As of the publishing of this post, I have submitted my grades for the spring 2015 term, thus ending my first year as a full-fledged university professor.
I’ve come to view my transition into professor-ship this year a bit like what it means to become a parent or be a PhD student. No one can really prepare you for this role. You have to experience it, and in the experiencing comes the understanding. You get it.
Now, even though most who read this blog may not be in academia, please indulge me a bit and allow me to process and express some of what I have come to understand this year, the 10 truths I have learned as a first-year novice university professor. I imagine there are plenty of comparable, transferable truths for you as well.
Truth #1
You won’t have gotten used to being called “Professor” or “Doctor.”
Truth #2
Students actually read the feedback you give them on assignments.
Truth #3
Grading is hard and boring, and no matter how you try to streamline the process and devise different ways of assessing…it will stay hard and boring.
Truth #4
You genuinely want your students to succeed in class.
Truth #5
You will look at the amazing faculty around you, consider what they’ve accomplished, then wonder…why me? (There’s an actual name for this feeling, “imposter syndrome.”)
Truth #6
It’s amazing (and at times overwhelming) how much work needs to happen outside the meager 4 hours a week spent in the classroom actually teaching to make that teaching successful.
Truth #7
Grading exams is SO much easier than grading papers.
Truth #8
Rubrics are great for transparency and to help organize grading. But that level of accountability is also what makes it so hard!
Truth #9
You will experience immense pleasure in watching your students learn new skills and develop as critical thinkers.
Truth #10
You enjoy the questions raised by your students, because it challenges you to think, to learn new concepts and understand others more deeply. And let’s face it—isn’t that part of the reason why you entered into this crazy-intense life of academia anyway?
Imagine courtesy of Criminalatt at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
orcid.org/0000-0001-8665-1493
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I vehemently disagree with your “truth #3.” I have never found grading to be boring. I continue to be fascinated and amazed at the thoughts, feelings, insights, and comments those I teach share in their assignments. If anything, grading helps me to become a better teacher. I have to wonder if you find grading hard and boring if academia is a good fit, as these tasks are a huge part of the work.
It’s actually a great and helpful piece of info.
I’m happy that you shared this helpful information with us.
Please stay us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Kathy, for sharing your thoughts. It’s always nice to hear a different perspective and who knows? Perhaps mine will change over the years. Although a blogging platform does not often allow for nuance, I do want to clarify one item—just because I find grading hard and boring does not mean I don’t value its importance and take it seriously. Furthermore, I don’t think it’s fair to judge whether or not academia is a good fit based on this one criteria—there is so much more to academia than grading. My (additional) two cents…other thoughts?~Kimberly
Hi Kimberly,
I think these are interesting observations from your experiences; yet, something about them made it hard for Kathy (full disclosure: a close friend and someone I went to grad school with) to accept them. I can’t speak for Kathy, but I struggle with the word “truth” in this context. Truth claims are a) best obtained from adequate and representative sampling (for positivists) or b) entirely questionable (for nonpositivists). I’m oversimplifying, but as you mentioned, blogs aren’t great at nuance.
So: do you feel that your truths are yours and yours alone, or that they are generalizable to a larger group? Or somewhere in the middle? Questions like these interest me–and I realize that “results may vary,” as they say. Thanks!
Hi Doug! I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. I imagine I am somewhere in the middle—I feel my truths are my own and do not presume that they are generalizable for all. That said, I know (through conversations with friends and colleagues) that others experience similar truths, and imagine this may be particularly true for others in a similar situation as me, a “first-year novice university professor.” Does that help answer your questions? ~Kimberly
Your humblebragging is showing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/06/16/the-rise-of-humblebragging-the-best-way-to-lose-your-friends-respect/?utm_content=bufferf0948&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
You are such an inspiration Kimberly! Thoroughly enjoy reading and learning from all your blog posts. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for your kind words Gillian! 🙂 ~Kimberly
For the majority of my 50+ years in music performance, I invested hundreds of hours arranging choir and orchestra charts primarily for church music publishers. While I could get lost in the arranging/orchestrating process, it was not unusual to feel burdened, even bored, by the fact that I couldn’t write fast enough, even with notation software. However, once completed, and heard sung and played by choir and orchestra, there was a feeling of exhilaration that was almost indescribable. Consequently, I had a sense that the grading of papers is not the goal, but is part of the motivation to help your students succeed in and outside of class. It’s a necessary requisite to help shape those who wish to “become” into a successful therapist. Keep up the good work.
Great article , how to improve writing
Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just wanted to say fantastic blog!
You must log in to post a comment.