Hello from 2008

While looking for something totally unrelated, I stumbled upon a bucket of my teaching documents from 2008. Instead of staying on task, I  jumped down a rabbit hole of worksheets, tip sheets, graded papers, student evaluations, and more from semesters teaching an advanced media writing course.

As I unearthed parts of my teaching past, I found myself motivated by that teacher from 12 years ago. The time she would take to create a new worksheet and the lengths she would go to connect students with real-world learning was inspiring. I still spend time crafting documents to help students and developing real-world connections, but when reflecting on an entire tub of pedagogy, I'm reminded that the time invested matters. 

Time matters, too. It was a stark look at how much has changed in my field. The Associated Press help files are from a style guide long ago and the print-focused stories my students crafted screamed for a multimedia make-over. The gentle reminder -- keep learning and keep up -- lingered in my mind. 

This tub of goodness arrived at just the right time. I'm finishing my class plans and syllabi for the fall, and past me gave present me that extra boost of motivation I need after an unusual spring semester and stay-at-home summer. 

Did I recycle the entire contents of the tub? Whoa, let's not get too wild. I did pare it down A LOT and it now fits in one tidy binder. I hope your fall planning is coming along, and if you get diverted, don't fret. It might be exactly what you needed.

A semester in review

In my classes, I typically ask students to reflect at the end of the semester. Sometimes I hand back the first-day assignment and other times I challenge them to list everything they learned in the semester. What did they learn about themselves and what inspiration did they find this semester? It could simply be the revelation that they didn't like a certain aspect of public relations. This goes beyond the course learning objectives and regular course evaluations. If I believe it's good for them, then I should follow my own advice.

Reflections from this semester

1) Nap time is a great time for writing. While the toddler sleeps, I feel the urgency to work as efficiently as I can. I worked on two new research projects and three revise and resubmits. So far in 2017, I have added three publications to the vitae. I should have been doing this before the kiddo came along!!!

2) Class size makes a difference. In retrospect, I should have changed how I handle our graduate ethics class when it moved beyond the 10 students I had last time. Each night, we had so many peer presentations to jam into our time together that I fear class became predictable and routine.

3) Expect a lot. I'm a believer in setting expectations high and helping our students get there. And they will. Our grad students submitted to NCA, a call for book chapters, and a PRSA conference. The ethics case studies they wrote this semester were exceptional and I hope to see them present and publish soon.

As the semester winds down, what are your semester-in-review reflections?