Welcome to
my full professional history.
Some of my students essentially called me “an
extraordinary teacher”.
I would not go as far as that, but I would
consider myself as a professional with an “out of ordinary” or “unordinary” professional
experience, including teaching.
I am aware of the fact that for some HR or
other professionals making this statement about myself may be seen as a
negative sign. But I do not see the reason why should I hide the fact that I
have a talent which some other educators may not have. It does not make me
better than others, but, hopefully, it makes me intriguing. Plus, I do not make
a claim that I am good at everything. I like working in a team. The most
efficient team is the one which is composed of people with complementary
talents (especially in education).
I believe the following ten pages (ten years
of teaching!) of good words of what my former students have said about me, represent
me better than any official Resume.
The full description of my highly diverse
and very unusual professional experience in the field of education is on pages
12 – 27, including:
* “Executive
Summary of Professional Experience”;
* generic Cover
Letter;
* full Resume;
* my Teaching Philosophy and finally;
* my Reflection on Voices of My Students.
The main reason for representing this
feedback is to demonstrate that when I talk (and write) about education, I know what I’m talking about. And
I know it not because of books I’ve read, or my theorizing on the matter.
I know it because of books I’ve read,
because of my own theorizing on the matter, and because of my own deep, broad,
and successful teaching experience (more on this in my Reflection).
With best regards,
Dr. Valentin Voroshilov
Voices of My
Students (the link to copies of some past
evaluations)
“Prof. Voroshilov, I’m at a loss for words
to express my gratitude. In all of my years of school, from elementary, into
high school, and through college, I have been blessed with top-notch teachers.
But I’m pretty sure you take the cake. I was originally debating between taking
physics at Harvard or BU, and all the signs pointed to BU. Honestly, I kind of
think it was fate. I am not sure if it was just a good student – teacher match,
but I thoroughly enjoined your lectures. You have an uncanny ability to present
material, and it’s pretty clear (to me, at least) how much effort you put into
your work as a teacher.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you! Mr. V,
thank you for putting up with all of us this summer!! I feel much more prepared
for the MCAT. And I loved the demonstrations! Thanks for putting all the time +
effort!”
“Professor
V, You designed this class
so that those who put in the effort would succeed, so I gave it my all and sure
enough.
“I want to say thank you for creating such a conducive learning
environment for me to succeed. I hadn't taken a physics class since my freshman
year in high school, so I was very nervous going into your class. I did not
expect this course to become my favorite science course so far at BU. Physics
is a hard subject, but you explained everything well and made sure we, as a
class, had the tools necessary to succeed with enough hard work on our end.”
“Professor Voroshilov is great – he
explains concepts very well, and makes great use of clicker questions, demos,
etc. Prof. Voroshilov also uses powerpoint,
transparencies, videos, cameras, tablets, etc. very creatively and effectively
to reinforce material from lecture.”
“I didn’t like physics before taking this
class and now it’s one of my favorite classes.”
"I hated physics before taking this course, and now
after taking both 105 and 106 with Mr. V, I actually really enjoy it. He is one
of the best teachers I've ever had. Thank you"
“Best physics professor here, only one who
cares if students are learning the material. Proves you don’t need a PhD in
physics to teach this class. PhD in education is much more effective.”
“Makes concept sound simple.”
“If I could give a 10 for Dr. Voroshilov,
I would. Excellent teacher. Makes physics fun (which is a very hard thing).
“I love Mr. V.”
“Dr. V is a great professor. Cares about
physics and his students.”
“Loved Dr. V. Wish he taught during the
school year as well.”
“Fantastic teacher.”
“Make you work if you want to do well.”
“It’s a generally really cool course.”
“Mr. V was by far the best professor I
have ever had at BU. I wish he taught through the school year. He is always
enthusiastic, explains topics well, and has great models. I don’t think any
other science teacher at BU can match up to him.”
“Fantastic instructor. My favorite science
professor I’ve ever had. Amazing at making even the most difficult or boring
subjects interesting and fun. Absolutely hilarious. Won’t take physics if not
with him. Just needs neater handwriting.”
“He is a master. He knows his material. He
wants to help. That’s all I can expect from a teacher. He is great.”
“He tends to challenge us by truly
assessing which of my aspects are flawed.”
“He’s great. One of the best instructors
I’ve had at BU.”
“He really makes the class enjoyable.”
“Professor V is an excellent professor and
by far my favorite I have had in my three years at BU. It would be a delight to
have him teaching here during the school year as well.”
“He is a master. I think all professor
should be able to teach as him. That way students would not have to spend hours
reading off of lectures.”
“I can honestly say I had never seen a
professor who cared more for his students and how they do, as well as what they
learn.”
“Best teacher I’ve had, bar none.”
“Explains things in a way that can be
understood – explains why we care. Great and interesting demos. One of the best
science professors I’ve had at BU. Actually wants us to do well. Lear
expectations.”
“Val was a breath of fresh air after CH109
and 110. Great lecturer; I almost became a physics major because of Val (and
the TFs, too). Explains well, is nice, has great presentation.”
“Incredible instructor; best one I’ve ever
had at BU. He above puts the chemistry department to shame in how thorough and
passionate his lectures are. I would change to a physics major or minor if he
taught every class.”
“The examples were very thorough and
thought-provoking. The demos were interesting and made of material more
applicable to real-life scenarios.”
“Punctual, respectful of class end-time
(much appreciated). Extremely knowledgeable about content, very effective at
braking things down to digestive pieces, and presenting it in a logical,
glowing manner. Highly engaging demonstrations. Great use of tools/props. Good
energy (especially for a 9 am class). Professor Voroshilov has a very
matter-of-fact/this-is-so obvious aspect to some of his statements, which I
personally like, but could be discouraging to some students. If that’s just his
personality, then I’m not saying he should change it, just be mindful of how
others might perceive it.”
“Honestly, he is one of the best professors here in BU. He's
engaging, loves teaching the material, and helps the students out to understand
the concepts.”
“Very
passionate, good at explaining topics and going through enough example
problems, experiments/demonstrations performed in lecture were helpful.”
“I love
you Mr. V, you make physics bearable!”
“Fair and
quick grader. Has a really funny and dry sense of humor. Felt prepared for
tests.”
“The
professor is very enthusiastic and has a lot of experiments relating to the
topics we're learning.”
“Professor
V. presents himself as somewhat cold and calculating, and appears to not care
for his students. This is the first impression most people get, likely due to
the nature of the material not involving emotional response. In reality,
Professor V. cares deeply for his students, and it is apparent when he spends
the time to answer students questions, regardless of how complicated or simple
it may be. Professor V's teaching style keeps you motivated and engaged, and
his presentations are clear and direct.”
“I have
always dreaded taking Physics — so much that I waited until the summer after I
had completed all the other undergraduate requirements and still hadn't taken
it. I am very glad I waited and had Mr. V as a professor; he knows the material
extremely well and teaches it clearly and explains well. One of my favorite
professors thus far.”
“Mr. V has the most extraordinary way of
teaching a topic that most people fear. His sense of humor keeps the class
amusing. I'm happy that my physics experience was left in the hands of such a
passionate and instructor. The course always felt fair and prepared us for his
expectations.”
“Amazing professor. Waited for the summer
so I could take PY105 and PY106 with him. Funny in his way and very fair.
Always helpful. Would only take this class with him.”
“I think he is very relatable and very
funny. I think he genuinely wants people who are willing to work to do well. He
is very fair with his grading policy. Many students who complain about him are
just taking advantage of him to begin with, and are being unfair to him.”
“The professor explains the concepts very
well although of the language barrier, and he tries his hardest for students to
understand, he grades the exams fairly.”
“Prof. Voroshilov is very good at what he
teaches, his slides are dense and helpful. Prof. Voroshilov is entertaining and
teaches well. Prof. Voroshilov is awesome!”
“Prof. Voroshilov is always extremely
prepared for lectures. Excellent lecture slides, demos and PRS questions,
online class site and resources are excellent and helpful.”
“I appreciated your sarcasm and the way
you were teaching us to be very specific with our question because this helped
me to become better with my analytical skills.”
“Very enthusiastic and approachable.
Genuinely cares about his students. Best professor at BU.”
“Thank you for
making physics so much fun, and for being such an awesome teacher! Happy
teachers’ day! You were definitely my favorite teacher! You always made our
class very entertaining and I was really lucky to have you as a
teacher! Thank you for teaching me to check my grades! Have a wonderful
summer and stay in touch, I will read your book and tell you what I think!”
“He really cares about his students and
provides the appropriate materials for their success.”
“Good instructor. Helps students learn
well.”
“Good at breaking things down.”
“Passionate about teaching.”
“Very funny. Genuinely interested in the
best ways to teach material.”
“Mr. Voroshilov has a clear understanding
of all he teaches and is a master on the subject.”
“Mr. Voroshilov does a good job of doing
example problems with a simple approach to make material clear.”
“Enthusiastic and entertaining.”
“Gives very fair exams.”
“Great explanation of concepts.”
“Very enthusiastic. Used lots of demonstrations.
Always made time for questions.”
“Gives many question examples. Each
lecture has many helpful visuals.”
“Very funny in some way. Goes over the
course concepts clearly.”
“Fantastic. Love his humor, makes class
fun. Tons of office hour availability which is great. Very good at explaining
concepts.”
“Incredibly funny and encouraging. Really
enjoyed the class.”
“Very clear and knowledgeable. Funny. Made
class fun and attainable.”
“Cares about students. Jokes around with them.”
“Fantastic teacher. I suck at physics and
Mr. Voroshilov made it very straightforward, understandable and manageable.
Also hilarious.”
