Conventional wisdom holds that you can never be too thin, too rich, or too prepared. While I can't comment on thinness or richness, I can tell you that, when it comes to the classroom, it is possible to be too prepared. More accurately, it's possible to spend too much time on class preparation. Why is over-preparation a problem? It interferes with other work and can backfire, resulting in a stilted unproductive class.
You'll Forget Your Other Responsibilities:
Teaching is a scheduled activity. When there are clear deadlines it's easy to let other essential parts of academic work, like research and writing, fall to the wayside. This is especially true for new instructors. Unfortunately, it is that other work - research - that matters most when it comes to finishing the dissertation, getting a job, winning grants, and securing tenure. We touch many lives in the classroom, but the rewards in academia go to those who create and disseminate new knowledge. Don't shoot yourself in the foot by focusing too much on teaching.
Over-Preparation Backfires:
Instructors teaching a course for the first (or third!) time often prepare with painstaking detail to avoid a surprise question that they cannot answer. The result is a lengthy list of slides, often overly detailed. This approach generates too much material to cover in a given class period. You'll find yourself presenting the material at too fast a pace to maintain student participation. Alternatively, you'll take up several class times lecturing on an item intended for one period. The end result is stressed, unhappy, and confused students and professors. Over-preparation does not make for a better class experience.
The Goldilocks Zone:
Strive for the middle ground between under and over-preparing. Warning: It's not easy. I have found that class preparation can take as much time as you allow. Even after a dozen or so years of teaching, I can still lose an afternoon tweaking PowerPoint slides for a lecture I've taught a hundred times.
Recently I revised a lecture on a topic that I've taught before but felt that the lecture needed quite a bit of work. Rather than setting aside a specific amount of time, I worked without a time frame and ended up spending a full day on a single class period. I spent way too much time on that presentation, ignored my other classes, and skipped my writing time. I felt rushed and frustrated. And you know what? The class didn't turn out well at all. I focused on gather information rather than considering how I'd present it, the story I'd tell. I thought I learned this lesson long ago but I was wrong.
What to Do:
Perfection isn't possible when it comes to teaching, especially while balancing an active research and publication program, but it is possible to teach well without over investing your time. Research suggests that the most successful professors prepare for about an hour and a half (and no more than2 ) for each hour in class.
Specifically:
- Don't prepare in a marathon session. Instead prepare in 20 to 30 minute sessions throughout the week. Breaks allow you to consider your work and add examples as they come to you, rather than forcing them.
- Don't write out your lecture: Prepare an outline of your major points, discussion questions, and activities, but leave room for flexibility and spontaneity. If you use PowerPoint, make notes on each slide, such as examples, but don't go overboard.
- Ask questions and encourage your students to fill in your blanks and participate in the process.
Force yourself to think in class rather than read off notes and you'll find yourself and your students more engaged. Winging it a bit can make for a better class experience because your attention moves away from your notes to the students, tailoring your comments and examples to their understanding. Although counter intuitive, a great deal of time spent on class preparation does not necessarily translate into a productive class. Instead strive for moderation, limiting the time spent and the amount of information presented. Not only will class go more smoothly but you'll have time for other work.
