Another reason why I recommend limiting the advice you listen to as a new faculty member on the tenure track is that most of the things that academics do are highly individual activities. There’s no one right way to teach or do research, and what works for one person may fail miserably for another.
My favorite example of this is from my first year of teaching. I had a fellowship through grad school, so I didn’t do the usual TA’ing, and came into my tenure track job with very little classroom experience. I have a whole bunch of very capable colleagues, though, so I asked around about things to do in the classroom, and got a whole bunch of suggestions.
One of them was that, in the small sections that we teach (we cap our intro course sections at 18), you can create a more active and welcoming class atmosphere by walking out into the room, rather than standing near the board lecturing. That made sense, and seemed doable, so I gave it a try.
Now, the guy who made that suggestion is on the short side of average height. I’m 6’6″ tall (just under 2m, for furriners), and at the time, I was on the high side of 290lbs (132 kg). When I walked out from the board, and circulated among the class, I didn’t create a more inclusive atmosphere. I created stark terror– the expressions on the students’ faces were just this side of fleeing extras in Cloverfield.
I spent a class or two trying that, then gave up. At my size and volume level (a student last year wrote on an evaluation form “He is loud and intense”), I need to keep a bit of distance from the class when I lecture. (I also probably ought to close the door, but the rooms get really stuffy, so I leave it open, and everybody in the building gets to hear me talk about electromagnetism…)
There are lots of other examples. A different colleague strongly recommended against saying anything the least bit sarcastic in class, becaus some student would be sure to take it the wrong way. I can’t do that, either– I tried for a while but the snarky asides just come out on their own, and my lectures are better when I just roll with that. I make an effort to rein it in around the ocasional student with Asperger’s, but that’s as much as I can manage.
In general, while it’s a good idea to seek input from people with more classroom experience than you have, you also have to filter that advice through what you know about yourself. If you’re not funny in normal situations, don’t try to crack jokes in front of a class. On the other hand, if you are funny, don’t feel you need to be stuffy and professorial. If you’re small and quiet, you may need to work to assert authority over the class, but if you’re loud and intense, you may get that authority automatically– in fact, the same classroom control methods that other people find essential may come off as fascist when used by a larger, louder person.
This carries over to research, as well. Some people are very good at working in short bursts– they can block out an hour a day, and make steady progress. Others need the better part of an hour just to remember where they left off last time. You know which sort you are, so adjust your schedule accordingly. If you’re not the sort of person who can make progress an hour a day, don’t feel you need to use that method– put all your classes and office hours on the same days, and block out a whole day, or a couple of afternoons for research time.
And, of course, there’s always service. If you like working with students, seek out campus service activities that involve student life. Don’t feel like you need to get involved with committees setting curriculum policy in order to show that you’re a Serious Intellectual– do what works for you.
The key to getting tenure is to do the best possible job at teaching, research, and service. You know, or ought to know, what works for you, so focus on doing those things in that manner. You’ll do a better job that way than by hewing too closely to advice that doesn’t transfer well to your personal style, and your chances of success will be better.
ya gotta find yer own way. Advice is good, but there is no users manual really.
CHAD-ZILLA!!!!!!!!
“When I walked out from the board, and circulated among the class, I didn’t create a more inclusive atmosphere. I created stark terror– the expressions on the students’ faces were just this side of fleeing extras in Cloverfield.”
Made me laugh out loud. Thanks
We have a faculty member who is probably bigger than you ever got (easily 6’8) so I was howling as I imagined him trying to mover around in our classrooms to follow that advice. I don’t think it is physically possible for you or him to fit down the narrow aisles in most of our classrooms or even our labs.
Excellent advice on teaching.
The best teaching advice I ever got was from a fellow grad student who told me to be myself: relate to 30 or 60 kids the same way I relate to one of them. (It was much like the advice over at Dean Dad’s today about interviewing skills as he reflected on his apparently failed job search this year and how interviews look from both sides of the table. You can’t fake it for very long.) As you put it, filtering the advice you get (much of which has useful kernels in it) through that principle can really work. For example, if you can’t wander the room, find another way to accomplish the same learning goals.
Have you considered the opposite strategy – sitting down? I know of a few teachers who do that- not while working at the board, obviously, but when asking and answering questions or embarking on a verbal disquisition. In a small section, talking to students from a chair (but probably not from behind a desk) might do a lot to counteract the Godzilla effect.
I find that my students get a bit confused if I sit down too much. On the other hand, they are absolutely loving the videos and applets I hunt down to illustrate points (god bless geeks with too much time on their hands, like the lady who did the doppler duckies).
I may be about 5’11”, somewhere around 105 or 110 kilos, but that’s pretty much irrelevant. Instead, the fact that I have started them getting up, moving around during concept map exercises and labs and such has been much more important. Sitting passively creates a much larger power imbalance than being up and active. And it wakes them up after a full day’s work before they’ve even come to class…
I’m a whopping 5’6″ and 140 lbs (maybe). I also get loud and intense though 🙂
Perhaps you and I can lecture together Chad – I can climb on your shoulder like Yoda.
Students educate them will we
At this point I’m still collecting advice so that I can filter it out (which is definitely necessary before trying to apply the advice).
However, I can say that I fight judo tournaments in the -132 weight class—not kilos. Pounds. It’s probably safe for me to walk around the classroom.