focus
focus is tough when the material drags and is not very interesting
Hi Joanie,
Thank you for those great comments. You profiled what a great instructor should be like. Focused, excited and engaging. By showing a love for one's subject you can reflect to the students how important you see their learning of the subject as being.
Good luck with your teaching and as winter starts to settle in enjoy reading your math books by the like of the wood fire in your fireplace.
Gary
I teach subjects that some people might think aren't very interesting--Business Math, Accounting, Federal Tax. I don't get it; I don't know how anybody could possibly feel these exciting subjects could be boring. (I hope you're catching the intended humor here.) Anyhow, I think it's OK for students to see their instructors as being a little bit nerdy and going way overboard in being extremely enthusiastic about their course content. It lightens the mood of the class and keeps them guessing as to whether you honestly feel that strongly about the subject...and it definitely gets their attention!
I often have students tell me how much they hate math. I tell them I love math, how cool it is, you know, like how neat the 9 times tables are (9, 18, 27...first digit is one number more, second digit is one number less and the two digits added together equals nine!!) Depending on the mood of the class, sometimes when a student says she hates math, I say "You love math and you know it!" Even as recently as yesterday this happened and for those of you old enough to remember the show "Welcome Back, Kotter", before long this student sounded like Arnold Horshack, with her arm raised, "OOOOOOHHHHH! OOOOOOHHHHH! OOOOOOHHHHH!" "I know the answer."
So even if the students think I'm a little bit corny or wonder whether I go home and read math textbooks just for fun, that's OK as long as learning is taking place and we're having fun along the way!
Hi Robert,
You are right about material dragging when it is not very interesting. The fun part of being a teacher is figuring out how to make the material interesting. You can be creative and innovative in your curriculum planning and this will enable you to make the material interesting and help to focus the attention of the students.
Good luck with your course planning.
Gary
