speaking of education
mhardy6647
Posts: 33,983
For any of you who don't know, I feel strongly that the most important thing that parents can do for their children is to ensure that they receive the best possible education; I am big on education.
I have no formal credentials in education (other than having received a pretty good one). However, I am proud to say that over the years I've tried to put my money where my mouth is, having (over the past couple of decades) served as an elected member of our MA town's school committee (school board), served as the first alumnus member of my private high school alma mater's school board (in Baltimore) and chaired the school board of a private preschool at our church in Acton, MA. As an aside, our town in MA (Harvard) was and still is one of the top-performing school systems in a state that prides itself on education & takes it quite seriously. Our kids certainly received a good education in Harvard.
None of which has much of anything to do with this post :-P This post is about one of those 'bucket list' things. I always said that, when I retired, I wanted to try to teach -- a little bit. This fall, my bluff kind of got called, and since September I have been teaching a course in my discipline ("glycobiology") at a Boston (as opposed to a Cambridge!) university one night a week to graduate students in a biotechnology program.
One two-and-a-half hour lecture a week; that's the easy part. Preparing the lectures is taking me 20 to 30 hours a week. We don't have legal access to the previous instructor's material (although I do have copies of his lecture slides); I can use the old stuff as a guide, but the emphasis of the previous lecturer (who was a mass spectroscopist) and mine is quite different, and I've been prepping lectures from scratch. A lot of work, even when one knows exactly what one wants to convey. Even more work when the topic isn't one's "core competency" (e.g., last night, when I spent an hour on mass spectrometry technologies for glycoprotein analysis -- I am so not a mass spectrometrist).
I am also giving biweekly homework; interesting and meaningful problem sets (I am way more interested in getting these kids to think, rather than just repackage and regurgitate stuff they've read or heard in class) are hard to write. I also want them to write a paper this semester, but I am (still) struggling with meaningful topics for them to write interesting and thoughtful papers about, as opposed to just reviewing some literature and maybe writing a research proposal (which is what was done previously in the course). I owe 'em a paper assignment soon, so they have time to write it before the end of the year.
It would be great if the course were a seminar, but it is too big (20-ish students) for that, realistically, in one semester.
So, it's fun and it's terrifying at the same time. Also, it's a trip to Boston & back once a week; this week I didn't get home 'til almost midnight. This week was also the first time a knot of kids stayed after class and asked me questions & chatted about the topic & how I was teaching it. I felt like some ice was finally broken, and it felt pretty good.
So, no point to this post, really... but I felt like sharing, or maybe just screen-dumping. The current education thread is intriguing but too polarized and polemical for my tastes; thus a separate topic. I am neither bragging nor complaining; just streaming a little consciousness on a topic that deserves more than my babbling.
Take education seriously. It's all we can give to the next generation that is of any durable value.
I have no formal credentials in education (other than having received a pretty good one). However, I am proud to say that over the years I've tried to put my money where my mouth is, having (over the past couple of decades) served as an elected member of our MA town's school committee (school board), served as the first alumnus member of my private high school alma mater's school board (in Baltimore) and chaired the school board of a private preschool at our church in Acton, MA. As an aside, our town in MA (Harvard) was and still is one of the top-performing school systems in a state that prides itself on education & takes it quite seriously. Our kids certainly received a good education in Harvard.
None of which has much of anything to do with this post :-P This post is about one of those 'bucket list' things. I always said that, when I retired, I wanted to try to teach -- a little bit. This fall, my bluff kind of got called, and since September I have been teaching a course in my discipline ("glycobiology") at a Boston (as opposed to a Cambridge!) university one night a week to graduate students in a biotechnology program.
One two-and-a-half hour lecture a week; that's the easy part. Preparing the lectures is taking me 20 to 30 hours a week. We don't have legal access to the previous instructor's material (although I do have copies of his lecture slides); I can use the old stuff as a guide, but the emphasis of the previous lecturer (who was a mass spectroscopist) and mine is quite different, and I've been prepping lectures from scratch. A lot of work, even when one knows exactly what one wants to convey. Even more work when the topic isn't one's "core competency" (e.g., last night, when I spent an hour on mass spectrometry technologies for glycoprotein analysis -- I am so not a mass spectrometrist).
I am also giving biweekly homework; interesting and meaningful problem sets (I am way more interested in getting these kids to think, rather than just repackage and regurgitate stuff they've read or heard in class) are hard to write. I also want them to write a paper this semester, but I am (still) struggling with meaningful topics for them to write interesting and thoughtful papers about, as opposed to just reviewing some literature and maybe writing a research proposal (which is what was done previously in the course). I owe 'em a paper assignment soon, so they have time to write it before the end of the year.
It would be great if the course were a seminar, but it is too big (20-ish students) for that, realistically, in one semester.
So, it's fun and it's terrifying at the same time. Also, it's a trip to Boston & back once a week; this week I didn't get home 'til almost midnight. This week was also the first time a knot of kids stayed after class and asked me questions & chatted about the topic & how I was teaching it. I felt like some ice was finally broken, and it felt pretty good.
So, no point to this post, really... but I felt like sharing, or maybe just screen-dumping. The current education thread is intriguing but too polarized and polemical for my tastes; thus a separate topic. I am neither bragging nor complaining; just streaming a little consciousness on a topic that deserves more than my babbling.
