For so many years, I have been the student sitting and learning in various classroom environments. I have experienced so many different teaching methods, student-teacher interactions, and classroom environments without truly reflecting on what I appreciated the most about these various encounters.
After teaching my first lecture just last week, I learned a lot about how I would want to approach a similar class or lectures in the future. I learned that just talking from a PowerPoint for 45 mins straight is not me at all and actually what I even despised in my time in the classroom. Now that being said PowerPoint do definitely have their space and I plan to still use them in the future, but not for the entire class. I am an enthusiastic, critical thinking, problem-solving, and caring person who also cannot seem to sit down for more than 30 min straight. So, just lecturing to a class for 45 min to 1hr and 15min straight really is not staying true to myself.
I think that an active learning approach where students are moving thinking and problem solving is much better suited and interesting for them and myself. For example, the class I taught last week was lower limb anatomy; while the lecture went over well and the student seemed to understand the concepts, I talked about many seemed disengaged and worried about other parts of the class or life. Reflecting on this experience, I want to adjust my approach and my teaching plans for the next time I lecture to include various aspects. The first of these is an opener where students can take a breath, move for a second and check mentally into class. Second, I want to make the material into a critical thinking exercise or problem-based. For example, having the students move their leg forward and try to identify muscles being used, then use a couple slides to go over these muscles and how they generate the movement.
Lastly, a big concept for me and generating a classroom environment would be to cultivate an environment where students feel heard and where individualistic ideas and problems can be brought up. As someone who is every people oriented and wanting to better people’s lives it is important I bring that into my classroom and remember that each individual has their challenges, concepts that are harder to grasp, and life circumstance that play into who they are and how they will interact with class.
With all of that being said, I am still unsure of what My Authentic Teaching Self entirely is, and I have a feeling it will be an iterative process for years to come.