Lessons I learned while teaching at a community college

Last Fall, although that just seems like yesterday, mostly because it was, I was approached about teaching a class at Amarillo College.  I have to admit, it was very intimidating, but I’m always up for a challenge.  The class, social media tools, was a subject matter that I am super comfortable with, so that eased my mind.  It was an online course, which was another layer of intimidation. How could I convey the message without looking people in the eye?  I mean wars are starting by misinterpreted emails.  I kid, but you get the point.

Social media is one of those topics that if you think you’re a guru, you’re not.  In fact, if someone ever tells you they are a social media guru, they are lying.  The medium is changing always, and so are the ubiquitous all-knowing all-powerful algorithms.   In fact, you could be a guru one day, and a crazy person the next.  This line of work keeps you humble, so, if you are working with someone who claims to be a guru, fire them.

Okay, let me get off the soapbox.  I learned a lot about social media in preparing for this class, and I learned a lot about people through this entire process.

I learned that students just want to know their professor sees them.  I know that seems weird but for my online class, students stopped by my office (conveniently on campus) constantly, just to make sure I cared.  How could I tell?  Because they told me.  I just wanted to talk to you face-to-face and go through the syllabus.  I wanted to run something by you, and see what you thought.  I heard stories of their lives, and family, and how much the loved college.  I heard stories about their grandmother’s ability to make everyone laugh.  I heard some of the most incredible stories of how their lives had been greatly impacted by going to college.  Full disclosure, I heard some excuses as to why their assignment was late too.

The next lesson was one I hadn’t anticipated.  Regardless of what you think about Millennials or Gen Zers, they are incredibly bright and are very intelligent.  They have incredibly strong work ethics, and they work around the clock.  That sure broke the stereotypes that exists in pop culture today.  They also ask a lot of questions, not because they are dumb or lazy, but because they process the world very differently than other generations.   I also found them to be very empathic because I had no idea what I was doing and they were encouraging and kind throughout the entire class.  They did ask for extra credit, but it’s interesting, not because they were failing, but because they wanted A’s.

I learned that teaching is humbling.  I didn’t know all the answers and somehow students think I had them.  Dang.  I felt so inadequate multiple times, but in the end, I think that’s what makes teaching such a n

ble profession.  Although let’s be honest, there are some major egos on a college campus.  It’s kind of set up that way, and I imagine over time the intimidation I felt could easily swing over to arrogance quickly.  Anyways, I found it to be challenging and that’s always fun for me.  BUT, humility is a must.

The biggest lesson I learned is that students are struggling.  No, not with the rigor of the work, or the demands of school, but with life happening.  When I was in college, we joked about being hungry and being poor because all we ate were ramen noodles, students I had were really fighting these things.  They were fighting transportation issues and daycare issues.  They were putting their best foot forward, but within minutes they shared their issues with me.  They were sorry they missed the meeting but the daycare opened late.  They were sorry the assignment was late but the wifi at IHOP was down.  I had originally pitched an idea of extra credit that required them to give money to the food pantry on campus.  I had multiple students reach and let me know they were going to the food pantry for help so they could not participate.  Well, I felt about an inch tall thinking that was just a good idea.  I had created a barrier, and I knew that was exactly what I didn’t need to do. AC has worked to remove barriers to create a school that accommodates all students.  Here I was putting them right back up.  I rethought and made the extra credit much more accommodating.

Now, I don’t want you to think that I didn’t have students who were trying to pull a fast one or make a ridiculous excuse.  That happened.  After all, we are still talking about teenagers and young adults in their early 20’s.  These things happened.  They were few and far between, but they did happen.

I learned a lot, and I learned a lot about myself.  Cathartic.  Let me know your thoughts. And on to next semester to a new class on the same subject. Digital marketing is the title and this ought to be interesting, there is no book.This is your blog post. To really engage your site visitors we suggest you blog about subjects that are related to your site or business. Blogging is really great for SEO, so we recommend including keywords that relate to your services, products or industry within your posts. It’ll make it easier for people to find you on the web.