Dear Colleagues
I have forgotten who recently mailed asking for people's thoughts on
'celebrating teaching'. In any case, in response to that, and to all who
do not know of this source, I pass on the message below. It comes via
Rick Reis at Stanford in the US. The list - TOMORROW'S PROFESSOR(SM)
MAILING LIST - is an excellent resource for ideas, references, and
generally useful material for those interested in pedagogical and
related HE issues. My ex-boss, Sue Burkill, introduced me to it some
years ago and I've been an avid reader ever since. Instructions on
joining are below.
John
University of Plymouth
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Rick Reis
Sent: 17 May 2006 17:33
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: TP Msg. #724 Reflections on More Than Half a Century of
Teaching
"I've cited this background because it bears
directly on how my philosophy of student-centered
teaching has emerged, evolving out of my
experiences as a Spanish-speaker in the United
States, acquiring a universe of knowledge in a
second language. More importantly, though, my
regard for the students in my classes is born out
of my regard for the diversity of human life and
languages on the planet. I've witnessed and
experienced the result of disregarding that
diversity in schools and in public."
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Folks:
The posting below is a moving account of lessons
learned in over 50 years of teaching. looks atIt
is by Visiting Scholar and Lecturer in English,
Philip D. Ortego y Gasca, Ph.D., , Texas A&M
University-Kingsville; Emeritus Professor of
English, Texas State University System-Sul Ross.
[[log in to unmask]]. Copyright (c)2006 by the
author. All rights reserved. . Reprinted with
permission.
Regards,
Rick Reis
[log in to unmask]
UP NEXT: The Lecture Club
Tomorrow's Academic Careers
------------------------------------- 1,162 words
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Reflections on More Than Half a Century of
Teaching
By Felipe de Ortego y Gasca
Sixty years ago in 1946 when I returned from the
War after a stint in the Marines I never imagined
a life as a teacher. I had barely finished the
9th grade when I enlisted in the Marines during
the dark days of the Second World War. My
thoughts were not on teaching but on earning a
living and making my way in the world.
My preparation for that world of work consisted
of vocational training I received in Junior High
and my one year of high school-principally
courses in metal and wood-working. In the Marine
Corps I had acquired life
experiences and the rank of Platoon Sergeant that
would serve me well. At 20, I was not without
skills to get by on. However, I was certainly not
ready for the intellectual rigors of college or
university studies, an
aspiration not on my event horizon at the time.
After two years in the steel mills of Pittsburgh,
I dared to think of college as a venue for
prosperity in my life. In those two years of
back-wrenching labor on the ore-trestle of the
Jones and Laughlin Steel Works I thought about my
father and his arduous life as a gandy-dancer for
various railroads in the mid-west, a life that
made him old before his time; and I thought about
my mother who endured the travails of those
travels inbrutal climes.
That epiphany impelled me towards the Veterans
Administration in Pittsburgh to inquire about
college. I had no idea what that meant. My father
had only three years of schooling and my mother
less. In the early 20's, in the aftermath of the
Mexican Civil War, they made their way from
Guanajuato, Mexico, to the United States where
their children were born. I was the oldest, born
in 1926 in Blue Island, Illinois, on a return
trip to San
Antonio from Minnesota where\ my parents had been
picking beets. San Antonio was home.
Fortuitously, the Veteran's Administration in
Pittsburgh placed me at the University of
Pittsburgh as a provisional student. At war's end
in 1945, Chancellor Fitzgerald at the University
of Pittsburgh had committed Pitt to accept any
veteran regardless of academic preparation.
That's how I started at Pitt in the Fall of 1948.
Needless to say, my initiation into academe was
grueling. At the end of my first semester I was
placed on academic probation. But I persisted and
by the time I became a Junior I had pretty much
gotten the hang of what it took to make the grade
in academe.
I majored in comparative studies-English,
Spanish, French, Italian-taking education courses
at the same time. In the Spring of 1952 I
completed student teaching at a nearby high
school. That Fall the high school offered
me a teaching post in French. That was 54 years
ago. When I made the transition to University
teaching at New Mexico State University in Las
Cruces in 1964, I was the French teacher at
Jefferson High School in El
Paso, Texas, where I had co-authored a high school French text.
After that I had a succession of academic
appointments in various colleges and
universities, including the University of
Houston, the University of Texas at El Paso,
Arizona State University, San Jose State
University, the University of Colorado, and a
Fulbright in Argentina. At UT El Paso I received
the "Most Honored Faculty Award" from the Student
Association; and later, I received the
"Distinguished Faculty Award" from the Texas
Association of Chi-canos in Higher Education.
I earned the M.A. in English from the University
of Texas and the Ph.D. in English from the
University of New Mexico. When I was 73, just
before the millennium, I retired from full-time
teaching, but have continued to teach part time
as a Lecturer in English at Texas A&M
University-Kingsville where my wife is professor
and director of the university library.
I've cited this background because it bears
directly on how my philosophy of student-centered
teaching has emerged, evolving out of my
experiences as a Spanish-speaker in the United
States, acquiring a universe of knowledge in a
second language. More importantly, though, my
regard for the students in my classes is born out
of my regard for the diversity of human life and
languages on the planet. I've witnessed and
experienced the result of disregarding that
diversity in schools and in public.
For me a university is first and foremost its
students. Faculty and staff are in place to
support students. The age of academic arrogance
and elitism was never consistent with the
principles of democracy, therefore the spirit of
egalitarianism mediates my interactions with
students. My presence in the classroom is to help
them acquire the skills of language and
literature as part of their erudition . But I
hope they learn much more than that. I hope they
learn about civility and tolerance.
I enter the classroom cheerfully, bidding them
all good-day, acknowledging them by name. I make
it a point to learn their names as quickly as
possible and to correct any mispronunciation of
their names. From the start I explain that we
will respect all ideas and commentary in the
classroom. We go over the syllabus and other
ground rules, making sure the students understand
what is expected of them and what they can expect
from me.
Most often, students characterize my classes as
rigorous but fair. One principle governs
lectures: tell them what you're going to tell
them, tell them what you told them you were going
to tell them, and close by telling
them that you told them what you were going to
tell them. Jejeune as that may sound, this is a
reinforcement technique that has worked for me.
In my classes I allow for all perspectives and
points of view. I use the blackboard for items
that require visualization-mostly patterns,
spelling, and connections. I don't hide behind
the lectern as if it were a battlement or a moat
between the students and me. Nor do I sit
casually on the desk facing students
conversationally. I don't disapprove of that
style, but for me a classroom inspires a bit more
formality. I strive to maintain an air of
participation in the classroom. To that end I
employ humor.
I engage students by name and challenge them
Socratically to think through their commentaries.
Whatever their responses, they get no sarcasm
from me. Nor do I reprove them like a scolding
parent for infractions. This is not to say that
I'm permissive with them. I regard them as
adults, not children.
Regardless of what education pundits broadcast,
there is no litmus test to assess our impact on
students. Quizzes, tests, evaluations don't
always get it right. Decades may pass before we
realize how some teacher affected our
intellectual development. After all these years
of teaching I am delighted to receive notes from
former students who remember my classes and who
acknowledge me as one of their mentors.
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