SPECIFIC TOPICS: TEACHING TIPS (4)

QUORA 

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-deal-with-a-teacher-who-is-bad-at-teaching/answer/Gerard-ONeil?__snid3__=483347920&__nsrc__=4

How do I deal with a teacher who is bad at teaching? She’s my biology teacher and she is great, I love her, but she teachers poorly and I’m stuck with C’s in her class, how can i pay attention more? It’s just boring there and all we do is take notes off of power points.

RESPONSE: Written by Gerard O’Neil

When I was at university we had a professor who was constantly rated by the students as being the worst teacher at the institution. At the beginning of each class he would hand out sheets of paper containing a closely typed script and then proceed to read aloud, in a boring monotonous voice, all that was written there in a way that suggested we could not read it for ourselves. Once he had finished reading, he would pack up his things and leave the room without any further discussion or material being presented.

Eventually a student delegation was formed to ask the Rector of the university if it was possible to have the professor dismissed as no one could support his attitudes or teaching style any more.

I will always remember the professor entering the class room the day after the delegations visit to the Rector. He came in with his head hung low and in a quiet voce apologized to us for causing us so much pain. To our surprise he then asked us for suggestions as to how he could improve. Initially the students were timid in responding, but upon seeing the professor was genuinely interested in improving his teaching technique, a “brain storming” session began. Soon the discussion had moved onto education and teaching in general.

The next time the professor came to lecture us; he did not give us a hand out as was his custom, but simply sat on a chair and began telling us about his last trip to Rome. Within a couple of minutes he had the whole room spell bound. He may have been a terrible lecturer but as a story teller he was second to none! You see the professor taught us Roman history, but until that point no one had realized he was also a skilled archeologist and had participated in many important Roman archeological digs over the years. At the end of lecture the professor gave each of us a fact sheet covering the material of his talk.

From then on the professor’s lectors followed the same “fire side” chat formula. Through his story telling ability he had the capacity to take us back in time as if we were living in that period.

By the end of the term the professor was voted the best professor at the university. The next term his fame had spread throughout the university and there was intense competition to enter his class.

When I look back and remember that professor, I am grateful for what he taught me, and for the fact he did not simply turn his back on us naive students. I also feel a little embarrassed as I was one of the members of the delegation who had gone to complain to the Rector about him and in the process almost lost the best teacher I have ever had.

TO PRINT