Hear from the professors
We talked to professors and teaching associates about their own styles of teaching. Scroll down to see their answers, or click on one of the questions on the left panel.
Professor Elizabeth R. Chrastil
Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)
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Research fields: human path integration, spatial memory, and large-scale navigation in complex environments
Crystal Bae, PhD Candidate
Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara
Crystal has close to six years of teaching experience. She has been TA since her first quarter at UCSB, and taught as instructor of record three times.
Professor Jennifer King
Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)
Research fields: biogeochemistry, focuses on interactions between soils, plants, and the atmosphere.
Jeremy Chow, PhD
Department of English,
University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)
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Jeremy won the UCSB Academic Senate TA Award in 2014-2015. He will graduate this spring, and begin a tenure-track teaching position at Bucknell University in the fall.
1. What is your teaching style?
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Because I am relatively new to teaching, I don’t know if I have a style yet. I can do big lectures, but I prefer small classes in which I can talk with the students. I discovered that I want to do more interactive things in big lectures. For example, I would like to try flipped classes in the introduction to human geography course. I am prone to active learning, so I will try to let students do as much as they can, such as using iclickers in class.
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My teaching style is very interactive. Whether it is a large lower division course or small graduate course, I’d like both to have interactions. That includes interactions with students directly or in helping students to interact with each other. I think it helps learning. The other objective in teaching is to try to get students to be enthusiastic about the subject matter. I’m less concerned about them remembering the specific facts and figures that we teach in the courses. If they are stimulated to think about the topic, and become interested in the subject matter, I consider that to be a positive outcome of teaching. I often incorporate some components of active learning in my teaching.
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Overall, my teaching style is to try to make course material very accessible to the students. I check in to make sure students’ understand a lot of background concepts. Students have different levels, but I try to be approachable and open as an instructor. I want to make sure I can provide a comfortable environment for students.
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Honest, respectful, direct, flexible, committed to growth. I would want to be evaluated on these criteria as well.
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2. How has your style evolved from when you first started teaching until now?
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I’m sure it’s still evolving. In 20 years, I will find out more what works and what doesn’t work. For example, in my urban geography course, students are doing different projects, with each person choosing one of four different approaches, but I would like them to do all four approaches into one bigger project in the future.
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I’ve been teaching for 17 years. I now focus on ways in which students can develop skills through their coursework, rather than a lot of content. When I started to teach, I would think, "This is the content, and I need to somehow convey the content." Now I’m trying to think more about how can I encourage students to learn more about skills that can be used in many classes, like critical thinking skills, writing skills, and how do you think about this material.
I’m more lecture-style instead of student-centered. I guess that might be the product of some types of courses I have taught, such as big GE courses where there are 300 students.
My experience as a TA gives me confidence. I have been anxious as a TA because I’m not an expert, but over time I just grown to know that it does not matter if I’m the expert in the area as long as I can learn it and communicate with students well. You can act as guide to students, not as a definitive answer to everything. It’s OK to admit, for instance, that you don’t know something. That’s something as a TA you are always worried about, but as an instructor you grow to know that you don’t know everything -- you can’t know everything -- and your job is not to just answer their questions, it is to guide them to develop their understanding.
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Having spent my first career as a high school teacher, I am proud to say that my teaching style has continued to evolve and will continue to do so. I find that this evolution accompanies the variety of courses I teach as well as the diverse student body that accompanies any new class. The process and enjoyment of working with a new group--which requires a great deal of flexibility--is both the cause for and the best part of teaching. I would like to think that even in my old age, I've become, perhaps ironically so, increasingly flexible.
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3. How do you think your personality affects the way you like to teach?
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I’m by nature a shy person. I can get on stage for big lectures and perform, but not like some professors who have big movements and kind of a show. But I can change my style to fit the needs of the class.
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The way I teach is related to my personality. I’m a shy person by nature. I don’t like to be the center of attention, so I try to put the spotlight on students. I want to see how students can take responsibility for their own learning because that’s ultimately what we want students to develop into: self-motivated and self-sufficient learners. So, if students are interested in learning something, they can go and explore for themselves, which is also what we expect in graduate school: independent learners. My job is to help them realize these skills, and figure out how to learn and to go deeper. It’s very much a student-centered approach.
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I think I’m an approachable person. I try to make sure that students are comfortable asking questions, and then I won’t ever make them feel stupid. Another aspect is that I’m pretty organized, so I sometimes present a blank framework to fill out to help students to see bigger picture. I also present materials in a few different ways because students may not understand things in one way, so I try to be flexible in my thinking and instruction style.
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I am often told that I have an abrasive personality that people either love or hate. This is something I've had to come to terms with personally and professionally. The way this translates to my teaching is that I believe in honesty and clear expectations as central pillars of my pedagogy. I am upfront with our students as to what I expect of them as students, what our class will be like, how I will assess them, any pet peeves, etc. I ask them to do the same for me--I want to know what they want out of the class, how to make assessment transparent, what experiences they've had in the past that they enjoyed or did not, etc. This directness has proven successful for me because I don't bullshit our students and I think they appreciate that honesty. Some do not. But I also give students the options to switch sections or courses if my expectations, goals, and personality will not work for them. Taking a class, for me, is about making a mature decision as to what will work best for everyone involved.
