Anyone teach at the College level?

[lightning]

Back in the fall, I accomplished a small goal of mine, which was to become a part-time (Adjunct) College Professor. Being that it appears I forgot to mention my little triumph to the board back then, I am proud to say that I am one week away from successfully finishing my first semester at my Alma mater. :banana:

Having never taught before, to say I was "nervous" at the start of the semester would be an understatement (it is a WEIRD feeling to be on this side of the fence at only 26 years old, as most of my students were only 5 or 6 years younger then me!). However, I survived (lol), and it definitely became easier as the weeks went on. Teaching at the college level is something I have always wanted to do, and its definitely something I could see doing for fun in the future as it is extremely rewarding (it was also nice to finally put my MBA to a little use! lol). It also became a decent little part-time job at night, although I can see now why no one becomes a Professor with the hopes of getting rich.

Anyways, just figured Id see if we had any other teachers/professors on the board.

 

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[hakrjak]

My Fiance is looking at teaching at an online University to make a few extra bucks, and have some flexibility with the hours. She hasn't started yet, but it's in the works.

Cheers,

- Hakrjak

 

[John]

I've taught adjunct college classes off and on over the last several years and really enjoyed it. I started when I was around 24, so I can relate to how you felt when getting started. The hardest part for me was the "non-traditional" students. Some of these people were my parents' age and had been in the workforce for longer than I'd been alive!

I've been too busy lately to take on any classes but I really miss it and would like to get back into it. It's definitely not something you do for the money, but I really enjoyed it.

I felt that I could really help out the students by bringing in a more entrepreneurial and real-life experience based view of the subject matter as compared to what they typically got from their full-time professors.

 

[yveskleinsky]

I've taught ESL (English as a second language) at the college level, and I absolutely loved it. The class was always full of students from all over the world, and was always very entertaining to say the least. I always hated foreign language classes in school as I always got stuck with mean teachers who made me feel stupid. So I vowed never to be that way. ...I'm probably a very non-traditional teacher, as I didn't focus so much on grammar and sentence structure, but more on getting students to build their self-esteem to the point where they felt comfortable speaking English in public. To me getting over the fear and embarrassment of learning a new language was half of the battle. Once everyone felt reasonably comfortable, then we'd move onto the basics. ... lol, so many good memories.

 

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[NoMoneyDown]

I've taught ESL (English as a second language) at the college level, and I absolutely loved it. The class was always full of students from all over the world, and was always very entertaining to say the least. I always hated foreign language classes in school as I always got stuck with mean teachers who made me feel stupid. So I vowed never to be that way. ...I'm probably a very non-traditional teacher, as I didn't focus so much on grammar and sentence structure, but more on getting students to build their self-esteem to the point where they felt comfortable speaking English in public. To me getting over the fear and embarrassment of learning a new language was half of the battle. Once everyone felt reasonably comfortable, then we'd move onto the basics. ... lol, so many good memories.

That sounds almost like a college Spanish teacher I had for Spanish II. She didn't get along too well with the administration, and told us point blank the first day that the lowest grade each of us would get would be a 'B' provided we attended class 90% of the time and "had fun." It turned out that this actually removed a lot of the stress (from me and from others I talked to in the class), and it ended up being one of the best classes I had.

 

[yveskleinsky]

Yeah, my whole philosophy was to get them to learn and not be so stressed about grades or the "details" of language. You gotta tear down the walls first before any true progress can be made. I always wanted my students to know that I didn't really believe in grades--I believed in feedback, and the first week of class I'd tell everyone that they'd be getting an A, regardless of what they turned in or how often they came to class. I didn't want them to get hung up about a GPA or getting an 85 on a quiz. To me that was the wrong focus. I wanted them to focus on learning and trying new things. ...We had weekly quizzes, and reports but they were never given a grade. I would circle mistakes, and then we would go over it in class. I actually found that when you take away grades and make students stretch themselves--and make it all for their benefit that about 80% of them produce a greater volume of quality work. ...I also encouraged students to bring in food as often as possible. (College students show up for free food--and I wasn't above bribery, lol.) All their assignments, quizzes and projects were kept in a portfolio that I gave back to them at the end of the year, so they could actually see how much they'd learned and how far they'd come.

...This philosophy didn't serve me well at all when I taught junior high. I got in big trouble when I was co-teaching a remedial literature class and was focusing on Stephen King instead of Shakespeare. ...I lasted there less than a semester. Sigh. Now don't get me wrong, I love Shakespeare, but when working with kids who already feel stupid and hate reading to begin with, why not start with something engaging, and then move to something more advanced? Throwing Shakespeare at them from day one just turned them off even more.

The whole concept of fitting the child into outdated curriculum never worked for me. I'd just see all these kids falling between the cracks and it would just break my heart. The whole education system is so antiquated. Why is it that we expect kids to be good at all subjects, but as adults we know that we have our strengths and weaknesses and we do what we're good at and hire out or avoid the rest? Why can't we cut kids some slack and focus on what they're good at and try to figure out how to make the subjects that they hate somewhat palatable?

Sorry, that was a long rant, lol. ...Just lots of memories there.