new instructor overload
Having hard time gathering all the informatoiom and not being overwelmed.
Wow, I think this post relates exactly how I feel as a new instructor this quarter. I don't think that I realized how technical the courses could be after spending many years in college myself. I had forgotten that learning isn't just lecturing. I still want to teach the students everything I know, and filling in the blanks of what I know with what they are required to be taught and come out of the class knowing is where I feel the greatest sense of being overwhelmed.
It was refreshing to read this post and remind myself to slow down and let the learning (not the teaching!) happen. Thank you!
Thank you for all of your suggestions. This should be very helpful for me in the future.
I think being intimidated by course content requirements and length of course restrictions can be a serious concern for new instructors. What has helped me handle this situation, which really wasn't all that long ago for me, is to first take a look at the course syllabus (this is provided to instructors at our college) and determine what are the core units of subject matter that must be covered. Then I take those core subject areas and compare them to the text for the course to determine the chapters that contain that core information. I then complete my "course addendum" to accompany the course syllabus. I then move onto preparation of my lesson plans accordingly. It it is a bit time consuming prior to the start of a course, but I am so thankful when it comes time to actually teach the course on a day-to-day basis. Of course, I leave a bit of time within my lesson plan to plan for contingencies, such as bad weather (winter in Minnesota), etc. Thus far, it is working for me. I am just finishing up teaching 7 courses this quarter--I really say this method was put to the test!
Renee Weeks
Hi Claudia,
Well said. This is an ongoing problem that educators have to struggle with. Covering all of the material and making sure the concepts are grasped by the students. This is where having the competencies outlined for the course are very helpful. This way you know you have covered the content if the students have acquired the competencies of the course.
Gary
this is a problem for many of us even if we have taught for a while. I find that I would rather cover less information more thoroughly than more information and rush through it. If you rush through it or cram too much into each session, the students cannot grasp all of the concepts and thus they really don't learn anything.
Thanks Michael for the advice!! There is alot of material to take in, all at once. And your advice for planning one day at a time, is helpfull. I will keep this in mind.
Hi Elizabeth,
Sounds like you have a good sequential plan in place to get you fully prepared to teach. Each day and each class will bring you a new experience base that you can pull from to reach the next level in your teaching.
Gary
I think this is a good point: to know your limitations as you're learning and to not let too many demands be placed until you're ready. I think i will be allowed training/learning in 1 course and clinical before being asked to learn the 2nd class content I will be teaching. I think validating procedures and expectations as I progress will help to make sure I'm aware of attendance, grading , and testing processes.
The key to many new instructors and career-transition instructors is they want to teach everything in one day. They then become overloaded by course content, state standards, IEPs, curriculum modifications and tend to become lost or "overloaded."
One way to balance this is to have clearly defined objectives for the day and outline those objectives to the assignment covered. This keeps the instructor on track and the students engaged. If the instructor is unable to cover all the key points, he/she can then modify the curriculum the next time that content is delivered.
The thing i have found is settling in is not an issue, nor is the subject matter in what i teach.However as companies see you getting settled and doing a good job they continue to want more and more and this is where my overwhlming feeling comes from. On top of this is to continue to add to the list of responsibilities and never changing the clock in which to get it all done.
What does this have to do with teaching, simply it affects ones mind with the thought of how am i going to get it all done as i have this and that and the other thing with only 6 hrs to do it. These 6 hrs could easily be used for gathering my prodcut orders, tutoring as well as so many others on the list.
My point being is if you carry this to the class each morrning it will absolutely have an affect on your students and it wont be positive.
My way of handling it all is that,first i get so involved with my class that i forget about it for the time being,second: at some point something has to outway the other in the priority column and thats what gets done first after class and so forth.
Just hope someone can relate to this and hope it helps as well.
