Midterm came around and I spend every minute I could on our take-home essay. I absorbed the joy of writing and researching about Uber’s efforts of expanding its R&D department to develop their own self-driving cars in partnership with Volvo. The article also mentioned how Apple and Volkswagen were doing the same.

ALL OF THESE THINGS WERE HAPPENING? NO WAY.

I was really excited haha. Full article here. 

In class, I took on every opportunity to speak my thoughts, i also fell in love with our class - it was an amazing section: we engaged with each other; we had a facebook chat and I volunteered to review my classmates’ take-home essays after we received our grades back. It was one of the few classes where I testified people actually participating in break-out rooms. We openly spoke about fair grading, and Brenda was responsive to our comments.

Thank you Professor Brenda for introducing the beauty of case analysis and critical thinking. 

Teaching case analysis to international students

I was pretty open about how much I enjoyed this class to people around me. Similarly to teaching English, one of my friends suggested me to teach it at the tutoring centre dedicated to Concordia’s international students. Another opportunity to teach? Yes please. 

I called the centre’s director and lead professor, Tommy, “Hi…my name is Julie. I’m a Chinese-born-Canadian and I LOVE COMM210. [insert blabber of how much I liked this class]. I would like to teach it next semester given the opportunity.”

Tommy: “Hi Julie, we’re looking for someone to teach that class, prepare the notes, your first class will be in September”. 

I was in Ottawa at the time, and I remember just being. so. incredibly. happy. 

My methology

However, when it got to actually giving the introductory open-class, I was  anxious. I realized that despite having prided myself with being able to speak Chinese fluently, it was a different story teaching a course. Did I have all the technical terms in place? What if I mispronounced the author’s name? I rehearsed over and over before it was time to teach, and translated my notes back and forth, making sure that they made sense and were clear - I didn’t want to overly rely on Google Translate. 

That anxiety quickly dissipated after I acknowledged that as long as I was there to support them in the best way I could, by providing templates, examples, articles, individual Zoom sessions, everything would be okay. 

I was happy to see them score grades significantly higher than the average, specifically one international student who received 94% on her midterm. I also realized the beauty of hard work. This student in particular worked harder than anyone I had known; she applied business theories to four different articles before her midterm. I also actively expressed my motto to my students, “as long as you’re willing to learn, I’ll be here with you to teach”, and so came in the office hours and the endless amount of hours spent on typing answers to their questions. 

The results

I was dedicated, and helped them in the best of my ability. When things didn’t work or the curriculum changed, I’d adjust my course notes, completely revamp them, and modify my teaching methods. I received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback from Tommy, as well as other professors, but most importantly, from my students. 

I feel lucky to teach alongside individuals who are equally passionate about helping students understand course material in the most practical way possible. 

With every semester ending, nothing beats students’ heartfelt messages, especially when they come to you and ask, “Julie, what other classes do you teach?”

My answer was, “Only COMM210 for now, it’s a class that will help you in every of your future business course. I’ll be here to help if you need me though’