This is the first semester in awhile that I find myself not in the front of a classroom, responsible for 17 or more minds. Instead, I’m a student in another’s classroom, mucking my way through French with the rest. I’ve come to the following conclusion: a teacher should not be a bad student. In sitting in another’s classroom, I should be as eager and as compliant as all the rest of his students. He doesn’t need a silent judge as he goes about his daily work. I will admit that I did work very hard to make sure I was in the classroom of a native speaker of French who was also an experienced teacher, and not one whose style and accent might frustrate me. But I did that when I was an undergraduate, too 🙂
Just after class today I sat down in the department across from a new teacher who was happily chatting her way through a conference with her student. Her style of teaching and mine differ so drastically that I was really put to it: teaching seems to be like church music, in which people vary not only in taste, but also in their assessment of the degree to which they think the issue has ethical weight. To what extent does teaching simply have rules of right or wrong that limit the kinds of variation we might find acceptable? In the case of this afternoon, I frequently felt my eyes widening, and I couldn’t help but feel the profession was being dealt a blow in that hour. But many may feel that way about my own teaching 🙂
On the question of acceptable variation, I wondered what you might think about the following topics (or others you’ve seen arise in your teaching/student days):
1) Is it possible to get too chummy with one’s students? Or should one do something to ensure a bit of distance between oneself and the student–“professionalizing” one’s language and behavior?
2) Is it appropriate to talk to one student, perhaps a favorite student, about the rest of the class?
3) Is it okay to trash other scholars or viewpoints in a conference with a student, or should one always model respectful consideration of all options and scholarly argument?
4) Is it appropriate to swear in front of one’s students?
5) Is it okay to socialize with one’s students outside the classroom?
6) If one disagrees with how the student was taught by a previous instructor, what is an appropriate way to acknowledge that without trashing that teacher or that method?
Erin
Alan Schmierer
whoa. Maybe its because my mom was a teacher, but that list raised my eyebrows… The few occasions where I’ve had a teaching assistant or professor be unprofessional, I have to say that it made me uncomfortable. There are delicate lines with everything in life, some people are more colloquial than others, but I would think that talking to one student about another student is…. well, wrong.
I have a question though… when you started teaching courses at Cornell, did you receive any guidelines, manuals, or rules to follow? I guess my mind is always wandering to whether there’s a legal issue involved… Just curious!
I don’t find “chatting” to be offensive, but the subject of the chatting could be appropriate or not. I think it’s appropriate to express interest in your students’ lives, and I’ll offer non-personal information (“I was in CT this weekend”). I’ve answered your Qs below, but in general, I think a lot of how I feel about these things depends on the nature of the course – is it a seminar or a large lecture? is it an intro course or an advanced one? (and in the case of teaching at UMass – are my students 18 or 45?)
1) Is it possible to get too chummy with one’s students? Or should one do something to ensure a bit of distance between oneself and the student–”professionalizing” one’s language and behavior?
Of course it’s possible to be too-chummy. But one can be professional and friendly at the same time. I try to keep it clear that I’m the professor, and that we’re not going to hang out outside of class, but that I’m approachable.
2) Is it appropriate to talk to one student, perhaps a favorite student, about the rest of the class?
Not to talk about other students behind their backs. I might talk about the class in general (“this one is much quieter than last semester”), but never a particular student.
3) Is it okay to trash other scholars or viewpoints in a conference with a student, or should one always model respectful consideration of all options and scholarly argument?
I try to present all viewpoints, but I think it’s generally evident which ones I favor. In an ideal world, I think I shouldn’t make fun of Freud, but I don’t think that will ever happen.
4) Is it appropriate to swear in front of one’s students?
I do, but only occasionally. They’re adults, and I use the same register I’d use with my professors.
5) Is it okay to socialize with one’s students outside the classroom?
Not while they’re your students. Afterwards, maybe, although I never have.
6) If one disagrees with how the student was taught by a previous instructor, what is an appropriate way to acknowledge that without trashing that teacher or that method?
I’d suggest that newer research shows…. blah blah blah.
Not sure if this was helpful…
-L
Yes, Lisa, that was very helpful. I generally teach classes just the way I like them: small, discussion-oriented seminars. Since you’ve gotten in a lot of practice recently with lecture courses, I was interested to know how you draw those lines.
And Heid, the preparation we had was interesting. I think we got very thorough training (by college-educator standards), in that we got a summer of co-teaching with experienced professors, lots of feedback, and some course-planning sessions. But only discussion of student behavior–not our own–ever came up. I bet, should Cornell get backed into a legal corner, there is a piece of paper somewhere telling us what we should or should not do. But I haven’t ever seen it. And it’s a delicate issue: on the one hand, our advising professors want to guide us newbies, but on the other they don’t want to treat us like children since we’re not-quite-but-soon-to-be colleagues. And, since we’re often not much (if any) older than our students, we may, in turn, have trouble drawing our own boundaries. If anything, most of my colleagues head a bit far in the “boundaries” direction: they dress very formally, speak very formally, and keep their distance to ensure that they get the respect they think necessary in the classroom. But every now and then you get a grad student who doesn’t seem to realize that students may impose their own rules (or lack thereof) if none are presented to them.
Erin
Sorry, I misread #2 — I thought you were suggesting that a colleague was talking about another student, and I was thinking “that sounds like a FERPA violation,” but I see that is not what you were suggesting. You’re right, I’m sure Cornell handed you a thick pamphlet with an attached form they made you sign on the spot, where you acknowledged you’ve been advised of FERPA and other legalities 🙂