I miss teaching. I don’t miss the paycheck and I could do without grading for the most part. But in general I miss being in the classroom. I taught a class today – sort of. I was a guest speaker at a management class at Bentley today. (Sorry I didn’t warn anyone but it was of those get there just in time to talk, have lunch with the professor and leave sort of days.)
It’s not exactly like being the regular teacher of course. And frankly the class was not as responsive as I’d like. But they had almost an hour of class that included a lot of math, numbers and I gather not exciting things before I started. And it was lunch time – people were eating when I started. It just felt good to be teaching though. The professor said I did a good job and a second professor who was sitting in asked me to talk to her class later this month. Always a good sign.
While eating lunch with the professor I told him that I missed the classroom and he asked me where I had my resume in. Well I don’t have any out. I’m thinking that I may send some out though. Not for full-time employement though. Without a PhD there is no way I could get the kind of paycheck I am getting now teaching full-time. And I do like my current job. What I am thinking is that a night course or perhaps a Saturday course might fit into my schedule. I’d have to be careful with my travel but it could work. I just have to find someone who is looking for someone with my background. Who knows – it could be fun.
What professor? (And, for that matter, what course?) That’s my field, so I probably know at least 3/4 of them.
I find increasingly that I’d like to be a professor. I’m terrible at explaining things, and I think the kids would hate me (I’m a real stickler for the things that I hate professors for being sticklers for, which means that I as a student would basically hate myself as a professor.) Of course I need some industry experience first. Some people bash professors who are ‘real-world’ as opposed to ‘academic.’ I always thought this was backwards. I love the professors who can say, “So that’s a really ethereal concept. But here’s how I used it when I was….” (Unless you’re psychotic like a few professors and just talk about yourself non-stop.)
Students are pretty apathetic. I find it takes a while to build up ‘comfort’ with a professor before everyone participates, so for some reason a lot of people are hesitant to ask guests many questions. (Which is a shame because it’s a great opportunity?)
The professor was Lou Chin. I am not sure what course it was. I will be back Oct 31 to talk to a class of GB 301 with Professor Pellant.
I am finding that as time goes on I want to do more to fix the education system. I meet with innovative teachers all the time and they are doing cool things. I want to do likewise. I do think that the business/industry experience I have is a real advantage in teaching. I found that to be the case at BG where I like to think I was more convincing than I would have been if all my knowledge was academic.
Still the biggest problem I see in education is students who just doen’t want to learn. They want to be passive, get good grades and go on to get a high paying job. With the work ethic they have in school they are doomed to failure though. But maybe they will drop a life time of having things handed to them and get down to work in industry? Yeah right.