Related, even if not properly in topic. While attending the SWC train the trainers course in September, I took a note about the "just" and how to keep an I-can-do-it attitude in the learners. Then, in January, I had the chance to try to be more aware of that while teaching Python in a Master's degree course (70-80% of students .usually have a background in biology or biotech).
Of course that was a different setting: students believe having more time to grasp the material with respect to a short workshop, they may be less prone to give up during class, but they could do it anyways or maybe give up later when you are not there to answer questions. Anyways, "what is the best programming language?" is something that they asked. I have my programming language of choice, but the demotivation section in SWC guidelines helped in devising a better answer than "I like that, but you choose whatever you want". Instead, I told them that the best programming language is the one they feel more comfortable with. That "if", "for" and functions are in almost every programming language and that after getting it in python they could move to something else. And that if someone in their future place of work would tell them "You should use X because is better!", they may give it a try, see if they like it and maybe toss it in the trash bin if not. Maybe I was wrong or there may be a better phrased answer. In that case, a feedback from you would be more than welcome. To be in topic: instead of thinking about it as "I must not do that", those guidelines could also be used as "how can I convey that information in a better and less threatening way?". Best, Giuseppe 2016-03-24 22:44 GMT+01:00 Greg Wilson <[email protected]>: > One approach is to pre-empt it - I make a point of saying in my intro that > this stuff is genuinely hard, that I shouldn't imply otherwise by saying > "just" (or equivalent), and inviting people to keep score. We can then > compare everyone's scores at the first coffee break, and since they're never > the same, we can then have an interesting discussion about real-world data > :-) > Cheers, > Greg > > > On 2016-03-24 5:41 PM, Adam Obeng wrote: >> >> Does any one have a tip for how to recover from accidentally doing these >> things? I've tried to explain why I'm apologising for saying "just", but >> that *just* seems to make it worse. >> >> Cheers, >> >> Adam >> >> On Thu, Mar 24, 2016, at 05:30 PM, Steven Haddock wrote: >>> >>> Yes, I think that is the one. The J-word!! >>> Thanks Lex. >>> >>> >>> >>>> On Mar 24, 2016, at 14:22 , Lex Nederbragt <[email protected]> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>> Perhaps this helps? Look for "Things You Shouldn't Do in a Workshop" on >>>> http://swcarpentry.github.io/instructor-training/09-motivation.html >>>> >>>> Lex >>>> >>>>> On 24 Mar 2016, at 22:02, Steven Haddock <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> TL;dr Can someone point me to the post about teaching guidelines? >>>>> >>>>> A little while ago Greg or somebody posted a set of examples of things >>>>> to avoid saying (“You can simply…”, etc). >>>>> >>>>> A friend of mine (really!) is teaching a class and she realized she >>>>> should avoid saying “You have probably all done X”… so I was going to send >>>>> her that post, but I can’t find it. >>>>> >>>>> Thanks, >>>>> Steve >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> Discuss mailing list >>>>> [email protected] >>>>> >>>>> http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Discuss mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> >>> http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> >> http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org > > > -- > Dr Greg Wilson > Director of Instructor Training > Software Carpentry Foundation > > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org
