PDF Here are three pieces of advice I have for all you new adjuncts and, actually, all you adjuncts and new full-time instructors. I hope you find my teaching assistance tips of value. I think you will!
- Be Prepared! – Do not think that your bountiful knowledge of the subject, years of exemplary experience and charismatic personality will pull you through. If you have not planned out each class your students will know.
- Build on Your Strengths – Let student’s know your experience and qualifications and put them to use in your teaching.
- Don’t Highlight Your Weaknesses – A new adjunct who tells the class that it is his or her first time teaching is setting him or herself up for ridicule and possibly failure. Some students will consider that sufficient reason to blame their failures on your. The reality is that you can’t possibly teach the class perfectly the first time. But let that be a little secret between you and me.
Here are two more pieces of advice that I call Hummel’s Law:
Actually, there are several other pieces of advice I have labeled Hummel’s Law.
Maybe I need to find a new name. 
Anyway, here ya go.
- Treat everyone – students, colleagues, parents, community members – as if they were a close relative of the president of the college board of trustees.
- Conduct every minute of every class as if you were being videotaped for review by the president of your college and broadcast on local cable TV.
© 2010 Paul A. Hummel, Ed.D.
Posted August 18, 2010
