Engaging with my students

Our eyes are the window to our heart. But also to our mind.

I always like to look into the eyes of the person I am talking to because I am curious to understand whether he is engaged with what I am saying, agree or disagree with me, or maybe just to establish a deeper connection with him.

This is particularly important to me when it comes to teaching. I have a class of 55 first-year students in Structural Geology at the University of Birmingham (UK). Not a huge class; yet, not a small class either. Since this is my first teaching experience, I really want to know if I am doing well; and I try to understand it by looking carefully at my students’ eyes when I am lecturing.

So let’s see how I did last week.

Two or three of them were writing on their mobiles…no need to read their mind. They were probably planning a party at Rick’s place for Friday. Fine.

Five or six students appeared hypnotised. Not blinking. Were they still alive? Finally a blink, after 37 seconds from a guy in second raw, thanks God. Were they thinking what to dress at Rick’s party Friday night, or were just practicing mindfulness meditation?

About 30 students were taking notes. Their head down. Good. I got them! Did I?

Other five students were looking at my slides. Intensely. I walked past them. I tried to establish eye connection. Nothing. I was a ghost. My slides must have been so nice they couldn’t take their eyes off of them!

I managed to catch the eyes of the other remaining 10 students. Not bad. Their eyes bounced between me and the screen, and back. Like a tennis match. I could see interest in their eyes. I could almost hear what they were thinking.

So, when half an hour of lecture has passed, a little voice whispered in my head: engage them….you must engaaaage theeeeemmmm….

You are right my little voice, I thought!

(By the way, I don’t normally hear voices in my head…)

That day I was teaching something very practical, so I decided to try something new. I told them to stand up and go to the left side of the room if they had understood very well what I had just taught them, and to the right if they had missed important concepts. I named “teachers” the group to the left, and “students” that to the right, and split them in small groups (3-4) with one “teacher” each. I gave the “students” 30 minutes to ask questions to their “teachers”. The “teachers” had to write down the questions they were not able to answer and the total number of questions they answered. At the end I gave a teaching certificate to the best “teacher” that answered to the highest number of questions.

And at the end of the day I could see all 55 pair of eyes looking at me. Engaged.