Students give Tim Evans, an associate professor of toxicology at MU, a standing ovation as he is presented a 2013 William T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence award on Monday in the Adams Conference Center.

I have heard from several colleagues (including my husband, also a faculty member) that they have received applause on the final day of the semester–what an honor!  I have never received applause from college students, but I have from my other students, my faculty, at the end of a seminar or workshop (and yes, it was for doing a good job, not as a polite ‘thank you’ for presenting!). While I do teach undergrads and graduate students, I consider my primary “students” to be the faculty, TAs and postdocs whom I teach, provide advice, consultation and in some cases, serve as mentor.  Interesting; these are my colleagues but also my students and I am proud to participate in their learning and progression as teachers in this time-honored profession.

It is rewarding when a student comes to you at the end of the course, or even years later and tells you that they remember what you said to them, and it is often something you never remembered saying.  But the fact that this person remembers and it made a difference to them and their outlook on the world is really an impactful thing for us in the classroom.

Many, many faculty tell me that the course evaluations come and go, but the students who return after semesters or years to tell us that we made a difference in their lives is all the validation we need that our jobs are important.  We may feel somedays like we’re standing up there in the front of the room and no one cares, but then we receive a message like this one, from a former graduate student at the Mountbatten Institute:

“Dear Patricia, I wanted to thank you for your class this evening and to let you know that I was listening and I really liked what you said about…”

This student went on to share with me her experiences with the topic of the class, her career aspirations and her blog http://www.mysiteanniemetcalfe.com/.  It was refreshing for me to hear that even though she hadn’t actively participated that first night that she WAS listening, she was learning and she was engaged with the content.  And she’s continued to be successful in her academics and her career, and I was fortunate to join her for part of her journey.

Because I’m an adjunct instructor (and full time administrator), I don’t have the pleasure of interacting with hundreds of students each semester like my husband does.  He is a dynamic, engaging instructor who has what I affectionately call his “groupies” — those students who seem to hang on his every word, take as many of his classes as possible and come regularly to his office hours, hoping to glean a nugget of wisdom.  He regularly receives applause and even a standing ovation from time to time, but not because he’s easy or buys them food or gives extra credit points, because he doesn’t–nothing, nada–he’s actually a real tough nut and has extremely high expectations, it sometimes takes students most of the semester to move from hating him to thinking he’s the best.

So while we can’t focus on accolades every time we teach, we need to keep in mind the end goal: the student learning experience.  That’s what they’ll remember long after they’ve forgotten the facts and figures, they’ll remember you and your efforts to engage them.