Lessons Learned on Preparation, Motivation, Expectation, and Reflection While Teaching and Mentoring as a Graduate Student

Leading a course can be either an exciting or a stressful experience, depending on the level of preparation, expectations, and personal motivation expended by an individual. The excitement can come through teaching material that interests you or even through watching students develop an understanding of important concepts. The stress can come through expecting too much or too little, but it can also come if you are not prepared for what is to come. Through the stressful and exciting moments, you can learn a variety of lessons the first time you teach. You can even learn a lot the second time you teach, the third, and so on. Because of this cyclical learning process, reflection can be an essential component to continual improvement. Through my experiences, I've found that preparation, expectation, motivation, and reflection are fundamental elements that contribute to whether someone is left with either a sweet or bitter taste after teaching as a graduate student. This paper will examine lessons learned on preparation, expectation, motivation, and reflection in teaching and mentoring through the experiences and perspective of a graduate student. First, I taught an engineering design course intended for junior and senior level undergraduate students. In this course, I was the primary instructor, managing all classes, exams, and assignments. The following year, I was a part of a team of faculty and graduate students in a freshman engineering program. In retrospect, preparation, expectation, motivation, and reflection played a pivotal role in my professional development along the way. Understanding how to apply these four components to teaching and mentoring should not only help a new graduate student instructor prepare for and enjoy the experience, but it should also help them discover new ways to communicate their interests and excitement to others and reflect on themselves as an instructor and mentor.