Over the years, David and I have shared much about our own classrooms with each other. I often comment on how lucky he is that his ivy league students soak up whatever he throws at them. He can just 'talk', or read from a script if he wants. There would be absolute respect for his status and indiscriminate acceptance for what he had to say.
Maybe it's a reaction, or maybe it's his natural tendency to better himself. The professor started reading my recommended books on teaching, on brain studies. Last year, he even attended an "education summit" for teaching undergrads. I was touched that student-centered instruction has been introduced to university classrooms, and he is amongst the "reformers".
In readying ourselves for our first classes in the fall, I reworked my first-week documents and tweaked some warm-up activities. My husband spent hours "watching videos". He was determined to find a video to accompany each of the 24 topics that he is going to introduce this semester. I thought it was a huge undertaking, but he found them all. Of all the video clips, there is a "Geology Kitchen"; there is a new-age mineral healing clip; the list goes on. The rest were also unconventional for a geology class, but there is too much goodness to fit in my little blog. How he uses these clips should go into another post. All in all, I think he beat me in bettering one's own teaching this time!
But I guess I am the most impressed with the fact that a college professor can decide to take such drastic measure in improving his instruction and student engagement when he has been at the same job for the past 13 year! He cares. It's easy to get comfortable, lazy and complacent, or simply stop caring!!! (You cannot lose your job when you are tenured.) It takes a lot of reflection and courage. I don't often give him kudos, but this time I have to say, "Way to go, professor!"
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