Posts on Teaching
May 30, 2006
My thoughts on the Ringmar story...
A lot of people have been asking me how I felt about the Erik Ringmar story, and believe it or not, this is something I do want to talk about in detail, perhaps after my exams! I have a comment though in the meanwhile, and it's probably indicative of how I feel on the issue. Dr Ringmar says:
What I do know is that the in-class student experience often differs very little between the LSE and a place such as the London Metropolitan University. This may surprise you but it something students tell me. Instinctively I rebel against this conclusion, but I have come to believe that the students who make this point are correct.
Then, in what feels a lot like a few kind words for the sake of solace, he says:
What I can promise is that our ‘occasional teachers’ are in a league onto themselves. These are the people in charge of your classes. The people you will interact with most closely. The lecture halls may be filled with hundreds of students, and of course it’s impossible for the lecturers to learn your names. But the classrooms are small and you interact with your class teachers very closely indeed. They will talk to you and you will talk to them. They may even remember your names! The class teachers are our own PhD students and since we are able to get great PhD students, we have great class teachers. They are all very hard-working, conscientious, and approachable.
An LSE class differs very little from a London Metropolitain University class? ``They may even remember your names''? I take that personally. I shouldn't, but I do, and I can safely say that as a PhD student TA that everyone seems to be whining about in forums and on the grapevine at LSE, my classes will beat the pants out of any you'll ever attend. I am proud to be a good teacher, and while not every teacher might share the same enthusiasm as I do for teaching, (almost surely) everyone shares the knowledge that our role is vital in a student's experience at the LSE. Thanks for the sweet words about how amazing we are, but as we say in India, mind it.
Posted by vinayak at 12:45 AM
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August 4, 2005
You poor poor souls.
It's official - I will be teaching at math camp next month. I genuinely feel bad for you guys :-)
Nonetheless, as all you incoming MSc/MRes students come closer to September, make sure you enjoy yourselves while you can. I never worked as hard as I did at math camp last year. Even in my final exams I didn't study as hard. A one hour lecture, followed by a 90 minute class, and then another one hour lecture, followed by another 90 minute class - in general it's crazy rigorous. It's also one of the most useful things you will ever do next year. I used that stuff SO often it's not funny. You learn to optimize (statically, dynamically, anywayyouwantically), you learn the rudiments of phaseplane diagrams and how they work, its a really cool month if you want to take time off later in the year :)
Good luck!
May 20, 2005
Feel like a laugh?
Depressed? Exams got you down? Don't fear... Vinayak's here!
Try this - me teaching 300 odd undergrads (who are very seriously taking down EVERYTHING I'm saying) about Condom prices and taxes during a revision lecture earlier this month.
(Thanks to the CLT gang for helping with this, and thanks to Kevin for the stupendous camera work!!)
Posted by vinayak at 10:34 AM
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