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Advice to a New Teacher

27/8/2015

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A student I met a couple of months ago at my university sent me a message via facebook today and asked a question I never expected to answer:
I am going to be teaching for the first time at the uni this coming semester, do you have any advice for a so far non-experienced student lecturer?


This is the response I wrote. I didn't think too much about it; instead I just recalled my own experience as a new instructor:
Well, hmmm... Once upon a time a long time ago I walked into my first classroom as a teacher (I was also an MA student at the time). I had had a couple of weeks of 'talking' training, but I had never yet stood in front of a class to teach. I was very, very nervous. For the first few weeks, I was stuck in this mindset of being a TEACHER and following a lot of rules, many of them things I'd absorbed through my upbringing and movies and whatnot. I was uptight, and my students could tell. One day, though, something cracked open. I don't know, really, what happened. But I was sort of punchy, as if I'd been up all night. I think I'd just over-exhausted myself trying to be in control and it all just fell apart. And that day I relaxed, was even a little goofy, and my students noticed. They even asked if I had spiked my morning soda!

I didn't really relax into teaching for at least another year or two. But I muddled through. It's a learning curve--a steep one--but one that, once you reach the summit, gives you a perspective on your own education and gives you insight into how you learn things. It helps you better relate to other people. That's the best I can explain.

You still end up being a TEACHER and having rules to follow, but you learn how to bend or break them if need be, and you often see the 'trouble' coming from far down the road. Often, that trouble is something that you yourself create through inexperience or some silly mistake. It will take a while to relax into it, so the best thing is to approach it as you being the leader of a group rather than the boss of the group, if that makes sense. I teach writing, and so I try to create a writing 'community'. Perhaps you can do the same thing with your new class; create a community. You're all in it together, after all :)

Also, always have a back-up whiteboard marker, keep good attendance records, and don't be worried that it takes 3 weeks to learn their names. 
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I'm a Guest at Nine Worlds GeekFest 2015

3/8/2015

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I'm a guest again at this year's Nine Worlds GeekFest down in London this weekend! 

I'll be spending more time as an audience member rather than as a guest, however; I've got one panel this yea on the Creative Writing track called Collaborative Writing: How to write with others (and stay friends) at 11.45 on Saturday. That's cool, though, because I am looking forward to the con helping to "jump-start" my brain back into new-idea mode. (I have a bad habit of spacing out sometimes when in the audience at panels, but it's only because I get overwhelmed by all of the ideas that start zooming around, which in turn inspires new writing ideas for me!)


But the best part of the con is that I get to hang out with my peeps and catch up with those who live far away (who I only see at cons or online). 

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    Tiffani Angus

    Mostly thoughts on writing and the creative life.

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