Michigan State University is fortunate to have passionate educators who are committed to enhancing the experience of their students and who help to provide the best education possible.
The Graduate School is featuring some of these educators – graduate and postdoc educators – every month to share their unique stories and perspectives on what it means to be a dedicated educator, how they’ve overcome educational challenges, and the ways they have grown through their experiences.
For January 2024, we are featuring Alyssa LaBerge, a doctoral candidate in the School of Criminal Justice. In her writeup, Alyssa shows how she focuses on the uniqueness of each student to allow her whole class to thrive.
What does it mean to be an educator at a university?
To me, being a university educator means being student-centered and giving each student a sense of ownership over their learning experience by including them in the teaching and learning process. Teaching and learning involve much more than the transference of information from instructor to student. Students should grow throughout their education, and demonstrating the real-world applicability of their education is key to facilitating their growth. Therefore, it is the job of an educator to teach not just information, but skills. I value teaching skills such as critical thinking, evaluation, collaboration and teamwork, communication, time management, and even technology to help prepare students for their futures.
Being a university educator also means encouraging our students and their learning and being mentors and resources. We cannot accomplish this without being compassionate and understanding, without acknowledging the diverse backgrounds of our students, or without creating inclusive and safe environments. This is an enormous responsibility, but one that we should all prioritize and value.
What challenges have you experienced and how have you grown from them?
Even though teaching bring me immense joy, teaching is hard. It’s easy to immerse ourselves in the joy that it brings and to push aside the stress it brings with it. I’ve found it challenging to manage my time and my desire to create the perfect learning experience in every class. My perfectionism comes out when preparing my courses, yet perfectionism isn’t sustainable. Being a graduate educator doesn’t mean that our other responsibilities end, and I have struggled balancing my various roles. Once I took steps to admit and accept my limitations, I found myself able to prioritize my
responsibilities and focus on what brings me the most joy.
In a similar vein, I also struggle with the understanding that there is no single teaching strategy that works for all students. Students have diverse identities and backgrounds that shape their learning. As educators, we can never satisfy all our students, but we can take conscious steps to bring them into the teaching and learning experience. I frequently solicit feedback from my students and incorporate their ideas into the classroom in an effort to overcome student obstacles to learning. Yet, this brings with it the complicated nature of setting firm boundaries and limits to exceptions. Adhering back to your own boundaries falls in line with staying true to your teaching philosophy.
What value do you see in Teaching Professional Development?
In my opinion, you can never participate in “enough” Teaching Professional Development (TPD). I have participated in numerous teaching workshops, teaching certification programs, and teaching fellowships, and I have found value in each and every one. TPD has helped me identify my own teaching philosophy, exposed me to a vast network of educators and scholars, and taught me a variety of unique teaching strategies.
It is notable that TPD is not just focused on teaching, but also on student learning (after all, the two go hand in hand). TPD helps educators understand students, their needs, and their motivations in ways that we simply may not otherwise. Importantly, TPD has helped me recognize that my preferred personal ways of learning translate to only a proportion of students, and at the same time has taught me how to step out of my own comfort zone. I credit TPD for the educator I am today and the educator I will be in the future.
What is one piece of advice you would give other graduate educators?
Know your teaching philosophy and what matters to you most. Our teaching philosophy underpins every aspect of our teaching, from our course policies to learning objectives to daily class content. Stay true to yourself. Similarly, I cannot stress enough the importance of having like-minded peers and mentors with similar teaching philosophies. Use them for support, bounce ideas off each other, and destress together. You are not alone!
Regarding teaching itself, it’s important that graduate educators accept we all have “off” days when teaching. Lean into those days and learn from them. It’s okay to go over material again; it’s okay if an activity just didn’t work. As graduate educators we are much harder on ourselves than our students are on us, but it’s never as bad as we think.
What do you enjoy in your free time?
I enjoy doing puzzles and playing card and board games in my free time. I also love watching TV and movies; don’t discount giving your brain a total break!
