In having a personal situation that I cannot really discuss, but that is causing great drama, I’ve thought about teaching and how what we learn in this career has great lessons for life, especially when you are teaching college students. This situation has nothing to do with teaching, but instead daycare for my child.
I have been teaching for four years at multiple schools and many different classes. When I started teaching I was nervous, not as good as I am now, and took everything to heart. However, I’ve become a better teacher, a good one if I might say. But importantly this meant learning some lessons. One, you have to be strong and believe in yourself. You won’t be perfect all the time, but that doesn’t mean you are globally bad. Two, if students have concerns, listen to them and work with the concerns. If you can’t change something, listening without defense helps the situation tremendously for both you and the student. Three, students will always give you critique.. there is going to be something that they will not like. But this doesn’t mean they do not like you nor that your entire class or teaching is horrible. And, sometimes these critiques or concerns can help you as a teacher improve your teaching and the class or help a certain students succeed.
Have I always been the best in every situation. No, I’m human. But have I learned as I have aged and gained more teaching experience. Yes and I’ve learned that criticism will always be there, but you cannot let this bring you completely down.
When younger grad students talk to me about teaching now, I feel some of the most important things I can tell them is that you have to develop your own style and feel comfortable in the classroom. You have to understand you will not please everyone. If a student has a concern or critique, listen to it. You may be able to change some things, but at the least I think students want someone to hear them out (granted we can talk about college as a business relationship, but I think there is still a power dynamic b/w students and the instructor). At the least, this opens communication between you and the student, which can have positive effects on their learning and your teaching. Every job is full of critiques… this is part of work and life. You have to decide how to deal with these and learn to do so in a professional manner.
