Admission of humanity
In today's classroom and the fluid nature of information even the worst student can trump you with the right smart phone. Admission that learning is a two way street is the best defense and a great offence as well.
I believe this is the best thing a new instructor needs to learn and that is that it's okay to make mistakes and to not always know every answer, this makes you human. I believe that students have more respect and learn more from an instructor when they see that instructor as a human being and not someone who is superior to them.
Legitimate power goes along way but humility goes alot further. When I was a new instructor my biggest fear was that I was not going to have all of the answers when my students asked me for them. This was something that definately happened to me and I quickly realized that I didn't always know the answer and that it was okay to simply say I don't know but that I would find out. I also started using these times to allow my students to find the answer and to share it with me and the rest of the class. This allowed my students to feel like they were part of the learning experience; one that we were all experiencing.
I agree. In my first class session, I tell students that I am certain that each of them has knowledge to contribute to overall class learning that goes above and beyond what I will be presenting. I then actively encourage each student to bring their expertise to the table at different points in the course. For example, if a student has shared in discussion that he is a middle school coach, I might turn to him when discussing social development in pre-teens and ask him to share his perception of the primary concerns of the children on his team. This engages that student and brings real-life examples to learning for the other students.
