NMDS Archive: Hindsight: What You Can Learn From My First Year, Part II

Editor’s Note:  The following was presented at the very first FA New Member Discussion Series event, hosted in cooperation with the Office of Faculty and Professional Advancement, titled "Hindsight: What You Can Learn From My First Year," on September 12, 2014. In another week or so, I'll be posting the text from the last of our presenters, so that even if you weren't able to attend the session, you'll still have access to some of the insight and advice offered at this professional development workshop. -- SKG

A YEAR TO REMEMBER: 

MY FIRST YEAR EXPERIENCES AT SCCC

Our three panelists, FA President Kevin Peterman, and SKG

by Nicholas Giordano, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Ammerman Campus

Although I was an adjunct since 01/2006, I was still nervous once I was offered and accepted a full-time faculty position. Prior to the start of the semester, I had all sorts of expectations on the teaching side -- from the classes I was assigned, to the students that were going to be in those classes, to handling a much larger workload. On the campus side, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. At least I was comfortable with teaching and interacting with students, but now that I was full-time, I wasn’t sure what I would be doing on a regular basis. In previous positions I had, there was structure. My concerns were interacting with other faculty because as an adjunct, I had a full-time position which did not allow me to interact with other faculty members. Also, I had no idea how to get involved on campus and what activities were available for me to participate in. The following is a list of critical observations from my first year:

CLASSROOM OBSERVATIONS:

No Two Classes are the Same

Although the classes were from the same section and only a few hours apart, I found that my 9:30 a.m classes were a lot more vibrant than my 3:30 p.m. classes. In addition, my 8 a.m. classes were lively, which was not expected, as I believed they would be rather quiet.

Be Authoritative

It is important for the students to know who is in charge and commands the classroom. From the first day, it is critical that you seem tough and for the students to understand that you will follow through on your policies. This allows for two things to occur. First, it can weed out the lazy/immature students who will drop your class rather quickly, which facilitates a friendly learning environment. Secondly, the students cannot legitimately complain at the end of the semester because you articulated your policies in a clear and succinct manner. The reality is that you can pull back throughout the semester after setting the tone.

Expect the Unexpected

I never expected to be called an infidel and racist by a student. Moreover, I never anticipated it would happen while the department chair was observing me. It is important to remember that it is your classroom and you are the one in control, as long as you can maintain your composure. I red flagged this student a week before due to an email he sent me when discussing his paper topic. I recognized this student may be a problem so I spoke with the department chair just to give her the heads up and be on record and she in turn notified the Dean of Student Affairs. This allowed us to pay closer attention to the student. It is critical that you make sure to cover yourself and document any incident/evidence you may have. Following the outburst in the class, I told the student to leave and I would talk to him after class. The student was a good person, but he was stubborn and did not understand how to separate fact from opinion or respect the opinions of others.

CAMPUS OBSERVATIONS:

Managing Downtime

While most professionals would envy our work schedules, time management is essential. My schedule had large blocks of “free time” between classes. At first I preferred to have back-to-back classes. However, once the semester was in full swing, I appreciated the time because it allowed me to further develop assignments, re-tweak lessons, spend time with students, explore the campus, attend events, and run home or do errands when needed.

An important factor in time management is to know when to make research paper assignments due. In the fall of 2013, I assigned a comprehensive paper that was due the first week of December. I became quickly and completely overwhelmed due to other end of semester work (i.e. finals), as well as wrapping up committee work. I now make the comprehensive paper due a month and a half before finals.

Asking for Help/Working with Other Faculty Members

Prior to joining Suffolk Community College as a full-time faculty member, I worked for the New York State Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Services. I was tasked with managing the NYC region. Working in the Homeland Security/Emergency Management arena, you are responsible for multiple projects, cultivating relationships between federal, state, local and private sector partners, and attending meetings with people who have extremely large egos.

When I came to Suffolk, it was nice to see how friendly and helpful other faculty members can be. Many of the faculty members would introduce themselves and ask if you needed anything or had any questions. And most were eager to help and assist me in any way they can. ADVICE: if you need anything or have a question, just ask. Most faculty members are willing to go out of their way to help. Remember all of us were considered “new” at some point.

