Experienced faculty members share their journey of teaching new classes

Abstract This study examined whether experience in the classroom changed the experience of teaching a new class in higher education. Weekly journals were maintained by three experienced teachers as they taught new courses at a land‐grant university. Four themes emerged from the journal entries: teachers expended substantial time and energy in developing and delivering a new course; all three teachers were student‐focused in assessing their classroom successes and failures; teaching a new class required ample adaptability; and all teachers were motivated by a high commitment to excellence in the classroom. Weekly reflective journals provided the opportunity to track the “arc of the semester.” One important impact on the teaching experience was the disruption caused by spring break, which broke the flow of the classroom for students and teachers. The last 4 weeks of the semester were characterized by teachers waging a battle for students’ attention against spring fever and senioritis. The current study documented that prior teaching experience provided the teachers with several skills needed to offer a new class. This included the following: being able to coordinate logistics of teaching a new class, the ability to adapt classes based on real‐time student feedback, and the tools needed to keep students focused and motivated amidst nonacademic distractions. We found experience made teaching a new class easier, but developing and delivering a new class was a substantial investment of time and energy for teachers.