Thinking about who you are can help inform your approach to designing your course to maximize your strengths—design assessments and lesson plans that do not require you to be the leader. For one assessment, I had students make infographics to summarize the unit we just covered. I printed out everyone’s infographic, with their names removed, of course, and taped them to blackboards in the room. Everyone had an opportunity to write comments next to the infographics before we discussed all of them. I was still able to gauge the students’ understanding of the material but to do so in a way that did not require lots of talking from me. Another activity that I enjoy using is having students lead a discussion on a paper reinforcing an important concept from the unit. While I still participate, it gives me a break from being the leader and lets me be an observer.
24 | Authenticity
What if this is your first-time teaching, or you simply want to get through your teaching assignment to get on with your research? Are there some characteristics that you can utilize to get a start and avoid getting negative student reviews? Student evaluations of instructor quality are often tied to the different personality traits displayed by instructors (Kim & MacCann, 2018). Students have their own definition of what it means to be authentic and which traits they associated with being authentic. Students use five broad traits to evaluate the authenticity of an instructor: approachable, passionate, attentive, capable, and knowledgeable (Table 1) (De Bruyckere
& Kirschner, 2016; Johnson & LaBelle, 2017). By being organized, providing timely feedback, and clearly relating course concepts, you can fulfill some of the indicators used by students to assess authenticity for being attentive, capable, and knowledgeable (Johnson & LaBelle, 2017). To be thought of as approachable and passionate, students are looking for excitement, for you to share personal stories, and to talk to them outside of class (Johnson &
LaBelle, 2017). Having enthusiasm for what you are doing is another common trait described by students as beneficial for instructor authenticity (Keller et al., 2018).
The behaviors that make an instructor seem inauthentic are the opposite of the aforementioned traits: not sharing personal stories or details, not getting to know the students, being bored by the content, being slow to provide feedback, being disorganized, and being unsure of the material being taught (Johnson & LaBelle, 2017). Sometimes, it may seem difficult to avoid these negative behaviors; but, by trying to play to your strengths, you can still be authentic.
Table 2.1 Behaviors students use to assess teacher’s (in)authenticity. Indicators of authenticity Indicators of inauthenticity Approachable Using personal stories Telling jokes Talking with students outside of class Availability outside of office hours
Unapproachable
Not sharing personal stories Ignores students outside of class Lack of office hours Does not attempt to get to know students Passionate Excited about content Enthusiasm for teaching Lack of passion Seems bored Not excited to be teaching Attentive
Listening to students Providing feedback Knowing names Checking in on well-being
Inattentive
Avoids questions Does not know names Does not help students Avoids student feedback Capable
On-time and prompt Organized Detailed assignments, syllabus, and expectations
Incapable
Unprepared and disorganized Unclear expectations Reading from presentation or book Disrespectful Rude and/or dismissive of students Authoritarian
I was a TA for two sections of a lab for a class called woody landscape plants.
The lab was essentially walking around campus and teaching students how to identify the plants they learned about in the lecture portion. This was one of those class experiences where the TA is only a week ahead of the students learning the course material. I know insects, not plants. I took a risk with the students and let them know I was learning the material a week ahead, rather than hide behind an authoritarian streak and tell them what everything was with no room for questions. For graduate student TAs, this can be a strategy when forced to teach a class outside of your expertise.
Being honest rather than authoritarian maintains your credibility with the students (Pytlak & Houser, 2014). I also used the students as a resource by having them demonstrate how they remembered the characteristics of the different plant species.
The nature of this lab gave me the chance to talk more informally with the students. We would trek across campus for the lab looking at plants, providing ample time to talk with students. Getting out of the classroom did not require me to be a talk show host. I often asked about the lecture portion of the class. Or, after spring break, we all shared photos of plants that we recognized from class. Once it warmed up enough for insects to become active, I could tie some of my passion into the course content that I was less familiar with. I was always ready to seize the moment and the insect when the opportunity presented itself to bring insects into the discussion.
There were some natural opportunities to use insects to enhance the class experience by providing more details about some specific interactions between plants and insects. I pointed out the little balls of fluff on hemlock trees that are the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid. There I was, describing the unique pollination relationship between yucca moths and the yucca plant. The most engaging opportunity was giving everyone a leaf from a boxwood plant and having them split it open to see the boxwood leafminer’s larvae on the inside. The students in the class seemed to enjoy these little asides, as it brought the course content back to an area that I am passionate about.