Hi all,

Just found out I will be teaching part-time this semester. I'm so pleased to have the opportunity but I just know I'm going to be SO nervous! I've just started my second year and I'm 22...I get nervous in the silliest of situations so God knows how I'm going to cope with this!

Any tips/advice/stories will be hugely appreciated.

I'll be teaching this semester too and I'm the same age and year as you. I advise not revealing your age (just in case it causes issues with those undergrads who took two gap years and so are practically your age) but otherwise just remember that you know lots about your subject and try to be confident and enjoy the experience.

Prepare really well and take notes with you (although try to make sure you don't need them). To come across more knowledgeable have really empty slides i.e. 1-3 bullet points. This means you have to talk around the subject - which means you come across more intelligent, the students can't read ahead and get bored, they have to come to the lecture to work out what it is all about and they can't prepare annoying questions to stump you!

If you get annoying questions/challenges to what you present then use it as an opportunity to open it up for a debate - then you can tick your 'group working' box.

Mix up lecture sections with group tasks, get the students to do mini presentations/work in groups/solve set problems with innovative solutions.

Don't fall into the 'shouting circle' - don't start trying to shout over them if they are talking. Just be quiet and wait until they listen.

Good Luck - its not as daunting as you think!

It's all about practice.  Everything is. Also, teaching isn't about being an expert in the teaching material, it's about knowing fractionally more about the material than the person/people that you're teaching - thus creating the illusion of being an walking bank of knowledge and expertise.

my biggest tip would be watch out for mature students - they WANT to learn so can be a bit tricky - ask difficult questions and have often read ahead of the class. Have a few references to chuck at them if they challenge you - "if you refer to smith and jones 2005, they discuss that in greater detail, however....." It makes them think they are getting more out of the class and makes you think that you are able to handle all sorts of questions!

======= Date Modified 08 Sep 2009 17:40:54 =======
Thanks to all for the advice.



I'm meeting the head of department on Thursday (he's also my sup) so after that I'll know what I'm actually teaching which should make it easier! I guess I just have to prepare the best I can and then get stuck in there and see what happens. I just really, really don't want to go in there visibly full of nerves.



The reference idea is very clever Sneaks ;-) I'll be using that! Splitting into groups to work on tasks could work too and would take the pressure off me for a little while.



As an aside, I feel suprised that I've been allowed to do it and very happy. It's strange that you (or I at least) fret about being able to do these things at the beginning- conferences, teaching etc- and then, I don't know about anybody else, but eventually things start to fall into place and accumulate until you look back and think 'wow, I did all of that!' I was the world's most under-confident PhD student until recently and its strange to see that a year on I actually appear to be ticking along fine. I don't know if I'm making any sense here, just pondering...

Hi

i dont think age is an issue. I will properly teach from next month, but did some last yr, and many were much older than me, most were a yr younger or near my age, and a few 2 yrs younger that's all..

it works fine, I have a rather strange mix of a personality: i am a very forward going, talkative, chirpy kind with a very serious, bespectacled, sometimes even unsmiling (!) academic self in parallel.... I am told I switch too fast...I dont quite know what the mix looks like... weird perhaps, but will know soon :-)

Hi Keep Calm, yeah, I second Bug on the age thing. Just don't think about it, you are there because of your academic strengths, not your age.

You'll get used to it, just have a good plan of what you want to cover in the sessions, and of how you are going to do it. If you are teaching a humanities subject, it's a good idea to have some activities/tricks up your sleeve incase the discussion dries up. I'm sure there's a thread on teaching tips on the forum somewhere. Also, I find warm up/getting to know eachother excercises useful at the start of term, especially for first years, or with groups who don't know eachother. Good luck, you'll be fine.

======= Date Modified 08 Sep 2009 22:25:36 =======
Gosh, where to start?? Are you lecturing or tutoring? I haven't done lecturing, but have tutored. There is a lot to learn - about how to engage students, how to teach in various ways as students have different ways of learning, communicating effectively with international students, how to assess and give structured feedback - a whole new world to learn. My uni had a tutor development program, which consisted of 7 classes and homework in between, and this helped me enormously. It was especially useful in giving me ideas on how to conduct a different range of small group exercises, to keep the tutorials moving and interactive. You should see if your uni has a similar program - they're bound to - they're not going to send you in unprepared.



The three most important things I learnt was that in tutes, students are there to do most of the talking. Also that it is possible to get every student engaged and learning, even if they don't say anything in class. And finally, breathe and relax! I used to get so nervous - I felt like each tutorial was like a job interview, and I'd be pumped up on adrenaline for the whole class. A day of teaching used to wipe me out. But then I learnt how to structure classes, how to conduct group work effectively and get them to do the work, and it was fine. I even enjoyed it by the end of the semester.



Also, be careful how much work you put into teaching - it can really take you away from writing your thesis. Good luck!

Haha, I am having EXACTLY the same panic right now! I ran seminars with second year undergrads this year but there were two of us running them and only about 20 students in each group. Plus we were told pretty much exactly what we had to teach and how to do it. Even with this, I was really nervous. I have found out today that I will be the teaching assistant on my supervisor's third year module this year, which means that at times there will be 60-80 students and just me...I am absolutely cacking it!!! I remember the time when I did that module and looked up to the PhD students as though they were gods and must know everything there is to know, and now I'm gonna be standing up there I am being hit by reality! Oh well, all good experience I guess.....let us know how you get on! KB

I love this forum *group hug* Thanks for all the advice and support so far.

I saw my head of deaprtment today and I start teaching in 2 weeks time (still can't give me an exact date for my first class). It is tutoring, Sue, so I'm mainly there, as you say, to facilitate conversation. It's a year long introduction to literature module, so I'll be covering ground right from the early modern period (my 'area') up to very recent stuff which I'm less confident with.

Everything seems still up in the air at this point. I haven't got an academic CV yet (naughty me) so I need to get that written and sent off by tomorrow, apparently. There is some kind of induction for new tutors , but again he couldn't give me a date, only that it will be before I start teaching. I don't know how much will be dealt with in terms of teaching methods/ techniques. My main port of call will be lecturers in the deaprtment and I've been e-mailing around today trying to organize meetings.

People keep telling me I'll be 'great' and I think that, if I can get past the nerves and feeling of inadequacy, that I could actually be a very good tutor (if I do say so myself). My supervisor said today that as soon as I walk in the door the students will accept me as their tutor, for better or worse. People aren't going to stage mass demonstrations and question my position every time I slip up (my secret fears).

Keenbean, 60 to 80 students!! I do not envy you at all! (But I'm sure you'll be fine! (up) )