Reflecting on my first term
November 30th 2023
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So it's the end of my first term as faculty at a community college and
I've been trying to reflect a bit about what it's like and how it's
been different than other teaching experiences I've had.

I think, as I've been trying to get to know students and understand
where they're coming from, I've been realizing just *how much* this
is a place for students who've been having a rough time. Not just in
terms of, like, oh they're having trouble affording a full university
education but more like they're often working full-time, they have
kids, they're dealing with illness or disability, or they're just
people who've had really hard lives and are having to pull themselves
up by their bootstraps.

In this way, it feels like it has a lot more in common with my years
teaching art and coding classes on the cheap in schools and
communities that were too poor to otherwise have that kind of
education than it does my experience teaching at more research
oriented institutions.

It changes my attitude in some ways because it means, sometimes, my
primary goal is less "I want to make sure you're as sharp as possible"
and more "I want to create a positive experience so you get some
fucking Ws on your scorecard and feel like you've got a chance" and
that doesn't mean I'm sacrificing rigor it means caring about the
right things not just the easy things to grade, if that makes any sense.