Teaching Presence – A Personal Experience
In the first post of this course on the concept of teaching presence, I would like to share with you my personal experience as a learner when I was in high school. I will describe why I think that experience was successful and the most memorable learning experience for me.
It was about 20 years ago back when I was an ambitious high school student in Iran with so many dreams for my future. Back then, there was a course on the contemporary history of Iran. I was not really looking forward to this class despite the fact that I am generally a fan of history. I like watching documentaries about historical events and places or even reading historical books. But I didn’t like history classes. I suppose it is because of my experiences in all history courses that I had before. To me, history courses and classes were just a long list of names, places, and dates. I had to spend so much time memorizing all those dates and events. Another reason for my lack of interest in history classes was that I’ve never been much of one to accept things “because someone told me so.” I need to have proof, a reason to attach significance to a fact, and understanding on why I need to know or apply information. Anyway, here I was in high school taking yet another history course. I was fully prepared to be bombarded with facts and expected to soak them up like a sponge. I was not enthused. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Our teacher in the first class asked if everyone loves history. I didn’t feel much excitement in the classroom. He then said, “I want you to forget everything you experienced before and start looking at history in a new and different way. I don’t care if you know the exact date of the events we’re going discuss. I’m not interested in whether or not you remember all the players or even the city in which these things happened. As long as you know the correct time frame, location, and key players you are in good shape.” It was hard to believe what I was hearing. All class discussions, papers, and projects centered on why an event came around and how it impacted or brought about subsequent events. We discussed how those events affected us today.
In my opinion, our teacher had us think about the events and content of the course rather than just know them and that was the key to the whole success of that class. Our teacher talked with the class rather than at the class. That class made taking a history course fun and enjoyable. Years after that class, I always try to incorporate this method in my classrooms and teaching styles. I think every teacher must consider having a list of activities and attributes of engaging learning. Engaging learning activities should be learner-centered, contextual, active, social, and supportive.