Q & A with Adam Bright, Teaching Excellence recipient

How would you describe your teaching philosophy? 

In the blur of the semester, teaching feels too elusive and too organic for a stable, well-considered philosophy. Ideally, each class is as spontaneous as a conversation. Most of the time I feel like an underslept vaudevillian trying to get students to hear the sound of their own thoughts.

What makes teaching at Dawson special? 

The people are intelligent, humane, and sincere. My colleagues in English literature are obviously the ones I know best: each of them is dedicated to the students, to the college, and to a world in which literature remains relevant. I think Dawson provides the right balance of autonomy and collective enterprise. Just before 8 AM, the D Wing has the energy of a backstage SNL hallway, with each teacher scurrying off to their own partially scripted, partially improvised production. We do our separate work in our separate classrooms, but we’re all attempting some version of the same impossible-to-master task, so there’s real camaraderie.

What is your favourite thing about teaching?

Teaching is equal parts communication and miscommunication. The students are never exactly who you think they are. The material never says exactly what you thought it said. The question you ask never leads to the answer you imagined. Every iteration is humbling. You think you are revising the material, but of course you’re constantly reinventing yourself.