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rhinosaur · 08-06-2008, 04:46 AM

I actually had the pleasure to experience a great teacher in a great class last semester. The class was arguably one of the hardest in the department: Symmetry and spectroscopy of inorganic molecules. The topic itself is moderately difficult, and this teacher was pretty hardcore. We covered more material than any other course, at a faster pace than any other course I'd ever had before.

Although some of these methods wouldn't work anywhere but the cutthroat no-bullshit arenas of graduate school, I really admired his approach, and thrived in this environment.

Here's what he did:

He listened to us and would repeat things in different ways if it was obvious we didn't quite understand the material.
He would always answer your questions and was very open, both in sharing the information he knew and in his schedule.
He went straight through the text, start to finish, in the order it was presented (he actually wrote the text, which I'm sure helped).
His powerpoint slides were designed to complement the text. They explained certain things in more detail and other things in less detail. He kept these updated according to our progress, and would fix mistakes as he found them. He also provided on the website every relevant piece of information that was presented to us.
The problems were taken directly from the chemical literature. Almost all of them were all real-world problems that were a good example of how the material we were learning could be applied. He made it clear that working the problems was mandatory, but he was quite flexible when it came to grading them, and would simply give you either zero, half, or full credit for each problem.
The tests were always easier than the problems, but not too easy. They were quite fair, and always took into consideration the amount of time we were given.
He expected us to keep up. About every other Thursday, we presented our work to the class. This encouraged people to study frequently, and discouraged procrastination. It also provided an opportunity for him to correct your work, for the benefit of the entire class (who might have all made the same mistakes as you).

Near the end of the semester, he commented to us and some other teachers that we were the best class he'd ever taught. This wasn't totally subjective, either: our grades the highest he'd ever seen for this course, and we had covered more material than any other class before us.

Here's what we did

We asked questions when we didn't understand something. I'm sure this was difficult for some people, because he has a naturally intimidating character.
We studied our asses off. I filled many whiteboards and chalkboards working out the problems, and accumulated stacks upon stacks of notes. I remember studying on the top floor of a parking deck at midnight, while I watched a thunderstorm pass. All this work, and I still fell behind in comparison to some of the other students.

08-06-2008, 04:46 AM	#3 (permalink)
rhinosaur - Join Date: Apr 2007 Type: ISTP Location: North Carolina Posts: 899	I actually had the pleasure to experience a great teacher in a great class last semester. The class was arguably one of the hardest in the department: Symmetry and spectroscopy of inorganic molecules. The topic itself is moderately difficult, and this teacher was pretty hardcore. We covered more material than any other course, at a faster pace than any other course I'd ever had before. Although some of these methods wouldn't work anywhere but the cutthroat no-bullshit arenas of graduate school, I really admired his approach, and thrived in this environment. Here's what he did: He listened to us and would repeat things in different ways if it was obvious we didn't quite understand the material. He would always answer your questions and was very open, both in sharing the information he knew and in his schedule. He went straight through the text, start to finish, in the order it was presented (he actually wrote the text, which I'm sure helped). His powerpoint slides were designed to complement the text. They explained certain things in more detail and other things in less detail. He kept these updated according to our progress, and would fix mistakes as he found them. He also provided on the website every relevant piece of information that was presented to us. The problems were taken directly from the chemical literature. Almost all of them were all real-world problems that were a good example of how the material we were learning could be applied. He made it clear that working the problems was mandatory, but he was quite flexible when it came to grading them, and would simply give you either zero, half, or full credit for each problem. The tests were always easier than the problems, but not too easy. They were quite fair, and always took into consideration the amount of time we were given. He expected us to keep up. About every other Thursday, we presented our work to the class. This encouraged people to study frequently, and discouraged procrastination. It also provided an opportunity for him to correct your work, for the benefit of the entire class (who might have all made the same mistakes as you). Near the end of the semester, he commented to us and some other teachers that we were the best class he'd ever taught. This wasn't totally subjective, either: our grades the highest he'd ever seen for this course, and we had covered more material than any other class before us. Here's what we did We asked questions when we didn't understand something. I'm sure this was difficult for some people, because he has a naturally intimidating character. We studied our asses off. I filled many whiteboards and chalkboards working out the problems, and accumulated stacks upon stacks of notes. I remember studying on the top floor of a parking deck at midnight, while I watched a thunderstorm pass. All this work, and I still fell behind in comparison to some of the other students.