Thursday, July 21, 2011

Class Recovery

Had a very good class session this morning. Was teaching Preventing Harassment in the Workplace. Class members were attentive and nice. The classroom itself was well designed. All moved along well.

Now I'm in recovery mode. Unlike instructors who have a leisurely, let's put up another slide, approach, I wander about, ask a lot of questions, and use scads of case examples. The pace is fast and people are invited to interrupt. There are short breaks every hour. I seldom if ever sit. As a result, when I finish a class I'm exhausted.

Part of this technique is tied to the belief that the instructor should show some passion for the topic. The implicit message is "This is really interesting stuff and I'll show you why."

It works and I like it, but one of these days, I need to find a subject that I can teach from a sofa while smoking a cigar.

2 comments:

Kurt Harden said...

I had a friend whose professor in the early '80's paced around the classroom with a lit cigar. When he was emphasizing a particularly important point he would grind the cigar out on the chalk board as he made the point.

Those were the days. Might I suggest a glass of 18-year-old Glenlivet slowly melting some ice as you sit in a chair and stare at the wall?

Congratulations.

Kurt

Michael Wade said...

Kurt,

I like that cigar example. Would do it if I could get away wth it. One of my favorite college professors chain-smoked as he discussed constitutional law.

The idea of the Glenlivet is also admirable.

Michael