Show Them, Don't Tell Them You're Awesome

Show Them, Don't Tell Them You're Awesome

How specific is specific?

The absence of clear, specific examples from the curriculum and the classrooms is one of the most prevalent difficulties my students have with the teaching sections of their cover letters or teaching statements. In situations like these, I like to see rather than tell. A teacher's personality is shown via the examples they provide—so dhow them what you've done and give specific examples!

But what is specific enough?  On a regular basis, I've seen that grad students believe they are being specific, even when they aren't. As soon as someone begins to talk about classroom approaches in a more tangible manner, customers are likely to respond, "Ah! This is what it means to show, rather than explain."

And that's how students get sucked into what I term "meso-level details," which is a trap I love to set. When writing about teaching experience, this style focuses on documenting or describing approaches, rather than providing real instances of how they function with actual students.

It is common for students to begin with a negative habit of telling rather than demonstrating, for example, the following is likely to be included in their teaching paragraph or teaching thesis statement

Worst: "It is important to me that my classroom is a place where students can both express themselves creatively and think critically."

In response to my constant reminders that what I'm saying is "vague blah blah," they go into the micro. This is what it looks like:

Better, but not good enough:

"In all of my courses, I emphasize critical and creative thinking. For example, I often provide writing challenges to my students in order to help them hone their creative writing abilities. After conducting a series of in-class discussions on subjects pertinent to the course content, students are then required to write a position paper that incorporates ideas from those debates."

They mention of certain types of tasks seems to be clarity and specificity if you begin with flowery thoughts about "the aim of liberal arts." It's not, though. No pictures are being shown here; just told.

How can one get from a level of micro-specificity to a level of macro-specificity? Any discussion of teaching methods should be anchored to real-world classroom examples:

Best and Specific:

"In all of my courses, I emphasize critical and creative thinking. If I want my Art Aesthetics students to learn how to write creatively, I offer them challenges like, “Write a cocktail party discussion between Foucault and Habbermas,” or “Write an advertisement for a lost pet from Weberian perspective."

-or-

"Students learn critical thinking skills through participating in in-class debates and other collaborative tasks related to the course's topic of discussion. The students in my Introduction to Sociology class were debating whether gossip was a form of bullying, while in my Infectious Disease and Epidemiology seminar, students had to conduct a clinical intake of Hamlet catching COVID19 to assess him as a possible super-spreader of disease."

Don't stop at the meso-level with vague MBA descriptions. Make sure to describe not just the educational methods you use, but also precise instances of how they appear.

Your self-description should follow the show, don't tell rule, too! The best way for an employer to see whether you are 'dynamic and driven' is to see what you've accomplished, rather than relying on a few positive phrases in your resume and cover letter. Remember that they don't know you yet, so take the time to explain the significance of these skills in the context of your professional history and former employers.

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