[The Fall
2014 semester is coming to a close, and as usual I wanted to end the
semester with some reflections on my courses and other conversations, leading
up to a weekend post on some anticipations of spring (and not just the season;
although, yes). I’d love to hear some of your Fall 2014 reflections in
comments!]
Three
reflections at the end of my
first semester teaching Intro to Speech.
1)
We All Have More to Learn: Yes, I gave sample
versions of the Persuasive and Informational Speeches I required of my students—but
those were on Bruce
Springsteen and the Wilmington
Coup and Massacre, respectively, so I felt pretty comfortable with each.
But one of the Thursday evening classes happened to take place immediately
before I delivered my
first Pecha Kucha presentation, with and during which I felt much, much
less comfortable. A good reminder of how much, when it comes to speech or any
other skill, we all can and must continue to learn and grow.
2)
But We Also Know More than We Think: As I wrote
in the above-linked Fall Preview post, as the semester commenced I felt
distinctly unsure about how to teach an Intro to Speech course. But as we got
into the work of the course, and especially as we talked about tips and
strategies related to both kinds of speeches specifically and the art of
presentation more broadly, I realized that much of my professional work, from
teaching and conference talks to my last year and a half of book
talks, has prepared me quite directly for teaching this particular topic. It
definitely helped that I had chosen a very clear
and practical textbook to accompany those conversations. But my own
experiences became a more and more overt part of our discussions and work as
well, and that was a good reminder of what they have helped me learn.
3)
Public School Teachers Are Awesome: True, my
own family, as well as my
experiences as a student, have long since taught me this lesson. And true,
in my Graduate English courses at FSU I’ve taught many secondary educators, all
of whom have reinforced this perspective. But the students in this course
represented a community with whom I hadn’t had a chance to work previously:
vocational educators, teaching at the course’s site (Monty Tech) as well as many other regional
vocational high schools. Through their persuasive and informative speeches, as
well as through many other aspects of our discussions and their voices, I got
to learn a great deal about their teaching and work, and all that they bring to
them. And sure enough, I have one more semester’s worth of evidence for the
awesomeness of our public educators.
Last recap
tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What stands
out from your semester or fall?
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