Teaching

I always have been a fan of Vygostky, who suggested the concept of social interaction and the zone of proximal development (ZPD), and my teaching is influenced by his theoretical framework. The ZPD suggests that you must know how much knowledge your students can "digest" and what kind of new ideas they can understand. According to Vygostky, the teacher plays an important role because without the teacher, students will struggle "painfully." In English 1301, for example, most students do not know standard grammar and punctuation, and as their teacher, we must know how much grammar we should teach them a week. We must be aware of the fact that if we teach them something beyond their capacity to understand, we will fail. Of course, I cannot teach them parallel structures while they have no clue what a fragment is. I cannot demand that their papers must be qualified for possible publications.

A good teacher inspires his/her students, instead of criticizing them for their mistakes. Making mistakes is part of the learning process, and no student should be reprimanded for that. It is necessary to point out errors and show students how to correct them. Therefore, a teacher's response to or comment upon students' essays must reflect this concept. In my classes, I never criticize students, but I do praise students who make good grades in front of everybody. That way, those who make "sorry" grades will, at least, know that they should work harder. My mother taught me that praises should be given in public and that criticism should be given privately in a closed room.

I grew up in a communist country, and over there students are not allowed to have a different interpretation of a literary work; teachers are considered as "gods and goddesses of knowledge," and they know how to interpret a work. So, if I came up with something different, my ideas would not be accepted. When I grade students' essays, I notice that many of them understand and interpret Auburn's Proof differently, but as long as they present a logical, persuasive argument, I am OK with that. One student said that the whole play was about vampire--Robert is a monster sucking blood out of his poor, pitiful daughter Catherine. My point is that a good teacher always welcomes new ideas and encourages students to pursue their dreams. I hate giving lectures, but this sounds like stupid Education and Psychology courses that I took a few years ago.

Although I have been here for 6 years, I have not been able to get over the fact that many TAs and professors here are so informal, if not unprofessional, in the way they talk and dress. In Asia and Europe, professors are highly respected because they do respect themselves, at least by taking a shower and putting on clean clothes before they come to class. TAs often complain that students don’t respect them; well, it is understandable if TAs wear sloppy clothes and do not wash their hair. One of my professor said, “If you are a teacher, act and talk like a teacher.” Some may argue with me that appearance is not important; what is worth is how well you teach. I do partly agree with this argument, but if my teacher wore shorts and a wrinkled T-shirt to class, I wouldn’t take him seriously.

Teaching/Scholarship

I have attended a few job interviews, and the applicants always said that they would try to keep the balance between scholarship and teaching—of course, this is ideal. No school would hire an applicant if s/he just focused on either of them. In the US, there are “teaching” institutions and “research” institutions. In an MLA session last year, one speaker stated that it was impossible for a professor to teach and ignore research, because what can you offer your students if you don’t read, don’t go to conferences, and don’t publish? However, I have had some professors who are too into research to meet with students. They are not eager when seeing students come to their offices, and they look busy all the time so that you’d better talk fast and get out. I think we need to fire those professors because they are not here to help students.

I always have been concerned about “teaching courses in your field.” Unarguably, it is great if you are allowed to teach what you like. This will build up your expertise and strength. A professor who teaches Milton, for example, for 20 years will know Milton inside out. The problem is this: he less likely wants to read anything but Milton. Thus, he becomes narrow-minded because in literature, everything is connected, and it would be great to see how authors after Milton use his ideas in their works.

My perspective about teaching and scholarship is that you are hired to teach students and to do research to strengthen your teaching and enrich your knowledge so that students can be benefited. If you do research merely because you want to get tenure or promotion, that’s too selfish. Some professors use their research assistants as slaves, asking them to do so many things, but when their books come out, no credit is given to their assistants—so cruel!!!

Also, there are teachers who teach well and inspire students, but they don’t publish. There are teachers who publish a lot, but their teaching is awful, and students drop their classes. So, it is not easy to balance teaching and scholarship, and how to do it effectively is another issue.

