Day Four - Don't Let Your Failures Obscure Your Successes

By: Deanna Babcock on 11:38 PM

Sometimes, as I've already mentioned, it's hard to explain something to a student. I had trouble with a student today who was struggling to understand what I was trying to say about her topic sentence being inconsistent with the rest of the paragraph. I came home feeling a bit bummed, thinking that I'd failed with that student. It was my failure, I thought, to get my point across - and maybe it was. I'm not sure how else I could have explained it: I said it at least three different ways, gave specific examples, and tried rephrasing it for her, but by the time I had to walk away to help another student, we were both somewhat frustrated with the encounter.

While telling a friend about how the class went overall, she reminded me that while this particular moment was unsuccessful, there were also many that were successful. I was focusing so much on what had had gone wrong with one student that I forgot to be excited about all the times that went right. 

Today was the first time I got to actually read students' work and directly help them. I was nervous at first, moving slowly toward one group of students, but still hanging off to the side, as the professor moved from one group to the next on the other side of the room. I waited for someone who looked like they needed help, but nothing came. The professor was already almost to my side of the room when I finally approached a group who seemed to be doing fine - and they all looked so relieved to see me and immediately began asking questions. It gave me the confidence to walk up to other groups and do the same, and I was met with the same reaction every time. It was really fun, and I excelled at answering the questions and clarifying points for the students (apart from the previously mentioned incident). 

My favorite thing about the day was after answering a question, or telling a student they were doing it right even though they thought they weren't. I'd seen the look they gave me many times over the years from other students in my classes, and I'm sure I've made the same face several times: the look of understanding, of relief that you finally get it, that you're doing it right. It was great to see that look being aimed at me so many times. Though I haven't done much actual teaching yet, in those moments I felt, finally, like a teacher.