Feedback May 2002 (Vol 43 No 2)

decision to return to full-time teaching; who are you, who are your colleagues, and whoare your students? Take the time to reacquaint yourself with all three.Recognize that you are not the same teacher you were ten years ago, but, moreimportantly, you are not the same person. Use your administrative skills and experience— your talent for juggling lots of balls in the air at the same time and for getting to thepoint in less than 30 seconds — to effectively communicate to your students.Your colleagues are different, both in who they are and in what they do. You may havehired or fired most of them. It is important to establish new relationships and the suresign you have is when your colleagues call you by your first name — in public — withoutadjectives. However, reacquainting yourself with your colleagues is not just a matter ofbeing invited to faculty happy hours, but redefining your place in the organization.And if you think knowing yourself and knowing your colleagues is tough, wait untilyou face thirty 18-year-old freshmen in your Introduction to Mass Media class. PowerPoint presentations and course websites have replaced blackboards and chalk, and “Why isthis on the test?” has replaced “Will this be on the test?” You are a coach once again, justwhen you got your kids out of youth soccer.WHATNo, you cannot teach your dissertation even if you could find or remember it. It is notso much a matter of what is your field, but does it even exist any longer? Deciding whatyou will teach involves a process of discovery. Attend conventions to connect to the field— to discover what is new — and, just as importantly, rediscover what isn’t. Throw outall of your books with copyright dates before 1995 — that’s ’95 not ’75! Dust off yourold syllabi and course notes — and then shred them. Start slow, team teach, use guests,ask questions. Don’t expect to win “Comeback Player of the Year.” Ask for and takeseriously student and peer evaluations, and, as mentioned earlier, use your administrativeexpertise and experience. Take the energy, motivation, and passion that made you(hopefully) a good administrator, and turn that energy, motivation, and passion back intoteaching.WHERECan you go back home again? For the most part, you won’t have a choice, but thinkcarefully. You alter the department dynamic and culture when you return — a culture youprobably created in the first place. Yes, you have a smaller office and no personal secretary,but you are still the elephant in the living room, at least for a while. It is important tostop referring to yourself as Chair, Dean, or “beloved, admired, former” Chair or Dean.Think carefully about whether or not you will be comfortable going back and, if you are,then make sure you keep your mouth shut — at least for awhile.SummarySo you have answered the “five W’s;” you have made your decision, you have exercisedchoice. You have given your “Management by Walking Around” and Vince Lombardi “BeingNumber One” wall plaques to your underachieving son-in-law — without your daughter’sknowledge. You have written your syllabi, ordered your textbooks, and created your classwebsite. What now?Be comfortable, be confident, be courageous. Open the door to the classroom, walk to thefront — or middle — of the room, depending on your “new” teaching style — and happilyannounce, “Good morning. I am Professor Bohn — welcome to the rest of my life.”42Feedback May 2002 (Vol. 43, No. 2)