Robot Claw

So lets examine the facts:

• I forgot the actual date of my mum’s birthday (I suspected I was wrong, but it’s too late now).
• I’ve ‘gotten into’ jigsaws recently (widely known as the province of the very young and very old).
• I’ve been occasionally napping during the day.
• I recently purchased an REO Speedwagon ‘best of’ album because I was obsessed with one particular song.
• Earlier today I was browsing an RV catalogue and the thought definitely crossed my mind how cool it would be to drive around the USA in a gigantic mega-RV like this one.

These facts don’t lie – I’ve become an old man!

This of concern to me, since starting next Monday the semester begins anew and this time I’m teaching two courses, including one to what will probably be the youngest students I have yet taught – freshmen.

I gotta regain that young hipster vibe!

The courses are Physics 105N, a non-calculus based introduction to physics course (Newtonian mechanics mostly) and Physics 240, the same Modern Physics course I have taught twice before. I’ll have (I’m told) 50+ students in the 105 course and about 25 in the modern course, so it’s my largest amounts of students ever as well.

At 8 am next monday morning, I’ll stand before them careful to seem aloof and disinterested, at least initially. Too much enthusiasm from the instructor is anathema to a student. Attendance will be taken (foreign names mispronounced), syllabi will be handed out, textbooks discussed. A no-nonsense ‘if you do this you’ll fail the course’ speech will follow, where I throw out carefully compiled statistics (the work of 2 minutes honestly) showing (accurately) that students that don’t hand in homework never do as well as they like.

Blank faces will be staring back at me. “Who is this guy?” they think, “Is he a hard grader?”, “How old is he?”, “What the hell is that accent…is he from Boston?”

Probably before I mispronounce (to an American ear) ‘kilometer’ will I apologize for my accent. Only once in 3 years has a student asked me to clarify something because of my accent…

Starting the 105 lectures I will spiral into a brief and probably over their heads manifesto of mine about physics being the only true science. This means I’ll go well beyond the textbooks cautious definition of ‘the fundamental’ science into the realm of claiming (with enthusiasm and authority) that chemistry, biology, geology etc. are all derived from physics (as they are).

(Perhaps mathematics is the exception, but even then 99.9% of it exists solely to do Physics with)

Sometimes in my mind many things are happening at once. As I lecture I will be trying hard to never ever let the thought enter my mind that it’s ironic that I am teaching them. That I stand before them and urge studiousness, and caution about putting off such tasks as study and homework. I’ll try to not remember that it is me – the guy who can’t write his thesis to save his own life – that should be paying attention to this advice.

After the twenty or so minutes of introductions and warnings and entreaties and explanations I’ll start actually teaching. Here’s where the facade comes off (because lets face it, I’m not good at being anyone other than my true self) and I get all enthusiastic and overly honest and my powerful personality comes to the fore (“Understand this or else!”). Most students will likely not realize until a couple of lectures are behind us, but eventually they’ll realize “This guy actually knows what he’s talking about…” or – much more importantly – “… and he wants me to know as well!”

Because I do. What good is teaching if your ultimate goal is not to want your students to learn? Some people tell me I put too much effort into my teaching, and perhaps give the students more time than they are entitled. But I have, in recent years, realized that where once I thought I enjoyed knowing more than doing (these five words summarize why I procrastinate my thesis so much) the complete truth is to say that I enjoy knowing and sharing that knowledge more than doing.

As for the hipster in me. I’ll let you all judge for yourselves whether I’m yet an ‘old man’ or not 🙂

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 at 1:37 pm and is filed under Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.