Confident Humility

Also some thoughts on reflection, resources from recent trainings, and our upcoming Perusall training!

Author

Kelsey Smith
March 03, 2025

A few musings on “Confident Humility”

Last Wednesday, we had our Think Again adjunct book club, and one of the main topics we discussed was how to have what Adam Grant calls “confident humility”: the ability to clearly see one’s one strengths and weaknesses. Essentially, we need to know what we know and also what we don’t know. When we are confidently humble, we are also curious about others’ experiences and open to new information. Confident humility also smacked of Susan Morris’s wonderful teaching philosophy that she shared during last week’s WTW: be a humble, respectful, and curious teacher. Confident humility honestly feels so key to productive, grace-filled teaching.

Last week I was trying to complete revisions for an article on Much Ado about Nothing that was due last Friday, and I ended working right up to the deadline. Writing this article has been incredibly nerve-racking and laborious for me. I have done very little publishable writing since my grad school days (10 years ago!), and while I was gratified to have a “revise and resubmit” request from this small journal, I have felt confidence and humility in rapid fire mood swings rather than as an integrated, collected feeling:

***My article might be published if I just make some reasonable changes! This article is the worst; look at all I need to fix, I don’t even know what I’m arguing anymore. I’m actually really proud of how much research and close-reading I’ve done to support my arguments.  Oh my gosh, I just realized how many blatant errors I’ve made about Much Ado’s performance history—I am an active contributor to the misinformation epidemic! ***

In sum, this week I was viscerally reminded that writing is hard and vulnerable, and I often don’t know what I don’t know until I’ve made embarrassing mistakes. But these mood swings of confidence and humility also took place during a week of heavy grading, and I found myself feeling a healthy dose of empathy for my students and for their stylistic experimentations, research errors, and for their bravery in attempting unique and bold analyses. I felt more connected to my students’ writing struggles and strengths, and I was reminded that humbling experiences can be a conduit for becoming a more respectful and curious teacher. I have even shared some of the more humbling writing feedback I’ve received with my students, and I’ve made more of an effort this round of grading to be kind and helpful with the feedback I’ve given.

So, here’s to being more confident that our humbling experiences can lead to respect and curiosity about our students’ experiences and to becoming kinder and better teachers. Confident humility still feels very aspirational to me, but it’s buoying sort of aspiration.

(If any of you have tips on how to experience confident humility as more congruous emotion, please email me. Asking for myself 😉)  

Reflection in our classes

Speaking of ways to be better at objectively identifying our strengths and weaknesses, I just wanted to give a quick plug for using and teaching reflective practices in our classrooms: Amy Williams has let me know that upper administration (like Shane Reese and Justin Collings) are aware that we are teaching reflection in our WRTG classes, and they are talking about it in meetings with other administrators and faculty. So make sure you are including the reflection model in your curriculum!

You can (and should) ask students to reflect formally and informally as they think about what they are learning (the “What?” part of the model), why and how their new learning matters in terms of their development as scholars and people (the “So what?” part of the model), and how and where they will next use their new knowledge (the “Now what?” part of the model). Jeffrey Rosen recently gave a wonderful forum on the subject. I particularly loved this quote he used from Pythagoras: “We have a duty everyday to use our power of reason to modulate our unreasonable passions and emotions so we can achieve the calm tranquility and self-mastery that defines virtue, excellence, and perfection of soul.” Reflection, I think, is a beautiful way we use reason to pursue virtue and self-improvement.

I’ve mentioned this in a previous newsletter, but this semester I modified Ansalee Greenwoods’s reflection assignment for my 232 class (this is the reflection assignment where she asks students to think about their writing spaces and how productive and conducive those spaces are to good writing). For the past few semesters, a few students had left comments in my student ratings that they felt I’d thrown them into reading Shakespeare without adequately teaching them how to read and parse his language effectively. So in addition to teaching reading strategies more purposefully, this semester I also revamped my reading log assignments to ask students to reflect on their reading practices: I ask students to report on how long it is taking them to complete the reading, what types of environments they are doing their reading in, and what sources and materials they are using to aid their comprehension. This assignment has already been SO helpful for me and for my students as it’s given me feedback on what reading strategies I need to better teach, and students are doing better at changing their reading practices and strategies to tackle the challenges of reading Shakespeare. Guys, I’m a believer. Reflection works!

Adjunct Citizenship Positions & Contracts

I also wanted to make sure everyone is aware of the following adjunct citizenship positions. These positions usually last 2-3 years and are paid on an additional contract. Most of these positions involve 10-12 hours per semester at the rate of about $50 an hour. Contracts typically start at $500, and if the work takes longer than your contract can be amended and you’ll be paid accordingly.

Current positions and (adjuncts currently holding these positions) include the Adjunct Liaison (yours truly), the SLC Center Adjunct Liaison (Anna Low), Adjunct Performance Review Committee Member (Susan Morris), University Writing Library Assistants (Ansalee Greenwood & Greyson Gurley), University Writing Contest Adjunct Assistant (TBD) and the Online Coordinator (Kimberli Lawson).

Typically the University Writing Coordinator (Amy Williams) or other members of the English Department Executive Committee reach out to adjuncts they think would be good fits for these roles. However, if you are interested in or would like more information about these positions, please feel free to reach out to me or Amy!

March Perusall Training

Okay, so I’m going to be a bit pushy (enthusiastic?) about the our upcoming Persuall training—Thursday, March 27 @ 11:00 am in 4186 JFSB—because I think Perusall can be a helpful teaching tool that you should at least be somewhat familiar with. Also, if you are interested in assigning books (like Everyone’s an Author) via Persuall, you want to give the BYU Bookstore adequate notice. So this March training should give you ample time to consider whether you want to use Persuall for your Fall WRTG classes.

Through Persuall you can assign readings and organize peer reviews that, at least in my experience, can really streamline the grading process and create more student accountability for completing assigned readings and their peers’ drafts. Another benefit of Persuall is that you can see in real-time (and before class begins!) what kinds of conversations and questions your students are having about assigned readings which can focus in-class discussions. Perusall also links up directly with Learning Suite and can automatically populate your gradebook. It really is quite cool and relatively user-friendly. Come and learn more!

(Mike Johnson from the Center of Teaching of Learning will be there! It won’t just be me presenting, so you will actually learn things!)

Resources from this month’s trainings

We had a lot of great trainings this month! Click below for resources & notes:

Stuff for your calendar

MARCH

  • Thursday-Friday, March 6-7: English Symposium

  • Thursday, March 27: Perusall Training @ 11:00 am in 4186/88 JFSB

APRIL

  • Thursday, April 3: Withdraw Deadline

  • Wednesday, April 16: Last Day of Winter Semester

  • Thursday, April 17: The Adjunct Awards Banquet @ 1:00 pm in the Lower Level Conference Room of the Hinkley Center

  • Monday, April 28: First Day of Spring Term

  • Tuesday, April 29: Winter Semester Grade Submission Deadline

MAY

  • Tuesday, May 6: Add/Drop Deadline Spring Term

JUNE

  • Monday, June 16: Last Day of Spring Term

  • Monday, June 23: First Day of Summer Term

  • Thursday, June 26: Spring Term Grade Submission Deadline