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Things I learned from teaching

claytonwramsey.github.io

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Re: Things I learned from teaching

#81

Post by 0xDEAFBEAD »

z3dd wrote: post #7
shae wrote: post #2

I went back to uni after a 15 year career writing software. I attended the all the office hours for all my classes. Instructors went from shocked to excited, and I learned so much!

I think 18-24 is just way too young for most people to study at a university (at least math/physics-based ones). I don't have a better solution, but only about 6-7 years after graduating I realized I would then have enjoyed these classes and learned from them much much more.

I've had the same thought, but on the other hand, would you really feel ready for math and physics at 30 if you hadn't spent years struggling with it at 18-24? Maybe the only way to develop the maturity to feel ready is to dive in and struggle with it anyways, even when you don't feel ready.

Re: Things I learned from teaching

#82

Post by 0xDEAFBEAD »

d0gsg0w00f wrote: post #41
z3dd wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think 18-24 is just way too young for most people to study at a university (at least math/physics-based ones). I don't have a better solution, but only about 6-7 years after graduating I realized I would then have enjoyed these classes and learned from them much much more.

I dropped out of uni when I was 19. Worked for about 5 years doing low skilled labor. This sent me back to school on my own dime with a fire inside to finish. For my personality type this worked well for me. I have to really buy into something before I put my heart into it. The only reason I wouldn't recommend this approach is that working full time and going to school was brutal.

>The only reason I wouldn't recommend this approach is that working full time and going to school was brutal.

Note that in the US, it can be easier to get federal financial aid after age 25 (parental financial assets are no longer considered).

Re: Things I learned from teaching

#83

Post by agumonkey »

yodsanklai wrote: post #36
bluenose69 wrote: post #29

Here are some things I tell young professors: 1. The students are not like you. For you, the topic is fascinating, and something you've pondered for much of your adult life. For the average student, the topic is moderately interesting, and likely quite confusing, in the first exposure that is this class. 2. Teach to the middle of the class. Be aware that the weakest students will be perplexed much of the time, and th…

> 2. Teach to the middle of the class. Be aware that the weakest students will be perplexed much of the time, and the strongest will be bored. True for the weakest students, but it's always possible to give harder material/exercises to the strongest students. And it doesn't even take much time for the teacher because these students are more autonomous. I only taught CS and maths, but it's very easy to keep the good s…

I've been quite curious how to "divide and conquer" the problem by weaponizing the bored genius into teaching the perplexed and lagging. It may save teacher time for teaching the middle group while also teaching the genius what it is to explain something so intuitive to someone who doesn't. But it may backfire ..

Re: Things I learned from teaching

#84

Post by nequo »

agumonkey wrote: post #83
yodsanklai wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2. Teach to the middle of the class. Be aware that the weakest students will be perplexed much of the time, and the strongest will be bored. True for the weakest students, but it's always possible to give harder material/exercises to the strongest students. And it doesn't even take much time for the teacher because these students are more autonomous. I only taught CS and maths, but it's very easy to keep the good s…

I've been quite curious how to "divide and conquer" the problem by weaponizing the bored genius into teaching the perplexed and lagging. It may save teacher time for teaching the middle group while also teaching the genius what it is to explain something so intuitive to someone who doesn't. But it may backfire ..

Upper-year students often work as teaching assistants which is something to this effect. That is, if they hold tutoring sessions or office hours and not just do grading.

Re: Things I learned from teaching

#85

Post by jezzamon »

passion__desire wrote: post #64

I am not sure why people are not adopting Khan Academy's reasonings and methods for teaching at almost all levels where the study material doesn't change and has been static for years. Why are professors made to teach the same subject each year? Why not create a set of lectures by the best in the field or even setup a committee of professors on how best to craft a particular lecture and create a video, freeze it and…

One minor note: From my experience when studying, if a lecturer used a powerpoint I immediately knew the lecture would be less engaging compared to if they were writing directly on a chalkboard/white. Powerpoints are just... Bad.

But yeah I think the idea of preparing quality content (and potentially reusable content) and using the class time to instead get interactive feedback is the flipped classroom idea, which is popular.

Re: Things I learned from teaching

#86

Post by hackermailman »

justinclift wrote: post #42
placebo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although there is no way around the struggle, there is a way around how the struggle is perceived and experienced. A good teacher shows the struggle is worth it, but I believe a great teacher makes the struggle something you enjoy doing, and not something you have to put up with so you can enjoy the compensation at some point in the future.

