be a good teacher

the class I was sitting in is over, and what I’ve learned from it is that it’s ok (or even better at times) to deviate from the strict subject of course and bring some historical prospects or some examples from real life to motivate the subject and develop enthusiasm. I think by nature I try to stick exactly to the subject (in a no-nonsense kind of way, to avoid distraction :)), and have to practice to incorporate that in the material I’m presenting. Also, I found it very useful when the overview of the subject to be taught is initially presented (like a zoomed-out area map) before going into the details of it. It helped a lot to get a good sense of what the overall story is.

I’ve been also listening to an audio course (about bacteria from Modern Scholar recorded books) with the intention of getting exposed to other teaching styles. The most important thing I think I learned from it was the importance of getting feedback. I saw at times that a question was raised in my mind, and I drifted away from the course just because I was trying to find an answer to it. In a recorded book, it’s somehow inevitable, but I think I’ve seen the same in real classrooms too (and it shouldn’t be like this! Got to remember that!).

another workshop at school. Recording a couple of recommendations to check out later:

Teaching Tips

How People Learn

And tools for assessment of teaching philosophy and style:

Teaching Perspectives

Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory

cover a class for my advisor (Their baby girl was born last week! So excited for them :)), but the weird thing was that (probably for the first time) I was thinking about what I was doing, during the class (I’m not sure if one is supposed to do this). I prepared a list of logical steps of what I was supposed to present, which was helpful in clarifying the overall direction. I think I rushed a few things (which led to running ahead of schedule, and I ended up improvising the last quarter). I guess I still need some practice in keeping things simple and clear (the temptation is if you throw subtly a basic idea, and the student gets it and extends/generalizes it on his/her own, (s)he will enjoy it a lot; but I have to be careful not to do it too frequently to lose them all).

The other development: they have started a weekly workshop of effective teaching this semester for the faculty in our school. I attended it last week, and enjoyed it a lot. I think school’s goal is to reduce the overhead of time spent on teaching using the available tools and techniques. The people that were there, however, had their own interest in better and more effective teaching approaches. So the combination will be just about perfect. I’ve already in one session heard a lot of interesting viewpoints. I’ll be enjoying this, I know… a lot :)

I’ll audit a course this semester. I have taken the course before (umm… a long time ago), but the teacher’s reputation as a good professor is the main reason I want to sit in that class. He knows the subject well, that I know, but I’m curious to figure out what else it takes to be a good teacher.

I kind of went through different examples of great teachers and not-that-great teachers, and I think a lot of being a good teacher is in the attitude that one (as a teacher) takes in the class. The main purpose of teaching is to help student(s) reach their potentials through the process of education. Customers come first.