Take education seriously. It's all we can give to the next generation that is of any durable value.
Comments
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So, lets do the math here. Let's go on the high side and say you do;
30 hours of prep
2.5 hours of teaching
3 hours of driving
8 hours of sleep a night @ 7 nights a week
Eating, bowel movements, photo time is around another 12 hours a week.
Out of 168 hours in a given week..................Where is my bottlehead reduction review!!!!????!!!!
Procrastinator!
Where’s the KABOOM?!?! There’s supposed to be an Earth shattering KABOOM!!! -
Fascinating field.
Congratulations on having the skills that created such a wonderful opportunity to shape young minds.
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Good on you man, certainly a profession that's not as easy as it looks. Does have it's rewards though, good luck to you.HT SYSTEM-
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So, lets do the math here. Let's go on the high side and say you do;
30 hours of prep
2.5 hours of teaching
3 hours of driving
8 hours of sleep a night @ 7 nights a week
Eating, bowel movements, photo time is around another 12 hours a week.
Out of 168 hours in a given week..................Where is my bottlehead reduction review!!!!????!!!!
Procrastinator!
Yeah, huh? I was thinking about that yesterday -- yeah, right! No, really! I was looking at the preamp and wondering -- "where the fubar did I put the box it was shipped in?" :-O
I have completely lost track of it! :- ( Time for an intervention?
I can state that it is safe and sound, and currently has a pair of Dutch-made, RCA-branded 6922s sittin' in it.
On the bright side: It's supposed to rain tomorrow (no that's not a non sequitur).
DSkip, it turns out my son, who's finishing up his PhD in maths, is starting the slog of applying for jobs. He's drafting his teaching statement now because teaching maths is what he really, really wants to do :- ) -
oops, misfire -- sorry.
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mhardy6647,
How did you decide on where your talents would be most valuable? Why not high school or middle school? I only ask, because I have always wondered how an educator makes that determination.
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20-30 hours a week for a new course? CHECK! So much for all those who think teaching at this level is all about free time! Add to that, two to three paper presentations at national conferences a year. And ongoing research, writing, reviews and keeping up with the literature.
Sounds like a wonderful opportunity, Mark. And at least you now have the time to do it! Good luck!
As for me and in response to D_M above. Since I've been doing this for a while now, I am beginning to feel social pangs (a lot like hunger pangs).
I've heard that there is a SIGNIFICANT proportion of our population up here who do NOT have basic literacy skills. And am considering volunteering some of my time to help people who cannot read (mostly the poor, under educated and immigrants). I live in a town that's lost most of its industry, where a Prof's salary is in the top 2-5 percent-which is not representative of the U.S. in general. When I was in Jersey I barely made it to median levels of salary because I was surrounded by Big Pharma and Chemical industry salaries (that were phenomenal)-I couldn't even buy a cheap two bedroom there, lol). It's all relative! Poor there, affluent here?
It is also true that our college does NOT, IMHO, give enough back to the community of which we are a part. So...? I think it is time!Post edited by cnh onCurrently orbiting Bowie's Blackstar.!
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[sig. changed on a monthly basis as I rotate in and out of my stash] -
Well done, Mark!
Your post brought back memories of my first year of teaching English language and literature at a major university.
Like you, I had a great education, but I had no training in the art of teaching. It seems that the more "elite" a university's graduate program, the less concern about whether their graduates learn how effectively to execute the fundamentals of teaching -- which are quite different from the fundamentals of success in the discipline in which one is preparing to teach. Unlike your discipline (I think), the discipline I studied has little practical application outside a career in teaching English.
So, my first year of teaching was spent learning: 1) that college-level teaching is not the same as studying and learning a discipline in graduate school and 2) that teaching is time consuming and hard.
In the course of four years of full-time teaching, I discovered: 1) how to teach pretty well and 2) that sitting in a library for the rest of my life writing articles and books about other people's articles and books was not for me. The latter, I discovered, was the principal activity necessary for success in my chosen career.
As a result, I changed my career path, but I never quit teaching. As a business executive, I always considered that my most important work was bringing younger folks along and developing them for bigger and better things in their lives -- if that is what they sought.
Best wishes to you for gratification and success in your new endeavor. I have no idea what it must be like to teach in such a technical discipline as yours, but your dedication will take you a long way, I am sure. And your success will be extremely satisfying.Family Room, Innuos Statement streamer (Roon Core) with Morrow Audio USB cable to McIntosh MC 2700 pre with DC2 Digital Audio Module; AQ Sky XLRs to CAT 600.2 dualmono amp, Morrow Elite Speaker Cables to NOLA Baby Grand Reference Gold 3 speakers. Power source for all components: Silver Circle Audio Pure Power One with dedicated 20 amp circuit to main panel.
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He's looking at colleges.Awesome! Is he going to teach secondary or collegiate level?mhardy6647,
How did you decide on where your talents would be most valuable? Why not high school or middle school? I only ask, because I have always wondered how an educator makes that determination.
Well, my area of expertise is a little... rarefied (the structure and biological function of glycoproteins); not really high school stuff. I was thinking college (where one can do seriously part time work, although it would be no way to make a living); this particular opportunity sort of dropped in my lap, so it was hard to pass up :-P
