Sherwin Tjia

Richard Koestner

Department of Psychology

Leo Yaffe Award for Excellence in Teaching (Faculty of Science)

After teaching for a couple years, I was talking to someone about a conference presentation I was preparing and he mentioned that he felt the best talks were the ones where you felt the speaker was having a conversation with you. Since then I have tried not to rely on verbatim notes but instead to think about how I would explain the material if I were having a conversation.

Another important piece of advice came when I indirectly heard that a student really liked my human motivation course because it was the most "human" course they took in the psychology curriculum. I took this to mean that students liked it when I made the material accessible and relevant to them, and also they liked the fact that I acted natural in my role as professor.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed teaching. I'm basically a shy person so I was not expecting to enjoy teaching large classes. But I was inspired by the fact that many of the students seemed genuinely interested in the topics I presented. I am lucky in this regard, because I teach about human motivation, and most students find that the research I review has practical relevance to their everyday lives. And it is easy to find examples in sports, education, and health-care settings to illustrate the motivational concepts I am discussing.