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Educational Development
Laurier Brantford's Peter Farrugia shares how rewarding, yet challenging, it can be to teach first year students
Feb 8/11
Teaching first-year students can be both incredibly rewarding and very challenging.
Dr.
Peter Farrugia, a contemporary studies and history professor at
Laurier, will attest. "We come out of grad school, an environment where
everyone around us is equally knowledgeable and invested in the subject
matter, and we begin teaching a first-year course, and we don't realize
that we can't pitch the material at that level," says Farrugia, the
Contemporary Studies program coordinator.
"That was certainly
something I had to learn, as I started off with very high, somewhat
unrealistic, expectations," he adds. "New teachers, in the past
especially, often weren't fully aware of the environment in which
they're teaching, where there may be a lot students taking the
first-year course as an elective, or to fill a slot in their timetable."
Before
landing a teaching position in Laurier's Department of History in 1997,
Farrugia taught on a part-time basis at a number of universities, after
completing his Honours B.A. in History at Trent University, then
doctoral studies at Worcester College, Oxford University. In 1999, he
was hired as one of three full-time faculty at the new Brantford Campus
of Wilfrid Laurier University.
And while Dr. Farrugia instructs
courses at all levels, from the third-year “Contemporary Europe (1945)
to the Present”' to the fourth-year History course “International
Relations,” he enjoys the challenge of teaching bigger classes, such as
CT 121 “The World in the 21st Century.”
"I see it as an
opportunity to excite students about contemporary studies," says
Farrugia. "I think first-year courses are arguably the most important
courses in whatever discipline. And because that first year is so
critical, I do my best to emphasize my own enthusiasm for the subject
matter, and demonstrate to the students how contemporary studies is
relevant to whatever they choose to do in their post-university career."
He
adds: "Having said that, I think regardless of the size and setting of
the classroom, or year level, the genuine enthusiasm of the instructor
is something that will either engage a student or turn them off
completely. And I don't think you can manufacture that enthusiasm if
you don't truly feel it."
Farrugia says a first-year
contemporary studies course usually makes for a class of diverse
interests, and an exciting opportunity for him as an instructor: "Here
at Brantford, where contemporary studies is a core program, you might
have a criminology student sitting next to a journalism student right
next to a continuing education student. So, their interest levels might
vary a little, along with their specific goals, and that's definitely
something you have to take into account when teaching."
That's
why Farrugia strives to use various teaching methods within the
classroom to engage and encourage active learning. "Variety is
important, as I try different ways of presenting material while mixing
it up -- from power point presentations, to traditional straight
lecture, to breaking bigger classes down into smaller units to tackle
specific readings or issues," he says. "Sometimes I surprise them with
something radically different, like in first year I do a re-enactment.
"Just
as instructors have different teaching styles, students have different
learning styles," he adds. "So, just standing there in front of a
classroom, reading from a text book, is not going to engage them. And I
can see that a lot of graduate programs now include explicit attention
to teaching. I don't think that was the case 20 years ago.
"I
know that I've certainly been impressed with some of the recent
additions we've had at the Brantford campus. I'm talking about new
teachers who have hit the ground running, and have really impressed me
with their teaching skills. Grad students are more prepared these days."
Feedback
from former students he has taught is something Farrugia highly values:
"We've had students go on to work in disciplines like history, religion
and culture, philosophy, and environment sciences. We've also had
people go into law, or teaching, and the feedback we get from them is
they feel that, compared to their peers, they have a little better
understanding of how their specific area is connected to wider issues
across society.
"And that's rewarding to hear, because that's
what we as instructors are trying to do. We want to get our students
thinking about something like climate change, or war and peace, or
income disparities, and understand how those things are all
multifaceted. And that you can't just look at these issues from an
economic point of view, or a historical perspective — but rather you
need to bring multiple lenses to bear."
Farrugia concludes:
"Teaching those first-year courses, I get to see how the students -- by
the time they are seniors -- gradually realize how contemporary studies
and history is applicable and has value to whatever they want to do in
life -- whether that be law, or teaching, or journalism, or working in
an office, or for an organization. I've learned through experience how
incredibly rewarding it can be teaching those first-year students."
And that's why Dr. Farrugia is up for that challenge.
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