Know Your Enemy

I often wish that I did not love my job so much. It is summer and, for the life of me, I CANNOT turn my brain off to stop thinking about my Biology courses in the fall. I am anxious to implement changes to improve student learning, and also, student satisfaction with the course. When looking at the past couple of semesters and remembering the sometimes hateful comments from students on End of Course evaluations, it is very easy to think of the students as the enemy. Since I struggle with being a people-pleaser, this can turn from being helpful into a sinful obsession. But my students are not the enemy – not even close. So I need to refocus my thoughts on the real enemy and what I can do to make Biology for Non-Majors and better experience for all involved (this includes myself).

• Enemy #1: Fear of a new way of learning from students. Even though I utilize Team-Based Learning as my pedagogical model, this does not eliminate using some amount of lecture in the course. I have experimented with different approaches different semesters, and am planning to intentional and clearly defined lecture. I don't think I will end up talking anymore in class, but I will now show the *magical* powerpoints on important and challenging concepts, rather than just answering questions and (gasp) writing on the board. I have also gotten rid of some case studies and changed the in-class activities to hands-on drawing, building of models and more. In all honesty, this approach will have more of a 'building' component of student knowledge as we work through each unit. Hopefully, Enemy #1 will be lessened as students see a mixture of class activities which address multiple learning styles within the class.
  
• Enemy #2: Apathy on the part of students. To combat these attitudes, I will be showing a Discovery Channel video about a current event concept related to the unit we are studying. This will take up about 10 minutes of class time, but if it catches the interest of just 1 student, it will be worth it. I am also changing the major individual assignment from a scary research paper to posting in our forums about a current event article that I have chosen. I hope that by making the connections to the real world in more than one venue, these non-majors will see the usefulness of studying biology to their own lives.
  
• Enemy #3: Fear of saying or doing the wrong thing with my students. This enemy rears its ugly head in many scenarios. The area that is most on my mind is my never-ending struggle/ various ideas on how to best teach and approach the questions of origins and evolution with my students. It is very important to me (and to SWU) that we teach students to think from a Biblical worldview. My latest idea consisted of giving teams a table with information about various views and then asking them to decide which views may be held by someone with a Christian worldview. But now I don't know if I like this idea. It seems harmless and easy enough to do this, but I don't know if I can complete this activity in a way that would work in a single class period (which is all the time I can allot for the activity). I have been reading and thinking and praying and discussing with others these ideas in a very intentional way for the past 6 years, and I don't think I could complete this activity in a satisfactory manner. I approach this topic by emphasizing the need for humility and the effect of one's worldview. I also confess my own journey to best understand all of the scientific and theological issues connected to the discussion. No – I don't believe that one's views on this topic define whether you are a Christian or not, but I do think that a high regard for Scripture, its inerrancy and authority exclude some views of origins of life and origins of man (this could be the topic of another blog, but not now). The only weapon again Enemy #3 is continuing and thoughtful preparation for each class. Unfortunately, my perfectionistic tendencies leave me often feeling like I have not done a great job and have done the wrong thing. However, I keep reading and thinking and working through these questions to be able to do better the next time. Another "weapon" in this area is prayer – that God would give me the words and thoughts for the particular students sitting in that classroom. I need to remember that all students are different and need to hear different things from me to different topics. I will never have the *PERFECT* thing to say to explain any topic.
  
• Enemy #4: Forgetting that the students (and their evaluations) are not the enemy. Part of the reason I love teaching is getting to know and interact with my students. Viewing them as the enemy takes away this joyful part of the job. I do my best work as a teacher when I am invested in the students. I must always remember that even though they are sinners just like me, they are made in the image of God. He loves them and me – He brought them to my class for a reason – He expects me to pray for, care for, and disciple them to the best of my ability in the area of biology and faith.
  

I often tell my students that all of life is sacred – learning biology (the study of God's living creation) – is not a secular pursuit. Remembering my ultimate goal – to glorify God as I teach my younger brothers and sisters in Christ about His Creation – makes my job exciting and meaningful to me. Getting these ideas down on "paper" will hopefully allow my mind to rest and recharge for the next few weeks – August will be here before you know it!