What your classroom materials say about you

I’m not a big one for giving away personal details in class, but I’ve recently realized how much the materials I write for my classes, especially discussion questions, are doing that for me anyway. Without me saying a word, students have recently noticed that the question “Can you eat sushi?” drives me nuts, that I have a strange obsession with sparrows and that I believe “the Japanese love of nature” to be a complete lie – things which my friends and family probably don’t know.

Are your handouts also giving away more about you than you may like?

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2 Responses to What your classroom materials say about you

  1. Andy Mallory's avatar Andy Mallory says:

    Inevitably anything we write will give away information about us. It’s probably not important since few students will see us often enough for long enough to build up a picture.

    On the odd occasions I taught students daily and for a long time they did get to know me very well. Though we were encouraged to meet students socially, I think a lot of their impression still came from my materials and teaching style.

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  2. fembot's avatar fembot says:

    Not so much from handouts, but through all the spontaneous interaction/activities I make up on the spot, yes I think I’ve given away far more personal information than my enigma-preserving ideal self would like.

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