At 10:48 AM +0000 2/12/03, Cisco Nuts wrote: >John, > >First...CONGRATS!!!! >You can do it!! >Yes, there area moments when you feel that way...especially the first couple >of times....but in the end you will come out a champ!! > >When I started teaching the CCNA/NP a couple of years back, I too felt the >same initially, but personally, teaching has been the best thing for me in >my life!! I love teaching and am passionate about it. I am just dying to >pass the CCIE Lab so I can begin my own tutoring in my basement for the >CCNA/NP/IP courses. >The trick is to really prepare for it the night before and then dive >straight to the hands-on section in the class.
Agreed, and I'd like to home in on this a little, at least from personal experience. Even when you are having fun, teaching all or most of the day is stressful. When you're writing programs or books, you control the pace and can let your mind float a little, but not so in a live situation. Don't count on your breaks, because you often either have to fix something or respond to student questions--unless there's an escape door at the instructor end of the classroom! I suppose my telecommuting equivalent is to have a cat crash into/with something in my office. They are pretty good about that, other than Rhonda keeps trying to fax herself. I really have to figure out a copy/fax cover that can stay on the machine without it overheating. Looking behind me, she's at least not on the control panel but in the feeder tray. There's also a difference between courses of up to about 2-3 days versus 3-5 days. I remember that when I taught RSC, ICRC, and ACRC, all 5 day courses, I hit a "wall" sometime on Wednesday, and it took me many months, if not a year, to learn to get through Wednesday (usually) afternoon. I was fine on Thursday and Friday. Incidentally, I found CID much easier to teach _for me_, as it NEVER was the same twice given students are bringing in new problems and a good CID instructor is constantly updating the lecture. There are just so many times you can point out the missing permit all in an access list, or an order dependency in OSPF network statements, etc., before you need to start suppressing the screams. If you're teaching on the road, it's even more exciting. Even the beancounters at a number of training partners finally recognized that getting dinner from room service was not really a luxury, but something that prevented embarrassment from falling asleep in the soup at a restaurant. It's usually too late for traditional sightseeing. I did find that workouts helped, which generally needed to be in the morning if I could get up that early, as well as social dinners--preferably with local friends, but sometimes with students. It's especially nice when you can meet up with instructor colleagues that know what it's like! I usually see Paul and Neill when they are teaching in DC, as well as others. >Then start explaining the >concepts about the material as you do the hands-on. Students love the >hands-on!! Preparing your own notes help as students respect you more than >just saying "Ok guys, let's turn to page 31 and talk about Ospf. Ospf >is....." > >Good Luck. > > > > > > > > > >>From: "John Neiberger" >>Reply-To: "John Neiberger" >>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>Subject: OT: New Instructor Experiences [7:62826] >>Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 22:12:07 GMT >> >>I just feel the need to rant/vent for a bit and I knew there were a >>bunch of you who might be able to relate to this. I've started teaching >>a short, one-session general networking class for some of the people >>here at the bank. The first session, which was really just a runthrough >>with a handful of students, went fairly well. In fact, it went so well >>that they increased the number of overall attendees to about 60 or so. >> >>Last week I had another session that went exceptionally well, except >>for a couple of students who really didn't want to be there. I couldn't >>have asked for it to go better, and my boss heard lots of good things > >about it. One person even said I should be a professor! :-) Now, that >>brings us to today.... >> >>Today I had an afternoon class, and in my opinion it sucked rotten >>eggs. I feel embarrassed to have been involved with it. I can't >>think of too many ways in which it could have gone worse. I rambled, I >>flew through 2.5 hours of material in about an hour, I lost my place a >>lot. I'm not certain that I ever formed a train of thought longer than >>a couple of cars, and I think even those trains were without engine and >>caboose. >> >>Have any of you other instructors had days like that? As I even >>mentioned in class, I felt like my 'explainer' was broken today, and it >>certainly was. I'm hoping that I could get some sympathy from other >>instructors with similar experiences. >> >>Okay, I'm going to go drown my disappointment in some coffee! >> >>John >_________________________________________________________________ >The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* >http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=62891&t=62826 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
