Institutional Transformation
Pete Miller
Spring 2022
I’ve been told that I’d make a good teacher at various points in my life. My participation in the CPLC has given me a little more confidence that this may be or become true, although it’s taken a long time for me to get to this point.
My mother was a classroom teacher, but I didn’t see the appeal beyond good benefits and vacation time. A friend in college was an ed major initially, and I clearly remember her storming out of an ed class with a few choice words when she decided it wasn’t for her. She’s had a long career in statistical research, where theory takes on different dimensions.
I had an epiphany while serving as director of media relations at Vermont Law School, when a professor arranged a workshop for colleagues on teaching methods. He explained that while they had great backgrounds in the law most had little to no training in how to teach, as it was neither an expectation nor requirement. This hadn’t been expressed so plainly to me before.
My wife, a former professor of education who has taught every level from preschool to graduate school, has been a constant source of feedback. She’s often more interested in discussing my teaching strategies than I am because she can categorize what I’m doing—which is sometimes done by the seat of my pants—and provide useful suggestions.
My college teaching career had a rough start. It began in my first year at PSU with a fall Gen Ed course, Creating Arguments. I spent the summer beforehand learning the subject and reading a book on teaching writing suggested by my English department sensei, Elliott Gruner. Three weeks into the fall, I was confronted by a family crisis of the first magnitude and had to continue the in-person course remotely for several sessions. The teaching commitment provided very welcome and necessary structure while I was out of state and untethered in many respects. Then my mother passed at the end of the semester when I was trying to figure out grading and finals for the first time. I remain very grateful for Elliott’s compassion and flexibility and that of my day-job supervisor, Marlin Collingwood. Both taught me a lot by modeling PSU’s supportive culture.
I’m a lifelong learner who welcomes challenges, and as a teaching lecturer I’ve benefited from both ACES and CPLC and continually seek opportunities to improve my skills. I have benefited from others in the CM department, including Scott Coykendall, who taught my current course, Journalism in the Digital Age, for a dozen years before I took it over, and Metty Woldemariam, who has provided good feedback on my syllabus and encouragement when I have been unsure. I recently scheduled a 1:1 with Cathie LeBlanc, who as a CM faculty member, Gen Ed coordinator, and CL thought leader will undoubtedly provide useful suggestions as I refine things for the fall.
Perhaps instinctively I’ve incorporated several foundational aspects of Cluster Learning into my course, which features proje