Writes Matt Dinan, the director of the great books program at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick, in "I Let My Students Watch Me Struggle With a Masterpiece. It Changed Everything" (NYT gift link).
"What I discovered anew in my encounter with 'The Brothers Karamazov' last term was that if you want students to be passionately engaged, not worried about the future, grasping, careerist or disengaged, you must transmit the spark of passion in your deeds, your mien — let’s face it, in your own soul. If you expect your students to choose books, ideas and genuine learning over shortcuts and distraction, you must be a bit courageous, too.... As [the Karamazov brother] Alyosha memorably notes, all capable people 'are awfully afraid of looking ridiculous, and it makes them unhappy.'"
పోస్ట్లు
33 కామెంట్లు:
My best professor in law school was very different than the others; a younger man, he was withdrawn, quiet and intensely focused. But he knew his stuff and had an unmatched ability to organize the course material and present it in a logical fashion.
To Sir wth Love
…for a call to odd and immature a reference to The Flying Karamazov Brothers is apropos..
Mrs Pritchard made us get out in nature, press flowers, engage in crafts, my undergrad micro prof did magic in class…
Ann:
Looking back, what made you a great teacher?
At Creighton, the two best teachers were Ron Volkmer and Ron Santoni; two very different guys. The common thread was their knowledge and enthusiasm of the.material which they conveyed to you by the Socratic method, The Volk was also an intimidating presence who could humiliate you if you didn’t know the material. Santoni, OTOH, had a smile, They both would force you to understand the law at a deep level. They made you think like a lawyer.
The ghosts of Victorian dilettantes look down and cheer. Immature? Yes. Eccentric? Yes. No market value? Yes. Bored, aimless, and tenured people finding something to do in front of soft, young, uncritical audiences? Yes.
And to think that people don't respect a college education these days? Balderdash! Poppycock!
Claptrap!
2002 Classroom teacher of the year: Ann Althouse.
This indisputably works if authentic:
**you must transmit the spark of passion in your deeds, your mien — let’s face it, in your own soul**
Unfortunately many Middle and HS teachers I worked with did not have a passion for learning that they could impart to students. I do. I took pupils with learning disabilities and ESL classes and showed them how they were already using math and moved the focus from their fear of learning to recognize they had the skills and used them already.
The high school science teacher and Youtuber Bruce Yeany is my dream high school science teacher. Passionate, creative, fun, and always well prepared. He's not immature in the slightest, but has plenty of entertaining projectile demos (e.g., air cannons and eggs).
https://www.youtube.com/@YeanyScience
I think the thesis is a little bit…weird, as presented. That said, one of my favorite teachers certainly was a bit eccentric, for sure. He was a very tough exam-writer and grader, and he rejected all attempts at grading on a curve. It was 93 or bust if you wanted an A, and nothing got past him.
He was a fabulous lecturer and his classes went by so quickly, it was that interesting. On exam days, he’d burst into the classroom, bright red hair waving, in full academic robes from his alma mater and say, “READY, SPORTS FANS?!? (Most of time he was business casual,)
It was something, and I still think of him. I suppose he’s likely dead now. I sure enjoyed and was challenged by his classes.
A bit eccentric and a bit iconoclastic, yes. Immature, definitely not.
It's nice that the professor had an epiphany while reading "The Brothers Karamazov", but he may wish to refrain from broad generalizations about great teaching.
A great instructor knows the material and believes it's worth the time and effort to master.
What the professor forgets is that many instructors, professors included, don't have the intelligence or judgment to interpret his comments about "being sort of odd, even a bit immature."
Coming in wearing a fright wig or tie-dyed lab coat, doing the whole Patch Adams routine is tedious, not engaging.
Content creators are told that authenticity drives engagement. That's true, but it's much easier if the person is authentically interesting.
Agree, 100%. Trailer for the Dead Poets Society.
I rewatch that movie every few years, when I'm looking for inspiration.
Here's Jesus, quoted by Matthew in 18:3: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
Jesus is the best rabbi (teacher) the world has ever seen. One way he pulls this off is by saying stuff like this, without explaining it. "What does that mean?" people ask. And we're still asking that question, 2000 years later.
Here is a good take.
Innocent, passionate, open, still learning.
