Teaching Review

On Friday, the professor for the class for which I am a TA sat in on one of my recitations and gave me feedback. Normally this section is fairly talkative, especially for its size (it's very small-- about 7 students), but not so that day.
The professor gave me a lot of good feedback. One thing he mentioned that I really do want to work on is that I am very much the reference point for my class. As such, it makes it hard to get cross-discussion going, even when I verbally try to encourage it. Instead of discussing with each other (as I wish would be done), it's mostly that comments and questions are directed at me, and I am the one to respond, even if it's a response that asks others to respond.
I want this to change, and I'm open to suggestions. One classroom strongly resists rearranging based on the structure (McBride has to be the worst building ever constructed. No windows, classroom in rows, awkwardly placed chalkboards, etc.). Yet I think I may take the couple minutes to have them rearrange the room with me, despite that it will be a pain. Maybe I will have to do this only for a few weeks, is my hope! So I'm hoping to restructure the classroom, and then actually sit in the classroom. I figure I will give some guidelines for how discussion should run, and then hopefully let them have it.

Has anyone tried this before? Are there recommendations for somewhat removing yourself from the classroom, so that students don't feel constrained by it?

Don't work too hard!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/opinion/sunday/relax-youll-be-more-productive.html?pagewanted=all

I think this article brings out some points important to remember for any person, graduate students included. I think it's especially important for being a good teacher. Quite often, I have to juggle different responsibilities, and I have to say, planning for recitations does take time, and there are times when I will find myself trying to rush through it. Yet I know that lowers the quality of my work. I think this article makes a good point that we need to take time to breathe, relax, etc. so that we can be at the top of our game.

Anti-Teaching as Learning

Michael Wesch's article "Anti-Teaching" and the corresponding video by the same educator (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Xb5spS8pmE) definitely provide many points to consider in teaching. In fact, his points transcend the topic of teaching to also gesture at difficulties communicating the value of disciplines that don't seem instrumentally valuable.

In his article, Wesch makes this claim: "Focusing on the quality of learning, rather than the quality of teaching transforms the entire educational agenda." As a philosophy teacher, this is a balance that I struggle with frequently. Any student will take away something different from philosophy s/he reads, so the student is truly an important element in her learning. Yet too often my focus is on the quality of my teaching: am I being true to the philosopher? Am I providing an accurate, fair, and charitable interpretation of the philosopher's work? How much should I indicate where there is weakness in arguments and provide alternatives, versus allowing the student to figure things out for himself?

My goal in teaching philosophy is always the same, each term: provide critical thinking tools for the students to be able to apply to their own lives. I really believe that Socrates spoke truly when he said "The unexamined life is not worth living." It is the closest thing to a personal motto that I have. But at the same time, a substantial part of the students' grades are understanding the material, so that must be a concern in my teaching. I struggle to find the balance between providing students with what they need to achieve a good grade in the course and what they need to become philosophers in their everyday lives.

To that end, I really like the suggestion of reaching out with technology to students, as Wesch emphasizes, and as was discussed in the previous class with Gardener Campbell. This summer I will be teaching my own course (very excited!) and I am making participation count for the grade, despite it being an online class. I plan to have a class blog in which students should take concepts and skills learned in the class (which is a logic class) and apply them to things they come across in their lives: new articles and editorials, memes on facebook, tv shows or movies, even conversations. I want students to apply what they're learning: in my opinion, that's the best part of philosophy. It's why I wanted to go into this field and teach it to others: philosophy transformed the way I saw the world (and made it so much better!).

It's somewhat more challenging as a T.A., though. I don't have the liberty to make blogging a requirement, and so I need to figure out ways to bring these passions into the classroom. In my situation, I don't have all the technological tools at my disposal that can be so helpful in reaching out to students. How can we get the same effects just by using discussion, chalk and chalkboard, pen and paper? If the students aren't into discussing, it is quite difficult to get things moving!