Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Fajitas and Reflective Practice

Today I went out for lunch with a good friend and fellow professor. We enjoyed some amazing fajitas at a great hole-in-the-wall Mexican place downtown. More than that, we enjoyed conversation over our lunch.

Photo by kochtopf
CC BY-SA 2.0
Amidst the tortillas and salsa and Coke out of a glass bottle we talked about good teaching, and how our profession is changing. We ruminated on the history of education and the future of higher education; we discussed the impending beginning of my doctoral studies and the joys of teaching underclassmen. We wondered together about how to teach students critical thinking skills and how to best evaluate what they have learned and whether we expect too little from our students. In short, we had the chance to reflect on what we are doing, and why we are doing it. What a blessing!

After lunch, I went back to my office, had a much-needed breath mint, and got back to marking exams and reading student teachers' portfolios. This is a crazy time of the semester, for sure. But I'm still taking time to reflect on the joys this first year of college teaching has afforded me. I sure don't have it all figured out yet, but with mentors like this, and fantastic colleagues, and amazing students, and the time to reflect and refine my teaching practice...I'm feeling tremendously blessed!

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