pedagogical tool. For instance, though it may be
obvious to me how different sections of the course
or sets of readings fit together, it may be useful for
students to puzzle a bit about my choices. One of
my favorite in-class moves that I learned about
this semester is the “why did I do what I did?”
type question. Being transparent may mean
asking students to think about why two texts were
assigned on a particular week or how two sections
of the course fit together. As students search and
discover the rationale behind my choices, they
may deepen their understanding of course topics.
Of course, as I finish this section, it occurs
to me that transparency could be taken too far:
indeed, there are some aspects of my teaching I
wish not to be transparent about with students.
Also, transparency, if too meta, could distract
from student learning. Therefore, like other
principles, perhaps it is most useful for me to aim
for a certain amount of transparency as I interact
with students: a balance between overloading
students with information about my course
choices and denying them information and
keeping them in the dark.
Principle 3: Creativity
Creativity is an important aspect of my
teaching. Like other principles, creativity is
important throughout a course’s “life”: at the
design stage creativity influences the choices I
make about texts, assessment strategies, and
course parts; at the implementation stage
creativity shapes lesson planning, how I translate
information (metaphor choice), and dialogue with
students. Being creative, I hope, keeps topics fresh
and permits multiple approaches to a course; since
I fear getting stale over time as the world,
literatures, and students change, I hope that being
creative about the ideas of the course, and the
texts that I assign, will keep me interested and
help me think of new ways to present various
topics to students.
Just as important are the instances and
ways in which I ask students to be creative. On
major assignments I hope to design options that
give students the flexibility to think about topics
in new ways and choose areas that are of
particular interest to them. On a day-to-day basis,
I often adopt a lecture, discussion, and exercise
format and ask students to be creative in the latter
two aspects of a lesson. In discussion, I try to get
them to think creatively by posing questions and
bringing up hypothetical situations that encourage
accepting my voice, but expecting it through
reflection and dialogue. Through these forums, I
received feedback and critical questions that
helped me to continue my reflective process. Over
time, I grew more confident of my direction and
started to explore more of the world around me.
Step 3: Forge reliable routes, but explore
sideroads
For me, it is never enough to have one path
from point A to point B. I always wonder if there
might be another path that I am missing, one that is
faster or more scenic. In the case of working with
people, I feel like there are always alternative
paths, always more ways to interact differently and
more effectively. Each route brings a new
perspective and new ideas, as long as I remember
to become aware of the world around me and
reflect upon it. Each new TLI partnership feels like
a new journey, which is exciting, but underlying
each new partnership, there is also a familiar cycle
of events that runs deeper, which keeps the
partnership from being too unpredictable and
unmanageable.
With each professor, I observe habits and
mindsets that have been entrenched over the years,
his or her own predictable and reliable paths that
always get him or her to the desired destination.
However, I have been extremely fortunate and
amazed that each of my faculty partners has also
been very open and receptive to the creation of
new routes, ones that they may have looked over
or avoided in the past. For instance, like most
teachers, Professor Oberfield is steadfast in his
approach and philosophy of teaching, but his
courage and aspiration to pursue creativity is
evident in his narrative and apparent in his
everyday interactions with his students and with
me. My other faculty partners have been the same,
as I can usually note pedagogical patterns
emerging within two class sessions. However,
partly through my dialogue with them and partly
through careful observation, I can see where they
try new approaches or take tiny steps in a different
direction than they normally would. Some of these
paths fail to bring about productive or more
effective results, but some of them lead to better
discussions, allow for more participation, or
improve learning and the class in some way (this is
when I jump for joy on the inside). In either case,
my faculty partners, the students, and I learn more
about what works and does not work for each
class, setting, or individual and get a better