The modern Greeks have a wonderful term "μεράκι' (meraki) that likely came from the Turkish word "merak", meaning a labor of love, or enthusiastic interest.
Yes, I believe this is true. I remember those teachers who had the most profound effect on me. And each one of them was unique and had me interested in what they had to say and teach.
I wonder if we were an easier audience than the kids are today.
Primes and eggs are a fetus... feature of odd and immature viable encoding and transition with fungible educational, empathetic value. An awkward comma is so formal 😈.
Chickelit: I love that word "merak." I've not come across it before. It seems similar to "amateur," in its original sense of "someone who does something for the love it" (and not for money or as a job, per se).
And, by the way, hi! I enjoy it when you pop in the comments section.
(reader_iam)
" if you want students to be passionately engaged, not worried about the future, grasping, careerist or disengaged, you must transmit the spark of passion in your deeds, "
that sounds right to me. Education is not only bad white left female woke rage and BS , it's also a empty means to an end.
Modern corrupt union public ed and university lack the passion to inspire real learning and real curiosity..
Spoke with my best HS teacher in the past year. In fact, he met with our coffee group. He said he put 100% into his teaching and it showed. He taught physics.
They charge quite a high price, that comes with life crushing student loan debt for this "quirkiness". And the quirky teachers seldom teach things that will improve the student's economic viability. Unless they too get a sinecure living off the futures of poor students
My best high school teacher definitely had an immature side. There was good and bad in that. He was entertaining and informative, but over time, the fun and games with the kids got tiresome if you were really interested in the subject. Larger than life personalities can also be hard to deal with on a one-on-one level.
"alight at 4 am"?
Fail.
There's an ongoing feud in universities between the performer professors and those with dimmer personalities. The more drudgely resent the showpeople and often drive them out, if the performers don't move on anyway.
In mt experience on campus (from undergrad in 1971 to associate prof of libraries in 2015, with occasional adjunct stints in the history department) I learned that being too popular with the students was a good way not to get tenure.
My not mt.
My cataract surgeries a few years ago improved my vision so much that I thought I could eschew the Rx lenses, which I have worn since 7th grade, and make do with some reading glasses, but I was wrong.
I am wearing reading glasses (2X) right now but still need a magnifying glass to type accurately and review what I type.
I'm looking--myopically--for the eyeglass prescription I was given.
"I'm okay, how's by you
We're having a dance on the ol' bayou
You could do like the cajuns do
Zydeco gumby ya ya
Les haricots means beans in france
Zydeco is a lousiana dance
*you could try it, you gonna got the chance
Zydeco gumby ya ya
Et toi, et là-bas
Zydeco gumby ya ya
Don't say you got feet of clay
Les haricots sont pas salés
Les haricots are haute cuisine
So zydeco's good for the human bean
Don't be blue if you should be green
Zydeco gumby ya ya
Lâche pas la patate!
Et toi, et là-bas
Zydeco gumby ya ya
Don't say you got feet of clay
Laissez les bon temps roulez
Les haricots are haute cuisine
So zydeco's good for the human bean
Don't be blue if you should be green
Zydeco gumby ya ya"
Zydeco Gumby Ya Ya by Brave Combo
The big problem with making a life-sized chess set is that the board requires several acres of land so that the squares can properly accommodate the castles.
“Being a good teacher requires being sort of odd, even a bit immature."
Same as being a congressperson.
My, what a self-congratulatory paean to oneself.
Don’t these people get embarrassed?
A man’s home is his castle. So not that much land.
This seems like a great post for resident pretentious pseudo intellectual twat rhhardin to chime in and show off his reading list and tell everyone about the high brow books by Kant and Derrida he writes about while taking a dump as well as that RC Ocean guy to cram in a slightly related take on how badly the Jews have ruined his life.
కామెంట్ను పోస్ట్ చేయండి
Please use the comments forum to respond to the post. Don't fight with each other. Be substantive... or interesting... or funny. Comments should go up immediately... unless you're commenting on a post older than 4 days. Then you have to wait for us to moderate you through. It's also possible to get shunted into spam by the machine. We try to keep an eye on that and release the miscaught good stuff. We do delete some comments, but not for viewpoint... for bad faith. Also: No italics, even briefly. Use asterisks for emphasis. And don't play with the format by changing fonts or using boldface or all caps. Never include more than one extra line break between paragraphs.