|
|
| Wheeling, West Virginia |
| Home |
| Pre High School |
| High School |
| Fordham Univ. |
| Harrisburg PA |
| White Plains NY |
| Williamsport PA |
| State College |
| Utica NY |
| Wheeling WV |
| Woodsboro Md |
| Current Home |
| My Wife |
| My Kids |
| My Grandkids |
| My Parents |
|
| The former Wheeling High School in Wheeling,
West Virginia. This school was taken over by the West Virginia Northern Community
College. It is where I did all my teaching. The college also renovated the
railroad station in Wheeling for classrooms and offices. |
| I was hired by the West Virginia Northern Community
College, (WVNCC), to establish their Computer Science program and teach related
courses. However, it really wasn't Computer Science that they were after
and the courses that were ultimately set up were systems analysis and computer
programming. I established a steering committee of business leaders in the
area to determine the skills that a graduate of the college should have to
satisfy their requirements. On the basis of the committee's input the "Computer
Science" curriculum was established. I had no previous formal training in teaching. There were some courses that I taught at the Williamsport Area Community College and my former jobs always put me in a position of having to explain things to others, but my first year at the college was a still a little unnerving. Apparently, that lack of training and experience made my first year at WVNCC, not chaotic, but time consuming and stressful. It didn't take long to learn that preparation was everything. Half hearted attempts at preparation led to embarrassment in the classroom and short changed students. Progressively, I became better at getting ready but was usually only a day or so ahead of the students. My genes have made me a rather languorous person. It takes me awhile to warm up to topics. I don't sit in chairs, I drape myself in them in a puppet like slump. When standing, I'll always seek out the nearest vertical support and slouch against it. Sharp noises never alarm me and in emergencies I'm usually the last one to get in on the action. I leave sentences half finished. If I do happen to complete a sentence it is decidedly laconic. When taking a test or examination, I'm always the last one finished. When someone commands "everyone get in line", you don't have to guess who winds up at the end of it. I have a monotone voice that trails off at the end of a sentence. Verbal expressions of my ideas come out mumbled or garbled or both as I concentrate on assembling my thoughts. There are interminable delays before I respond to someone as I mentally attempt to construct what I want to say. I stare off into space while conversing with someone, so that they feel compelled to turn around so as to see what I'm looking at. At gatherings, I'm the guy that can usually be found in a chair in the most secluded corner of the room. In conversation, I am a master of the pregnant pause. Silent interludes are my forte. These are not the qualities of a memorable teacher. Thank God, for the most part, I was able to recognize my shortcomings. Immediately before a class I would work diligently at getting myself psyched up. By the time I got in the classroom I was transformed, in Jekyll and Hyde fashion, into an animated, exuberant version of myself with an undeterred focus on presentation. I also learned, early on, that I had no capabilities as a lecturer. The first person I would put to sleep during one of my lectures, was me. So, my teaching style usually was interactive, interspersing exposition with student involvement. It's interesting that the K-12 public school systems across the country require that teachers have some sort of certification in order to teach, but colleges do not. I must say that I could not detect any difference between the teaching at either level. I've also attended more professional seminars and week long training sessions than I can remember. The quality of teaching in those settings was equally as good, (or bad). So, since my years at WVNCC I've joined forces with those who advocated teacher hiring in the public schools be most heavily weighted in favor of subject knowledge. Community colleges are pretty much an extension of the public school systems. Their relaxed admission requirements creates a student body that possesses a broad range of skills and abilities. In the classroom it meant that some students had superior characteristics such that they would not get exposure to materials that would propel them to levels that matched their capabilities. At the other end of the spectrum it was as though you had to employ triage principles to determine those who would receive most of my attention. This was a constant source of frustration because it seemed that no matter how much personal attention I paid to exceptional students, it was never enough. |