes you seem human. It's great that doing so causes a "domino effect"; you not only bolster class participation but you also learn something about your students (and who doesn't like being appreciated)? Seems like a great start to finding your teaching identity.
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