Love this. Big Rick Rubin vibes here- write for yourself and not your audience, what lands with others might surprise you. But it has to be for you. I am struggling with this as I start writing myself.
I am a current PT student. If writing frees up your internal battle of deciding whether or not to impart personal opinions on your class- great.
But I appreciate those "off the teleprompter" moments from my professors. When they speak their mind, it humanizes them. Just as important, it makes class more interesting. Have you ever taken a poll on syllabus day to gauge class interest on hearing about your opinions?
Writing and professing your thoughts don't have to be mutually exclusive.
Hi Sam, thanks for your comment. It is encouraging to hear from another student that classroom teaching need follow follow the script all the time. I have both done surveys and ask for feedback with class evaluations. In both instances, students are usually split. I also think it's difficult for someone to answer such a question because their answer is likely to be "it depends" - on how long it is, what the topic is, what they believe (or even feel) about the topic, what the topic of the class is that has been diverted. In my teaching these tangents have always existed - just a bit less often and shorter - when I'm writing.
For you, if you enjoy those "off the teleprompter" moments, let your professor know. You may even consider engaging them in their office hours for a follow up conversation. As a prof, I can tell you those opportunities - to engage with a student beyond the classroom topic in a meaningful conversation - are precious. Perhaps even more so these days as they've become more rare. Thanks for reading and enjoy your PT school and professional journey! Hope to hear more from you!
Hi Sean, thanks for the reply. Obviously it's hard (impossible) to please everybody in the class, so props to you for trying! Lots of "it depends" answers in PT school, ha. I bet it can be hard for professors to gauge class evaluations, as you are likely to hear from the extreme ends of opinions.
I should stop by professors' offices after class more often, that is good advice. Especially as I near graduation and will not have those opportunities for much longer. Interesting that you say those meaningful conversations with students are becoming more rare, I wonder why that is.
Glad you are back writing! I can relate to dealing with resistance - I need to sort out mine. "One reason is the satisfaction of search or confirmation bias of a few students, on occasion, telling me that they learned a lot in my course about more than the course and that they appreciated it. Are those real? Do they represent the majority view? Or are they just a few outlier opinions that feed my hopes (and ego)?" - don't want to feed your ego, but that hit hard, and is so true. Hope all is well.
Love this. Big Rick Rubin vibes here- write for yourself and not your audience, what lands with others might surprise you. But it has to be for you. I am struggling with this as I start writing myself.
I am a current PT student. If writing frees up your internal battle of deciding whether or not to impart personal opinions on your class- great.
But I appreciate those "off the teleprompter" moments from my professors. When they speak their mind, it humanizes them. Just as important, it makes class more interesting. Have you ever taken a poll on syllabus day to gauge class interest on hearing about your opinions?
Writing and professing your thoughts don't have to be mutually exclusive.
Let me know your thoughts,
Sam
Hi Sam, thanks for your comment. It is encouraging to hear from another student that classroom teaching need follow follow the script all the time. I have both done surveys and ask for feedback with class evaluations. In both instances, students are usually split. I also think it's difficult for someone to answer such a question because their answer is likely to be "it depends" - on how long it is, what the topic is, what they believe (or even feel) about the topic, what the topic of the class is that has been diverted. In my teaching these tangents have always existed - just a bit less often and shorter - when I'm writing.
For you, if you enjoy those "off the teleprompter" moments, let your professor know. You may even consider engaging them in their office hours for a follow up conversation. As a prof, I can tell you those opportunities - to engage with a student beyond the classroom topic in a meaningful conversation - are precious. Perhaps even more so these days as they've become more rare. Thanks for reading and enjoy your PT school and professional journey! Hope to hear more from you!
Hi Sean, thanks for the reply. Obviously it's hard (impossible) to please everybody in the class, so props to you for trying! Lots of "it depends" answers in PT school, ha. I bet it can be hard for professors to gauge class evaluations, as you are likely to hear from the extreme ends of opinions.
I should stop by professors' offices after class more often, that is good advice. Especially as I near graduation and will not have those opportunities for much longer. Interesting that you say those meaningful conversations with students are becoming more rare, I wonder why that is.
Thanks!
Glad you are back writing! I can relate to dealing with resistance - I need to sort out mine. "One reason is the satisfaction of search or confirmation bias of a few students, on occasion, telling me that they learned a lot in my course about more than the course and that they appreciated it. Are those real? Do they represent the majority view? Or are they just a few outlier opinions that feed my hopes (and ego)?" - don't want to feed your ego, but that hit hard, and is so true. Hope all is well.
David