I posted recently about my teaching style and how it seems to work pretty well for me and also for my students. Last week I had an opportunity to get some feedback from another teacher, the head of the developmental english department. She usually observes new instructors in the classroom for about 30 minutes as they lecture.

I admit that I was anxious about this at first. I was told to be prepared to lecture on a topic for half an hour and then assign my students a task that they could work on while she and I spoke about my teaching. I really wasn’t sure what to expect. My first impression of this department was that it was fairly formalized and rigorous. I assumed I would be expected to stick to the provided syllabus to a tee.

This was hard for me to do. I had problems with it from day one as the syllabus, though well-written and put together for the most part, just didn’t suit my teaching style very well. Also, I felt that, at this level, the language and structure of the syllabus and curriculum as designed, were a little too technical for the typical student taking this course. Keep in mind, this is a developmental course designed to prepare students for college level composition, that is, comp 101.

So, I decided to lecture for a bit on a grammar topic. I’m expected to inject a little grammar into each lesson without beating students over the head with it. I try to keep it brief and interactive and then go right back into writing so that they can apply whatever principle they’ve just learned or had refreshed.

The department head arrived early as I was having my students workshop their papers with each other and I was going around the room and assisting. I then warned her that my style was pretty casual and that I usually didn’t spend a whole lot of time on grammar. She said that was fine and that I could do whatever I usually did.

With that said, I went into a relatively short discussion of point of view. We talked about the importance of consistency and how it could be okay to switch point of view, but it had to be done consciously and with a purpose. During this time, I kept up my usual way of engaging with the class: I called on them by name and teased them a little when necessary to get them to take part in the discussion.

When I was finished, I let the students take a short break while my department head and I spoke about my teaching. I was prepared to be critiqued, but was surprised to find that she actually liked my style. She said my students liked me and that the class was involved. I was also relieved to hear that it was ok for me to change the syllabus and drop some of the busy work.

It’s funny that she asked me if I was going to teach next term and I responded with some reluctance. I had been thinking that I might take some time off from teaching in order to take a breather and also spend some time on other things. Her reaction was that I definitely should teach next term and keep teaching in the future.

After this, I found it hard to say no and it looks like I’ll be teaching this class again next term. Teaching is a lot of work and takes a great deal of effort. In a way, it’s easy for me, but it’s still takes time and energy that I sometimes wish I could devote to other things (like writing). All in all, I have to say that the experience of teaching college students over the last couple of years has been a good one for me and very valuable to my own development, as a person and as a writer. I’m glad I’ve done it and I will most likely continue teaching for a while.