From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Sat Feb 03 2001 - 01:05:22 MST
Harvey Newstrom wrote:
>
> 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.
>
Sure, but, the best days of highschool or college work were precisely
when
such experts and simply people who loved a particular subject came in.
Sometimes they were also great teachers, sometimes they weren't, but it
almost invariably was a welcome break and taught me a lot I wouldn't
otherwise get.
> 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.
Yeah. Unfortunately many of the last are the "official" teachers.
- samantha
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