I enjoy the career that I have chosen: teaching. Unfortunately, teaching is not respected or supported as it once was. The myth that teachers are only required to deliver a lecture in the classroom, and then hide in their offices until the day’s end, promotes an unfair devaluing of the profession. Consider a day in my schedule.

 

My day at work typically begins at 8 a.m. I spend an hour checking email and voice mail. Then I spend about a half hour reading materials related to research – typically, research related to my independent study students. Then I prepare for a writing-intensive course that includes both a lecture and a learning laboratory (two hours of contact). I teach two sections of this course, for a total of 120 students. A one-hour break at noon allows me to prepare for the second section and have lunch.

 

At 3 p.m., on the days I teach this course, I schedule independent research students. In a given week, I spend two to six hours with each of five students as they go through the process of writing literature reviews and proposals, and as they collect and analyze data. At around 5:30 p.m., I complete classroom management activities – recording grades and attendance, reviewing the syllabus, assessing small-group progress, and redrafting assignments to fit the needs of the current students.

 

On two half-days of the week, my time is devoted to advising students. This service activity is time consuming, yet vital to the operation of the university. Because I am in the Department of Psychology, students tend to perceive me as being a professional helper. Thus, I often advise students more broadly than just on their academic lives.

 

The remainder of my week is used for completing committee work. My roles as president of a major faculty body, and the co-chair of a university commission, sometimes place me in the precarious position of resolving conflicts and organizing disparate faculty needs and objectives. This can be an exhausting position that needs to always be balanced with my, and the university’s, main objective – to provide quality instruction. But committee work and faculty governance are central to the quality and future of the university.

 

My teaching and service commitments are typically complete between 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. During later hours, however, I write letters of recommendation, grade tests, and read papers (those 120 students in the writing-intensive course!).

 

My daily/weekly routine entails more than delivering a series of lectures and spending down time in my office. I, as well as other faculty members, commit a substantial amount of time to serving both the university and community. And we still manage to polish those students who literally beg for more of our precious time. That’s because teaching is our art.