INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / APRIL 17, 1991

 

I Should Have Been Fired—

For the Best Course I Ever Taught!

When I first began teaching many years ago, I
quickly learned about how a conscientious teacher
should prepare for a class. Before the class I should
create a lesson plan and make wellsresearched, rea-
sonably clear notes to guide me as I filled the black-
boards with explanations for the students to copy. I
should have solved all assigned homework problems
and put the solutions on the blackboard, and the
students should compare their work to mine and make
corrections. I should have a list of fresh problems to
assign for homework. A pocket full of chalk, maybe a
wooden stick pointer, and away I would go to the
classroom, as prepared as any professional teacher
should be.

Anyone could tell by looking through the doorway
of a class in session that I was a “good” teacher. I
would be standing at the front of the classroom, chalk
in hand, chalk dust all over both hands, chalk dust on
my right sleeve, and a big yellow chalk dust smear just
above my right jacket pocket. Homework problem
solutions would be filling the boards, and the well-
behaved students would be copying these solutions
down into their colorfully divided three-ring binders.
A verbal question from a student, preceded by a raised
hand, would be enough to convince any viewer that
this was an exemplary class, conducted in the most
ideal manner possible. In those days, I would have
agreed that this learning situation was ideal, but my
experience in 1984 changed my outlook completely.

If someone had seen me teaching Fluid Mechanics in
April 1984, he or she might have wanted to have me
fired. When the students would come into my class-
room, they would put their books down; some would
sit, and some would head for the blackboard. There
would be noise and even some laughing and teasing as
the students at the board negotiated who would put
which homework problem solution onto the board; for
some it would be their first look at the assigned prob-
lems, but they would get a friend to help, and together
they would dig in. When I would come into the room
(several minutes late), | would squeeze into a seat in
the middle of the students’ seating area. I would sit
there and do nothing unless those around me leaned
over with an attempted solution and asked, “Why
didn’t this work?” Sometimes the students at the
board would ask me what to do next. I would pass the

questions on to the others: “Can anyone make a
helpful suggestion to David?” Obviously, I was getting
them to do my work, although I did have to help them
out from time to time—sometimes I would even get up
out of my comfortable seat.

After the homework problems were solved, I would
go to the front, thank the presenters, and make them
laugh if I could. Then briefly I would describe the
bare-bones principle of the next topic, perhaps even
solve a short example problem using this next topic.
All of this “lecture” would take about 12 minutes, fill
less than one blackboard, and be mostly off-the-cuff.
The content of the discussions would vary with the
content of the student input. For homework I would
suggest that they read certain pages in their texts and
attempt to solve certain problems. For the rest of the
period, some students would work at beginning their
homework, some of us would discuss the lab experi-
ments or experiences related to the topics, and some
would just chat.

It amazed me that they continued to arrive so
promptly and seem so happy, even though I was doing
a pretty miserable job as a teacher. It made me won-
der. If Isaw me doing this, would I fire me?

It is important for all of us to remember that organ-
ized patterns of teaching formats and normal lesson
preparation methods are worthless if they don’t lead to
the desired result. And the desired result is a happy,
productive, and stimulating environment where
students, and even we teachers, make good use of our
time and learn from each other. None of us ina
classroom can produce as good a learning environment
as all of us can. Because we all have different person-
alities, styles, energy levels, experiences, and priorities,
classroom operations will look different. However,
while collectively striving for the desired results, we
can enjoy each other’s individual methods of achieving
them.

Bill Klaas, Dean, Mechanical Welding and Skills

For further information, contact the author at Northern
College of Applied Arts & Technology, 140 Govern-
ment Road E., Kirkland Lake, Ontario P2N 3L8,
CANADA.

 

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor

danuary 25, 1991, Vol. XIll, No. 2

©The University of Texas at Austin, 1991
Further duplication is permitted by MEMBER
institutions for their own personnel.

 

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