Talk about Teaching

I was a graduate TA many years ago and taught various Chemistry courses for 2 years. I also taught Sunday School for 4th-6th graders for about 3 years. I've been impressed by how much work has to be done in order to do it well. It requires tons of prep time in order to make a lesson more than just a regurgitation of facts, and it requires the teacher to impart a sense of enthusiasm about the subject. It was far harder than I ever imagined. But I've also found that it can be extremely rewarding as well, particularly in small moments. From a college freshman telling me that I was the reason that he passed General Chem, to the smile I got from a painfully shy young girl, when our class applauded her for doing such a good job in helping to set up a class party after our Christmas Pageant. The small moments are indelibly etched in my memory, and help me to feel as if I've done something worthwhile in my life.

 

In college I had three negative experiences with tenured professors.

I had a Philosphy 101 class taught by a prof who was a total asshole. Several years later, when I filed for graduation and complained about him, I was told that he usually only taught senior level courses, and had been literally forced to teach the freshman course. It showed.

One of my communication classes, a large class, was taught by a female prof who very clearly didn't want to be there. She wasn't an asshole, but got pretty close. My wife later had a much smaller class taught by the same prof, and my wife loved the class. My wife mentioned, very diplomatically, my experience. The prof admitted that at the time she was having family issues, and was forced to teach the class.

I took a senior level history course that was above my education level, but they let me take it. The prof who was supposed to teach it got promoted, and turned the class over to a grad student. That was truly a blessing. The prof gave one guest lecture on the economic situation in 1830s Texas, and used more numbers than an accountant. The lecture was dry, boring, & pretty much over our heads. At the end no one clapped. Once the prof left, the grad student informed us it was common courtesy to clap even if we didn't like the lecture, saying "Think of it as receiving a gift that you don't like, you still thank the person who gave it to you." After class I apologized because I knew to clap, but didn't.

 

I've had good and bad professors. The worst would be Dr Ng, totally brilliant, he had the communication and social skills of a rock. He'd leave huge gaps in showing his work and just couldn't relate to anyone that couldn't follow him. Put him in a closet, give him a problem, and come back in a week for the answer.

The best was Leon Lederman. Nobel prize winning physicist and director of Fermi Lab, he insisted on teaching undergrad physics classes. He thought that physics was exciting and wanted to share his enthusiasm. You literally had to win a lottery to get in his class.

 

I hang out with teachers. Whenever someone new comes along (usually a new teacher) I am inevitably asked where I teach. I always reply, "Not a teacher. Spouse of."

That said, I did do a year as a TA teaching first year students all about the joys of Film Studies. One memorable class I had to explain to a recently minted member of the Young Conservatives why liberal arts course often relied on the teachings of Marx for analysis. Fun times.

On a serious note, if you are a teacher you really should consider living abroad. International schools compensate teachers very well. Added bonus? There are no troubled kids.

 

I had a geology prof (not tenured) who got his position because he was friends with the dept head. He had the knowledge, an umemployed geologist (in the mid '80s there were MANY unemployed geologists in Houston), but he couldn't teach for shit.

Near the end of the semester, his first at UH, the class did his evaluation, and from what I heard directly & indirectly he got flamed, as is 3rd degree burns. But before the evaluations even had time to be processed, he announced that he had a contract for the next semester. WTF? Seriously?

A few semesters later my wife took one of his classes, and he still sucked as a teacher.

Side note: A group of us used to take notes and record his lectures, then type up the notes and share them. One woman worked as a transcriptionist and her notes were ver batim, it was like having to sit throught his horrible lectures a second time.