Long ago, as a PhD student and a postdoc, I taught several first year courses to large classes. These were service courses taken by students to fulfill credit requirements but with little interest in this subject. Teaching these courses was never my first choice (although the teaching evaluation forms frequently contained remarks like "her lectures convey her love of the subject" which, I must admit, were very encouraging). But, I learnt some valuable teaching skills from this experience - I can talk audibly in very big lecture halls without a microphone, I have learnt to write in a clear and large font on the board which is visible even to backbenchers, and most importantly, I have learnt to be patient with students. That is, I no longer get annoyed by students dozing off in class or playing games on computers, as long as they are not disruptive. Teaching large classes several times teaches you that you are NOT a baby-sitter!! One should give one's best effort to teaching, but at the end of the day, it is the student who decides how much he or she wants to learn.
Anyhow, on joining N1, I imagined happily that I will not have to teach any more big classes and will be able to focus on "specialized, advanced courses" of my choice for which I will design the curriculum myself. My teaching assignments so far have matched my expectations. Much to my own surprise, however, recently I have willingly volunteered on my own (without any coercion from any quarter) to teach a first year course to our incoming undergraduate students next semester. This has been a well thought out decision made due to various reasons.
As I mentioned before, my department was severely understaffed till last year and we had to outsource the teaching of this course to members of other departments.
Even after an increase in numbers, this status quo continued because the new entrants, fresh out of grad school/postdoc, like me, wanted to run away from teaching any first year course! Those colleagues from other departments who taught this course before have undoubtedly done a remarkable job. But, being from other streams, they naturally taught the subject matter as a tool for other subjects. I have nothing against this approach. However, since this is the only course in my subject that these students see in the first year, I believe that it should not be taught as an appendage to other courses, but as an independent course, with emphasis on a strong understanding of the techniques and concepts, along with plenty of examples that relate it to applications in other disciplines. But the applications should supplement the course and not form the core content [1]. As a specialist in this discipline, I think I can give students such a strong first course. At the same time, my experience with teaching "service" courses can also come in handy because I can incorporate a lot of examples and "real life" problems which will teach the students that the subject is not just an isolated topic in itself, but with deep connections to all of science.
I am also routinely told by many students that they are scared of this subject and would never consider majoring in it. I would like to take a shot at trying to remove their fears and exposing them to some of the excitement of this subject so that they are not prejudiced against it at the outset. Bring on the challenge!
Of course, there are going to be plenty of challenges, most notably the sheer enormity of grading a hundred answer sheets after having got used to teaching classes of at most twenty students. I have to find out what is N1's policy about getting senior undergrads or PhD students to TA the course !!
Professor Sanghi recently wrote a series of 5 posts about teaching a course to 500+ students, in which he clearly described the various challenges like language issues, conducting course related activities with big groups of students, copying in class tests/assignments, class performance and last, but not the least, the universal but amusing problem of students sleeping in class!
I too have had students sleep in my class. I think it's okay for someone to sleep in class as long as it is not the instructor [2]. I have also had students show up drunk in my class, though never at N1. I have had students excusing themselves from submitting assignments because their girl friends broke up with them or cheated on them! To survive teaching a large class without losing sanity requires some amount of detachment and a good sense of humour (and, of course, a little bit of sympathy).
I conclude with the following questions:
a) Have you ever taught a large class? If yes, what did you like the most while teaching it? What aspects drove you nuts?
b) Would you consider doing it again, if you had a choice?
c) If you routinely teach large classes, what is it that attracts you to it?
d) Finally, as a present or former student in a large class, which teaching techniques of your instructors do you find effective ?
Suggestions, as always, are welcome.
[1] It's like going to a gym and asking your trainer that you want to lose weight and/or get better abs. If the trainer is worth the money you are paying him/her, s/he will instead tell you to concentrate on strengthening the core and the rest will follow as an incidental by-product.
[2] I try to believe that students sleep in class because they work very hard and spend all night doing assignments.
Anyhow, on joining N1, I imagined happily that I will not have to teach any more big classes and will be able to focus on "specialized, advanced courses" of my choice for which I will design the curriculum myself. My teaching assignments so far have matched my expectations. Much to my own surprise, however, recently I have willingly volunteered on my own (without any coercion from any quarter) to teach a first year course to our incoming undergraduate students next semester. This has been a well thought out decision made due to various reasons.
