Caveat Neophytus

Some Suggestions For New Teachers

Abstract

Ten years ago I was hired to teach part-time at St. Francis College, a small Catholic college in Brooklyn, New York. I was a young graduate student at Columbia at the time and the job was my first. The first semester was a harrowing one; by the time I was through it, I was convinced my teaching career was over. The chairman was of little help; indeed, at the time he seemed to me an aloof and absolute despot. On one occasion, when he appeared quite suddenly to observe, I was frightened into silence. Still he must have seen something worthwhile for he continued to invite me back for several years, and colleagues, looking over his observation reports, tried to console me by pointing out that he never found fault with the content of my lectures. My fears were not allayed, however, and I kept thinking: "If only someone had told me what to expect."

I began that first summer not knowing whether I would ever teach again. But I was determined to write some day about what I had learned and share what I had picked up with some of my fellow graduate students. The result, from a decade ago, is the short essay on pedagogy that follows. I think it says things that a beginning teacher ought to hear.