I taught my last class of the semester today. Thank God.
Teaching at ACC has been a…well, I guess the best word is “educational”…experience. I mean, I have learned a lot. It’s been up and down. I’ve certainly enjoyed the experience and the opportunity to spend some good time really digging into the subject matter…but it’s left me wondering if I am really desiring/cut-out to do this.
I’m really good at having information and talking and being able to sound like I know what it is that I’m talking about…yep…certainly got that going for me. But my problem is that I’m not (yet) a good teacher. For the couple of students that are from a more “Western”-style school system (we’re talking Greco-Roman-philosophical kind of “western” here, not high-noon-shootout, by the way) I think I’m good; those who are used to long lectures and note-taking have done well. But there are very few of them. The majority of my students tend to not respond well to this sort of teaching, as evidenced by the glazed-over looks that I receive after about the first ten minutes of each class period as well as the mad rush to the door the moment I give even a hint of wrapping the class up. I’ve tried to incorporate more teaching techniques to communicate in different ways, but I think that I’m certainly going to need to do more of that in the future.
Ethics worked well for me. It was a discussion-oriented type of class. I could bring in different elements to help break up the monotony. It was also more concrete.
New Testament and Deuteronomy are much more information-oriented (thus my lectures) and abstract subjects. I didn’t have the resources available for as much video usage and all that.
I’m glad the semester is done. I feel as though I’ve been trying to coast to the end…or maybe claw my way…I’m not sure which. In one class I felt as though I was running out of things to say; in the other I felt like I had plenty to say but that my class’s brains were all full. Neither is a good situation. But I’ve made it. Now I can go about figuring out how to do it better…
Like the honesty, Luke. I’m glad you get a little break. I think its important to like what you are doing… if you don’t like it, they won’t like it. Praying for you :)