From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Fri Feb 02 2001 - 14:17:06 MST
At 1:31 PM -0600 2/2/01, Barbara Lamar wrote:
>I'd like to see more "non-teachers" in elementary and intermediate school
>classrooms. It seems that ideally, subjects should be presented by people
>who know them well and are enthusiastic about them.
This can be a dangerous tactic. I have seen experts come into a
classroom with no idea how to teach. They don't know how to organize
their thoughts. They don't know how to talk down to the level of
novices who don't know the subject yet. They declare things are
"apparent" when they aren't to newcomers.
Being good at a particular topic and being a good teach are two
separate skills. Some people are good teachers but bad at the
subject they are trying to teach. Other people are experts in their
subject, but don't know how to convey the knowledge effectively.
Some people are good at both. Some people are lousy at both.
-- Harvey Newstrom <http://HarveyNewstrom.com>
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