A richer semester ~ with Brian Goedde~
Old is New Again
I’m teaching a class entirely online for the first time this semester— a section of ENG 226, Composition II, the last class in the Composition sequence. I’ve taught the course many times before, so I’m confident it will go well, but the new venue makes me terribly nervous. It’ll take some work, time, practice, preparation—and yes, I’m sure it will take some mistakes—to overcome my jitters.
I feel like a brand new teacher again. What a valuable experience it has been already.
Here’s a question I face for my first day: do I make all this known to my students? When I first stepped into a college classroom as a teacher, seven years ago, I didn’t let my students know that it was my first time teaching. I didn’t want to show vulnerability. I put on my professorial “game face,” and from what I remember, my act got me through that first semester just fine.
Over time, however, I have realized a pedagogical golden rule: show vulnerability. Admit when you’re wrong, when you’re mistaken, when you’ve mis-stepped. Don’t fake it. Say you don’t know something if you don’t know it. Crafting a “teaching persona” is an essential part of the job, but your students didn’t come for your “act”; they came for their education.
So, I’ve decided to tell my students I’m new to online teaching. Who knows—I might regret it. But if it is a mistake, my jitters will have at least subsided.
Brian Goedde
English Department
Washtenaw Community College