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How to Become a Successful Adjunct Professor
Mind Matters
An Occasional Column by Anthony D. Fredericks
How to Become a Successful Adjunct Professor
Your effectiveness as an adjunct professor is dependent on much more than your knowledge of your specific discipline. In fact, your success will be driven by characteristics and dynamics that are as much a part of who you are as they are of your classroom instruction.
Conversations with scores of post-secondary colleagues around the country indicate that good adjuncts are effective because of the interaction of five distinguishing characteristics:
- Individual accountability
- Student orientation
- A critical learning environment
- Constructivist orientation
- Learning as a lifelong process
I invite you to consider these characteristics in terms of your own personality dynamics as well as in terms of your reasons for becoming an adjunct professor.
- Individual Accountability
The reasons you are an adjunct instructor are undoubtedly many. Who you are as a person and how you would like to share your knowledge with college students are significant determinants in why your chose this position. So too, will they be significant in terms of your success in the classroom. My own experiences with fellow college teachers has taught me that the personality of a teacher is a major and predominant factor in the success of students within that teacher’s influence. Here are some factors to consider:
- Learn the Culture. Your success in the classroom may be determined by how much you know about the institution(s) at which you teach. Learn the culture of the institution – every college has its own unique set of traditions, customs and practices. At the very least, you should be aware of 1) the mission of the institution, 2) the long-range plans of the institution, and 3) the core values that shape the daily life of the institution.
- Connect with Your Department. In your role as an adjunct professor, it is quite easy to feel “out of touch” with the institution as well as with the members of the department in which you are teaching. Working to establish and maintain good relationships with department members can go a long way towards ensuring success – both in the classroom and outside. Consider the following: 1) Whenever possible, talk with members of the department (full-time and part-time) in a variety of informal conversations. Talk about the weather, a recent political situation, or the status of students. 2) Ask if you can attend department meetings (if your schedule allows). Listen to the various topics and challenges under discussion. If allowed, volunteer your views and perspectives.
- Get a Mentor. One of the most effective ways you can help yourself both as a teacher and as a colleague is to find someone who is willing to act as your mentor. Not only can a mentor keep you up-to-date on classroom procedures and institutional policies, that individual can also help you feel more comfortable in the academic community. Here are some ideas to consider:
- Student Orientation
If you were to walk into the classroom of any outstanding college instructor, irrespective of her or his discipline or experience, one thing will become immediately clear: students are respected, trusted and honored. These are classrooms where the professor is not lecturing from atop a marble pedestal, but rather down interacting on a personal level with students.
Students need to know that they will never be embarrassed or ridiculed. Nor will they be intimidated or shown excessive favoritism. The best teachers are those who have positive attitudes about everyone in course. High expectations abound for each and every student and successful teachers create a learning environment in which those expectations can be realized.
Good college teachers are listeners. Good teachers know that students have much to contribute to the curriculum and to each other and provide numerous opportunities for them to do so. Or as a colleague once told me, “Good teaching often means opening your ears and closing your mouth!” Another colleague put it this way: “The connection between students and the teacher is what makes a good class. Professors should always be looking for relationships between events in students’ lives and the course content. The event may be family, work, weekend parties, world news or a campus function. Strive to make the connection and you can always make an impact.”
- Critical Learning Environment
Good adjunct professors “pepper” each class with an array of higher-level questions that help students apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate content. They use questions to arouse curiosity, stimulate thinking and engage students in an active model of discovery. Rather than falling into traditional models of teaching in which all the answers are provided, effective professors make good questioning their instructional priority. In short, knowledge is never static, rather it is the dynamic process coupled with knowledge that makes lessons productive and intellectually stimulating.
Good teachers provide opportunities for students to generate their own questions for discovery. However, instead of falling into the trap of providing answers to those self-initiated queries, effective
teachers help students discover the answers for themselves. Self-discovery has more lasting implications and effects than simply telling students the answers.
Good professors provide opportunities for students to relate the content to their personal lives. Having a “head full of facts” is considerably less important than the ability to use that information to solve problems in one’s personal or professional life. Good teachers ask students to draw their own conclusions and to defend the choices they make.
