An article in last Sunday's New York Times magazine about teaching how to teach contained this quote:
"Teaching depends on what other people think, not what you think."
The author of that quote was Deborah Ball, Dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan.
I like teaching. Right now I mostly teach Astronomy. I don't claim any special knowlege of the subject over what an interested amateur can aquire in a few years of reading and observing.
I do, however, feel that I have a sense of what my students are thinking, what their mistakes are, how they make them, and how to lead them back to a proper understanding of a subject. Deborah Ball calls this the ability to step outside of your own head.
For me, it involves trying to have a trick, explanation, demonstration or other technique for correcting "wrong thinking" in a way that illuminates the problem and shows why another approach gives better results.
So preparing to teach Astronomy has required learning at two levels. First were the facts and theories themselves. Then came learning how to teach these concepts in ways that were fun, entertaining, and above all "sticky." Some of these techniques I have gotten from books, some from other Astronomy Club members, and some have been born of necessity during that moment of inspiration in front of a group when nothing you have tried has worked and you really need a new approach.
I find the development of the skills to teach the subject as much fun as I have found learning the subject itself. Actually teaching it - where the skills and knowledge come together in real time to make that "aha" moment for people - is more enjoyable still.
I feel I have always been sensitive - some have said perhaps too sensitive - to what other people think. Is it possible that this is a trait which might contribute to success in teaching?
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1 comment:
Great Ted - you are right on track!
Of course, I'm a tad prejudice because I read the same article and pulled out the same quote from it. ;-)
In my experience it's the one thing teachers too frequently forget - even good teachers. They fall into a mode where they see themselves as performers and think that it's important to impress people with how much they - the teacher- knows. You are - but all good performers, all good writers, all good teachers - have to be plugged into the wants, needs, and special learning skills of their audience.
BTW - I also bought the book - but have only delved into it a little bit so far. In a couple weeks I begin my third, year-long - astronomy course. my emphasis is on learning-by-doing, as you know, and right now I'm putting together "kits" for a new learning tool I've developed that I hope combines the best ideas of the Orrey and planisphere to help them visualize not only the night sky, but why it appears as it does.
But that's what I think it does. the test will be in how people respond to it int he classroom and whether they find it helpful.
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