“Mr. Voroshilov has a teaching technique
that is almost flawless, and I wish more professors had the ability to make a
class as lively and interesting as Mr. Voroshilov has done this summer. He was
literally ready to risk his life to show us demonstrations, solved as many
problems as he possibly could, and was fair in exams. Way to go, wish more
professors were like you. Very intelligent, knows material very well.”
“Makes the class entertaining. I find
physics to be boring at times but he keeps things fun. Very fair grader and I
like his tests.”
“He is clearly passionate about physics. His accent is
not a problem, because he genuinely tries to speak slowly and clearly. His
class demonstrations are really helpful.”
“Very smart and very funny. Physics is
hard but Val made the experience more enjoyable. He’s great. No need to change”
“Great teaching style, and encourages
thinking.”
“Russian spy. Knows his stuff.”
“I really enjoyed taking Prof. Val and
would definitely sign up to take another one of his course. You can tell he
wants his students to understand and do well.”
“Awesome guy. Loved being in his class.”
“Mr. V is awesome. I love his humor and
he’s very good at explaining concepts clearly.”
“I love professor Voroshilov. His dry
humor is a perfect cherry on top of this course.”
“Weirdly funny. Teaches clearly. Russian.”
“He always asks if we have questions:
enthusiastic. Too awesome!”
“I really like Professor Voroshilov. I
think he is great at explaining concepts and is very underrated. Very helpful
in office hours”.
“The course’s workload gave me the ability
to learn a vast amount of material in just a little time: most of science
courses do not do that. The professor was approachable, friendly and was
willing to spend much more time out of class than most for explaining topics.”
“Teaching
- efficient, effective, easy to digest Presentation - funny, honest, blunt
(Russian sense of humor is hilarious). Professor obviously cares a lot about
the success of his students.”
“He goes
through lots of examples in class which allows me to go back and look for
reference when trying to do homework problems, very helpful. He has a very dry
sense of humor that adds to the enjoyment of the class, and his delight over
doing in class experiments really lightens the mood of otherwise long di cult
lectures.”
“Very
funny and entertaining. Clear and to the point. Very detailed course materials,
fair exams based o homework problems and lecture.”
“Professor
V was very passionate about the material and it was evident through his use of
frequent demonstrations. He also went though many examples in class which made
the theory more applicable.”
“He knows
the material really well (obviously) and is extremely clear about his
expectations and what he wants us to know and get out of the course. The course
is predominantly the basics and straightforward, but you get a really good
foundation of whatever you are learning.”
“Mr. V. Is
very clear about his grading criteria. He is clearly enthusiastic about his
subject. The homework and exams are a fair representation of what we have
learned in class. He knows the material and have good way of explaining them.
Really good at explaining concepts.”
“Mr. V is
very good making physics less intimidating and easy to understand. His
demonstrations of concepts in physics through small experiments are very
helpful in understanding the course material.”
“He is
able to clearly articulate and explain physics.
Great guy, and knowledgeable. Sometimes
difficult to understand and read handwriting, but it is math not English.”
“Mr. V is
really nice! He tries his absolute best to provide necessary information for
students to pass. He has EXTENSIVE office hours. I legitimately think he is the
hardest working teacher I've had at BU - he uses these presentations to explain
concepts and is EXTREMELY aware of things that people may not like (fast pace,
accent?) and tries his best to accommodate for this. He is doing really, really
well as a teacher and I understand why people prefer summer physics because of
this.”
“He was
always prepared for class. He posted the slides in a timely manner and despite
the class being and hour and a half long at 8:30 in
the morning, he still made a good effort in being enthusiastic.”
“The
professor does a lot of practice problems which are very helpful for solving
the homework and tests. Pretty good
enthusiastic.
Amazingly
brilliant and makes physics comprehensive.”
“The live examples he gives in class help.
Great Examples helped to explain topics visually
knows his students. Knows
physics and minds of students.
Professor Voroshilov is helpful and covers many examples and makes it
simple to understand concepts. Great at explaining very stimulating
Good at explaining, uses lots of examples in lecture,
very fair exams
Presents
very clearly and thoroughly. Adds humor, keeps students engaged.”
“The webassign homeworks were mostly helpful and the course gives AMPLE
opportunity to get a decent grade.”
“The course’s exams were fair and often
tested all the material learned in class. The homework, especially webassign helped prepare for the exams.”
“The professor is a lovely person.
Friendly and eager to help”.
“He can explain concepts really well.
Brings in humor to make class more interesting”.
“Good professor, I am not naturally good
at physics, but he explains things well”.
“The homework and discussions helped me
learn the material. The professor was energetic and happy to help us learn.”
“Shows a strong willingness to help
students and meet their needs”.
“Availability outside class, always
willing to answer questions”.
“Much opportunity to get help and
improve”.
“Very knowledgeable and helpful.”
“Homework is relevant”.
“Good demos.”
“I really enjoyed the course and webassign, homework was helpful”.
“Explains concepts thoroughly”.
“Funny, explains concepts well.”
“Instructor was organized and prepared for
the lecture.”
“Explains concepts slowly so easy to
understand, great having slides online for reference, in class examples and
experiments.”
“The course is very organized and the Web
CT content is very useful. The professor is dedicated and explains concepts
well.”
“Very good lecturer, extremely helpful
during office hours.”
“I really liked Dr. Voroshilov and think
he does a good job of explaining the material and does lots of demonstrations
that make class more interesting.”
“Very detailed powerpoints
– they were very helpful in studying for tests and doing homework.”
“Very nice man, very fair.”
“Good objective grading.”
“Labs are quick, easy and to the point.
Homework is generally representative of exams, usually is relevant to material.
Discussion is helpful. I like the webassign system.”
“Professor knew material well and was helpful
in office hours. Labs were fair, even though I hate labs.”
“Instructor Voroshilov is pretty good at
explaining concepts. He’s very funny which keeps people awake at 8 am. His PowerPoint
presentations are very thorough and helpful.”
“Fair grading, good TAs, relevant reading,
and helpful, accessible labs.”
“Helped to understand how physics is a
part of everyday life. The instructor really knew his stuff, and his
demonstrations were great.”
“Lots of visual aids to help
understanding. The professor is good and funny.”
“I thought he was well organized and
explained the concepts well. His emphasis on doing examples in class was very
helpful! He is also pretty funny when he wants to be, which is much appreciated
at 8 am while trying to learn physics. I found the professor, course and
material so much more interesting then PY105!!”
“Very helpful. Wants us to succeed!”
“He experiments with methods to be more
effective, very creative, very interesting and straight-forward.”
“The professor really enjoys the subject and
has fun teaching – good demos.”
“Professor Val is very effective in
teaching concepts, especially because it’s obvious he put a lot of work into
it, in terms of visual aids and notes. Very good professor, always available
and helpful to students.”
“He knows what he is talking about.”
“Always available and willing to stay
beyond posted office hours. Entertaining lectures, effective teaching style,
approachable.”
“Wants us to do well in class.”
“Grading is fair.”
“He is an intelligent man.”
“I couldn’t have asked for a better
physics professor.”
“His demonstrations are awesome.”
“Loves teaching. Gives great examples and
demonstrations in class.”
“Hands down, one of the best professors I
had at BU. Great humor, makes physics very fun and exciting to learn, and has
fair examinations and grading policies. Great presentation skills.”
“Great instructor – knows concepts well,
and can grab our attention and keep it.”
“Very fair exams and homework.”
“The instructor is awesome with
technology. He uses it as a very helpful tool in ways other teachers haven’t or
can’t.”
“Great instructor – really helps me to
understand concepts I am confused about.”
“Good lecturer. Knowledgeable. Better than
D******y”
“Very clear and reasonable
expectations.”
“Lab is helpful in understanding
material.”
“Much material covered in a manageable
manner.”
“Tests were straightforward and expected.”
“Very straightforward, no surprises, and
everything he did was relevant to the exams.”
“Good pace for amount of material.”
“The homework and exams were similar so
studying was well rewarded.”
“Great class – keep it up.”
“Professor V is great and during class his
introduction is most helpful.”
“Amount of homework was good. Just the
right amount to grasp/solidify material.”
“Fast, but well taught course.”
“He is able to present a lot of questions
that are likely to be present on the exam and he goes over it well.”
“Teaching is clear and concise. Examples
on lecture slides are for homework. Demonstrations are cool and help cement
concepts.”
“Very effective at explaining concepts.”
“Clear explanations, very good lecturer,
nice.”
“Hard class made somewhat easier or more
manageable because of Mr. V.”
“Very easy to understand and grasp
concepts (even at the faster pace).”
“Straightforward course.”
“Good pace and good amount of time
introducing every topic.”
“Challenging course. Covers all necessary
topics.”
“Learn a lot in a very short time, but
definitely able to master material and comfortable in physics.”
“Lectures were interesting, exams were
decent, and homework helped a lot.”
“Summer course is fast paced, but worth
taking with Mr. V.”
“Super easy course.”
“Course is challenging but not anything
impossible.”
“Tests are extremely fair. Homework and
textbook are very helpful.”
“He explains things clearly and labs are
helpful.”
“I thought the test were extremely fair. I
liked the problems taught and I thought the material on the tests was covered
in class.”
“Physics is fun due to this class.”
“Very good. Not difficult for someone not
good at math.”
“Teaches what needs to be known in a
clear/understanding matter.”
“Course is clear and interesting.”
“Very fair exams/assignments. Improve
grading scale – A is 95+, almost impossible in an already hard class.”
“Great at using real life examples and
experiments.”
“Clear, easy to understand.”
“Well-paced course despite the course
being compacted in time.”
“Organization of material is superb.
Professor really really cares about his students’
success and learning. This is a very special, conscious professor, aware of his
work and its impact.”
“Loved it, great summer experience.”
“Difficulty of the course is fair.
Homework, labs, and attendance help boost exam grades.”
