Teaching obligations for professors both similar, different from high school teaching

Each teacher has a different way of teaching and preparing for schools, including college professors who teach a wide variety of subjects.  

“I taught humanities 1 and 2, along with the age of renaissance and reformation, the age of absolutism and enlightenment, and more,”  Charlotte Wells, a former history professor at UNI, said. “I normally taught three classes three times a week with each class 50 minutes long.” 

With each class, professors prepare materials for the students to study.  “I usually spend a couple of hours going over my notes and PowerPoints if I taught that class a lot. If I did not teach the class a lot, I would spend five-six hours preparing for each class,” Wells said.  

In addition to preparing for each class, the professors are expected to attend meetings often.  “Professors had a meeting once a year for meeting other professors and how they taught,” Wells said. Sometimes meetings require travel to different cities all over the Midwest. 

History professors are also expected to write published articles and books. “To stay as a professor, we had to write and publish different articles to show our work that we do. Whether that be short articles published online or full on hard copy books that we can sell, we had to have some sort of proof of the work we do,” Wells said. 

The tests that professors give out depend on the class and on the professors.  “The tests that history professors take are usually essays written about the topic that they covered.  I sometimes gave out multiple choice tests along with the essays for some classes, but usually it was essays,” Wells said. “Over the semester, I usually give out small essays to be written over a unit and for normal students I did not give a final test over all the units, but for history majors, I gave out an essay that was over all the units over the semester.”