Observe/Study Other Faculty Members

While some of us may have several years of teaching experience as adjuncts or in a college setting, we are not experts by any means. Now that I was full-time and had large gaps between classes, I found it beneficial to observe several senior faculty members. This provided me with a great opportunity to incorporate new ideas in the classroom in addition to building a relationship with other faculty members. ADVICE: seek knowledge from other faculty members as a way to possibly identify strengths and areas for improvement.

Don’t Be Afraid to Take on Committee Assignments

Within two months of being full-time, I was asked (really told) to be the chair of the Political Science Assessment Committee. A first I was a bit apprehensive and anxious, but I did it and it was an eye-opening experience. The project was successful and I easily completed the assessment. Throughout the process, the department chair and other faculty members provided an enormous amount of support and I realized I was anxious for nothing.

While doing the Political Science Assessment, I was also asked to sit on the SUNY Transfer Path Committee. It was a relatively easy assignment and allowed me to interact with other faculty members from other campuses outside my discipline/department.

If there are any questions, feel free to contact me or any other faculty members.

Welcome and Congratulations

First Week Cheer: Raspberries from a colleague's garden!

by Sarah Kain Gutowski, Chair, New Member Mentoring Program

When you receive this, or when you feel like you can sit down finally and read it, take a minute to breathe deeply and congratulate yourself on completing your first week as SCCC faculty.

By now, you may have begun formulating questions about your department, your classrooms, your workspace/office, your campus, the college, etc.: You may be wondering why new students keep appearing in your classroom (if they aren't on the roster, out they go!) and/or why the bookstore ran out of books for your class, even when you have a receipt in your hand that says, clearly, you ordered enough for each student. Or you may be wondering why the contractors who are finishing the soffits on your building keep trying to kill the rose bush that used to flower so prettily outside your window. (Nope. Wait, that's just me).

Some of these questions have simple answers, like the first question (many students don't read the emails the college sends them, and unfortunately, they don't always read signs posted on doors about being on class rosters, either.) Some questions, like the second, have really annoying complex answers that are more frustrating than satisfying. And some of these questions will never be answered, and even create more questions, like the last. (Aren't you supposed to be trained to operate a boom before you actually get into the lift?)

Anyway -- the point is: it's natural to have questions when you're new to an institution or even just new to your role within that institution. The FA, through our New Member Program, is here to help answer them. 

By now, most of you have been assigned a mentor. (For those of you who have not received an email notifying you of your mentor assignment, please don't fret -- we are a few days, and a few emails, away from assigning you one. This beginning-of-the-year time can be dizzying for mid-career faculty, too.) 

Your mentors may not have all the answers, but they probably have a good idea of who you can ask in order to secure one.Your mentor can be a person you can bounce ideas off of about pedagogy and classroom practices; your mentor can be a person you can call or email quickly to say, "What's the date of that event again?" or "Who's the Dean/Vice President/Person-in-Charge of A,B, or C?" (The administration and its different levels can get a little confusing sometimes.) 

Something that was decidedly LESS happy-making.

Your mentor can, and should, be the person you go to when you have a doubt, a concern, or a query. Their job -- our job -- as participants in this program is to provide a friendly, accessible, and relatively informal source of assistance during your first year as full-time classroom faculty, librarians, professional assistants, and specialists. 

As part of that assistance, we're hosting a little get-together this Friday, September 12, from 11-12:15 p.m. in the Mildred Green Room of the Babylon Student Center (for you Eastern and Grant colleagues, that's on the Ammerman Campus) as part of a new discussion series, co-sponsored by the FA and the Office for Faculty and Professional Advancement, designed to help new members shape their careers paths at SCCC with purpose, efficiency, and confidence.

“Hindsight: What You Can Learn from My First Year” will feature Misty Curreli, Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Eastern campus; Nicholas Giordano, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Ammerman campus; and Jason Ramirez, Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts at the Grant campus.

I encourage you all to take a moment out of your busy schedules and join us for this important (and hopefully insightful) conversation. 

Oh, and there will be cookies, too. You know that by Friday, you'll be needing some cookies. So come for the cookies, stay for the wealth of information and sense of community.