The beginning of the semester is always the most daunting experience. Student's faces and names are new. And for some of us the question "will they like me" arises.
I am one of those people. I feel that if the students like the Instructor they are more willing to learn.
This might be a misgiving. Discipline requires a degree of objectivity and distance.
The other day I asked "Do you find this material boring?" And one brave student said yes. I received mixed messages about this statement: "He was rude and shouldn't have said that." versus "He was expressing his feelings and that's good for trust."
I responded to his statement with this: "I will do the best to make this material interesting, but we have to get through these key concepts."
The following week everyone was saying "This is boring Ms."
And I wondered, did my question spark an epidemic? Are they saying and feeling this because I asked?
At the beginning of the semester I tend to include a lot of informative lessons on Composition. Like "How to Write an Essay" and "What is Summary Writing." Then I emphasize on these skills through the texts we study in class. Perhaps my method is wrong. Perhaps I should spread out these lessons throughout the course more evenly. Perhaps I shouldn't have asked "Are you bored?"
But my instinct is to please the students so they respond to material discussed in class. And for the most part they do respond. Answering questions like "What is a thesis?" and "Is this argumentative?"
I'm still new to teaching so I wonder where do we draw the line between friendly and lovable and firm and strict?
