I just finished reading Louis' latest humanistic dissertation and as usual I was amused/perplexed/inspired/annoyed. But I keep coming back to the same question: how do you know that you're a good teacher? Sure, we can all cite examples of students coming to us to swear that we're the greatest teacher/adviser/scholar/mentor since the creation of the world. Having spent many years as dept. chair and as a member of the university's tenure & promotion committee I can assure you that even the most singularly awful instructor can produce effusive letters from selected students. How do I know these instructors are terrible?
Because I see how a class that starts with 35 students ends with 10. Because I know the long history of charges involving hostile classroom climates. Because I hear the horror stories of my advisees. Because I spend so much time fixing the professor's advising errors and/or advising the students who can never find Professor X. Because I know that the professor holds office hours at times that are guaranteed to be inconvenient to their students. Because I know of profs who tell students "my office hours aren't for tutoring." Because I know how often the professor misses class or routinely dismisses the class only half way through the allotted time. Because sometimes (but only sometimes) the student evaluations mirror what I know to be true from the other sources. Because I know that no matter what the course title, the prof teaches the same humanistic fluff with no content. Let's face it. We all know some colleagues who are incompetent, burned out, or just plain nasty. But while we all know one or more such colleagues, I have never, in 26 years of teaching, known a prof who thought he or she was a bad teacher. So my question for Louis (and the rest of us as well) is "how do you know you're a good teacher?" How do you know that your students aren't saying "I've got this terrible prof who doesn't teach but he's an easy 'A' if you're willing to listen to his flaky philosophies and get in touch with your feelings?" And let's remember that I'm at least a grudging fan of Louis'! Please take this query in that spirit. I'm willing to launch into such a discussion today in order to save my marriage. The longer I stay on line, the fewer fights my wife and I will have about her watching the F@#%$^&* Olympics all day (and every night for the next two F#%@^&* weeks)! And you thought it was only football that got me so annoyed. This is worse because it goes on for so much longer and I've got to put up with my Beloved watching sports that she wouldn't watch in a million years under ordinary circumstances...... mogul skiing, cross country skiing, speed skating, curling, ad nauseum. Ed ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D. Graduate Coordinator, Holocaust and Genocide Studies Department of Psychology, West Chester Univ. of Pennsylvania Office: 610-436-3151; Home: 610-363-1939; Fax: 610-436-2846 Office hours: Mondays 12-4 p.m.; Tues. & Thurs.: 8 a.m.-noon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Husband, father, grandfather, biopsychologist, bluegrass fiddler and herpetoculturist ( http://www.adcham.com) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shameless self promotion: The Mill Creek Bluegrass Band performs every Tuesday night at Dugal's Inn, Mortonville, 8 miles west of West Chester, PA. Call 610- 486-0953 for directions. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
