Erik Marshall

IHE has a post on the “ten commandments of lecturing”, which is the type of thing I often find trite and repetitive, but for some reason I found this one a little refreshing and thought-provoking.

The two I think I am best at are:

VI. Thou Shalt Be Enthusiastic.
My evaluations almost always give me the highest marks for enthusiasm, which in my mind offsets the low marks for organization, but maybe I’m wrong about that.

X. Thou Shalt Seize Learning Moments.
I think my willingness to go way off my lesson plan to teach other, more relevant, timely or just plain needed material that comes up is a product of both my enthusiasm and my disorganization. A lot of this depends on what I am teaching and why, though.

The ones I think I violate the most are

III. Thou Shalt Not Lecture Like a Caffeinated Hummingbird or a Tree Sloth
I mean, I generally am pretty caffeinated, and I have said before that my spirit animal is probably the hummingbird. I am sometimes quite tired as well, especially in those morning classes. I try to pace well, and to vary activities, lecture speed and topic, but sometimes I know I am way too fast, or dwell too long on things that my students do not care about. I also don’t speak loudly enough sometimes.

IV. Thou shalt not assume too much.
The author is talking here about using theory that is over the students’ heads, which I agree can be a problem, but it extends to other things as well. The problem is, it’s hard not to assume too much, and sometimes I think assuming certain things is reasonable. I assume my students have what I would consider a basic vocabulary, but sometimes they don’t know words you think they might (“juxtapose” is the most usual example that comes up when talking about montage editing). I assume students have basic writing skills. They usually do, but not always. I assume that, although the classes I teach are almost always required, the students will have some interest in learning something. Of course they do, but it’s hard to connect to that sometimes. I assume that students keep up on current events, at least on a cursory level. This is a completely unfounded assumption, as illustrated in early 2000, I made reference to the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle, simply by mentioning “Seattle.” When confronted with 24 blank stares, I said, “You know the WTO protests?” Blank stares. “Do you know what the World Trade Organization is?” Not a single one. So, I guess this became a teachable moment, but a quick glance at a newspaper during that time — well, you get the idea. I assume that my students have technological skills that include sending and receiving email, and that can be expanded to operating Blackboard. In fact, I used to assume that all of my students were much more technologically aware and adept that I am, and some are, but not most. I think I will post again about technology and teaching soon.

Teachers, which commandments do you follow or violate most? Students, which ones are your worst pet peeves? MY students, which ones do I violate/follow that I missed here?