…and other things I learned during my first college lecture
I lectured our intro computing class for the first time this morning. I picked up a few tips along the way.
- Bring your own whiteboard markers. This one’s a gimme.
- Bring your own energy. Even after almost a week off (thanks to the hurricane) most of the class was quiet; hey, at least they weren’t totally asleep. Hence the Powerade: a steady supply of simple sugars helped me keep my own energy up. By the end I had students murmuring answers and asking occasional questions, which I consider a victory against first-class-of-the-day somnolence.
- Energy is fine, but don’t be an ass. I accidentally gave a student a Family Feud buzzer when I really meant to give it to myself, which was rude and unhelpful. I had said, “Is this [code on the board] enough?” and, expecting no one to respond, I started to shout “AANGH!” … but not before a student said, “Yes, it’s enough.” Now it seemed like I was buzzing him. Bad move.
- Printed notes are fine, but make sure you can read them. I eschewed PowerPoint slides (which I run through too fast and which are almost impossible for an audience to absorb meaningfully) in favor of whiteboarding the whole lecture, and printed some lecture notes for myself. I wrote out a lot of details I didn’t need to refer to; scripting the lecture was helpful for me while practicing, but all I really needed during the lecture was a list of topics (and listings of correct code for the board). What I did, however, was print out my entire notes, 2-up front and back; whenever I lost my place or wanted to make sure I had covered everything before moving on, I had to squint at 7pt type on a folded-up piece of paper. I’m sure I looked stupid (and blind) doing this.
- No class runs under time. About 2/3 of the way through the material, I was about halfway through class, so I was really worried about running under. (I seem to be fundamentally unable to fill the time alotted when presenting material, so this was a legitimate concern.) Suddenly it was 45 after, and I still wanted to do a little exam review before the students all got up and left. We finished about a minute over; several students had already stood up and were walking out the door by that point. Hell, this class is usually at least 5 minutes or more over time; I managed to finish up pretty close to on-time. Where’s the gratitude?
