For the Love of Teaching

February's Value = Love

For the Love of Teaching

Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life. – Confucius 

February is all about love. For our purposes here, it is about the love of our profession. 

I teach because I love teaching. Growing up, I was surrounded by educators. My grandmother, mother, father, step-mother, aunt, uncle, and mother-in-law all worked in public education including elementary, high school, and college classrooms, libraries, and special education. Their love of helping others be the very best they could be inspired me to want to do the same. 

For all their love of the profession, the changing politics of education in the late 1980s and early 1990s resulted in my family discouraging my pursuit of education as a profession. As a result, I changed my major 4 times in 4 years, finally graduating with a B. A. in History, with the future hopes of building a foundation for a PhD in the Classics. My goal was to rewrite Latin high school textbooks (not too far off from teaching…). 

Life took its twists and turns, but like a moth to a flame, I found that although my original path slowly closed off to me, all of the jobs I landed included teaching in some form, whether it was training employees, leading church youth groups, or crafting sales pitches. I helped others learn new things on a daily basis. I was good at it, too, and it made me happy. So, eventually, I worked my way to an adjunct teaching position and haven’t looked back since. My doctoral work is now in Higher Education Administration because I want to teach other educators to be more effective in the classroom, in person and online. 

Regardless of the pay, the benefits, the hours, or the workload, I love to teach! <3

Finding work you enjoy is important. Last September, Business Insider published an article entitled, The Best Jobs for EveryPersonality Type. Below is the super infographic they provided. (Please click the image or the article title above to get a larger view!) While College Professor is listed as ideal under the INTP personality, as an ENTJ, I believe there are many personalities who do well as teachers in higher education. Are you one of them?

Wondering what your personality is? This free online quiz by Human Metrics will tell you and will provide more insight and career suggestions. Both the quiz and infographic are super tools to use with students, as well. Feel free to spread the love! 

Do you express your love for teaching? Do people know you love your work? 

Last month, we constructed personal teaching philosophies. Using that as your guide, I encourage you to create a brief profile paragraph for your resume describing yourself as a teacher. Tell why and how you teach in a way others can come to understand who you are as a professional. Share the love! Here is my profile paragraph as an example: 

Professional Profile -- Dynamic Experienced Educator

Teaching is my passion. As an instructor, I enjoy creating interactive, engaging curricula utilizing innovative teaching methods to provide learners with a real-world picture of theory and principles. My goal is to impress upon students an enduring understanding of the importance and benefits of civil, respectful communication in every field. I provide a learner-focused approach, timely assessments & Socratic feedback, as well as substantive discussion and grading responses. My communication skills and experience in counseling, mentoring, and teaching allow me to relate to students in such a way as to encourage approachability and foster a comfortable learning environment both in person and online.

So, why do you teach? Is it something you’ve always wanted to do, something you fell into, or something you are simply doing right now? Do you love it? Can your students tell? Please enlighten us by taking our 5-question February Survey! We’ll collect the love all month and reveal the results on March 6^th.  

Join me tomorrow as we review the results of our January Survey regarding adjunct faculty development opportunities, and discuss multiplying our love for teaching with membership in professional communities.

See you then,

Melynda

@Melynda_Conner

#TCBHigherEd