As I mentioned before, my department was severely understaffed till last year and we had to outsource the teaching of this course to members of other departments.
Even after an increase in numbers, this status quo continued because the new entrants, fresh out of grad school/postdoc, like me, wanted to run away from teaching any first year course! Those colleagues from other departments who taught this course before have undoubtedly done a remarkable job. But, being from other streams, they naturally taught the subject matter as a tool for other subjects. I have nothing against this approach. However, since this is the only course in my subject that these students see in the first year, I believe that it should not be taught as an appendage to other courses, but as an independent course, with emphasis on a strong understanding of the techniques and concepts, along with plenty of examples that relate it to applications in other disciplines. But the applications should supplement the course and not form the core content [1]. As a specialist in this discipline, I think I can give students such a strong first course. At the same time, my experience with teaching "service" courses can also come in handy because I can incorporate a lot of examples and "real life" problems which will teach the students that the subject is not just an isolated topic in itself, but with deep connections to all of science.
I am also routinely told by many students that they are scared of this subject and would never consider majoring in it. I would like to take a shot at trying to remove their fears and exposing them to some of the excitement of this subject so that they are not prejudiced against it at the outset. Bring on the challenge!
Of course, there are going to be plenty of challenges, most notably the sheer enormity of grading a hundred answer sheets after having got used to teaching classes of at most twenty students. I have to find out what is N1's policy about getting senior undergrads or PhD students to TA the course !!
Professor Sanghi recently wrote a series of 5 posts about teaching a course to 500+ students, in which he clearly described the various challenges like language issues, conducting course related activities with big groups of students, copying in class tests/assignments, class performance and last, but not the least, the universal but amusing problem of students sleeping in class!
I too have had students sleep in my class. I think it's okay for someone to sleep in class as long as it is not the instructor [2]. I have also had students show up drunk in my class, though never at N1. I have had students excusing themselves from submitting assignments because their girl friends broke up with them or cheated on them! To survive teaching a large class without losing sanity requires some amount of detachment and a good sense of humour (and, of course, a little bit of sympathy).
I conclude with the following questions:
a) Have you ever taught a large class? If yes, what did you like the most while teaching it? What aspects drove you nuts?
b) Would you consider doing it again, if you had a choice?
c) If you routinely teach large classes, what is it that attracts you to it?
d) Finally, as a present or former student in a large class, which teaching techniques of your instructors do you find effective ?
Suggestions, as always, are welcome.
[1] It's like going to a gym and asking your trainer that you want to lose weight and/or get better abs. If the trainer is worth the money you are paying him/her, s/he will instead tell you to concentrate on strengthening the core and the rest will follow as an incidental by-product.
[2] I try to believe that students sleep in class because they work very hard and spend all night doing assignments.
2 comments:
"I can talk audibly in very big lecture halls without a microphone, I have learnt to write in a clear and large font on the board which is visible even to backbenchers, and most importantly, I have learnt to be patient with students. That is, I no longer get annoyed by students dozing off in class or playing games on computers, as long as they are not disruptive"
Thanks, these points will also help those who are interested in teaching in future..
I've taught summer sessions of what would be the our major first/second year course. So I've missed out on a lot of the dynamics of running a large course, but had the experience of teaching freshmen/to be freshmen/students from all different majors and undecided students sitting in one class at the same time. I have to say, I've rather enjoyed the experience. There were many of the problems that you've suggested (sleeping students, texting students, lame excuses for missed assignments) but there's something about being a freshmen that I find especially charming to teach. Maybe they haven't gotten beaten down and cynical yet. I'd like to teach at that level again, given the chance.
I know that from my first year courses, the professors that were known to be the best teachers were also great entertainers. They didn't much care about whether or not any particular student paid attention in class, thus the problem of student's falling through the cracks in large survey classes. However, they did their best to make their lectures clear and interesting. They interspersed stories, personal or scientific, to bring the material home. They had a very different lecturing style than those that were really good at engaging students in a small upper level seminar.
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