Design Forward
An emergent exploration of critical instructional design.
Design Forward
Portfolio Part: The Positive Influence of Learning and Growing
Your Teaching Origins
The Positive Influence of Learning and Growing
Step One
In the boxes below, Name those things/people/experiences that have shaped your approach to teaching. Describe their Influence. Add as many as you would like.
In the Rank column, try to rank your influences (as best as you can), where the lowest number means the greatest amount of influence.
| Name | Influence | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Keith Barker (KB) | Professor of my college teaching methods class | 1 |
| Most physics professors at R1 universities | What I see makes me cringe and hide my head | 2 |
| Eric Mazur and Randy Knight | Two authors of physics education resources | 3 |
| Mike Day | Professor of my first college physics class | 4 |
| All of my podcast guests | I’m learning so much from my podcast interviews! | 5 and rising |
Step Two
Choose three influences you identified and write three paragraphs about the impact they had on your teaching.
Paragraph 1: Identify specific ways in which these influences can be seen in your teaching.
Paragraph 2: Discuss whether you feel like that overall impact has been positive or negative.
Paragraph 3: Imagine your future teaching self and write how you would like to further integrate or eliminate these influences.
My dedication to teaching first awoke during my graduate school days at UConn, working on my PhD in physics. First, I felt dismay at how most of the physics professors were teaching their courses. They would race through 70 powerpoint slides a class, care little for their students and often belittle them, and I would see these poor students in my office hours for lab. They were having a miserable experience, and this began to awaken in me a desire to do something better. My biggest influence was KB, the professor for the College Teaching Methods course I took (where I also met my wife!!). His caring demeanor, friendly personality, and dedication to the craft of teaching inspired me each and every day — and I also learned so many valuable ideas in the class. In my current teaching, I often come back to: be less like “them” and be more like KB. I was incredibly open to new ideas at that time of my life, and the books on Peer Instruction by Mazur and 5 Easy Lessons in Teaching Physics by Knight were huge influences on my first classes, and those early decisions still ripple through my classes today.
In retrospect, it seems that every influence has led to a positive impact. Certainly my positive experience with my first college physics professor was important, and my time with KB and the authors of those physics ed resources were immensely formative. But even my negative experiences with “research faculty” and their demoralized students have had a positive impact on my own students. I want to pass on a new legacy. Though I must admit, as I continue to see faculty that demoralize and belittle, it just makes me weary.
I know that I need to continue learning and continue growing. Students change each year. Their expectations change. The world’s expectations change. At times I wonder if I might be falling into the same traps that the “old guard” fell into. I just completed the first major exams in all of my courses at PSU, and student performance was lower than I’ve experienced in the past. What does that mean? What is the next step I take from here? I strive to step in the direction of my positive influences, of KB and his leadership in the teaching and learning center, of the authors of influential teaching books, and always learning from my physics education podcast guests, who inspire and enliven me each interview I do. May I continue to be open and growing.