E-pedagogy

Pros: One of the greatest things about the English language is that you can create words and that people still understand what those words mean. "E-pedagogy" is a new term to me, but I did not need to struggle to find out its meaning. Coming to Tech and teaching Composition in a high-tech way, I have mixed feelings. Grading online and not knowing whose paper I am grading make me feel so good, because my students cannot accuse me of prejudice, partiality, or unfairness. I used to attach the student's face to his/her paper when I graded before, and it is both negative and positive. Here, I notice that students enjoy talking to me via e-mail and that they don't have to see my scary, serious face during my office hours. I support e-learning because it saves me time, and I don't have to deal with students' hatred toward me because I don't grade their papers--such a relief! I am addicted to computers, and it is very hard for me to do handwriting now. Grading online and posting everything students need on the website are so wonderful. No one would come to me and say, "I lost the syllabus sheet; I didn't know that the assignment was due today."

Cons: I have always been an anti-online-education person. I actually do not respect people who earn their degrees by taking online courses. It seems to me that online education is all about making profit for the institution that offers the program. The school does not have to hire many faculty members, but students signing up for their courses have to pay the same amount of money for each credit. Thus, education becomes a business.
What do students learn from online courses? They never see their instructors in person, and all communication is done via e-mail or something like Blackboard or Blog. I like to talk to my professors, discuss with them my papers, and engage in face-to-face class discussions. Online education erases the relationship between the student and the instructor. In education, establishing a good nexus with your teachers is so important. Online teachers are like TV reporters who talk like parrots and don't care about students. How can they have enough time to answer 100 e-mails a day because they teach 500 students who live everywhere in the country/even in the world. Education is not just about listening to lectures and turning in papers; it deals with motivation, inspiration, and encourgement. Because online instructors talk like parrots and Treporters, I don't like to take their online courses.

Techonology/Behavior/Outlook

I did not know anything about computers and the Internet until I was a senior in college. Twelve years ago, Vietnam was still very much behind the world in terms of modern technology. I was, and still am, an English major, and courses in computer science were not part of my undergraduate coursework. Possessing a computer at that time was considered a luxury; only rich people could own computers, and it was quite expensive to rent a computer with Internet access at an Internet cafe in Vietnam. Honestly, I did not care much about computers, thinking that as an English teacher, I would not need to use the Internet for computer-related work.

In 2000, a delegation of students and professors of the Troy University System came to my campus for a conference. I was asked to attend some sessions and showed them around. Before they left Vietnam, some gave me their e-mail addresses and web pages, and I did not know what they were and how to use them. A few weeks later, the Director of the International Programs of my university called me to his office and showed me an e-mail written by Professor Harold Kaylor, who led the delegation. Dr. Kaylor was impressed with my English skills and academic performance; during his visit, he also heard compliments about my studies. Dr. Kaylor asked me to contact him directly via e-mail because he wanted to know if I would like to study abroad.

I shared the news with Christopher, my Canadian friend, and told him that I did not know how to send an e-mail. He helped me set up a Yahoo account, and I started to exchange correspondence with Dr. Kaylor, who did not want his e-mails to go to a third person before they reached me, due to the complicated politics at my university. Through the Internet, I then started to learn about Troy University, its academic programs, admission requirements, and scholarship opportunities for international students. Dr. Kaylor worked very hard with the Office of International Services in order to get the paperwork completed for my arrival.

The Internet drew me closer to the world, and I felt less alienated. I had been like a blind man walking aimlessly until the Internet showed me the wonders of the world. I realized that I had been totally ignorant of technology and electronic communication. When I arrived in Alabama for my M.Ed. in English, I attended a library orientation and felt "stupid" because other students seemed to be very familiar with what the librarian was talking about. I was lost, overwhelmed, and embarrassed. It took me a few months to learn how to use the library databases, interlibrary loan service, and even Google.

I typed slowly, and I did not know much about Microsoft Word. It took me forever to finish typing a twenty-page research paper. I was struggling and sweating a lot, while my American classmates were enjoying graduate school tremendously. One day, I was asked to present a Power-Point presentation; I had to ask a friend to guide me through the whole process, and everything he said was totally new to me. One the one hand, I was happy because I was learning something new; on the other hand, I felt stupid because my knowledge of technology was so limited.

The Internet has changed my life significantly. Without it, I would not have been able to be in the US for my academic pursuit. It has also changed my perspective and behavior: now I am able to do research and update my knowledge daily. I am a different person now, compared to who I was ten years ago. In the academe, as well as in other fields, it is impossible to do effective research and keep track of information or data without a computer and the Internet. The Internet has made me stop snailing and forced me to speed up so that I will not be left behind.