“Strength: his knowledge of the subject,
his ability to teach us; labs are too long.”
“Great course.”
“Webassign is a
great practice. Well-spaced course out a six week course.”
“Very funny and covers a lot.”
“So interesting. Does relevant problems.
Makes exams related to homework questions.”
“He really enjoys physics and the
experiments were cool.”
“Fantastic professor, hilarious, great and
enthusiastic. Nice guy.”
“There were a ton of examples during
lecture which were extremely helpful. He’s funny too and very willing to meet
with students in office hours.”
“Knows answers to all my questions.
Grading scale is ridiculous.”
“Very enthusiastic and interesting. Knows
the material well and can explain it multiple ways.”
“Very good at explaining concepts and
keeping students interested.”
“Awesome demos.”
“Professor Voroshilov is excellent. Very
clear. Makes students understand.”
“Very clear on the course policy and gives
many outlets of problems to do to understand the course material.”
“He knows what he is doing.”
“He emphasized his handwriting was hard to
read so he made sure people were following along so that no one would feel
lost.”
“Strong points were his mastery of the
course material. He was always able to answer questions clearly. His
demonstrations were also great, and the slides were well-prepared. Lectures
sometimes were dull because we’d just worked through problems together.”
“The course covered a lot of content, but
it was presented in a way that made it relevant to life – the real world, so it
was interesting throughout.”
“Very clear verbally. Homework helps.”
“Good lab.”
“Fair exams.”
“Homework was very helpful in clarifying
concepts.”
“Webassign –
great tool.”
“Very fair in terms of time expected on
studying and homework. Webassign problems were
relevant to tests and useful in conceptual understanding the material.”
“Course is of adequate difficulty. Grading
is very fair. Love the class. Great introduction to physics. Don’t see anything
to be improved.”
“Exams and homework were very fair.
Overall great course.”
“Great professor, though could try to be
less monotonous, really funny sometimes. Overall liked him and class a lot.”
“The course was clear and well laid-out.
It never felt overwhelming or scary.”
“Labs were great.”
“Great course, loved it.”
“Material is very difficult conceptually,
but Val does a good job of explaining it.”
“The homework actually helped and the
tests are very fair.”
“Learned a lot. I liked that the labs were
for understanding material better.”
“He know the summer term is compressed, so
he teaches accordingly and his exams are fair and he clearly has taken that
time constraint in his mind. Also awesome physics demonstrations in class that
are intriguing and help understand the material better. Improve handwriting.”
“Course was not too challenging, slightly
boring, but I don’t really like physics.”
“Office hours with professor and teaching
fellows saved me.”
“Course: concise and to the point; could
be shorter.”
“Labs are usually very helpful to
reinforce concepts, great that office hours last so long.”
“I like the way webassign
works.”
“Obviously knows material very well and
keeps class engaged. Encourages participation.”
“Great.”
“He clearly cares about not only the
material, but his students’ grasp of physics. He did his best to show and not
tell. Also, examples in class made up for the fast pace. I respect how his
exams clearly reflect material from class and show a true understanding of
presented material. Improve: He has mastered how to teach this course. Only
important would be closer instruction of TAs.”
“Professor is very knowledgeable and
explains concepts well. His demonstrations are useful and fun.”
“He clearly loves physics. While he has
typos a lot it doesn’t ever interfere with clarity of lecture.”
“Instructor is passionate about material,
quick to answer questions (email and in person). Instructor knows about
material well and truly cares about students. At office hours, instructor is
extremely helpful and patient explaining concepts clearly. 10/10 experience.”
“The professor is good at explaining
concepts. He makes lecture interesting and is funny. He also is available for
office hours regularly.”
“Very fun. Some of the funniest moments in
my college experience. Great format.”
“Helps walk students through questions,
does not mind back-tracking in case a student doesn’t understand. Has a lot of
visuals and experiments that he does to help us understand the material
better.”
“Very funny and engaging. Inspires
interest.”
“Knowledgeable. Morbid humor.”
“Knowledgeable. Provides excellent class
materials (PowerPoint, recorded lectures etc.). Assignments indicative of
challenge level.”
“Enthusiasm and humor. Explaining how to
keep going through problems with variables.”
“Mr. Voroshilov was an excellent
professor. He quickly responded to all questions and was often available
outside of class. He included demonstrations during almost every lecture that
were both helpful and fun.”
“Strong lecture demonstrations. Good
paring. Great dry humor. Very knowledgeable and well organized.”
“Very clear. Fair. Encourages questions.
Works well with practical problems.”
“Mr. Voroshilov is really good at
explaining concepts. He helps me regain my confidence in physics. He is super
helpful outside class. I love his jokes.”
“Patient. Useful demonstrations. Useful
practice problems.”
“The professor is really clear. His
lectures and presentations do not simply gave explanations to memorize but
rather comprehend them. He accomplishes this through demonstrations with
experiments. Engaged students in problem solving. Also he makes the lectures
interesting.”
“The professor
is good at explaining concepts. He makes lecture interesting and is funny. He
also is available for office hours regularly.”
One of the first statements I tell my students is that the most important
ability for succeeding in a physics course (and in life) is not mathematics, or
even logic, it is imagination (and persistence).
Imagine that you are on a plain (or taking a train, or a bus), and
talking to your neighbor.
Turns out, he is in education; for years has been teaching math, logic,
problem solving, but lately mostly physics; developed and taught courses to
middle school students, to high school students, to college and university
students, to students with learning disabilities; has a M.S. in Theoretical
Physics and a PhD in Education with focus on teacher professional development;
taught courses to teachers; consulted school and district officials on managing
innovations in education; was a consultant to a state department of education
to help with writing a program for strategic development of the state system of
education; was an assistant to a director of a regional institute for teacher
professional development, ran an institution responsible for development of
analytical documents and policy recommendation for the department of education
of a city of the size of Boston (and often did all this at the same time).
No doubt, you would think that this guy was an expert in the field of
education: an expert in teaching, an expert in advancing teaching practices.
This guy is me, Dr. Valentin Voroshilov. I was wearing all those
“hats” in Russia before I moved in Boston. My career was very promising, but I
gave it up for a chance to move my family away from a new “Tsar”.
At the time, I had no publications in English. I didn't even speak English. I had to start from a square one.
First as a janitor. Learning English using books, radio, and TV shows.
Today I have recovered the most of my previous career (very proud of it!): I work full time at Boston University, I teach (mostly physics) and I am good at teaching; I publish (in English!). I’m
productive. I am also reentering the field of consulting
and teacher professional development.
In the end, I have a
very broad teaching and research experience. In one word, I have become a TeachSmith, so to speak. The journey from a
teacher to a TeachSmith was long and wavy, but
not unique, has many shareable elements common to every professionally growing
educator (and summarized in book “Becoming
a STEM Teacher”).
To get to know me
better, I would recommend to check the following three web-links (would not
take more than 20 minutes of total time):
“Backpack
Full of Cash”: pointing at a problem without offering a solution
The Essentials of Teaching Science
I
have five LONG-term projects (Might take decades to
complete! But keeps blood running)
My connections:
linkedin: http://lnkd.in/YCKbb2
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VVTeachOlogy
twitter: https://twitter.com/VV_TeachOlogy
The link to the full bio http://www.teachology.xyz/vvli.html
Executive
Summary of Professional Experience
(I) Teaching
(A) Groups
5th-graders; 6-th
graders; 7-th graders; 8-th graders; 9-th graders; 10-th graders; 11-th
graders; 12-th graders; 2-year college students; 4-year college students;
university students; school teachers; school administrators; district
administrators.
(B) Subjects
Physics for Engineers
(two semesters); Elementary Physics (two semesters); algebra, geometry; trigonometry;
formal logic; problem solving; group theory (discreet and continuous); methods
for teaching science courses; methods for advancing individual teaching
practice; managing innovations in education (initiation, implementation,
growth, support, assessment, audit).
(II)
Managing/Consulting
Assistant to Director of
an Institute; Director of Department of computerization and information
technologies; Director of Center for Development of City School system; member
or a team leader of a group of consults for schools and school districts
(initiation, implementation, growth, support, assessment, audit of innovations
in education).
(III) Learning
graduated from schools
with high GPA; participated in a wide range of extracurricular activities;
developed personal approach to teaching (flipped the classroom before the
approach was described in any publications); published papers on various
aspects of advancing education; converted publications into PhD theses and then
found an adviser; moved to a country without knowing the language; learned the
language; learned how to teach using foreign language; started publishing in
foreign language.
Cover Letter
Dear Colleagues,
At the top of my Russian career, before I
moved to Boston (in 2002) I ran an institution which was an analytical branch
of the City Department of Education of a large city with about 1,000,000
citizens and about 130 schools (most of which would represent an equivalent of
the combination of American elementary, middle, and high school together). And
before that I was in the field of a teacher professional development (please,
see below for the details).
But my main professional achievement is
being a good teacher. I am a highly-experienced educator. I
have been successfully designing and teaching my courses and helping to design
various courses to many educational professionals. As an instructor, I am
definitely above the average level, with a solid formal proof of that fact in
the form of my student evaluations (http://www.teachology.xyz/evvv.html); with a strong conceptual view on what
teaching is and how to teach effectively, efficiently, and sufficiently (http://www.cognisity.how/2016/10/book.html); with a strong experience in teacher
professional development (http://www.cognisity.how/2016/10/facilitating.html); with an experience in inventing and
implementing into a teaching practice new and effective teaching instruments
helping students develop deep understanding of the subject (physics), (http://www.cognisity.how/2018/04/MOCC.html; http://www.cognisity.how/2018/02/Algorithm.html; creativeness, and critical
thinking http://www.cognisity.how/2018/02/thinkphy.html; http://www.cognisity.how/2018/03/ZPD.html).