- Constructivist Orientation
Good adjunct instructors enjoin students in a process of discovery, exploration and inquiry. They eschew a transmission model of teaching – one in which students are merely vessels into which the professor pours all her or his vast amounts of knowledge. Rather, good teachers embrace a teaching model that provides students with responsibilities, challenges and a measure of self-determination.
Good teachers know that learning is not simply the accumulation of knowledge (which is passive), but rather how we make sense of knowledge. Constructivism recognizes that knowledge is created in the mind of the learner. Professors help students relate new content to the knowledge they already know. In addition, students have opportunities to process and apply that knowledge in meaningful situations (sometimes called “hands-on, minds-on” learning).
Good adjunct professors promote the idea that knowledge is never a product, rather it is a process. How we learn is intrinsically more important than what we learn. For college students, this is a critical factor in the academic success children they enjoy in a course as well as the intellectual experiences they can carry with them well after their course is over.
- Learning as a Lifelong Process
Good adjunct professors are those who keep learning, those who continually add to their knowledge base throughout their teaching career. My lifelong motto has always been: “Good teachers have as much to learn as they do to teach.” Your education doesn’t stop just because you have a graduate degree. It means that if you are to provide the best possible education for your students, then you need to provide yourself with a variety of lifelong learning opportunities, too.
Good adjuncts keep current, stay active, and continually seek out new answers or new questions for exploration. Your desire to find out more about effective teaching methods and dynamic new discoveries within your field can add immeasurably to your talents as a teacher and can also add to your students’ appreciation of your discipline in their own lives.
Your success as an adjunct professor can be ensured when you consider and plan long term goals. Whether you are teaching one course at a single college or a multiplicity of courses at several institutions, you need to devote some time to “career planning” strategies that will continue to enhance your teaching effectiveness as well as your personal growth and development as a college instructor.
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Dr. Anthony D. Fredericks is Professor Emeritus of Education at York College of Pennsylvania (and a former adjunct professor). He is an award-winning author of 175+ books, including The Adjunct Professor’s Complete Guide to Teaching College (“It literally had everything you could possibly want to know [and] is written in realistic and relatable terms!” (5-star review)
Frequent Questions from New Adjunct Professors
Mind Matters
An Occasional Column by Anthony D. Fredericks
Frequent Questions from New Adjunct Professors
If you are an adjunct professor, know one, or are about to become one, here are some of the most frequently asked questions about teaching college courses. It probably wouldn’t surprise you to know that these queries are asked as much by “newbies” as they are by experienced instructors.
- What if my students don’t like me? Guess what, not every student is going to like you. By the same token, you won’t necessarily like every single student who takes up residence in your classroom. Look back on your own educational career. Did you like every single instructor you had in college? Most likely, no! The same will hold true in your own classroom. It’s important to remember that good teaching is not a popularity contest – it is about changing lives for the better. If you go into this new position to be everyone’s friend, then you’re in it for the wrong reason. If you go into it to make a difference, then you’ve chosen the right reason. Face it, teaching has nothing to do with the number of “Likes” you have on your Facebook page; but it has everything to do with changing lives for the better.
- What if I make a mistake? Terrific! That’s what good teaching is all about. It’s how you handle the mistakes that is more important than the mistakes themselves. You’ll make lots of mistakes…hundreds or them, perhaps even thousands of them. Every teacher does. I’ve made a million or so. I recognized the fact that I’m imperfect and, in fact, I celebrated it. If I make a mistake in a class, I let students know and then I set about to fix it. Perhaps I’ve shared some erroneous information or erred in computing a student’s grade. I fully admit my error to students and show them I’m willing to correct the mistake and make things right.
I’ve been learning new things for a long time now…and will continue to do so…as will you. Please don’t try to be the “perfect professor” right out of the box. You’ll frustrate yourself and pile more stress into your day than you need. Know that you might make a mistake or two on the first day…on your second day…on your one millionth day! That’s O.K. – you’re a human being and you’re only being human by making mistakes…but you’re being a teacher when you use those mistakes as learning opportunities – learning opportunities for you as well as for your students.
