That's such a dumb saying, even though it appeared to be sadly true in some of my experiences growing up in the long-suffering Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system. Teaching well is challenging; I'm experiencing that this semester because I am teaching Biblical Literature at Methodist University in Fayetteville.
Everyone asks, "How did you get that job?!", and it's a fair question, though I won't go into the details now. Suffice to say, a lot of life is made up of coincidence and meeting the right people.
I wasn't (and still am not entirely) sure that I was qualified to teach; not only am I still completing my master's program, I also have imposter syndrome and therefore struggle to accept that people are not completely crazy when they entrust me with important tasks. But aside from the technicality that I have not actually been awarded my master's degree yet, I do, in fact, have more than enough coursework under my belt to meet Methodist's accreditation standards. Weird.
Anyway, the class has been in session for 2 weeks now and therefore has met 4 times, so I decided it was time for a preliminary reflection on how things are going so far. The whole week leading up to the start of classes, I was deeply, deeply anxious. Seriously, the last time I was that anxious, I was medicated for it. I felt like I didn't know what I was doing, I was worried that the students wouldn't take me seriously as an authority figure, I was stressed about the time commitment...it was rough.
The first class went OK. It was short; we just did some preliminary discussion and went over the syllabus. The second class at least filled the allotted time, and I made it through the necessary points about story and narrative. The third class, I tried to add in some group discussion, which seemed to help the students engage the material more. And yesterday's class left me feeling the best about it that I have so far. I don't anticipate that things will continue to improve on to infinity, but at the very least I do feel like I'm gradually getting a grip on things and gaining confidence, and that's pretty cool.
I've already picked up on the fact that it's important to remain flexible in teaching. I've had to gauge where the students are not only in their background knowledge but also in their learning styles. Having grown up in hyper-competitive, high-pressure academic settings, the feel of Methodist is very different (which also probably has to do with the fact that this is a required course, so no one is really in there because they're excited about the Bible). Plus the class is from 3:30-4:45, which is a time of day that I know my body is begging for a nap.
The professor who usually teaches the class has given me his syllabus and lecture notes, so I'm not creating this from scratch. I've been using his lectures as a guide, but as I get my footing and gain confidence, I'm starting to branch out a little more and bring in some of my own material from courses I've taken and readings I've done. Next Tuesday, we're talking about the first sin (Genesis 3), and I'm planning to throw them a curveball by introducing Elaine Heath's version of "the Fall" as presented in The Mystic Way of Evangelism. It's...a slightly different take on the story, and I'm interested to see how the class will respond. I'm also hoping to figure out how to draw on C. S. Lewis' Perelandra. Shoot, I could teach a whole class on Genesis 3 and understandings of the first sin.
So, I'm enjoying teaching so far and am grateful for the opportunity. This will be great experience and, if nothing else, driving to and from Fayetteville twice a week is giving me time to listen to audiobooks. Right now, it's Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex. We'll see what I dig up next.
0 comments:
Post a Comment