Ray: He was amazing.  He loved what he taught and wanted to take us along for the ride.  Wonderful.  I try to be as enthusiastic about what I teach as possible.  Jesus: So many negative experiences being a student.  Nightmares of exams and no preparation for them.  Questions seemingly out of the blue.  I remember what it was like to be a student and try not to do to them the negative things that were done to me.  Julian: He managed to put structure onto and throughout what he taught us.  And, he allowed us the freedom to explore the subject in our own way.  Mrs. Clark: I was a “piece of work” as a kid.  Smart and rebellious.  She managed to get this rambunctious young person to calm down enough to be taught and feel good about it.  The academic grades were good,  the “deportment” grades still needed work!  She helped me to succeed in spite of myself.

Overall impact has definitely been positive in all four cases.  I.e., I want / would like you to learn while full-well knowing that it’s up to you to decide whether you want to be engaged or not.  Let me show you that I care and understand your plight.  But, this is up to you.  “Grab hold and let’s go!”  (BTW – stand still for 5 minutes and I’ll teach you something! :-)

Good question.  Part of why I’m taking this “class” is to see if there are ways to further engage “the kids” in what I’m trying to teach them.  Distractions and lack of preparation are of particular concern.  (I’ve heard that same “song” from lots of colleagues.)  I’d love to let them decide how to approach the topics.  But, do they have the maturity to do that?  Even in a grad school setting, this would still be real concern.