The rest of this letter details my
experience in the field.
“He is a master. I think all professor
should be able to teach as him. That way students would not have to spend hours
reading off of lectures.”
“I can honestly say I had never seen a
professor who cared more for his students and how they do, as well as what they
learn.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you! Mr. V,
thank you for putting up with all of us this summer!! I feel much more prepared
for the MCAT. And I loved the demonstrations! Thanks for putting all the time +
effort!”
“Professor V, You designed this class so that those
who put in the effort would succeed, so I gave it my all and sure enough. I want to say thank you for creating such a conducive learning
environment for me to succeed. I hadn't taken a physics class since my freshman
year in high school, so I was very nervous going into your class. I did not
expect this course to become my favorite science course so far at BU. Physics
is a hard subject, but you explained everything well and made sure we, as a
class, had the tools necessary to succeed with enough hard work on our end.”
These are quotes from many nice words said
about me by my former students (this link GoMars.xyz/evvv.html provides more examples, including
the latest).
I
believe, such a feedback is one of the greatest rewards any teacher can have.
Three times since my university
graduation, I had to re-start my professional career from a square one. This
feedback is one of the proudest achievements of my professional life.
Dear Colleagues,
I believe your view of an educator, is
similar to mine, i.e. at the core of an educator is a person who loves
learning, who is good at teaching, good at understanding the logic of
learning and teaching processes, one who can clearly express that logic to
students and to colleagues, the one who can think outside a box, who can create
non-obvious solutions to non-traditional problems, one who can help colleagues
becoming the best teachers they can be.
A good teacher is a teacher who can
teach not only memorizing and repeating various – even very complicated –
patterns (that is essentially no different from training animals doing tricks –
BTW: that is what all current AI-systems do); but also beyond; i.e.
a good teacher is a teacher who, in addition to solid knowledge and skills, can
teach how to think creatively and critically – which is the
essence of Human intelligence. Currently the AI filed has no common definition
of Intelligence, that is why I have developed my own. Intelligence is
an ability to create a solution to a problem which has never been
solved before (by the host of Intelligence; Cognisity.How/2018/05/AHLI.html). My definition not just grasps the
quintessence of intelligence, but is also operational, i.e. measurable (hence,
teachable).
For me, the vital and ultimate goal of
teaching is helping students to advance their intelligent abilities, i.e.
helping them become truly human (and I teach this to my students, no matter
what specific subject I teach at the time; using my own technique: Cognisity.How/2018/02/Algorithm.html; Cognisity.How/2018/02/ThinkPhy.html).
“I have a very particular set of skills,
which I have acquired over a long career”. My student evaluations are the
result of my extensive and successful professional experience in the field of
education.
I
have no doubt, I would be a good fit as a member of any professional team of
educators.
What may make me stand out of some other
educators is the breadth and deepness of my professional experience.
I have a deep knowledge of the main
subject I teach (M.S. in Theoretical Physics), as well as augmented subjects
(math, logic, problem solving, human psychology, methods for teaching); I am an
expert in teaching methodology and teacher preparation (PhD in Education,
experience in consulting teachers and administrators); I have a deep knowledge
of Human Intelligence; I have an extensive and successful tutoring, teaching
and research experience; I believe, all this makes me a teach-smith (so
to speak; GoMars.xyz/TeachSmith.html).
I have a successful experience in
designing and teaching courses for middle school, high school, college and
university students, pre-service and in- service teachers. I have a clear
vision of the structure of an effective on-site or online science courses (the
latter should be more than a standard combination of “talking heads”,
hyperlinked texts, screen simulations, and chat rooms).
A joke “those who cannot do – teach; those
who cannot teach – teach teachers” is definitely not about me.
I could have become a physicist. To prove
it to myself, in 2010 (not ever doing physics before that) I read some papers
on high temperature super conductivity, and then wrote mine own, which was
published in a peer reviewed specialized magazine (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921453410006179).
I love working with teachers, but not
because I cannot teach students – on the contrary, my student feedback tells me
that I am a good teacher. I love working with teachers because I am good at
teaching, and I have professional experience I would love to share. A large
portion of my experience in the field of teacher professional development was
summarized as a chapter in a book (Cognisity.How/2016/10/facilitating.html).
There is, though, the seed of truth in the
joke. It is just a fact that when someone is good at doing something,
it does not necessarily mean that the one can also clearly explain what the one
does, and why the one is good at it, because “clear explaining” is also a
special skill. I am lucky to have this skill, and happy to offer it to students
and colleagues.
My professional goal is very clear – I
work hard to maximize my professional output by applying all my skills and
experience. Three
times since my university graduation, I had to re-start my professional career
from a square one(GoMars.xyz/vv.htm) and but I think I may be ready to my
last transition.
When I was receiving my MS diploma in
theoretical physics, I thought I would be becoming a physicist. However, when
the Russian economy collapsed, in order to feed my family, I turned to
tutoring, and later to teaching middle and high school students, and then
college and university students, and then teachers. At the time, schools were
some of few places where the government sometimes paid some money.
Soon I realized that students liked my
teaching, and I liked teaching students, and I started my second career – as an
educator.
I joined a team of innovative
teachers, administrators, researchers, and consultants. Our team has been
running various teacher professional development activities, including a
year-long projects involving teams from multiple schools, with the end of a
year bootcamp for students and teachers. As
the result, in addition to teaching, I also entered the field of teacher
professional development, and educational consulting, and got my PhD in
Education (specialization in andragogy, concentration in teacher professional
development). However, I did not like the changes in the political atmosphere.
But more importantly, leaving was the only way for me to save my son from being
drafted in the Russian Army (which at the time was not much different from
Somali pirates). In 2001 a miracle happened – I won a Green Card.
When I moved in the U.S. I started my
third career from a square one (my first job was a janitor at a supermarket).
Since no one knew me, and I knew no one, and I spoke just very basic English
(which I learned myself from books, tapes, TV and radio shows), the journey to
reestablishing myself as an educator was not quick and easy. But today I teach,
I write, I research.
I
am proud of my current achievements, but I am always open to making the next
step in my professional journey.
For
example, I am always open to more teaching and to a collaboration on
development of new approaches to teaching and teacher professional development.
I have been involved in many collaborative
projects which had led to the development of new curricula, new course content,
efficient tools for managing teaching activities and learning experiences,
facilitating teacher professional development, running professional development
workshops for teachers and administrators.
I started my teaching career as a tutor.
Tutoring may be very helpful for gaining a deep understanding of numerous
reasons for different students to have various difficulties with getting a good
understating of math and physics.
Some tutors would help a student to do the
homework, and then a student would come back with a new homework, and then
again, and again. For me it felt like cheating. I wanted to teach my students
how to do their homework on their own. My goal was to help a student reach that
level of understanding so he or she would not need me anymore. It may have
looked counterproductive – money-wise. But in reality, it worked for me very
well, because parents of my students told about me to other parents, and I had
plenty of clients.
Tutoring helped me to initiate the
development of my teaching toolbox tailored to students with different
background. People usually are eager to talk about gifted students, and how to
help talented students to realize their potential. Struggling students do not
often attract the same attention as gifted ones. Tutoring is like having a
clinical practice. All good students are good due to mostly the same reason (a
good background), but when a student struggles there might be numerous possible
causes for that.
Teaching and tutoring physics, algebra,
geometry, trigonometry, problem solving, logic helped me acquire an integrative
view on various difficulties students may have and effective approaches to
guide students through those difficulties. My Doctoral work was focused on
the approach for igniting and supporting teacher’s sustainable desire to grow
professionally, and on methods for helping educators to design the most
effective path for their continuous sustainable professional development
(teaching teachers about teaching requires deep and wide understanding of
learning, teaching, and of the teaching subject).
In Russia I was a member of “Moscow – Perm
Socratic group” – a collaboration of educators dedicated to promoting
the Socratic Method of teaching (Cognisity.How/2018/02/Socrates.html).
I have a long and successful experience in
teaching various mathematics and physics courses, courses for pre-service and
in-service teachers and school administrators. I have been teaching Mathematics
and Physics to almost all possible categories of students (i.e. to middle- and
high- school students, 2-year and 4-year college students, university students,
to students with learning difficulties, and to school teachers). I also have
been teaching various curses for in-service teachers (in parallel with teaching
math and physics).
For a number of years, I had been working
at a regional institution for teacher professional development, providing
various courses and training to teachers and school administrators.
Individually and as a member of a team I
was consulting and auditing individual teachers, schools, and school districts
regarding educational policies, teaching technologies, learning outcomes, and
quality of education in general. Alone and with my colleagues, I was traveling
to towns and villages of the Perm Region to meet with teachers and
administrators and helping them with adjusting teaching and administrative
strategies and techniques in order to achieve better learning outcomes of their
students; including preparing strategic plans for systemic development of a
school, a district and a regional education system.
My administrative experience involves
running a department of computerization at Perm Institute for Continues Teacher
Education, working as an assistant to the Director/President of the Faculty
Assembly of the Institute, and later running the Center for Development of the
School System of City of Perm, which was an analytical branch of the City
Department of Education (my last position before moving to the U.S.).
I was hired by the Perm State (a.k.a.
Region, a.k.a. Oblast') department of Education as a consultant to help draft
the “Program of the Development of the State Educational System for the
five-year period”. This was one of the highest levels of the recognition of me
as a professional educator and a consultant.
After I moved in the U.S. and re-entered
the field of education, I have been teaching Boston University PY105/106
Elementary Physics courses, as well as College Mathematics, Physics and Problem
Solving at ITT Technical Institute (Norwood, MA), Wentworth Institute of
Technology, Bridgewater State University, BU High School Academy.
