Challenges in personal reflection and growth

¶ … Solves a Teaching Problem

On the first day that I was to teach at a local college, I was a nervous, organized wreck. I painstakingly separated handouts and my notes into different folders, reviewed the lesson, and flattened corners of clear tape where they stuck out from the note cards that I was using for the student's group work. I was afraid of many things: that they would laugh at me, that I would do a poor job, and most of all, that I wouldn't help them. Although that day went off in a way that suggested teaching was my calling, I had a large challenge just the next week. After a harrowing hour trying to find someone to drive me to the campus after getting my car stuck in a snow drift, I was about to leave my driver when a man started waving and coming at me. All the classes were canceled. Although it snowed the night before, the school had decided to shut down. Right then, I began to worry. My class met only one night a week; how would I make sure we covered everything of importance? I tried sending e-mails to the students, but it just created mass confusion. Although the next class period went well, with homework time came confusion. I left the class frustrated because I felt I had not helped the students.

When I got home, though, I began to analyze the situation. What really made me upset, and what had I done wrong? I started to pull apart the situation. First, I had one student who had a consistently bad attitude. Second, the students were having trouble grasping the assignments. Third, we were running out of time to cover everything each week, and the students were getting tired of sitting at their desks all evening. After some more careful thinking, I understood that the students were not understanding the assignments because I was not modeling them. I likened the experience to a situation in which a teacher tried to teach me math without writing out the problems. I had no idea how to get from step one to step three. After considering this, I realized that many of my students most likely felt the same way. I needed to show them how to write. In response to the other concerns, I realized that the person with the bad attitude was bothering me because I thought his dull looks were trying to imply that I was a bad teacher. I realized that I needed to ignore the student, but to make sure he understood that he had consequences for poor behavior. Finally, I realized that running out of time was a product of my scheduling too many items on our agenda. I understood that I would need to pare down my lesson plans to make sure the students got each concept.