The other day I was listening to music in my office when a student came in. We said hello, she sat, and I turned off my iTunes. The first thing she asked was "What was THAT you were listening to?"
When I first started in ASP, I worried a lot about acting like a "good professor." I read articles and watched professors who were considered "great" as I tried to figure out what personality traits or styles or workshops might connect best with students. Since every ASP thing I've ever done was voluntary, I thought it was especially important for me to be attractive to students. I watched people who were really funny, people who were really energetic, people who were really clear, people who bled with confidence, and people who all but screamed "Real Life Experience!" I stirred all this "good professor" stuff into a slightly bitter bouillabaisse and tried to drink it down. But I wasn't really happy with it.
I read this week's post about a photo board of success and thought that maybe I should do something like that (really, it sounds great and probably helps a lot, and I in no way mean to criticize it). But, honestly, that kind of thing is not me. It would feel phony. I'd hate doing it. I think if I tried something like that with my personality it would actually have the opposite effect. Students would be able to see I was presenting myself as someone I am not, and I think that would ultimately make them less likely to seek my help.
If you are new to ASP, you'll find that ASP people are super helpful and cool about offering advice, teaching tips, etc., but don't feel like you have to do them all, or that what you're doing is necessarily wrong.
The things in your personality that ultimately make you a "good professor" will probably be things that you didn't think would help. On opposite walls of my office, I have a cartoon poster of my daughter as the superhero "Unicorn Girl" and a zombie apocalypse poster from the CDC. I hung them up simply because I liked them, but I have ended up getting an enormous amount of conversational mileage from them. Especially with students in grade trouble who were "sent to my office," the two posters have turned out to be terrific ice breakers. I don't think either poster would fit with anyone's classic image of a "good professor."
Ultimately, if you're worried about connecting with students, I think the best advice is to simply be yourself.
By the by, this is what I was listening to:
(Alex Ruskell)
