TABLE 11.

Excerpts from reflections written by GTAs after reviewing their Instructor Talk (n = 17)

Description	Example excerpts
Intending a future focus on Instructor Talk (n = 10)	“There is a voice and style that I want to have as an instructor, and I found that I hold to that voice and style. Seeing my Instructor Talk makes me realize how important it is to be meta-cognitive and intentional with the way we speak. Within our/my Instructor Talk, I can try to be more consistent with protecting the ethos of the class space.”“I could remember when I said such dialogue and how I was really nervous but excited to see the students entering the class. I mostly had Instructor Talk on getting to know students, setting a classroom environment, as well as mentioning my personal interests … I hope to continue to make it my mission for my classroom environment to be safe, where students can freely express themselves and share their ideas. I also hope that now since I switched career paths to wanting to become a professor, it makes me more aware of my dialogue and to continue to focus on how my Instructor Talk impacts students.”“It is odd to see my Instructor Talk in text format. When I read through it, I don’t even remember ever saying most of those things, which might go to show how we can say so much during a class, and while I may not remember what I said, one of my students might… As a small example, I never consciously considered classroom culture, thus I never actively tried to build the type of classroom culture I wanted to surround my students with. Sure, there were a few things I did consistently like play instrumental music while students worked, or encouraged students to come to my office hours, but I could have done so much more with my words and actions. I know that my shortcomings as an instructor could be remedied through more experience, but also through training. If training is available and accessible for instructors, especially GTAs, it could be a valuable grease in the higher education machine, like investing in the bigger picture of the students’ educational experience.”
Acknowledging Negatively Phrased Instructor Talk (n = 8)	“My first response when I read my own quotes was, ‘did I really say that?’ I think it was shocking to read through some of the quotes because I honestly couldn’t remember that I had said some of those things. But, I think it was very eye-opening to actually see those quotes written out. Even though I couldn’t remember saying some of those things, seeing the quotes in front of me gave me a chance to reflect on why I might have said some of the things that I did. A majority of the ‘positively-phrased’ statements I made were intentional. I remember that those were times that I tried to word my statements more carefully. For the ‘negative[ly]-phrased’ statements, looking at the statements, I think I had good intentions but the words I spoke didn’t really reflect those intentions. And thinking about it now, I think I was unconsciously projecting from previous experiences I had teaching.”“To be outright critical of myself, I learned that the words I say, though initially with good intention, could be perceived differently by students. Moving forward, these samples allow me to reflect so I could choose my words wisely in the future. Looking back, I could have said things differently—in another form. Analyzing these samples influence[s] my future teaching by having me reflect on what I say and how I say it (the delivery).”“From the samples of my Instructor Talk have really been eye-opening to say the least. I find that every time I come across as negative it reflects how my attempt at humor can backfire. Looking back at it now, I can totally see how that can be perceived as a negative saying or have a negative connotation to it. I tried to be humorous in the lab because I want the students to loosen up and have fun, but I never perceived it as a possibility of it creating a harmful environment. This just goes to show that even though the good intention might be there, if there isn’t any proper training or just being mindful of the way you speak, teach, and communicate with the students then there’s no point. In the future, I will make sure to maximize my mindfulness on how I speak to my students. I will also seek out more mentoring and training to become the best instructor I can be.”
Aspiring to utilize specific categories of Instructor Talk (n = 3)	“I saw that I had a lot of Instructor Talk in the [Building the Instructor/Student Relationship] category. I think this makes sense, since my philosophy of teaching should be that students should feel comfortable enough with the teacher to ask questions and talk openly about their ideas. Also, one of the most common positive remarks I have received about my teaching is that I am approachable. It’s nice to have concrete examples of what I have said that hopefully helps build the student/instructor relationship. I hope in the future to use more Instructor Talk in the establishing classroom culture as well as unmasking science. I think by doing that, I can create a more inclusive classroom.”“Reviewing the Instructor Talk I noticed that there are other categories of Instructor Talk that I am not using. My Instructor Talk was more inclined into personal experiences and building the instructor/student relationship. But there is so much more that we can do with our Instructor Talk. From this experience I became aware of what I was talking [about] in the classroom… Instructors should be aware of the influence that their Instructor Talk have on the students. For my future teaching opportunities, I want to be more aware and recognize the needs of the classroom to use my Instructor Talk in a positive and uplifting way. As well as, creating learning opportunities without them being filled with class material. I think all teachers should be educated in this topic.”“After reviewing my Instructor Talk, I am pretty happy with what I saw. I think that one area I really want to work on expanding upon is fostering wonder in science, as that is what I really want my students to get out of the experience. As a reflection on what the results show, I think a lot of my students left with the tools of a scientist without necessarily the interest in being scientist. I also think that I could use more examples of diverse scientist[s] (outside of myself), that could help reach some of the students who aren’t able to see themselves in science yet.”
Differing Instructor Talk across different courses (n = 1)	“As each semester passed, my students seemed to become more and more energetic, and I couldn’t figure out why. I think one reason is that my phrasing has gotten better over the years, and my students were absorbing my positivity. I also got more comfortable in my own skin and stopped doubting myself, leading to less self-criticizing talk… I also thought it was interesting that it seems like in one of my classes, I was doing way more Instructor Talk than the other—this may be because I was way less confident in myself for one class, as it was the first time I was teaching it and the GTAs had very little guidance. The class was overall very quiet, and I have been trying to find more ways to reduce the quietness. This may have led to both less Instructor Talk and less class participation, which I think were due to a lack of confidence I had and because I was typically less motivated to teach that class due to the fact that I rarely knew exactly what to do to teach it.”
Reporting little learned from Instructor Talk (n = 3)	“I really enjoyed learning about this research and that I find its implications relevant (to the teaching field in general), interesting and potentially impactful. Although I did enjoy seeing my teacher talk, I did not find anything particularly useful that might inform my future teaching. I believe that reviewing and reflecting on the ‘teacher talk’ aspect of my classroom persona could be revealing, both of certain strengths and areas for improvement.”“I learned that I speak very informally and use a lot of ‘umms’ when I talk. This was helpful to see I should work on speaking with more confidence.”“I learned that I am way more informal than I thought I was. I also think I need to assert my power because I felt as though I talked as another student than a teacher.”