Getting used to Being a Professor

I'd say the most difficult thing is adjusting to the different way that we are encouraged to teach our student here. For one, students are required to attend classes. And they have to get my permission to miss class, which is amazing. Since students are required to show up for class, I don't have to construct my lecture to make it worthwhile to attend class. What I mean is that usually I will create lectures that cover different content than what is in the textbook. I test over the lecture material to drive home how important it is to attend class.

But here, students are instructed to read about specific objectives in the book, and they expect to be required to demonstrate their knowledge of the readings during class. Thus, I need to become more interactive in class, and pose challenging questions requiring them to draw upon their readings. It's actually a bit more difficult than simply constructing a PowerPoint for students to write down. And students I've taught during graduate school just wanted to take down notes from PowerPoint and were resistant to questioning, preferring instead the passive learning method. These students I'm teaching now don't like PowerPoint or prefer to have the PowerPoint provided to them so they can take notes on what I say instead of write down the bullet points.

I know this is a much better teaching environment. It is learner-focused instead of instructor-focused. But, it's a bit of an adjustment, and I feel like it is taking me awhile to change tactics.

There are other things, too. For example, I have to be at work on campus from 7:30 to 4:30 every day. I usually get so tired that I can't get much work done in the evenings. But, I still need to prep ahead of time, and the evenings help me catch up and move forward. I'm also so tired that I haven't been able to unpack during the evenings. My house is still a mess. Plus, I don't see my boyfriend during the week. So when weekends come along, I want to spend as much time with my boyfriend as possible instead of bringing work home. Thus, I haven't even begun to think about research, and how I need to start up a program of research and publish my dissertation.

Despite the required adjustment to these crazy life changes, I thank my lucky stars that I even got this job. This is the best possible outcome for me. I know this university is the perfect starter job, and I feel perfectly suited to the position. I can really use my time here to hone my teaching skills and form collaborations for research. Plus, I don't even have to teach in the summer. Apparently, I still have to be at work from 7:30 to 4:30 over the summer, but I can devote my time almost exclusively to writing articles. Whew! I'm really looking forward to that. And I'm really looking forward to my first professor-sized paycheck, which is one adjustment I'm happy to make.