Independent Study

A friend of mine volunteered me to teach an independent study class at a university. When I was contacted, I was honored and still did not know why I had so many conflicting feelings about this. After all, I am retired and have a commitment for up to six hours each week and no more right now.

I will be invited to work on an occasional project or training but that is prep and done. I don't wish to minimize this as these projects can take up a whole lot of time and often more time than I estimate. Still, I have the time as technically I am retired.

So, really what was the problem? Was it because I wasn't as excited about the offer as maybe they thought I should be? Or maybe it was because there wasn't much time to look for someone if I denied the position.

I was given time to think about it and one of the thoughts I had was maybe they would find someone else, and it would be decided for me, so I took all the time given for my decision.

Some of the things I recognized were that:

1. Even though I have taught in the regular classroom, I have not taught a formal class in some time.

2. I hear students are more difficult now.

3. I have never taken an independent study class as even when I had the opportunity, I prefer cohorts, other students, the open conversations with the instructor.

4. How do you communicate I thought in an independent study class.

5. How do you know how much material and what kind of material to provide?

6. Never once was it about the topic. I am very familiar with the subject matter, and I am sure that is why I was recommended. There was however the culture being an oral tradition. And culture and relationship is so important to sharing with others what you have to share.

7. What is the interest of students in the material? The class qualifies for Diversity credit and that is something they must take to graduate. I almost never enjoy groups where they must be with you in training, especially in the beginning, but how do you know who the ones are who really don’t want to be there if you don’t get to see the students?

8. Can I do this, and do I want to do this?

Okay, I said yes, with misgivings that they could tell but I'm sure they just wanted to move on and they felt I was qualified, even if I did not. They gave me a sample of the previous instructor’s syllabus with instructions not to copy it as it is the personal property of that instructor.

They offered me a sample of the program I would be using to experiment with. I got instruction like I really could do pretty much whatever as independent study classes used to send the work home for independent study with little to no instruction.

I was given an IT person to contact to teach me the D2L program. And after a few hours with IT, and a couple of follow-up 15-minute sessions, I pretty much know how to navigate the program. I have had support throughout the process of onboarding and with questions that came up.

Halfway through the semester, I continue to have misgivings.

The fun part for me is always the interaction with participants; whether that is students, counselors, providers, or people in general. When I have a paper turned in, that is fun for me to read and respond to. I focus on the positives and leave the cap on my red pen.

I enjoy receiving emails from the students with questions, comments, and suggestions. The culture is more colorful, and it is difficult to show that color so far. I didn’t pick my picture for the site, but I did ask that it be changed to something woodsy.

Maybe not the picture I would have chosen but woods is good.

Storytelling is coming up when there is snow on the ground. Again I prefer to tell in-person stories. And I often write like I talk I am told, which is not the best way to write for most. Oftentimes our stories leave the ending for you to decide on the ending.

I used to get in trouble with my papers in college and had lots of red marks. That was before computers. Then I was reminded more than once that there is a beginning, middle, and end to papers. The fun for me will be hearing stories from the students.