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4. Did you ever try something in the classroom that simply didn't jibe with your teaching style?
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I’m pretty open to different things, but that does not mean things necessarily go with my style. For example, in my big lecture class I tried to let students talk to each other to discuss questions in class, but it didn’t quite work out.
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During Geography Awareness Week (an outreach event), in a fourth-grade classroom setting, when I was trying to be much more interactive with students. As soon as I let them talk to their partners, they paid no attention to me at all, and I literally lost control of the classroom. I didn’t establish the authority to control the environment, and it was really difficult to get it back. It was very uncomfortable. I guess I’m someone who wants to have some level of control of the classroom. But I also don’t feel comfortable if I’m just standing in front of the classroom lecturing and not getting feedback from students. So, there is a delicate balance. In GEOG 3B, a big intro class, I ask students questions and let them volunteer to raise their hands to answer. Even in that setting, I try to incorporate some interaction. Recently, I started to use iClickers because that’s another way for me to get feedback.
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I try things. If they don’t work, then I try to find out the reason or try to do it better next time. But usually if something does not go well in the classroom, it may not have been presented in the right way, or maybe with confusing instructions. I often try to let students do group work or work in pairs. There are often students who try to sit out of everything and not talk to anyone else in the class. It’s tough, but I think I do a good job of circulating and encouraging them to participate if they are not.
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I haven't, but perhaps that's because I take teaching so personally. Every activity I imagine is creatively drawn up so as to reflect my investment in teaching to different learning styles.
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5. Do you experience teaching anxiety? If so, what methods do you use to manage that anxiety and how has this shaped your teaching approach?
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Yes and no. I’ve taught a lot of things that I’m not really an expert in. There is always something that students know more than I do, which makes me anxious. But, with all the practice I get by giving talks, both for professional presentations and for different classes, I get over that anxiety quickly.
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I always have some anxiety especially before the beginning of the first few classes. I feel like the first day of the class is one of the most important days. I try to think through everything, and that means I do a lot of preparation for the beginning of the class. Also, what puts me most at ease is interacting with students, which aligns with my interactive teaching style. If I can get more information from the students during the class to help me understand whether they understand what I’m saying or following what I’m saying, then that helps me know what I should be doing.
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I’m very anxious if I know I’m not prepared. If I feel I’m prepared, like I made the lesson outline and the slides are done, then it doesn’t bother me. If I go to sleep knowing that I still need to finish lecture slides in the morning before going to the class, it gives me a lot of anxiety. Just being prepared helps. I really need a full outline of everything. Same for other things such as leading my grad workshop, I always have to have things outlined. That structure gives me a feeling of safety.
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When I first did my teaching practicum as a sophomore in college, I would get butterflies in my stomach. My hands would shake slightly. After over a decade of teaching, I still do get butterflies but I realize now that these are not anxiety-induced, they are excitement-induced. Walking into a new class, preparing a new syllabus, starting a new quarter all fill me with excitement.
This is not to say that I don't have my own issues with anxiety, but out of practice, I've been able to limit the types of anxiety I experience in the classroom versus other unknown real-life experiences.
6. What advice would you give to novice instructors looking to integrate their personality with effective teaching methods?
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One thing is having confidence (even when you don't really feel it). In reality, you do know a lot, even if you are not confident, and you probably know more than the students.
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New instructors should definitely teach the way they are comfortable. It’s important to be yourself, but it’s also important to establish some authority. In order to get that authority and respect, you should establish your ability and knowledge that you are qualified to teach the class. Communicate with students so that they also feel comfortable. When students are in the classroom, they want to be in an environment that they feel comfortable. Providing structure and organization helps students know what to expect and what is expected of them.
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First of all, It's important to be aware of your personality and how to make that relate to your teaching. You might be a really funny person, but maybe you struggle to integrate humor in teaching, or maybe students don’t feel comfortable when you are trying to be funny. Try to be aware of that. Having self-awareness is difficult, so getting feedback is really helpful. For example, you can have other people observe your teaching or you can make use of resources on campus, such as video consultation from Instructional Development at UCSB. It’s very hard to know what your teaching looks like when you are actually doing it. In terms of personality, everyone is different. Some people like to lead discussion or group activities. Some like lectures. Some like to use videos. For me, I like to talk through the materials and to get people to discuss the material in groups.
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This sounds really cliche, but be true to who you are. Students, I've learned, appreciate genuineness. Teaching isn't for everyone, but I think it's important to recognize that there are many different types of learning and teaching styles and it behooves us to respect and seek that variety. That said, if the passion isn't there, then it's hard to fake that.
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