> I believe a great teacher makes the struggle something you enjoy doing What's a good example of this? :)

Flipped classroom style maybe. Lectures are prerecorded then you as a group struggle with the problem sets in class. A few schools have entire courses for learning the struggle like MITs freshman problem solving course for figuring out Puerto Rico's power grid problems you are given some small area to research yourself and bring that to your student meetings and struggle to a solution.

https://terrascope.mit.edu/nextyear/

Re: Things I learned from teaching

#87

Post by skeeter2020 »

agumonkey wrote: post #83
yodsanklai wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2. Teach to the middle of the class. Be aware that the weakest students will be perplexed much of the time, and the strongest will be bored. True for the weakest students, but it's always possible to give harder material/exercises to the strongest students. And it doesn't even take much time for the teacher because these students are more autonomous. I only taught CS and maths, but it's very easy to keep the good s…

I've been quite curious how to "divide and conquer" the problem by weaponizing the bored genius into teaching the perplexed and lagging. It may save teacher time for teaching the middle group while also teaching the genius what it is to explain something so intuitive to someone who doesn't. But it may backfire ..

>> by weaponizing the bored genius into teaching the perplexed and lagging.

This seems like a great idea but should be used very sparingly. Your "bored genius" isn't necessarily a great teacher, and that's not their job anyway. I've found you're better to give them more challenging options. If they want to be bored that's on them; if they pursue it they'll likely do it independently.

Re: Things I learned from teaching

#88

Post by Scubabear68 »

LouisSayers wrote: post #76
sethammons wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Forced attendance is imo the worst symptom of this I taught in an inner city title one school. While it would have made teaching those who showed up easier, I'd bet that over half the students would not show up without forced attendance. We had under 2% of students who would go on to graduate a four year college and something like an 80% transitory rate (meaning 20% would complete all four years at the school - thi…

That sounds like a difficult environment, and as they say "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink". However, here's a few things I'd be trying: 1) Stories. One of the best uni professors I had was always breaking up his lessons with Stories. The time some people exploded a whale with dynamite, the Lawnchair Larry flight, the time he was held at knife Point while travelling. It just made the lectur…

Agree with all this. The key is to make it relatable to the students in some way.

My son was struggling with Romeo and Juliet because of the archaic language, and the teacher never explained what many of the words and phrases meant. I would sit down with him and explain a scene in modern terms eg “OK, so basically the boys are going to a party, and one of Romeo’s friends is telling him not to be a stick in the mud and sulk off in the corner, but to actually have fun and talk to people”.

At the beginning the play was completely alien to him. By the end, working together, he came to understand that the play engaged in timeless themes that are as true today as they were 400 years ago (love, prestige, ego, jealousy, anger, despair, remorse, etc).

Re: Things I learned from teaching

#89

Post by pmichaud »

schneems wrote: post #50
bluenose69 wrote: post #29

Here are some things I tell young professors: 1. The students are not like you. For you, the topic is fascinating, and something you've pondered for much of your adult life. For the average student, the topic is moderately interesting, and likely quite confusing, in the first exposure that is this class. 2. Teach to the middle of the class. Be aware that the weakest students will be perplexed much of the time, and th…

> Now we ready for the exciting part" or "This next bit is what I like best about this topic", etc. Personal excitement for the material is one piece, but it’s not enough. The most important thing a teacher should do is help the students internalize *why* they’re learning the material. What they can do with it. Baking shows don’t start off telling the history of the maillard reaction, they show you the delicious cake…

Love this. My version is wanting to know what problem I would face on my own that would lead me to independently generate the solution I'm about to learn. That gives me motivation and context for the information so I can form a complete orientation in the problem space.

Re: Things I learned from teaching

#90

Post by pdm55 »

A suggestion: I enjoyed one short online computer course I studied, because we were given other students' submissions to assess. I recall using both my own code and the code of another student to suggest improvements in a third student's code. I am talking mainly about small tasks such as coding a function.

To me this is just formalising what students do anyway: namely, help each other understand and complete tasks in a course. The difference is that the instructor is actively giving students access to other students' code. I found the process motivated me to get stuck into a task, rather than leaving it to the last minute.

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