Spring 2022 is the semester I achieved a life-long dream of mine. It is the first semester I am selected to be a class instructor. I am now 100% responsible for leading a machine learning capstone class of 18 students. My efforts over the years have finally paid off and lead me to this thrilling point. I must say I have been enjoying this role as much as I thought I would. As I reflect on my experience so far, a few realizations have dawned on me.

First, I have found that teaching and acting have a lot in common. By that, I don’t mean that I need to “pretend” a certain persona to be a successful teacher. Rather, I am “putting out” a certain facet of my personality: a character full of energy and excitement. The reason it works for me is that I am actually excited about sharing my experiences and knowledge while engaging my students with collaborative and thought-provoking classwork and assignments. To me, teaching is like doing stand-up comedy. When I have done stand-up comedy in the past, I did not “pretend” to be funny. Rather, I let myself be the person that wants to share jokes and laugh with the audience. When I stand before my class, I step out of the role of a traditional mundane “presenter”, and assume the role of an “explorer” leading his expedition in pursuit of knowledge.

Second, while being approachable and fun are important, there still should be a sense of a directional “guidance” from me towards the student. It is true that I have made it clear to my students that I am not the absolute reference for machine learning and that I might learn a thing or two from them during class as they present their projects. However, I always make sure I convey a sense of confidence and charisma through the way I lecture, through my body language and voice, and by setting firm expectations.

Third, I completely bring myself into the teaching zone. As I bring this up, I am constantly reminded how research-focused schools consider teaching a “side-hustle” that distracts the professor from the main objective: research. I despise this approach to teaching. For me, when I teach, I am there in the moment, and all I care about is lighting up the students’ curiosity and sense of wonder. Teaching is not about proving that my research is top-notch or drowning my students with either an overflow of information or material they can simply find online. I try to be original. I try to be myself. In fact, I almost entirely disregarded the material that was passed down to me by last semester’s instructor because I had a totally different approach to what the mode and the content should be.

As I reflect on these lessons and realizations, I feel both happy and accomplished. I feel I am not just a teacher. I feel I am the teacher I always dreamed to be!