Ivana Atmojo

I gave a week worth of lectures ini Universitas Surabaya in Surabaya last week, and just flew back in to Jakarta yesterday. This is the 5th semester that I’ve taught in Ubaya, and I’ve come to realise quite a bit of new things I hadn’t bothered to think of before.

The more I teach, the more I realise that being a lecturer is almost equal to being an entertainer, in a way that you do whatever you can to get your students/audience to pay attention to you. And to do this, you need to sustain a high level of energy in yourself, you need to be in your prime condition at any given time, and you need to be able to hit and sustain those “high-notes” all the time. You’re always on your peak performance.  And all these really require a lot of energy from you.

That’s exactly what I feel when I’m giving my lecture. I need to focus on my students and understand them & interpret their non-spoken language. I need to know how to best get my message across, when to crack jokes, when to drop in the most important knowledge/information I want them to really grasp, when to tell what sort of stories, how to handle their short-attention span, how to play with my voice & pace & intonation & inflection; how to communicate with them and get to their hearts, how to  connect with them and by doing so–inspire them,  and bottom line do whatever I can with whatever I got to keep the energy level high in the class, and to keep all eyes and attention on me.

Sleepy heads are never the optimal state for anyone to learn anything. How do we get students to concentrate and listen to us while still enjoying the whole learning process? It’s an art that requires energy, best intention, and creativity. What do you do when the spotlight is on you? You shine as if the world is your oyster, and give out only your very best!