During the years of my teaching practice I
have developed numerous math and physics middle-, and high- school and college
curricula, syllabi and lesson plans; problem sets, worksheets and hands-on
activities. I have an experience in developing websites and using such ones as webct, moodle, blackboard, webassign, masteringphysics, wileyplus; creating new demonstrations, filming movies and
posting them online, using Java applets and audience responds systems (eInstruction, Turning Technologies); developing laboratory
experiments and writing manuals. I have been and am using different teaching
strategies, including different media to motivate students to learn and to help
students to master a subject.
My years of personal tutoring and teaching
provided me with invaluable insights into how people learn and how to help them
to master a subject and to become a more efficient learner (my teaching
philosophy is summarized at Cognisity.How/2017/11/method.html). I have been sharing this experience
with many students, teachers, and colleagues. I have strong communication
skills, deep understanding of pedagogy, wide teaching experience, and competent
in using a variety of educational software products.
I firmly believe in a scientific approach
to teaching and to research on teaching. A teacher should be able to state
specific goals, list the assumptions, formulate the criteria of a success, and
establish measuring tools and procedures, and a researcher should be able to do
the same as well. I am also convinced that contemporary technologies will allow
to bringing teaching to a new level.
My personal teaching experience has always
been entangled with my research and consulting practices, and this entanglement
represents one of the most helpful assets I have and use when working with
students, colleagues, teachers, and administrators, because I usually know what
students, colleagues, teachers and administrators may want or need, what
obstacles they may encounter and need to overcome, and how to help them to do
that.
I am a team player, the goals of my team
always set limits and directions for my personal professional goals. Throughout
all my professional life as an educator I have always had good relationships
with my students and colleagues. I always respect all my students and they know
it, and they respect me back even if at the end of the course they do not have
the grade they would like to have.
I am confident that my teaching, research,
and administrative experience would let me to be a serious asset for a team of
innovative educators, specifically, effective instructional designer.
Sincerely,
Dr. Valentin Voroshilov (Cognisity.How/2018/02/Iam.html)
P.S. What usually confuses HR associates is the fact that
never in my life I was holding only one professional position. Since the time
when I was a middle school student, in addition to taking classes or having a
full-time position, I had always had some additional job on a side, and then
later in my professional career I held at least two official positions, and
sometimes even three. And I firmly believe that my “extra” experience only
amplifies my experience, no matter which specific professional position I would
hold.
Dr. Valentin Voroshilov
Physics
Department; Boston University
Physics
Department; Bridgewater State University
valbu@bu.edu GoMars.xyz/vv.htm
Education:
PhD in Education: “Organizational and
pedagogical conditions for helping teachers to master project-based approach
for designing their own teaching practice”.
(as a part of a
study on the methods
for motivating teachers towards continuous professional development; which has become a
chapter in a book).
Moscow Academic Institute for Innovations
in Education; Moscow, Russia, 2000
M.S. in Theoretical Physics: “Homogeneous Relaxation in Weakly
Non-Ideal Non-Equilibrium Bose Gas”
Perm State University, Perm, Russia, 1985
Areas
of expertise:
A) administrative practices related
to running a unit of an administrative structure, such as a department, or an
institution, including but not limited to:
1. strategic and tactical planning
2. observing, guiding, coordinating,
evaluating the performance of employees
3. analyzing individual reports,
preparing and presenting cumulative
4. managing everyday workflow
B) consulting on developing teaching
practices at different levels (individual teachers, teams of teachers, schools,
school districts)
C) auditing teaching practices of
individual teachers, teams of teachers, schools, school districts
D) public relations – representing
the team of developers to different groups of prospective clients (teachers,
administrations of different levels)
E) analytical practices:
1. developing and
employing various analytical tools – surveys, interviews, tests
2. conducting
analysis and presenting reports
F) developing and teaching various courses
for pre-service and in-service teachers, including but not limited to:
1. philosophy of education
2. role of teaching in human practices
3. curriculum development and lesson plan
preparation
4. assessing learning outcomes of students
5. classroom management with and without
differentiation
6. how to become an effective teacher (the
role of self-reflection in professional development)
G) developing and teaching various
Math and Physics courses for undergraduate students (non-physics majors,
including pre-service and in-service teachers):
1. preparing a
syllabus (structuring the course, building up learning paths)
2.
writing/composing lecture notes and problem sets
3. developing
problem solving strategies and guiding techniques
4. lecturing,
guiding, tutoring students (including teachers in service)
5. developing,
testing, performing physics demonstrations and laboratory experiments
6. video and audio
capturing, editing, posting, streaming
H) teaching creative courses as such
“Lateral thinking”, “Problem solving strategies”
I) as a faculty member of a research
university: facilitating, monitoring, consulting faculty on developing
curriculum, preparing lectures, incorporating various teaching activities into
a course, analyzing the learning outcomes of students.
J) using and consulting on using
online teaching instruments (blackboard, webassign,
mastering physics, etc.) and personal response systems
PROFESSIONAL
EXPERIENCE
Education Advancement Professionals: www.GoMars.xyz
Boston University, Boston, MA; Physics
Department: 09/2007
- present time
Lecturer (PY105/PY106 courses):
Responsibilities: Curriculum development; developing and
editing lecture notes, homework assignments, laboratory manuals, exams;
lecturing, overseeing work of teaching fellows and learning assistants.
Boston University, Boston, MA; Physics
Department: 03/2007
- present time
Lecture Enhancement Coordinator (Physics
Department Demonstration Facility Director)
Responsibilities: Cooperating with the faculty on using
existing and developing new physics demonstrations and helping faculty with
implementing contemporary teaching research-based techniques into the teaching
practice.
Bridgewater State University, MA; 2010 - present time
Visiting Lecturer: Algebra Based Physics.
Wentworth Institute of Technology,
MA; 2008 - 2012
Adjunct Lecturer: Algebra Based Physics.
Boston University, Boston, MA; Physics
Department: 08/2012
– 08/2013
PDGK12 program/ Program Manager:
Responsibilities: Organizing and guiding teaching fellows –
participants in GK12 project – on the use of physics demonstrations in Boston
schools.
Boston University, Boston, MA; Physics
Department: 08/2012
– 08/2013
BU ERC Lecturer:
Responsibilities: Curriculum development for and leading
workshops “Physics - Demystified” for BU students.
BU Academy, MA; 2009 - 2012
Substitute Lecturer: Elementary Physics
ITT Technical Institute, Norwood, MA; 06/2004 – 2011
Adjunct Physics Instructor:
Responsibilities: Teaching Physics, College Math I and II,
Problem Solving
Boston University, Boston, MA; Physics Department
and School of Education: 09/2006 – 06/2007
Adjunct Instructor
Responsibilities: Teaching Physics to in-service high school
teachers
Boston University, Boston, MA; Physics
Department: 09/2004
– 03/2007
Lab Tech Coordinator
Responsibilities: Coordinating a preparation and carrying
out of undergraduate teaching labs; managing the equipment; developing new
teaching labs; consulting TFs
Boys and Girls Club of Boston, Roxbury
Clubhouse, Boston, MA; 07/2004 – 11/2004
Teacher’s Assistant, Math and Science tutor:
Responsibilities: Tutoring in Math and Science to Club
Members
Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston MA: 01/2004 –
05/2004
Physics Laboratory Instructor: Department of Applied Mathematics
and Sciences.
Responsibilities: Guiding students through a variety
of Physics I and Physics II laboratory work
Tutor: Academic Resource Center. 01/2004 – 05/2004
Responsibilities: Tutoring students in Mathematics (Algebra,
Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus) and Physics
Center for Development of City School System,
Perm, Russia: 2000 –
2002,
Interim Director:
Responsibilities:
managing teams of professionals of an
institution responsible for development of analytical documents and policy
recommendation for the department of education of the City of Perm.
Institute for Continuous Education, Perm, Russia: 1997 -
2000
Associate Professor: Department of Teachers’ Skill
Development. (1995 -1997 as a part time employee)
Responsibilities:
Taught a wide spectrum of courses to
school teachers and principals of the city of Perm and Perm region
Examined teachers’ curricula, Evaluated of
the quality of teaching in physics and mathematics
Courses developed and taught
included:
Methods for Problem Solving in Mathematics
and Physics
Modeling of Mental Processes of Students
while Problem Solving
Methods for Preparing Educational Tests
Planning Effective Teaching Activities
An assistant: to the Director/President of the Faculty
Assembly of the Institute.
Director: Department of computerization and
information technologies.
Member: of the consulting group for schools and school districts.
Perm State Technical University, Perm, Russia: 1988 -
1997
Assistant Professor: Physics Department.
