One of the scariest things that a university professor can face is the feedback that students give at the end of the year. I've heard that it make some professors crawl into the fetal position and wet themselves. I only did one, but I'll let you guess which one.

There are three types of students that fill out evaluations. There are students that simply rush through the evaluations and just give positive marks. While those are fine, they don't really help me get better as a teacher. The only boost my ego, which let's face it, doesn't need help. There are other students who have a beef with the professor and just write negative things. Perhaps it's not uplifting, but it does help me get better. It also makes me cry at night. But then, there are other students who write thoughtful comments that make me think the evaluation process might be worthwhile. It's almost like some actually care. Some.

Teaching at the undergraduate level has been quite an interesting experience and now that this first quarter is done, I feel like I have learned a lot. At the beginning of the quarter I was very uptight. I didn't know how I was supposed to act in class or what kind of person a "professor" should be like. It made the class awkward for everyone because I made it so uncomfortable with my level of discomfort with teaching. And that's not even counting the times I got into the fetal position AND wet myself. But things slowly began to change over the quarter.

I found myself relating to my students more and being able to joke around. As I began to joke around more and more, I was more light hearted in class and not as uptight. The atmosphere in the classroom became more casual and it become obvious that people were more willing to interact. In a nut shell, I was becoming myself. What a concept. This all became clear to me after reading my evaluations.

A majority of the comments focused on the fact that they enjoyed the casual atmosphere, the ability to relate to the professor, and my authentic attitude while at the same time having a level of authority in class. It was after reading these comments that I realized this is what I had been doing as a youth worker for the past four years. The reason my work as a youth worker went so well is that I was willing to be myself. Why should teaching in the college setting be any different?

And to be honest, it really shouldn't be different. While there are certain expectations of what a college class should be like, I've found that the most important thing about being a teacher is that you just need to be yourself. Students will be able to tell when you are forcing something that you're not. As a result, students will be more likely to dislike the class. But I have to think that the lessons are true across the board. No matter what vocation you find yourself in, the key is to always be yourself. If you find yourself being uncomfortable, you're only going to make everyone else around you uncomfortable. But that might just be my soaked pants.