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Greetings:

In the following paragraphs I have tried to put together a few of my thoughts on

teaching. Regardless of my employment title, I always feel that I am a teacher to

the bone. I was taught in graduate school that integral to my advanced degree

training is the responsibility to pass it on, and I continually yearn to fulfill thisresponsibility.

There are those who speak of a call to teaching. Back when I was a graduate

student, I received a message from a Sister McNamee through the school chemistry

office. She was the administrator of a facility in Austin, Texas, which was among

other things a home for unmarried expectant teenagers. She was looking for a

high-school chemistry tutor to help some of their residents keep up with their

schoolwork during their confinement. There were no laboratory facilities, not even

a real classroom, just a conference room where I met with two young women three

times a week. I really had very little teaching experience at this time, just one or

two semesters of TA duties. Nevertheless, this was my first taste of the rewards ofteaching. There is a high that comes with imparting, not just facts or even

knowledge, but understanding of a topic which compares to none other. There is a

saying give a person a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a person to fish and

you feed him for a lifetime that speaks to this career path and its rewards. There

is a satisfaction from giving a person new life-skills that is difficult to measure. It is

this that forms the basis of my call to teaching.

Learning is not a passive accumulation of facts it must be functional, problem-

solving, and interactive with the real world. One of the best classes I ever took was

a graduate course in microbial genetics. The entire premise of this course was the

critical dissection of research techniques. One or two papers would be selected bythe instructor and handed out for discussion the next week. This discussion always

centered on questions like: What approaches did they use to find their answers?

How well did their approaches work pros and cons? If those approaches hadnt

worked, what alternative techniques could have been used? This approach was

much more engaging and instructive than just a dry recitation of the data in the

research we were shown how players in the field actually utilize their tools. There

must be interaction with the material, not just passive intake and regurgitation, and

I try to incorporate this into every topic taught.

A teacher must be a coach, a general, an evangelist and an entertainer:

A teacher must be a coach to infuse those who think they cant with the

certain truth that they can. Some years ago I taught the course Introduction

to Physical Science at Pulaski Technical College for several semesters. This

is the science course for non-science majors, the people who are generally

science-challenged. After spending their entire scholastic career avoiding

math and science they come to the point where they must have this class to

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graduate; given that the students initial attitude reminded one of pulling

teeth, I found this to be a surprisingly rewarding experience. I remember in

particular a student whose amazed exclamation I can do this! after she

correctly answered an involved calculation left me floating on a cloud the rest

of the day. Hopefully, this student retained a reduced anxiety towards

science and technology, and a greater self-confidence in her own ability tomaster lifes more technical topics.

A teacher must be a general in the war against ignorance and apathy.

Civilization is maintained by the handing down of knowledge from generation

to generation our culture has superseded our genetics in the maintenance

of survival traits. There seems to be a real danger today of loss of continuity

in this flow of knowledge, a turning away of the general public from the

disciplines so carefully accumulated by our forebears. The teacher must be

able to marshal all forces in this noble battle.

A teacher must be an evangelist to bring the true vision of science beautyand relevance to a jaded and misguided public. Science and technology

continue to swell in importance of understanding to the lay public, the people

who utilize its fruits and vote on its applications, yet such understanding

continues to lag, and even deteriorate. Such understanding cannot exist in a

vacuum, however; associated issues of ethics, social mores and political

goals are and shall be central to our culture. We must educate our scientists

with social conscience and our lay public in scientific understanding. Not only

am I a strong advocate of real-world infusion into the chemistry curriculum

the bringing of current events into the classroom to focus and pique the

students attentions but also the application of scientific methods outside of

the classroom. To my mind the two most important skills that students can

take from chemistry to any field is critical thinking and problem solving.

A teacher must be an entertainer to counter the natural soporific

environment of the classroom. Science today is FAR from a dry, abstract,

boring subject, and it is near criminal for it to be presented and perceived

that way. One of the best ways to engage a class is a demonstration of the

inundation of modern life in chemicals. A favorite class assignment of mine is

to have the students find a common product around their homes food,

cleanser, hair product, et cetera and list three of the ingredients with

uncommon names. Then the students take this list to the Merck Index in thelibrary and identify those components and their properties. Depending upon

the class level, I ask the students to give hypotheses with supporting facts for

the purpose of these components in the products, and possible mechanisms

of action. This hits the students where they live, causing them to think about

what they eat, put on their bodies, and use around the house.

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