Re: [Phys-l] laptops banned from class.

[Jack Uretsky <jlu@hep.anl.gov>]

On Fri, 31 Mar 2006, Carl Mungan wrote (in part):

> > the goal of top notch teaching, IMO, is to persuade
> > students to learn for themselves.
> > 					Regards,
> > 						Jack
>
> I find this statement to be provocative (in a good way, ie. 
> stimulating thought). The claim is our job is to PERSUADE.
>
> I agree that effective learning is self-driven not teacher driven. 
> You can bring 'em to the trough but you can't make 'em drink, and all 
> that.
		That's why teaching is an art, not a science.

> But I'm not sure I know how to persuade people of anything. I've 
> always been a lousy salesman type, scoring miserably on personality 
> tests that purport to quantify that kind of attribute.

	Join the club, Carl.  I've  had a horror of selling ever since a 
miseerable experience as a kid with Saturday Evening Post, etc.  On the 
other hand, I've been a community theatre actor for more than 30 years.  I 
think I can feel when the audience is listening sympathetically and 
empathizing with me.  And I can check the accuracy of my feeling by making 
a deliberately provocative statement; if I don't get a vocal reaction, the 
audience is not with me.  It's OK when that happens because I have no 
expectation of batting 1000 in (almost) any sport.
					Regards,
						Jack

-- 
"Trust me.  I have a lot of experience at this."
		General Custer's unremembered message to his men,
		just before leading them into the Little Big Horn Valley