キャリアニュース2019年12月19～26日

While preparing to teach my first lecture as a new faculty member, I told myself: “You have many research presentations under your belt; you'll nail this!” It didn't take long for me to realize that I was way off base. A few minutes in, the students looked tired, distracted, and in no mood to listen—a stark contrast to my research talk audiences, which seemed attentive at least. At one point, I noticed a few students giggling. “Do I look or talk funny?” I wondered. When I saw that the giggling students were on Facebook, I was relieved. But later I realized that, too, was a sign that I had failed to command their attention. </br>![][1]</img> ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT NEUBECKER > “Actively engaging students is essential for holding their attention.” In grad school, I had served as a teaching assistant, helping guide undergraduate students during hands-on lab sessions. But I was never responsible for teaching a class on my own, and I never had any formal training. When I became a facu