Responsibilities:
Teaching a wide spectrum of courses to
undergraduate students
Training students in Math to prepare them
to study Physics
Developing physics and math curricula
Developing educational aids for students
Courses developed and taught included:
Mechanics; Thermodynamics;
Electrostatics; Magnetism; Optics; Atomic and
Nuclear Physics
Fundamentals of Quantum Mechanics;
Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, Calculus
Methodological development included:
Curricula in Physics for Undergraduate
Students; Midterm and Final Physics Exams;
Collection and compilation of Physics Problems
and solutions for Undergraduate Students
Perm State University, Perm, Russia: 1985 -
1988
Hardware Engineer: Department of Computerized
Calculations:
Responsibilities: Various type of a technical support for
effective running large computers based on IBM-type architecture
Middle and High Schools, the City of Perm, Russia: 1991
– 2001
Teacher/Tutor:
Teaching a wide spectrum of courses to
students
Developing curricula and midterm/final
tests for courses taught
Training students to Math/Physics competitions
Developing and testing learning tools for
students with learning disabilities
Courses developed and taught included:
Algebra; Geometry; Trigonometry;
Fundamentals of Probability Theory; Physics
Methodological development included:
High School Curriculum in Physics with
Elements of University-level Physics
Math Curriculum for High School Students
in Physics Classes
Introductory Lectures on Basic Quantum
Phenomena for High School Students
Midterm and final physics exams
SELECTED
CONFERENCES AND PUBLICATIONS
(more
at Cognisity.How and GoMars.xyz/lc.htm)
Becoming a STEM teacher: a crash course for people
entering the profession // amazon.com
What
does “thinking as a physicist” mean? // 2011
The
fundamental laws of “Teach-Ology” // 2016
Project-oriented
form of teacher professional development / Presentation at 2016 PhysTech conference:
Professional Designing as One of Key competencies of a
Modern Teacher /
2016
Materials from a one-day workshop with Prof. Novak for
teachers:
“Educational concept mapping”
A
general algorithm for creating a solution to a physics problem // 2012
What
is the mission of education? // 2018
How
much of “cyber” in “cyberthinking”? // 2018
An
actual level of difficulty of test problems and its subjective perception by
students //
2009 AAPT Winter Meeting, Chicago, Feb. 15 (2009).
Making
the Transition from Introductory to Upper-Level Courses // 2009 AAPT Winter Meeting,
Chicago, Feb. 15 (2009).
On a
Definition of Work // The Physics Teacher, Val. 46, May 2008, p. 260.
Energy from
nothing? //
Physics Teacher, Vol. 45, No. L1, p. L1, July 2007.
On
Putting Physics First // “Interactions”, March/April 2007, p. 6 -7;
Physics
First or Physics in Parallel? // 2007 AAPT Summer Meeting, Aug. 1 (2007)
The
Comparison Between Russian High School And American College Curricula // 2007 AAPT Winter Meeting, January
2007.
Constructing
Learning Aids for Teaching Algebra-based Physics / Poster, AAPT summer meeting, 2006
Learning aides
for students taking physics. (a broader version of Phys. Educ. 50 (2015)
694-698, http://stacks.iop.org/0031-9120/50/694)
A Map of
Operationally Connected Categories as an instrument for classifying physics
problems. // (Mar. 2015)
Critical
reading of “Making sense of confusion” by Eric Mazur et al. // (Mar. 2015)
“To test or
not to test?” This is NOT the right question. // edutopya.org (Mar. 2015)
On electron pairing in a
periodic potential // Physica C: Supercunductivity, V
470, # 21, November (2010), pp. 1962 – 1963 // http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physc.2010.08.007.
Classification of Educational
Self-Determination of Students // in the journal “School Principal”, Moscow,
Russia, 2001.
Universal Algorithm for
Solving School Problems in Physics // in the book "Problems in Applied
Mathematics and Mechanics". - Perm, Russia, 1998. - p. 57.
On the Necessity of Modeling
by a Teacher of His/Her Own Pedagogical Activity //
in the book “Development of Scientific Intercommunications in Eurasia”. -
Berezniki, Russia, 1997. - p. 172.
Application of
Operationally-Interconnect Categories for Diagnosing the Level of Students'
Understanding of Physics // in the book “Artificial Intelligence in Education”,
part 1. - Kazan, Russia, 1996. - p. 56.
Quantitative Measures of the
Learning Difficulty of Physics Problems // in the book “Problems of Education,
Scientific and Technical Development and Economy of Ural Region”.- Berezniki,
Russia, 1996. - p. 85.
In this short essay, I will try to summarize my views on
what
is teaching, and what is learning.
(a copy is available at: Cognisity.How/2017/11/method.html)
What is teaching?
Below is the quote from Google search on:
“what is teaching” (the top answer):
The second meaning of “teaching” is
transparent: “teaching is a synonym for philosophy”. But the first description does
not really say much what teaching is. “Teaching is what a teacher does”.
Everyone wants to be healthy and
successful and no one wants to be ill and poor. The only difference is how we
want to achieve our success. There are people who use other people as a tool
for climbing the social ladder. I would not recommend people like that going
into teaching. Children feel when they are being used and always find the way
to escape – one way or another. Anyone who wants to be a teacher (or an
educator of some sort), should do it to help children to succeed in their life,
and they will return the success.
Teaching is an important human practice.
Many people think that teaching is simply telling students “do as I say”. This
very approach is built in our DNA. Our parents used this approach when teaching
us. Animals use this approach when teaching cubs, pups, baby birds (they rather
use the “do as I do” version, which is also very popular among humans).
If teaching was indeed merely “do as I do”
or “do as I say” practice, then of course everyone could do it! Teaching would
not be much different from training animals (“a stick and a carrot” would do
the trick).
Clearly, teaching is something more
complicated than just “do as I say”. Not everyone can become a good teacher.
Everyone can cook at home, or drive a car. But not everyone can become a
successful chef or a racecar driver. And when we say this out loud, it does not
sound controversial – because it’s obvious! Yes, we know that some people are a
better fit for some practices than others, and some people are not a good fit
for some practices.
In particular, some people are just not
fit to be teachers (which is not their fault), and one of the goals of every
teacher preparation program should be identifying those people and helping them
to find another professional path.
So, what is teaching, or, what does it
mean to be a teacher?
I think that the answer to this question
forms a fundamental basis for the whole professional philosophy of a teacher
and for the practice built on that philosophy.
One of the first indicators of a true
teacher is that he or she has a certain answer to this question. I also believe
that there is no single correct answer to this question. I believe that every
teacher should search for and find his or her own answer (although the answers
might sound very similarly).
In this essay, I want to share my answer
to the question “what is teaching?”.
To me, teaching is guiding students
through a specifically designed set of learning experiences (a.k.a. student
activities) to help them to develop or advance desired skills and
knowledge – this is
my formal definition of teaching.
Hence, a teacher is a person who teaches
in accordance with this definition; this link leads to short statements about
teaching which I call “Laws of TeachOlogy” at http://www.cognisity.how/2016/12/handbook.html.
A teacher might not be the one who designs
the whole set of student activities, but should have a deep understanding of
the reasons for the activities and measures of the success or failure of the
activities.
We all know the old saying
that one can bring a horse to water but one cannot make it drink. Well, a
teacher cannot make a student learn unless that student wants to learn.
Unfortunately, too often students start to learn only to avoid some kind of
punishment. This kind of teaching might happen when a teacher does not care
much about students, but just functioning to avoid being fired (mimicking/faking
teaching).
On another hand, a teacher
might be very forceful on students (“It is for your own good”) to become being
praised. I believe, no matter what a teacher does, students should not
have any psychological damage (like, “feeling stupid”). Teachers - like
doctors – should take “a Hippocratic Oath” of a Teacher and promise “never do
harm to anyone”, because there is always something more important in teaching
than merely transmitting knowledge or training skills. A true teacher knows the
limits.
Ideally, parents should be the
first true teachers. The best gift a parent can give to a child is good
habits and love for learning. The same is true for a teacher. Look at
infants and little children – they always try things and want to learn something
new! Now look at school graduates – so many of them do not want to learn
anything new anymore (or cannot learn anything new, which is even worse). If
children have lost their curiosity and desire to learn, that only means they
did not have a true teacher in their life.
A true teacher is not the one who just
loves teaching (“do as I say”), but the one who also loves learning. The art of
teaching is based on love for education, and passion for sharing this love (and
also on the science of learning).
Every student has his or her
own learning style. Every classroom is different from another. Teaching
constantly presents challenges: students do not act the way a teacher expects,
parents or officials put pressure on a teacher. If a person cannot withstand
challenges, that person should not go into the business of education in any
form; she/he is not going to be a good teacher, or administrator or a
researcher in the field.
No one is perfect. Everyone
makes mistakes (the difference is what we do after we made it). Mistakes are an
inherent part of our life. Mistakes are inevitable and unavoidable. Especially
when people learn something new. A teacher should understand that students will
be making mistakes. Learning is based on continually overcoming mistakes and
learning from them. If a student did not learn something, which he or she was
supposed to learn, chances are that it was because a teacher made a mistake. A
true teacher never stops learning (mostly because no matter how good we are
there is always a room for improvement: new students are different from the
former ones, world changes, a new year is never the same as the previous one).
And a true teacher is always open about mistakes he or she has done, even
(especially!) if it happens in front of a class.
To summarize, what does make a
teacher to be The Teacher (or a Teach-Smith, so to speak: http://www.cognisity.how/2017/12/TeachSmith.html)?
Patience, love of learning, understanding
and accepting personal limits, genuinely caring for students (they intuitively
feel if for the teacher they are just pawns in his/her game for personal
success), constant professional development – including, but not limited to –
having deeper knowledge of the content of the subject he or she teaches, deeper
understanding of the fundamentals of the knowledge development within a
specific science (each school subject is a projection or a simplification of a
certain science), deeper understanding of the fundamentals of the knowledge
development in general, understating of human behavior in general and behavior
of a child, understanding of the fundamentals of human learning and teaching.
From a procedural point of view, the
simplest model of teaching is “teaching = motivating + demonstrating + instructing + explaining
+ assessing”, hence a teacher should have personal qualities, knowledge and
skills which will allow to be able to motivate, demonstrate, instruct, explain,
and assess (within the limits placed by “do no harm” rule).
A true teacher is not always
the one whose professional description says so. A teacher is a person about
whom other people say that they have learned something important from that
person.
There is one controversy I
would also like to address. Many people (including policy makers, parents,
business representatives) think that to be a good teacher one just needs to
know the content. But, that is not true. The content knowledge is one of many
components of a good teacher, and not the most important one. Firstly, I have
met people who had excellent content knowledge but were terrible teachers. I
had professors who were at the top of the achievement list in academia, but who
could not teach at all (they were very interesting storytellers, though).
Clearly, they knew how to do difficult science and they did it. But they could
not explain what they did, and why. Secondly, content knowledge is just a
result of a certain amount of effort.
