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Advice for teachers

My head of department asked the postgrads who teach classes to give some advice to new teachers. Here’s what I wrote. I think it applies to areas of teaching beyond linguistics.

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Here are some ideas to think about, though obviously everyone will have to do things their own way.

• Ask yourself: Why do you like linguistics? You’re probably in this area because you think it’s sort of cool. And it is! So show your students what you love about linguistics. They will pick up on your enthusiasm.

• Try and remember one teacher that you liked. What did they do? Why did you like them? For me, I remember Marge Foland, my drama teacher. She was fun and ‘sparky’, with a zany sense of humour. She expected great work from us, and we were happy to give it. I don’t teach just like she did because I’m a different person, but I do find that that kind of style works for me. Whatever your teacher did that clicks with you is an indicator of a teaching style that you’ll probably do well at.

• Teaching is a lot like parenting. You have to convey expectations clearly to your students, give them nurturing feedback, and dish out consequences when they need it. (Warm and fuzzy, not cold and prickly.) Also, you must like your students.

• People learn by doing things. Try and take every opportunity to present students with real live data, and have them deal with it. Focus on the principle you’re trying to reinforce. Often what will happen is that they’ll run up against the limits of their knowledge, and struggle to find a solution. Then they’re ready for you, the experienced one, to provide some suggestions for moving ahead.

• No one expects you to be infallible, just reasonably well-read and well-informed. A great thing to say is “I don’t know” and the next thing you should always say after that is “How could we find out?” And it’s not bad to follow that up with “If I had to make a guess, I’d say… And the reason I say that is…” When you say these things, you’re preparing them to solve their own problems.

• Let them talk to each other and contribute their unique experiences to the class. I do a lot of small group discussion in tutorials. When I’m doing all the talking in the tutorial, I know something’s wrong. Step back and let them work through the issues without you. You may worry that they’ll reinforce each others’ mistakes, but that doesn’t usually happen. Groups of people are smarter than their smartest member, so they’ve got a better chance of getting it right. Sometimes they come up with ideas I haven’t thought of. And they get a chance to contribute, so they’re building the class.

• Always have a contingency plan. Activities run short or sometimes just don’t work, and you’ll need to have something else to do. Even having a few discussion questions up your sleeve can save the day. Don’t be afraid to toss the lesson plan and have a discussion they’re interested in, if the tutorial goes that way. Let them drive. Some of the best tutorials are like that.

• Teach the scientific method. Our data comes from the physical world. We develop testable and falsifiable hypotheses to explain the data, and if the hypotheses don’t correspond to the facts, we modify or dump them. We have many perceptual filters and biases that prevent us from seeing things clearly, and we have tools like statistics to help us avoid these traps. Find out about them. Use issues in linguistics to teach the basics of critical thinking, including the virtues of open-mindedness and skepticism. Avoid holy wars. By teaching students the scientific method, we’re not just doing good linguistics, we’re building a populace that is better equipped to live in the world, even after they’ve forgotten all the things we’ve presented.

2 Comments

  1. And that would be why you’re one of the best, if not the best, teachers I’ve ever had!

  2. Perfect timing to find this, what with my prac next week and all, but you forgot a few things. (Hope you dont mind me saying).
    1. Ability to diffuse a situation. You put two girls together to do partner work, but neither are in the mood to look at parallel distribution or whatever, so they start up their own conversation about how they hate it when customers do certain things at work. You join in the conversation, being friendly about it and taking in their knowledge not to do xxxxx next time you get your groceries, but you also do it in a manner that tells the girls that they should be doing their work, not talking about stupid customers.

    2. Help them if needed and be approachable. Encourage the students to use WebCT boards to mull over problems. More importantly, check said boards late at night when an assignment is due the next day.
    Encourage study groups, even if they ransack your office for the answers to the assignment.
    Teach impromptu classes to 5 people in the tutorial room just before the final exams, and answer their questions, after all, its easier to get an answer from the tutor than trekking down to the library and searching through shelf upon shelves of books looking for the one definition which isn’t even in the damn books.
    Secondly, if students come and sit and have a game of boggle whilst listening to some sweet 80s hardcore, you know your job with student-teacher relations is done. You have officially been deemed “approachable”

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