How I fell in love with teaching

I fell in love with teaching and learning in a roundabout way. I was hired to lead an academic department with courses and faculty focused on student success and the first-year experience. At that point, I had limited teaching experience, but I was now leading a college-wide program of incredibly gifted, intelligent, and creative faculty. They were awesome teachers -- and great colleagues.

I looked longingly at the work of these faculty members. As they connected individually with students, I developed course planning spreadsheets. As they collaborated with each other to develop a learning portfolio for the first-year experience class, I processed faculty contracts.

Now, don't get me wrong! I love a good spreadsheet, I'm a little obsessed with planning, and I'm thrilled when adjunct faculty contracts get processed early (instead of after they've already started teaching).

But I wanted to be part of the magic. I wanted to be engaged in the transformational experience of teaching and learning. So, I hired myself as a part-time faculty member, taught the course I was overseeing, and never looked back. (Oh wait, that's not true -- it's a long road from adjunct to full-time professor. But that's another story for another time.)