Any reasonable person who
spends a reasonable amount of time can obtain content knowledge in the amount
sufficient to teaching at a reasonable level. Personal qualities like
willingness to learn till the first day of the retirement (at least), patience,
etc. are also very important for becoming a true teacher. A teacher is - first
- a person, and - second - a knowledge storage, a skill presenter, a guide, a
trainer
What is learning?
A dictionary tells that
learning is:
* the acquisition of knowledge or skills
through experience, study, or by being taught.
* knowledge acquired through experience,
study, or being taught.
For a teacher, this definition
may be a starting point for reaching a deeper understanding of how people
learn.
The first fundamental notion
is that learning is a basic need, like food, or oxygen. There is a “slight”
difference, though. With no food or oxygen, a person ceases the biological
existence (a.k.a. dies).
Without learning a person
ceases the social existence (the reason for all dictators to micromanage
education - they are scared of free thinking which comes with true education).
Learning - as a process and as a result - is solely responsible for the
prosperity of a society (even if the prosperity still is very uneven).
Secondly, learning is a
process; it has phases, it has stages (that is why a college does not accept
middle school graduates). Learning stages might differ in length and
difficulty, depend on many parameters (subjective like age, race, brain
development of a student; contextual – what science is this subject about;
social – culture, traditions, economics), but they are as objective as stages
in the seasons we observe every year. The existence of these stages results in
the existence of the specific patterns of learning, which must be reflected in
the specific patterns of teaching.
We cannot jump from a spring
right into a winter; similarly, we cannot jump into learning quadratic
equations right after learning the addition within a hundred (the normal
process of giving a birth requires 9 months and should go through
well-established phases - from an embryo to a baby: the process of “giving a
birth” to an educated person– from having no knowledge and skills to having
them - also has specific stages). If despite our best efforts a student did not
learn how to solve a quadratic equation, it means that his/her learning path
had missed in the past some of the important stages (assuming that students’
learnability is adequate).
Thirdly, learning is a result,
it is an achievement. There are many achievements in our life, which – kind of
- just happen; learning how to walk, learning how to talk. Achievements like
that happen usually in a natural way, they do not normally require special
prolonged management, do not have to be controlled, assessed, regularly
measured, at least if everything happens as expected.
However, reading and writing,
adding and subtracting, solving equations, etc. are skills; and to learn those
skills a special and longitudinal effort is required, and hence, these skills
have to be assessed. What needs to be assessed, how, when and by whom, however,
are some of the most controversial questions of the contemporary research on
education.
True learning never happens by just
watching and listening (i.e. by merely attending lectures), it happens by
doing. One can observe every cycling tour; interview every famous racer, that
will definitely help the one to understand the theory of biking, but to learn
how to ride a bicycle one has to ride a bicycle. One can watch for hours other
people swimming, but if one wants to learn how to swim, the one has to get
yourself into water and start trying. In the latter case, it would help having
around someone who could explain what one does wrong and how to correct it (a
friend screaming “you can do it, you can do it” would not be much of a help).
Active lectures help to boost
motivation, develop vocabulary, give a perception that things are not as hard
as they seem. Reading (and watching, and listening) also helps to form a
vocabulary, to strengthen some relationships between the current knowledge and
the upcoming one, to ignite curiosity, to boost imagination, to reinforce
self-discipline, to advance mental capacities.
However, skills are only
formed by doing.
For example, if the only
exercise students had been doing for 12 years is squats, they will not be good
at push-ups and pull-ups. If we want students to develop a certain skill, we
have to give them an opportunity to practice that skill (ideally – as long as
they need to master it).
Our brain is acting in a way
similar to how our regular muscles act. Memorization is a mental activity very
much different from creating new images, searching for new meanings, describing
new phenomena, or developing new approach to solving a problem (during
different mental activities a brain does a different work).
Hence, if for 12 years in a
school students only have been memorizing facts, it is not reasonable to expect
from the graduates an ability to think critically, or to be creative.
Thinking critically is a
specific mental activity, which requires comprehensive methodology, meticulous
planning, detailed procedures, and designated time (much more time than just
memorizing and retrieving facts).
Our brain is a powerful
pattern recognition machine. As soon as it recognizes the task, it retrieves
from the memory the sequence of the actions, which has to be performed to
succeed. Of course, we assume that that particular brain is capable of storing
and retrieving the information and governing the actions required for
fulfilling the task (otherwise we have to discuss a case of learning
disabilities). If a brain does not recognize the task, we have two options: (a)
the task is the same but due to some features it is camouflaged as a different
one; (b) the task is different and is really new for the brain and the brain
does not have the solution (at least in full) in its storage.
Every teacher has to teach
students to two different practices: (a) how to perform specific tasks (the set
of those tasks should be specified by a curriculum); (b) how to create a
solution to a problem which has not been solved in the past (by that person);
the latter practice, in turn, requires a practice in making a conclusion
regarding the familiarity of the given assignment - is it the same as one from
the past (a task) or different (a problem)? Development of that skill also
requires specific practice.
Teaching thinking critically
(a.k.a. creatively) means teaching how to create solutions, invent
actions/procedures which have not been presented/trained before.
In general, the answer to the
question “what is learning?” depends on the interpretation of who is asking
this question. For example, one can believe that learning is …
1. memorizing
facts and excelling in performing certain task (actions);
or
2. obtaining
knowledge and developing skills which will allow to create (a.k.a. “construct”
– for those who loves constructivism, as I do) solutions to problems which have
never been solved by the person in the past;
or
3. from
a procedural point of view, the simplest model of learning is
Learning = goal making + memorizing + reiterating/practicing
+ thinking/analyzing + self-assessing (reflecting on the actions done
during the problem-solving process).
My personal definition of learning is a
combination of all the three above.
I believe that teaching how to think
critically, teaching how to create solutions to new problems is the most
important goal and the most difficult task of the contemporary education. If a
person cannot solve any new (for that person) problem, it is hard to expect
this person would generate some knowledge (or product, or business) new to the
society. However, if a person can solve problems which he or she has not solved
in the past, there is at least a chance that that person would give us
something absolutely new and unexpected (good or bad – that is a different
conversation). We should keep in mind, though, that critical thinking cannot be
learned without a solid foundation in facts and skills.
What changes does US education reform need?
Education
needs its own “Manhattan Project”, or “Apollo Program”, which would reexamine
the well-established paradigms, and would guide a broad search for new
connections and correlations; which would combine newly presented advances in
artificial intelligence with neuroscience to study and analyze multi-layered
universe of individual, group, and institutional learning and teaching; which
would bring in education newly developed technologies, including AI, virtual
reality, augmented reality, top level robotics.
This
type of a program can be initiated via institutionalizing a collaboration
between various professional and scientific groups by establishing a specific
institution –an Institute for Learning and Teaching (the name is tentative, of
course).
Within
this Institute, professionals from various universities, intuitions, and
companies would be able to join their effort and expertise (more at http://www.cognisity.how/2017/11/PILT.html).
My
reflection to the voices of my students.
First, one
might ask why do I post all that feedback, isn’t this just bragging?
No, it is
not just bragging.
I write on
education (www.Cognisity.How),
and I want to demonstrate that I know what I am writing about.
I know about
education not from books or theorization.
I know about
education from books, from my own theorization, and from my own highly
successful teaching experience, from my whole educational practice.
I believe
that having this type of a feedback shows that overtime I have made a
transition from being a teach-er to becoming a
teach-smith :) (www.GoMars.xyz/teachsmith.html)
The first
two paragraphs above are copies of the thank-you cards I got from two of my
former students, the rest is the quotes from end-of-a-course (elementary
physics I and II) student evaluations from 2008 to 2017 about me and the course
I have designed. Those quotes represent about two thirds of positive (mostly)
views expressed by students (the other third expresses sentiments very similar
to already presented). It is worth noting, that many comments go beyond just
“he is a nice guy”; many comments underline the fact that the course is
designed to help students to get good understanding of physics.
Do I have
any negative reviews from my former students?
Of course!
(the copies of full evaluations are available on http://gomars.xyz/mathhealth/myinfo.htm
but why would I presented here everything negative about myself? J )
Having only
positive reviews is unnatural for a teacher of a large class. When one has
several dozen students with different backgrounds, different expectations,
different cultural habits and psychological inclinations, it is inevitable and
unavoidable to have student who did not like the way one teaches (due to a list
of possible reasons).
The first
question is – does the teacher have more positive or more negative reviews?
Well, in my
case, if I had more negative reviews than positive ones, I would not be allowed
to teach these courses for so many years.
Since I am a
teacher, it seems natural to me to evaluate my skills by comparing them with
the skills of other teachers. Unfortunately, I have no access to statistic on
other BU physics department faculty; I would even think that this statistic
might not even exist. “Fortunately”, www.ratemyprofessor.com gives some glimpses of
“comparable” “data”. Surly, no one can take seriously what students post on
this site, at least until hundreds of students would express their opinions on
the same professor. However, even with this amount of “data” we still can see
some interesting patterns. There are faculty whose average rating is high because
the most of the students’ ratings are high; there are faculty whose average
rating is law because the most of the students’ ratings are law; there are
faculty whose average rating is average because the most of the students’
ratings are average. But there are also faculty whose average ratemyprofessor rating is average because students’
ratings are very opposite (some give a high rating but
some give a lower one). So far my ratemyprofessor
rating is of the latter kind (good thing is that my official BU student reviews
aren't such; but one can ask a general questions – what is more important, the
average rating or the highest one?).
_________
This is the
glimpse of some of the reviews taken from the ratemyprofessor:
GOOD!
