Teaching a future teacher by Andrea

Teaching a future teacher by Andrea - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

Dr. Robbie Robichau taught several of my Master’s of Public Administration courses from Fall 2013 – her first semester at Georgia Southern University – until I graduated in Fall 2014. During that year – and ever since – she has taught me what it means to be a mentor, which is what I aim to be upon earning my Ph.D. at the University of North Texas.

It is evident from the first day of class that Dr. Robichau has taken time to prepare the course material and that she cares about her students’ success – academically and professionally. Throughout her syllabi there are various opportunities for students to take ownership of the courses' material. Less obvious is the time she has spent incorporating teaching methods to accommodate students’ different learning styles.

Dr. Robichau accomplishes student content-ownership in several ways, depending on the course. In Organizational Behavior, student pairs selected topics on which to teach the textbooks’ content; in Public & Nonprofit Management, student groups choose books to present to the class – these are in addition to the textbooks and provide more information on leadership and management topics. Dr. Robichau supplies students with information on public speaking and, during presentations, she and classmates assess the content of the lesson and how it is presented. In this way, Dr. Robichau helps her students become more successful professionals and desirable job applicants, as public and nonprofit leaders often have to speak to community and/or board members.

Dr. Robichau meets the needs of different types of student learners by varying the ways in which she presents course content. Though students are expected to come prepared to each class – that is, having read the required texts – the ways in which an understanding of that information is tested varies from class to class. Some days, a standard lecture is taught; other times, student-groups present to the class, mind-map important concepts’ relationships, or answer questions about the readings.

Dr. Robichau seeks to help her students see real-world applications of the information they learn in class. In Program Evaluation and Public & Nonprofit Management, student-groups work with a community organization to assess real-world public and nonprofit management issues and to apply what they learn. Not only do the organizations receive free, quality help in meeting a need, but the students also develop problem-solving skills and make networking contacts among organizational leaders.

Taking my directed reading course with Dr. Robichau changed my academic life; my only regret is waiting until the semester before I graduated to do it. Never before had I spent so much time focusing on one topic – the entire summer was dedicated to the Public Administration concept of public service motivation as it related to the Positive Organizational Scholarship concept of callings at work – and never before had a professor questioned me so thoroughly on the direction of my research and writing.

My breakthrough moment came when Dr. Robichau said: “I’m going to ask you what my professors asked me, and I’m not being critical: So what?” My mind was blown. My background is in journalism and public relations, and never before had I considered that I had the authority to tell readers what they should draw from the research presented. It was both liberating and terrifying, but it completely changed the way I approached academic writing. My focus went from “here’s what I found by reading all of these articles” to “here’s what I found from reading all these articles, and here’s why I think it’s important.” I wish a professor had helped me make that connection earlier in graduate school, as it really opened my eyes to the importance of writing research papers and how their construction differs from other types of writing.

It was during my directed reading that I mentioned to Dr. Robichau that I wanted to attain a Ph.D. and to teach at a university. She challenged me to pursue the degree – saying that if I felt it was my calling, I had to try for it – and she has been my mentor every step of the way. She met with me to help me work through my goals: for a program, for a research emphasis, for a career after graduation – all huge topics. And now, even though I have graduated and moved away, I know that I can still contact Dr. Robichau and she will take time out of her busy life to help me sort through my plans or to offer guidance on a program or to write a letter of recommendation.

I have been fortunate to have several professor-mentors throughout my academic career. Educators such as Dr. Robichau challenge their students to look at the world in a new way, and that is my aspiration. Though it is to think that one could impact every student, I am proof that teachers can change the lives of those in their classrooms, and I my first goal for attaining a Ph.D. is to become a marketing professor, like Dr. Robichau, who challenges her students become better scholars, better professionals, and better people. The ability to do this, for me, makes Dr. Robichau and those like her more than educators; it makes them mentors. And that, for me, is what every educator should strive to be, and that is what I will strive to be as I enter the classroom as a professor.