Tag Archive for 'organic chemistry'

There are no students that fail to learn. There are only teachers that fail to teach.

Of course, this applies only to students that are willing and are making an effort to learn.

I’m not sure where I heard this from, but it has been burned into my memory, and I have adopted it as my own teaching philosophy ever since. I really wish more teachers and professors would think this way. Ever notice that the best teachers always follow this kind of philosophy (or something like it), and the worst teachers think their students are stupid?

I think the film Freedom Writers was an incredible example of this philosophy in action. It was based on a true story with real people in Los Angeles. I highly recommend that you check it out, even if you’re not interested in pedagogy. It’s a fantastically moving story, and they didn’t even have to tweak the plot all that much to make it super dramatic.

I’m an organic chemistry TA, and I care very much about what my students think – how cool and suave I am, how I look, how I teach, how I grade, and whether I’m coherent at all. I value their input. Because students who can’t learn don’t exist – there are only teachers who can’t teach. If I don’t get their feedback, how else do I know if I’m even teaching the material?

Deadlines with me are lax, lab report redos are entirely possible (even if against the rules), and I never mind explaining the same thing five times over. The way I run my classes ends up taking lots of time, in class and out, but I feel that I’m doing the right thing. The choices I make are simply manifestations of the above philosophy. Learning shouldn’t be made a chore – it should be fun. I argue that the teacher-student relationship should as personal as possible, without all the barriers of professionalism. Personal, down-to-earth professors are the best, aren’t they?

I don’t even think I’m a great teacher. (Though I do love to teach.) Sometimes I’m not as well prepared for lab as I could be. Other times I miss errors or omissions in lab reports. But from the little experience I’ve had – it seems that none of that matters. If you follow this philosophy, you simply succeed as a teacher. students learn much better, knowing they have something to lean on if they don’t “get it” the first time around. From what I can tell, your attention also wins their attention. “Wow, this guy is really putting forth a lot of effort to teach me this stuff. I should try harder.” Me, I know that’s how I feel when I’m being taught.

My student evaluations from this past semester are attached here to attest to this philosophy. (Rare opportunity for me to gloat – carpe diem!)