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the_lady_lily) wrote2010-05-25 10:50 am
the_lady_lily) wrote2010-05-25 10:50 am
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Bibliography
Teaching What You Don't Know – Therese Huston
I have to say that this was a rather good wee book to read, and I'm glad I picked it up. Basically, it addresses some ways of tackling the problem of teaching outside your expertise - more of a problem for American faculty than for UK faculty, where you can end up with a scientist being asked to teach a first year writing seminar titled something like 'The Common Intellectual Experience', which obviously is so far outside what graduate school trained you for as to be a bit untrue, but it happens. Huston outlines the reasons that teaching outside your expertise happens, and then tackles some helpful strategies for making the most of your strengths as a 'content novice'. For yes, being in the position of having to learn or relearn the material gives you strengths! It makes you sympathise with the students who are also encountering hard concepts for the first time, and perhaps give more clear A-B-C-D instructions than a content expert who automatically leaps from A to D without remembering that students need to be reminded about B and C as well.
But, unsurprisingly, Huston's main conclusion is that teaching what you don't know is easier when you adopt a model of learning that puts the subject at the center. If you're operating from a teaching model where it is the teacher's job to funnel TRUTH down to students, of course you are going to get stressed and panic about being a fraud. When you work from a model that says teaching is about all working together to understand a central topic, to which everyone has exactly the same right of access, then no wonder things stop being so stressful! It also means you can admit to a class that you are learning new and exciting things too (in a way that doesn't say 'you're on your own, chaps', obviously), which in turn takes pressure off you to be completely and utterly (over-)prepared for each class, and thus helps your mental health.
Huston gives plenty of useful suggestions for activities that can help you create a discussion-based environment where this sort of model works, with plenty of active learning thrown in there; she also gives lots of ideas about assessing your teaching as you go, and improving your teaching throughout the course. In some ways, some of the material here didn't quite ring true to me - but then, I've never been told that due to staffing requirements, I need to teach algebra. This is an easy and well-written read, thankfully; should you find yourself in the position of being thrust into this sort of situation, then I recommend picking this up well in advance for some helpful hints and tips.
Light on Life - B.K.S. Iyengar
I should be totally honest and explain that my only reason for picking this up was to try and understand what on earth the general conceptual framework behind yoga looked like. I've been doing it long enough now to have heard enough references to the 'eight petals' and read assorted articles in Yoga Journal and just generally get a bit confused about how it all fitted together.
Well, I'm a bit less confused, and I'm quite glad that I now know that I will have read about everything I'm likely to come across either in class or Yoga Journal. I have to say that in terms of acceptance of what Iyengar says, I'm not really there. There was some interesting stuff about keeping asana practice active, and about using breath, and focusing concentration - practical stuff like that. There were some interesting points of overlap with both Christianity and Stoicism. And then there was a lot of stuff that, frankly, I didn't quite understand and wasn't going to spend forever trying to understand. A lot of the basic human psychology is spot on, but the overarching framework and the goals at which it aims just don't feel right to me. But that's OK. What I wanted was a relatively accessible guide to the fundamental principles of yoga philosophy, and that's what I got. I'm not too worried about not understanding it all, and I'm sure that key ideas will keep resurfacing here and there - but I've got other things to focus my mental energies on.
I have to say that this was a rather good wee book to read, and I'm glad I picked it up. Basically, it addresses some ways of tackling the problem of teaching outside your expertise - more of a problem for American faculty than for UK faculty, where you can end up with a scientist being asked to teach a first year writing seminar titled something like 'The Common Intellectual Experience', which obviously is so far outside what graduate school trained you for as to be a bit untrue, but it happens. Huston outlines the reasons that teaching outside your expertise happens, and then tackles some helpful strategies for making the most of your strengths as a 'content novice'. For yes, being in the position of having to learn or relearn the material gives you strengths! It makes you sympathise with the students who are also encountering hard concepts for the first time, and perhaps give more clear A-B-C-D instructions than a content expert who automatically leaps from A to D without remembering that students need to be reminded about B and C as well.
But, unsurprisingly, Huston's main conclusion is that teaching what you don't know is easier when you adopt a model of learning that puts the subject at the center. If you're operating from a teaching model where it is the teacher's job to funnel TRUTH down to students, of course you are going to get stressed and panic about being a fraud. When you work from a model that says teaching is about all working together to understand a central topic, to which everyone has exactly the same right of access, then no wonder things stop being so stressful! It also means you can admit to a class that you are learning new and exciting things too (in a way that doesn't say 'you're on your own, chaps', obviously), which in turn takes pressure off you to be completely and utterly (over-)prepared for each class, and thus helps your mental health.
Huston gives plenty of useful suggestions for activities that can help you create a discussion-based environment where this sort of model works, with plenty of active learning thrown in there; she also gives lots of ideas about assessing your teaching as you go, and improving your teaching throughout the course. In some ways, some of the material here didn't quite ring true to me - but then, I've never been told that due to staffing requirements, I need to teach algebra. This is an easy and well-written read, thankfully; should you find yourself in the position of being thrust into this sort of situation, then I recommend picking this up well in advance for some helpful hints and tips.
Light on Life - B.K.S. Iyengar
I should be totally honest and explain that my only reason for picking this up was to try and understand what on earth the general conceptual framework behind yoga looked like. I've been doing it long enough now to have heard enough references to the 'eight petals' and read assorted articles in Yoga Journal and just generally get a bit confused about how it all fitted together.
Well, I'm a bit less confused, and I'm quite glad that I now know that I will have read about everything I'm likely to come across either in class or Yoga Journal. I have to say that in terms of acceptance of what Iyengar says, I'm not really there. There was some interesting stuff about keeping asana practice active, and about using breath, and focusing concentration - practical stuff like that. There were some interesting points of overlap with both Christianity and Stoicism. And then there was a lot of stuff that, frankly, I didn't quite understand and wasn't going to spend forever trying to understand. A lot of the basic human psychology is spot on, but the overarching framework and the goals at which it aims just don't feel right to me. But that's OK. What I wanted was a relatively accessible guide to the fundamental principles of yoga philosophy, and that's what I got. I'm not too worried about not understanding it all, and I'm sure that key ideas will keep resurfacing here and there - but I've got other things to focus my mental energies on.
no subject
This will be really helpful if and when I get to teach the new myth course, where I feel I could be moving into unknown waters.
no subject
Noel Entwistle's Teaching for Understanding at University (http://the-lady-lily.livejournal.com/690441.html#cutid1) touches on this idea very briefly, but it's not his main area of interest. Which is a shame, because I'd be very interested to see what a UK-context examination of subject-centered learning looks like, and at the moment I don't know where I'd go to chase that.