Professor Bradshaw

The sweet, bright students from my first graduate class! They taught me so much!

Though the vast majority of what I post on this blog is about fun, I *do* work. Very hard. I have a full-time job that, at many times during the course of my career, has been pretty all-consuming. And as I trended through my mid-forties, I began realizing that I'd said NO to a bunch of fun and interesting growth opportunities so that I could say YES to my full-time job. Like, often. 

And that's fine. At different stages of your life, you make different choices based on your needs and prospects at the moment. So I don't carry a ton of regret about my devotion to my full-time job. But for the past year or two, I've begun to crave a bit more balance. 

When my alma mater approached me about teaching a night class on business communications for their MBA program, I resisted the urge to reply with an immediate "no" and heard them out. And late last summer, I started teaching my first class. 

I had about 16 graduate students. Some were full-time students, and others were adult students with full-time jobs. Though I mapped out the course and the in-class activities ahead of time, I wrote most of each class as we went along, trying to be responsive to how students were processing the information and participating in the course. I polled students mid-way through the semester for check-and-adjust feedback, and the college itself administers end-of-semester feedback collection from students. All of this input was very valuable to me.

Though agreeing to this opportunity has meant a lot of extra work and time, it has been so refreshing to put my brain to work in a different way and to spend more time with young people. I've been amazed to witness the way in which the students care for and respect one another, to hear and explore the questions they ask, and to get their perspectives on growing up in an "always-on" world. 

Though I've been working in my current field longer than most of them have been alive (Ouch.), I'm brand new to teaching. There is so much to learn about this field and how to be effective. I've loved stretching myself in this way, and I've touched base with my sisters (both lifelong teachers) and colleagues about techniques and approaches. 

Now, I'm a couple of classes into my second semester (with a much smaller class - about six students). Again, I'm adjusting as I go and trying to be responsive to a smaller cohort. And of course, my students are different this semester, which changes some dynamics. So there are new and interesting things to think about, even though I'm covering the same course material again. 

I'm so, so glad I said YES!