- What if I don’t know the answer? Great! You now have a most wonderful learning opportunity!! When students asked me a question where I wasn’t sure of the correct answer or I simply didn’t know, I usually responded with something like, “Hey, you know what, I’m just not sure of the answer to that question. Let’s find out together.” First, I admitted that I wasn’t the font of all knowledge. I wanted to send a positive signal to students that teaching, for me, was also a learning process. I know a lot of stuff, but it’s not possible for me to know everything about everything. The same goes for you. Admit to some of your shortcomings, celebrate them, and you’ll be creating a very positive bond with your students. But, it’s the second part of my response that I encourage you to adopt (“Let’s find out together.”). Here is where you send a most incredible message to students: Teaching and learning is a partnership; it’s a joint effort by two parties to satisfy a curiosity or discover an unknown. By letting students know that I’m by their side in this intellectual quest – that I’m willing to share part of the load – I can help solidify a partnership that can reap untold benefits later in the semester. In many cases, I’ll brainstorm with one or more students for ways in which we can work to find an acceptable answer – there’s work to do for me and work my students need to do as well. We’ll come together at a later date to discuss the results of our investigations until we arrive at a satisfactory response.
- What if a lesson “bombs”? They will! Count on it! I’ve created lessons that bombed. I created some “bombed” lessons when I first taught and, guess what, I created some lessons that
“bombed” just before I retired. That’s O.K. Not every lesson you write will be memorable, inspirational, or successful. Some just won’t make it. But, that’s all part of what makes teaching so exciting. If you set out to try and make every single lesson perfect you will only add to your level of frustration. You need to face this reality: some lessons will fall flat on their face because you forgot a simple ingredient, a critical piece of technology (like, say, your thumb drive), a necessary fact, or slice of research. But, guess what, you will learn from that mistake. And, the next time you teach that lesson it will be much better and much more effective. Trying to write perfect lessons shouldn’t be your goal; your goal should be to create learning opportunities to the best of your ability at this point in time. The longer you teach, the better your lessons will become. It’s like playing the piano – the more you practice (over the years) the better you get. Unless you’re a musical prodigy, you don’t play Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody #2 the first time you sit down at a piano – it takes many years of constant and sustained practice to play this most demanding piece. By the same token, it will take you lots of practice to perfect all the skills of an accomplished professor. Don’t expect to do it all in your first college class.
- What’s your best advice? I’ve got three tidbits. First, don’t be so hard on yourself. Remember that every professor has a first class! This is yours! Celebrate it. Know that there will be some bumps in the road. You’ll have a few hiccups, a few muddles, and a few gaffes. It’s inevitable. We all did. Don’t try to be perfect – you’ll frustrate the hell out of yourself if you do.
Second, beg, borrow and steal as many tips, ideas, and strategies as you can. Talk to colleagues, read teacher resource books, go to conferences, pour through professional magazines, and scour the internet. Build up file folders full of innovative, creative and dynamic ideas to share with your students. Be a “packrat of ideas.”
Third, feel free to take risks. We don’t make any progress as a college professor, a hairdresser, an architect, a horticulturist, a doctor, an interior designer, or a computer technician without taking risks. Sure, you may trip or stumble. That’s O.K. You and I and a few billion other people around the world tripped and stumbled (and fell) when we first began to walk. But, guess what? There were plenty of people around to pick us up and get us started again. And, guess what, that’s how it is in teaching college, too. You’ll have lots of people around you to pick you up and get you started again. Your first steps may not be perfect, but with a little practice you’ll be walking…then jogging…then running.
I sincerely hope you enjoy your new journey: learning the strategies and procedures that will make you an unforgettable college teacher – one who inspires students and has a long and productive career. If you are looking for more practical suggestions, you might want to check out the book below.
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Dr. Anthony D. Fredericks is Professor Emeritus of Education at York College of Pennsylvania. He is an award-winning author of more than 175 books, including The Adjunct Professor’s Complete Guide to Teaching College (“I’ve been an adjunct professor for 4 years, and I wish I had had this handy guide before I started my teaching journey. My teaching will undoubtedly be stronger because of the helpful information here.” – 5-star review)