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Graduate student makes tough transition to teacher
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Kofi
Inkabi told his story about transitioning from student to
teacher in the graduate school edition of U.S. News and World
Report. He received the 2004 GSI Teaching Award last spring
and says he now spends about 20 hours a week preparing lesson
plans.
ANGELA PRIVIN PHOTO |
CEE Ph.D. student Kofi Inkabi dreamed of being a college professor,
but after taking his first stab at teaching as a graduate student
instructor (GSI), he wasn’t so sure he had what it takes.
The class was one he had aced the year before, CE 180/290E: Construction,
Maintenance and Design of Civil & Environmental Engineered
Systems. Inkabi thought he had a great idea for how to improve
the discussion section by adding lectures on material not covered
in class. But his first lecture didn’t go as planned.
“The students just sat there with blank stares. There was
no interaction, and I don’t think they got the material,”
he says. Discouraged and feeling as if his professional aspirations
were dashed, he spoke to Robert Bea, who taught the class.
“I told Professor Bea I wasn’t cut out to be a professor.
He said I shouldn’t give up because I failed the first time.
He suggested that I relate the material to personal experience
to help the students connect to it better.”
At the next class Inkabi apologized for giving his students too
much dense information. He reviewed the material, this time using
a PowerPoint presentation and personal examples from his own professional
experience. To his amazement, the students gave him a round of
applause at the end of the class.
In a recent survey of 32,000 doctoral student teachers at U.S.
universities, 45 percent reported feeling unprepared to teach,
according to U.S. News & World Report. In an effort to improve
his own teaching skills, Inkabi has sought the advice and experiences
of fellow GSIs, visited the GSI Teaching and Resource Center,
and solicited feedback from his students. But he contends that
the best teacher for teaching is simply experience.
“It’s very hard to train someone to be a teacher,”
he says. “The most important thing is to be committed to
learning as you go. Like everything, teaching takes practice.”
By Angela Privin, Engineering Public Affairs
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