PowerPoint

I continue to develop in most areas of my life. It seems that this is a condition of life. Change is both necessary and good. Often, I suspect I think about these changes a little too much. I tend to overanalyze things. I tend to over think things too – at least things that relate to me. One area that I think about a lot is my teaching. Perhaps it is because I am fairly new to the field. Perhaps it is because it is important to me. I do not really know. What I do know is that I obsess about classes. I am constantly concerned regarding the quality of my lectures. I never feel quite prepared. I grade assignments only to find myself worrying about whether or not my appraisals were both fair and accurate. My list of school-related worries is extensive. I am quite critical of myself.

Oftentimes, my on-going self-evaluation is maladaptive. As with anything, if one does not think he or she doing well at something, it may affect future performance. Therefore, if I obsess over yesterday’s lecture, it may compromise today’s. My boss once told me that the beauty of teaching is that students are not aware of what is good and what is poor. Although I would like to believe his statement, I know it is not true. When I am off, I am off. It is obvious. Usually, when I am not doing well in class, it is because I am too tired or stressed out. Luckily, those moments usually occur at the end of the day. Thus, I am able to dismiss class and assume that everyone else is tired too.

I have mentioned before that teaching is not as much about knowing as it is about performing. For example, I could probably teach a person how to perform surgery if given enough time, energy, and the proper resources. It does not really matter that I have no experience performing surgery. Do not get me wrong, I am not saying that I could teach anything; I simply suggest that teaching successfully is based on several factors, not just sheer brilliance. It is all about having a base level of intelligence, some common sense, and effort.

With all of that said, I found a major flaw in my teaching. Through my on-going appraisal, I learned that I am unable to teach well when utilizing PowerPoint. For what reason, I am not sure. When I use the program, I find myself stumbling over words and unable to stay focused. Worse yet, I find myself reading the slides at times. There is nothing worse than having an instructor read something to a student. This behavior is unacceptable.

This insight, in many ways, is a bit tragic. I have been aware of this whole PowerPoint situation for some time now, but I tend to ignore the same. I love PowerPoint, it looks professional, allows me to display beautiful graphs and pictures, and, oh yeah, allows me to be a part of the 21st century.
With so many classes this quarter, I am off more than normal. It bugs me. I am unable to handle it. In my mind, there is nothing worse than a mediocre (or worse, bad) teacher. I am not interested in being mediocre. Therefore, I am making a switch…

The next 10 weeks are going to be all about the overhead…

It will be very ‘80s and very nerdy….but it will not matter….

Students will learn. We’ll all have fun….

…and I will do great!