I came to teaching late. By this time in my life I was on my third career. Previous to GCC I had spent 11 years in the music industry, followed by 8 years in the food & restaurant world. My first time in front of a class was a Tuesday afternoon during the first week of the fall 1988 semester. At the end on the first day I had the Atlantic Ocean under my left arm and the Pacific under my right. I lost over 5 pounds that day. I remember thinking to myself “If it’s like this the rest of the week, I’ll be dead by Friday”.
Things got better!
COLLEGE PHYSICS – P105 LABS
In the fall of 1988 I began a run of 20 years where I was the sole lab instructor for Physics 105 (College Physics, mechanics). During this period I was the compliment to the primary lecture instructor, Dr Jean Lecuyer.
For many students this was their foyer into the use of the computer at the top of their shoulders. Not to say that my students have ever lacked intellectual capacity. Quite the contrary, I have been blessed like few others. My students have had to jump through hoops, specifically math hoops, to get to P105. Many of them are in Calculus, and have taken at least one semester of Chemistry or Honors Biology. But at the time they reach p105 they have not started put it all together. How answers to seemingly impossible questions are located in their academic memories, on the white board, or in their handout. I would like to think I help them find the obvious.
For many instructors teaching the same material (not the same subject, such as, mathematics where Arithmetic, Algebra (in many flavors), Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Differential Equations each are different material) is a dirge. Why am I different? I see three reasons:
1.In my case my primary job is NOT teaching. I am the Sr. Physics Lab Technician. I move from task to task, situation to situation, and problem to problem. Every day there is usually a new challenge, and over the years I have had to evolve my Tech methods, due to the fact that the demonstration, laboratory equipment, or computer equipment we utilize is changing (Thermal sensors rather than thermometers; digital rather than analog oscilloscopes; computer data acquisition; etc.).
2.I have also worked with elementary student in GCC’s outreach program. The material I introduced to these youngsters is similar to what I present to my College Physics students, but the tone I used was different. More gentile, less imperious. Due to budget cuts this ended in 2009.
3.I met Leslie Frank in Fall 1995, and married her in April, 2004. Amongst other things Leslie has had a calming effect upon my life and my approach to teaching.
Between marriage, the outreach program, and my tech position I have had to change. It has affected my teaching.
1. In the late 80’s and early 90’s, I describe my teaching style as channeling Eddie Murphy. Entertaining, informative, abrasive. Not necessarily in that order.
2.From the mid to late 90’s I was a cross between two Robin Williams characters Adrian Cronauer in Good Morning, Vietnam, and Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting. Talking faster than a speeding bullet but becoming a good listener.
3.In the 2000’s I’m a bit calmer so is my approach to teaching. By this time I had come into my own and allusions to actors and comedic personalities was behind me, but I had a nagging question that I needed to answer. “How can I motivate without resorting to incentives (think anal-retentive pre-med personality who’s “gotta get an A”) or fear (those students who in previous courses have been able to get their A or B with little or no effort at all)?” The answer was quite obvious. Interested? Read on McDuff.
How to motivate?
As with most everything in my life the answer is obvious. In this case choose the incentive that brings most of the students to any community college. Money. My physics 105 students want to get a good job after finishing their education. Doctors, engineers, physical therapists, mathematicians, architects, dentists, chemists, pharmacists, and the occasional physicist. What is my job: How to make physics relate. So what have I been doing lately to motivate my students? I became their boss, their client, their supervisor, their CEO, their patient, their co-worker. I pose questions as to how their actions/work would be perceived by any of the above. I attempt to give the work they do new meaning, not to me, but to those composing it. I can give examples appropriate to the situation. I have friends and former students in the health care industry (doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and I’m married to a physical therapist), engineering (EE, mechanical, & chemical), architecture, construction (two of my brothers and former students), information technology (software & hardware), etc., who are generous enough to answer work related questions so that I can then interject their experiences into my curriculum.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION: Below are ideas not fully formed
Of equal importance in any industry is communication. I stress communication with this as emphasis. “If you have a great idea, but cannot communicate it to your boss, co-worker, client, or patient, then you might as well have never thought it”. Many students (mostly male) just throw an assignment together at the last moment. This will not work in the real world (or any world for that matter). Thoughtful construction of an presentation (oral or written) of an idea, proposal, diagnosis, etc. is a skill that …
Communication in our personal relationships is also important.
TO BE CONTINUED …