Adam the Teacher
I've gone through both of my Teaching Assistant trainings now and have learned a lot. Although I am currently assigned to assist with New Testament, I may very well switch with my wife and be doing Dynamics of Spirituality instead (if her Hebrew class in fact gets moved to another time). I now know that I will actually be standing up in front of a class of either 30 (NT) or 60 (Spirituality) college students and either leading them in a discussion of previously taught material six times (NT) or teaching them new material an indeterminate number of times (Spirituality). Either way, it's a big step! In fact, at the general TA training I learned that some students will call me Prof. Rasmussen (!) by default, though at the Theology TA training I learned that we should forbid them from doing so.
Not only do I have to worry about teaching/leading a discussion, but I also have to worry about students who do not pay attention, sleep, text message, cheat, plagiarize, and/or play games on their laptop! For some reason, although I've been working towards becoming a professor for a while now, it is only just now during these trainings that I've actually thought about some of the practical and disciplinary issues involved in teaching. I've been so focused on the scholarship that I've paid little attention to the act of teaching! Fortunately, for my elective this semester I am taking a Teaching and Learning class about religious education, which should be most helpful.
It's so nice to finally feel like I'm making real progress towards my professional goals, beyond simply taking classes.
Not only do I have to worry about teaching/leading a discussion, but I also have to worry about students who do not pay attention, sleep, text message, cheat, plagiarize, and/or play games on their laptop! For some reason, although I've been working towards becoming a professor for a while now, it is only just now during these trainings that I've actually thought about some of the practical and disciplinary issues involved in teaching. I've been so focused on the scholarship that I've paid little attention to the act of teaching! Fortunately, for my elective this semester I am taking a Teaching and Learning class about religious education, which should be most helpful.
It's so nice to finally feel like I'm making real progress towards my professional goals, beyond simply taking classes.