Re: Questionable Teachers vs Questionable Students.

[brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>]

At 11:40 9/5/97 EDT, you wrote:

> I asked, in a Conceptual Science course for non-science majors, "who can
> explain changing shapes of the moon to a child?". Nobody raised the hand.
> ... "I will not ask you to perform. I only want 
> to know. Would you (pointing to a student in the first raw) count the number 
> of hands raised when I turn my face toward the blackboard, please." I turned 
> and waited. Then I turned back and asked about the outcome. "No hands were
> raised" she said. 
>
>    Ludwik Kowalski
No one else seems poised to speak on behalf of these hapless students, so I
needs must.
This kind of behavior on the part of an instructor strikes me as
rather strange, to say the least.

 I am forcibly reminded of the situation well-known to management teachers.
 The situation where a small department is listless, out of ideas, and
unproductive. The supervisor wants to say  "Let's fire the lot."
(I should mention that this story has an American context, where such
things can and do happen...)

And then one hears about the same department, a few months later.
Same people, great ideas, productivity high, morale sky-high.

The difference is (of course) in the manager - someone decided to change
him out, probably because it was cheaper?

I hate to say it: but leadership is EVERYTHING!

So I say to you: there are teachers who can set fire to the imagination
and engage the rapt attention, and there are those who cannot. 
 Activity beats passivity every time....

Yes: it's unrealistic to expect the instructor to be a ball of fire at all
times in all places; it is as unrealistic to expect the student body to
give an instructor a fair shake at all times. But the art of teaching
points in this direction quite surely - I add the obligatory, "in my opinion."

Sincerely
brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>
Altus OK