Mr. V was
honestly the best professor I have had at BU. I never take the time to rate my
other professors but Mr. V is worthy of the praise. He made the summer course
worthwhile. His demonstrations were great and his humor always made my day. Go
to office hours, do the web assign, and you will learn a lot. He is an awesome
human. Thank you
BAD!!
Not fair.
First exam was easy. But other exams were ridiculously hard. Exams are much
more difficult than HW problems. Handwriting is horrible and it is difficult to
understand him. Never tells what is exactly on the exam. Expects you to study
everything he gives (labs, discussion, lectures, webassign,
etc). Not clear at all.
GOOD!
I was very
worried coming into this class, having ALWAYS struggled with classes like
Physics. I was also worried when I heard Dr. V's strong accent. However, after
taking 2 straight summer courses with Dr. V, he has proven to be an incredibly
nice, caring, and funny professor who really wants his students to succeed! GO
TO OFFICE HOURS, DO HOMEWORK
BAD!!
Very
difficult to understand. Homework questions are not like questions done in
class. Goes through too much material far too quickly. Do not take this class
over the summer.
GOOD!
I took PY105
in the summer and although I honestly dislike physics, I did enjoy Mr. V's
lectures. I guess his accent's gotten better because our class was the first to
not complain about it (2016). The exams are generally difficult but graded more
leniently that most other BU courses IMO. I'd love to have him for physics
again for 106, he's chill.
BAD!!
Very hard
professor and moves at the pace of a fast train. he does not go through
examples and thinks people understand concepts when they do not really. i really wish he would solidly lecture/explain more.
GOOD!
Val is a
great professor. He is somewhat difficult to understand and his handwriting is
atrocious, but overall he does a good job getting the concepts across. He has
some awesome in class demos which are fun to watch. He tests very similar to
the homework problems, so if you understand the homework fully you'll be fine.
BAD!!
Expects you
to have read ahead of class and memorized everything. there is no required
textbook, but he takes class problems, homework, and test questions from the
one that he recommends, which is not helpful at all. he speeds thru things and
doesn't give one time to write or properly digest the info. if he's teaching,
take physics later.
_________
You would
probably prefer having a GOOD teacher, and tried to avoid the BAD one. But the
fact of the matter is those two descriptions depict the same person,
i.e. me (BTW: on the first day of each new class I always show to my new
students a much longer list of pros and cons)!
I think this
is very solid proof of the fact that different students have different learning
styles and different teachers have different teaching styles, and sometimes
those styles match and sometimes they don't.
It is clear
that students’ opinions about me are polarized, and I am absolutely fine with
that.
The large
part of my first lecture is devoted to presenting to students my views on
physics, on teaching, on learning, on grading, and on my expectations about
students. (for example, take a look at this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8776nfGNX8;
over the years I have posted many short youtube
videos, including videos on what is physics and how to solve physical
problems).
I always
mention a simple fact, that different students learn differently, people have
different learning styles, and different teachers have different teaching
styles, hence, there is always a chance that my teaching style does not math
somebody's learning style. What to if that happens? Well, a student will have
to make a decision – stay or go to a different teacher. So far (knock on wood)
I represent a good match for the majority of students taking BU PY105 and PY106
courses.
Among
negative reviews the most common themes are: an accent (Russian), handwriting
(guilty, my handwriting is not much better than the one of a regular doctor),
too fast (well, the average speed of covering the material is equal to the
total volume of the material divided by six weeks of the course), do not answer
questions in full (that is sometimes true, it depends on a question, sometimes
I just cannot spend much time on repeating the material learned two weeks ago
and only can point at the material which is needed to be reviewed again), too
forward with students (for example, when asking direct questions; an
interesting observation – you ask a direct question to a student in a lecture
and the student “shrinks”, but there is almost no problem if it happens on
office hour).
I believe
that for any teacher the list of positive reviews from students should present
the best recommendation for a teaching job.
When I left
my comfortable life in Russia and moved to the US I did not have professional
network to rely on, or money, or language. It took me some time to finally land
at Boston University physics department as a laboratory assistant. Gradually my
English got better, and my knowledge of the new academic environment got
clearer. After three years I got a promotion to run a demonstration facility. A
year after I started teaching BU elementary physics courses, and I have been
teaching physics since then. During the last several years, in addition to my
full-time position at the demonstration facility, I also have been teaching,
and traveling to different conferences with posters or presentations, and
publishing various papers, but my dream has always been to became a full-time
physics instructor.
I have an
experience in research on teaching physics, I have an administrative
experience, I have been helping to school teachers and administrators to
improve teaching environment (for the full resume, please, follow this link: http://teachology.xyz/mathhealth/rezume.htm),
but at my core I am a physics teacher.
My teacher
philosophy, my views on what is teaching and what is learning are presented in
my book “Braking the Mold of Conventional Thinking: a Personal Quest for
Teaching Philosophy” available at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/665204
(the short version of my teaching philosophy is attached as Appendix I).
P.S. This
link http://teachology.xyz/mathhealth/myinfo.htm leads
to a page with links to copies of some actual evaluations form the past.
Appendix I
Finally
(August 17, 2017)!
The complete
elementary Physics course (two semesters) is available online. Now everyone can
see and hear what I do in a class.
This is
important for me because of many different reason, one of which is that I
advocate for the maximum openness in education.
Appendix II
I
always tell to my students that there are science courses which represent the
material simply as a collection of a disconnected facts. Courses like that do
not represent students with the scientific way of thinking. Many people in the
field of education for a long time have been propelling the idea of teaching
students how to think critically, but they could not offer the method for how
exactly this could be done. However, the method has been around for at least
several hundred years, and is called – science thinking. The true science
course has to guide students through the scientific way of thinking using the
course material (i.e. facts) as the building bricks of the science students
learn. This is how my physics course is developed and taught.
Naturally,
not all student like my approach, the evidence shows that some of them do.
Appendix III
(some
technical elements of my teaching are described at http://gomars.xyz/phy.html)
Teaching
Statement (for the broader version, please follow to: http://www.gomars.xyz/vvli.html)
Dear
Colleagues,
Below you
find a very short version of my teaching philosophy, which has been presented
in great details in my book “Becoming a STEM teacher”.
In chapters “What is Learning”, “What is Teaching”, “How I flipped my classroom
without even knowing it”, “What does “Thinking as a Physicist” mean?”, and
others I lay down the results of my reflection upon years of my (mostly
successful) teaching (individual posts are also available at http://www.teachology.xyz/lc.htm).
I believe
that learning is more than just acquiring a certain set of skills and
prescribed amount of knowledge. Learning is an important cultural process which
happens when pupils (students) are being brought into the realm of
relationships and traditions which should allow them (a) to prosper in the
current society, and (b) to become active agents of the social progress.
I believe
that a teacher is more than just a “walking knowledge storage” who imparts this
knowledge on students and judge how good students have become at reproducing
the knowledge imparted onto them. My definition of teaching is: “Teaching is guiding
students through a specifically designed set of learning experiences (a.k.a.
student activities) to help them to develop or advance desired skills and
knowledge.”
A teacher is
a guide, who had become an expert in a certain field, and now helps students to
begin and to walk a path to becoming an expert in the field he or she wants to
become an expert. In order to guide students as efficiently as possible, a
teacher has to use (and often develop) specific tools/instruments students
should use when immersed into situations specifically designed to help them mastering
designated skills. A teacher might be not the one who designs the whole set of
student activities and corresponded learning tools, but he or she generally
should have a deep understanding of the reasons for the use of the activities
and tools.
Students are
not empty vases needed to be filled up with wisdom, not tabula rasa on which a
teacher scribbles smart things. Students have certain world views, they have
certain understanding of how the nature works, and a teacher cannot ignore
ideas, conceptions, preconceptions (some of which might be incomplete or
incorrect) students have when starting a course.
The goal of
learning is to achieve a higher level of competency. Passive learning
does not work. Strictly speaking, passive learning is not really a learning, it
is just a precursor for an actual learning. A true learning happens when
students are actively trying to merge new knowledge (usually presented to them
by a teacher live or via mediating media – books, videos) with the previously
internalized knowledge. Very often students run into contradictions, some of
which are often called “mistakes”. However, the only truly real way of learning
is through making mistakes and reflecting on how those mistakes had been
corrected.
One of the
most important qualities of a teacher is ability to guide students through
mistakes they make (maneuvering between giving away the answer and
making students feeling desperate).
When
assessing student’s progress, a teacher is not a judge, but rather an auditor
who has to present to a student the accurate measure of student’s achievement
(or a failure).
In the end,
the most important measure of a teacher’s success is good feeling students have
about themselves, the course, the work students done during the course and the
results of the work; and also the reputation of a teacher students pass along
to fellow students.
That is why
the simplest definition of a “teacher” is “the person about whom someone
said at least once – I’ve learned something valuable from that guy!”.
My ultimate
goal is to change students’ aptitudes about themselves and about physics. Many
students are afraid of taking physics because they have an impression that
physics is only for selected few, that succeeding in physics requires super
intelligence. This impression is wrong. Anyone who is capable of solving
quadratic equation and knows the multiplication table can learn physics. There
are only two requirements for achieving a deep understanding of Physics:
# 1 - a good
teacher;
#2 - a good
student.
Being a good
teacher means having a proof of a successful teaching (e.g. the voices of my
students).
Being a good
student means putting effort in learning.
If you are a
good student, you don't give up, you try and try again, and you are actively
guiding your or learning by making your teacher work for you. If something is
not clear for you, if you feel like you don't understand something - it's not
your fault; it only means your teacher needs to find the right way adjusted
specifically to you to help you to master the subject.
If a
teachers does good job, students not only learn the subject, but they also
change their attitude to more positive side.
For example,
my students always demonstrate the positive shift in their attitude.
Sincerely,
Dr. Valentin Voroshilov