Looking for some inspiration for my teaching, I accompanied my retiring colleague, Alan, and his 9th grade Oceanology students yesterday on their weekly trip on the school's boat. Here are some tips I learned about good teaching:
1. Be calm when things go wrong. No sooner did we launch out into the Pawcatuck River than Alan quietly told us he had "lost the steering" in the boat. While some of his passengers might have been thinking dire thoughts about drifting out to sea with a boat that wouldn't steer, Alan calmly went about rigging up a temporary steering device, and soon he coolly told the students to prepare for their work. We motored out into the river with Alan somehow steering the boat manually -- and with utter tranquility.
2. Train your students so they know exactly what, when, and how to do their assigned tasks. In a sense, there was very little "direct instruction" happening on the boat when we were anchored in the river. The students simply went about preparing their scientific work (dragging nets, hauling up sediment from the bottom, studying water samples, etc.) in an efficient and dutiful manner. At one point, a student scientist politely asked me to move to the side, saying, "Please excuse me, Mr. Salsich. I have to examine what we found on the bottom." If you admire efficiency in a classroom, you would enjoy being in Alan's floating classroom.
3. Speak gently but firmly. All good leaders know this, and I saw it perfectly exemplified on this trip.
4. Expect very high achievements from your students. It was obvious that the 9th graders knew that Alan expected them to behave like accomplished scientists and shipmates. I felt like I was in the presence of advanced science students in a senior high school.
5. Enjoy being with kids. In my experience, no one does this better than Alan. I'm sad for the future students who won't get to enjoy being with him.
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