From: "JACK L. URETSKY (C)1998; HEP DIVISION, ARGONNE NATIONAL LAB ARGONNE, IL 60439" <JLU@HEP.ANL.GOV>
Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1999 13:37:08 -0500
Hi all and Greg Kifer-
Teacher evaluation is tricky business. Just to make my point,
Greg, what was the subject that was taught by your worst teacher, and
what was there about this teacher that you remember as "AWFUL!"?
Regards,
Jack
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The main problem with following this proposal would be that there would
be many "instructors" like I had in college.....AWFUL! Especially at
the introductory level, teaching is at least as important as knowing.
Too many become so competent in their discipline they forget what is
hard about the subject and so can not allay the fears of their
students. Teaching is an art. Unfortunately it is usually evauated by
those who were poor teachers or have been out of the classroom so long
that they really don't remember how to teach. I have been the
cooperating teacher for 15 student teachers and knowledge has not been
the limiting factor, but they were limited by their library of analogy,
and their ability to convey (as opposed to present) concepts.
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Also,
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Those who can do. Those who understand teach.
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Isn't that a bit self-serving?
Regards,
Jack
"I scored the next great triumph for science myself,
to wit, how the milk gets into the cow. Both of us
had marveled over that mystery a long time. We had
followed the cows around for years - that is, in the
daytime - but had never caught them drinking fluid of
that color."
Mark Twain, Extract from Eve's
Autobiography