On 25 Nov 2004 16:35:06 GMT, (Blanche Cohen)
wrote:

Journeyman wrote:

Gene Whitt wrote:
Y'All,
One thing I do about instruction for as certain as I can be about anything
is...

A good instructor knows best of all what he can't teach.

You can't teach what you don't know. Paradoxically, you never learn
a subject as well as when you try to teach it to someone else.


Morris

I've always believed if I don't learn more than my students when I'm
teaching a class, something is wrong! Of course the material I learn
or discover is far outside the level of the material I'm teaching.

When I taught the "Introduction to Computer Science" as Graduate
Assistant I learned a lot about the day-to-day operation of the PCs
that I'd always skipped before.

Sometimes I'll present it to the students if they seem receptive.
Usually, as a whole, they aren't. But one or two always are. Those are
the ones that make teaching a joy.

With a total of 195 students in 5 classes, I didn't get much chance to
give special attention to any one:-))

I think I learned as much in those classes as I did my own although it
was entirely different.

Be it computers or flying, I think teaching requires you to step back
and take a look at the subject from a different perspective.
I have found that the longer I worked in the field the more difficult
it was to explain the fundamentals. I'd guess that's the main reason
I think they should outlaw PHDs teaching introductory courses. :-))

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com