If you’re living the graduate student life to the fullest, you’ve most likely already been tasked with teaching or assisting to teach undergraduate students. It can seem like an unimportant burden or an interruption of your own coursework, but it’s an important part of your job and deserves some thoughtfulness and attention. As a former classroom teacher of 11 years and a survivor of instructing undergraduates here at A&M, I thought it might be helpful to list some key pieces of advice that I’ve found impactful to my own teaching. If you are teaching this semester, it might be too late to use all of these, but feel free to file it away for the next time you’re called upon to instruct a course.
 

1. Seek help but make it your own. As you are designing your course, reach out to the professor overseeing the course or other instructors for help and materials that have been used in the past. Ask them about the course and its strengths and weaknesses. Find out how much freedom you have in adjusting the course to your own style. There may be some portions of the course that are outdated or that you feel uncomfortable with teaching – find out if you can adjust those and then improve them as needed.
2. Set clear expectations. Use your syllabus and the first class meeting to lay out clear guidelines for students about course expectations, the calendar, and how they will be graded. Tell students what they will be responsible for learning and how you will be assisting them to learn it. If changes need to be made, tell them how you will inform them of those changes.
3. Be cordial with your students. Don’t be afraid to engage your students in small talk when appropriate. Ask them questions about their studies and future plans. You’re not compromising the integrity of instructorhood if you smile or even tell a joke on occasion.
4. Communicate important information in multiple ways. As you know, people learn differently, so the more variety of instructional strategies you can mix into your classes, the better your chances that your students will gain understanding of the concepts you are presenting. Let them hear you say something, read it in text, watch it on video or via example. If possible, give them chances to actually attempt to perform a task after it’s been taught. Along with this, don’t be afraid to allow your students to purposefully discuss topics with each other in class. Give them a discussion prompt and a few minutes to talk to a classmate. It can provide a welcome break from hearing your own voice and a chance to gauge their understanding.
5. Make yourself available to your students. You’re obviously required to keep regular office hours and some of those will be dictated by your class and work schedules, but I’d encourage you to allow a few minutes immediately after your class to meet with students and answer questions. Students should be thinking of questions they’d like to ask during your class, so giving them the means to do so sooner rather than later is paramount. If possible, hang around your classroom or somewhere nearby to converse with students. If not, I’d recommend having a set time where you are in a less formal setting than your office – maybe a coffee shop or a space in the library or just a certain sunny bench out on campus somewhere.
6. Handle conflict professionally. When (not if) conflict arises, force yourself to see it as a professional matter, not a personal one. Your student may not see it the same way, but they don’t get to control your perspective. When at all possible, stick to your expectations and refer back to them in your course materials. If the student wants to escalate the disagreement, follow the chain of supervision within your department. Make sure you can document what you and the student has or has not done.
7. Let yourself enjoy it. This is easy for me to say – I’m a teacher and I love teaching, but I can also confidently say that I didn’t feel that way every day I taught in secondary schools or every day I taught undergraduate students. Remind yourself that you get a chance to help students discover new knowledge every day and that, for at least some of them, that knowledge may help them find their calling in life. That’s a grand opportunity and one that you shouldn’t take for granted.

 
Lastly, I’d like to refer anyone who would like some more help with their teaching to my colleagues at the Center of Teaching Excellence here at Texas A&M University. CTE provides workshops, consulting, resources, support and certification courses for instructors and students here at A&M. The staff there are all experienced teachers from many fields and do an outstanding job and would be happy to discuss with you how they can help improve your instruction. Check out all they have to offer at cte.tamu.edu.

--- Jeffrey Keese
Jeffrey Keese is a Ph.D. student in the College of Education