Notes on Teaching Literature and Music

[Xray]

I never had any disciplinary problems in any of my classes - perhaps because I always taught at college level and no legal authority was forcing any of my students to be there? Perhaps because I'm a big guy - 6'4", well over 200 pounds - and have a deep, authoritative voice? Because I tend to intimidate people, even when I make no effort to do so?

I think it the discipline issue depends largely on whether the students attend a class voluntarily or whether attendance is compulsory, and also on the age of the students. But being a big guy with a deep authoritative voice would sure come in handy if you had to teach e. g. unruly 15-year-olds in the middle of puberty in a rough and tough area.

At five foot five and 116 pounds weight, I can play neither height nor body mass as a trump card in teaching ; I do modulate my voice a lot though, which I can make sound authoritative if I want. But I do this only on occasions when I feel it is necessary, not out of habit.

I further guaranteed to them that if they would come to class, do the assignments, and avail themselves of the opportunities I would make available for extra credit, they would pass the course, and would, in fact, probably pass it with a "B" or "C" at the worst. And I made good on that guarantee.

Good idea to motivate them with a reward.

When I've taught below the college level: at the start of the year they are all shocked in my first class because I lay down the law. "No excuses." No extensions. No exceptions. And so on. "How much of this chapter should we know, Mr. Coates?" "Know everything." They've never had this tough a teacher and they tell everyone in the school how mean I am. And they pretty much universally hate me. By the end of the semester or year they are used to Coates's Boot Camp, and I gradually seem "nicer" in their view. They appreciate my sense of humor, etc. Even though the rules are still enforced. By the end of the year or semester they usually all love me and often said that I'm not only the fairest but the best teacher they can remember.

I would suffer if I had the feelings the students hate me. I'm more the type who tries to convey, in teaching, her own enthusiasm for learning. Making the pupils feel appreciated is essential too.

It is fascinating what deep thoughts even smaller children can already have. I'll never forget the six year-old who once asked me after he had been looking at the clouds in the sky for while: "If God made the world - then who made God?" A very astute question indeed!

Have you seen Dead Poets Society? John Keating (played by R. Williams) was such an inspirational teacher!

Edited May 30, 2010 by Xray

[Philip Coates]

> I would suffer if I had the feelings the students hate me. I'm more the type who tries to convey, in teaching, her own enthusiasm for learning. Making the pupils feel appreciated is essential too.

Xray, don't take 'hate' and 'love' too literally. Or the omission of the enthusiasm and appreciation in between...there's no opposition between that and discipline: Can't cover everything in a short post about discipline or structure.

Yes, I very much liked "Dead Poets Society"...and I like his way of teaching in many respects.

[Philip Coates]

[Phil, Post #49, two days ago]: "My Teaching Experience - Crawl, Walk, Run ----> there was a healthy, very slow, unforced progression...Just like an apprentice first learns how to saw a plank, then to make a table leg, then a table, and only later to build a house...Lecturing on Rand in the public schools was quite interesting and revealing. "

,,,,,,,,,,

Well, looks like this subject is not of much interest to anyone, so instead of three or four detailed posts, I'll bail out here. And just list some of the bullets I would have explained had there been any substantive engagement ==>

.college-level = New School for Social Research, very prestigious institution in New York...theoretical, overview, general principles..lecture / semester-long [Obvious question: How do you get a chance to teach at a major, famous institution?]

.corporate training = instructor for Hewlett-Packard...detailed, highly technical, nuts and bolts..lectures and labs / several weeks full day intensive / one-day intros / hands-on [Obvious question: What kind of courses were these and how do you prepare? ]

. brainstorming, how-to-generate-new-ideas sessions = Arco [Obvious questions: How does one brainstorm on a corporate level? How does one conduct such a session? How did this work?]

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. what the anal-retentive big banks taught me about thinking skills [OQ: What was that and why do you judge it important?]

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.tutoring a wide range of subjects one on one [How did this come about and what do you mean by a 'wide range'? Can one do this effectively outside of one's major? What level?]

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. simultaneous transitions to the humanities [Explain about moving from a math and science profession to the humanities. That also interests me, and maybe I can get some ideas.]

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hell, why bother?, got no response, not even obvious 'out of curiosity' questions, not a single observation on the vital subject of how to build a career or make a 'bridge' between where you are and where you want to be (is it writing for a list largely of 'retired' people?)

Edited May 31, 2010 by Philip Coates

[Brant Gaede]

hell, why bother?, got no response, no questions, not a single observation on the vital subject of how to build a career or make a 'bridge' between where you are and where you want to be (is it writing for a list largely of 'retired' people?) I'm not even motivated to finish the above or explain the decades-long 'transition' to the humanities....

Maybe the Memorial Day weekend has something to do with it. Maybe there's a serious deficiency in what or the way you posted. I wasn't engaged so I didn't post anything.

--Brant

[Rich Engle]

I think this has been talked at (or at least around) a llittle here-- Sonnets From The Portugese provides a good example--and that is gaining insight of a work by "humanizing" it; putting it into historical context. Why was this worked named so? It wasn't written in Portugese, or by one, right? That it was written prior to their marriage, that they had their own sort of interior language ("Portugese," "Bosnian," whatever the nicknames used referred to). That sort of thing lends a lot of real life to the work. It is not near "objective art" for those reasons alone, but these love sonnets do stand pretty well even if you aren't aware of those things (but isn't it so much more touching if you are?). And, to study the way that the artist handled working within a sonnet form--yes, you benefit from teaching how sonnet forms operate. That's the way this work was taught to me, along with a number of others. I had great teachers in that respect.

[Philip Coates]

> Sonnets From The Portugese..Why was this worked named so? It wasn't written in Portugese, or by one, right?

Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning were honeymooning far from rainy England in sunny Portugal. Formerly a recluse who lived largely indoors in rainy England, she got so tanned and like the natives in complexion that Browning began to affectionately call her 'my little Portuguese'.

So she used the name as the title for one of the great books in literature.

Aside: You have to read the sonnets several times to 'get' them in some cases, and you have to read them as a struggle, a progression, telling a story that climaxes with 'how do I love you...let me count the ways'.

I can't resist pointing out that Jeff R, who claims to be an expert in literature, poetry, etc., in a post last year stated that he views her as 'mediocre'. That tells me more about Jeff's literary discernment or sensitivity than it does about this book. Also, I think he said he never even finished the book?

I will say, with some sympathy for Jeff, that I've taught the book and it does take some time for students to understand some of the metaphors and the alternation of moods she goes through during the long courtship.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Philip Coates