Life Teaching in Higher Ed

This summer I joined the exciting world of teaching as Adjunct Professor of Business Communications and Organization Development at UC Berkeley Extension and Menlo College, Silicon Valley's undergraduate business school!

I love everything about teaching in Higher Ed.

Teaching university students challenges me professionally, and stretches and stimulates me in ways I've never felt before. Most importantly I learn new things every day whether it's putting together lesson plans for the week, or hearing my students present their case studies.

It's an indescribable feeling when you see your students start out as shy and scared to speak up, and end the course outspokenly speaking up in class.

And there's no way to describe that high you feel when you see that look in your students eyes that something just "clicked."

The first class I ever taught gave me a hand written thank you card signed by each student. (I taught them the importance of writing thank you cards. It worked!)

Many of those students told me that my teachings and lessons helped them. I will never forget my sweet and thoughtful INT 499 students at Menlo College this summer.

There are also challenges that come with teaching in Higher Ed. When you begin a new career teaching, you have to build your syllabus and course content from scratch with very little guidance. I spend many hours at San Francisco coffee shops reading, researching, organizing, and planning my lectures each week.

Because I look very young and I'm less experienced compared to professors who have been teaching for decades, there are times that I feel that I have to prove myself to other professors and my students. Other times I have to manage and control my students when they begin to test their boundaries like 2 year olds.

I've learned that I don't have to try so hard to prove myself. I can be myself because I bring a fresh perspective and energy to my lectures, and I relate well to my students. After all, it wasn't that long ago I was in their shoes. Bright eyed, bushy tailed, and still very unjaded thinking I would conquer the world after graduation.

It's my mission as a teacher to make a deep impact developing my students with practical business skills so they are ready for the real world.

I've learned that being an educator means that your learning is perpetual and never stops. That's what makes this profession so fulfilling and rewarding.

Keep on learning. And never stop being curious.