Bernard Franks

My Favorite Teaching Moment

‘Teachable moments’ make teaching more fun than work, so I’ll keep teaching as long as they keep happening. Some activities work smoothly and productively, and you can see the students (or at least some of them) ‘get the lesson.’ More often, a lesson plan might ‘fall apart’, yet you find that ‘teachable moment.’ You adjust, and the change of plans allows you to reach that ‘unreachable student,’ if only for that activity. This happens all the time in the classroom and, with some planning and care, happens just as often with online courses.

As a science teacher, many of my most favorite moments involve some hands-on activities. They might include students who thought they ‘dislike’ science class, but find themselves working overtime on a task and, despite their initial misgivings, actually enjoying the ‘work.’

One of my best examples involves physics students working on a bridge-building project. First, they objected to any group work, and then they complained about how much time and effort the project was taking. As their deadlines for completion approached, and they talked about the competition (with a different class section) for the best work, they began staying over when class ended. They even asked for permission to skip their next class so that they could keep working on their tasks, which highly surprised their other instructors. Some of our ‘unreachable’ students learned the value of working together, meeting schedules, and completing a good-quality project.

Why I Love Teaching PLS Courses

I learned about PLS at a conference late in 2010 and was able to ‘test drive’ two online courses this year. Each was a great experience, very well facilitated, with loads of excellent group interactions among all participants. Each course, in addition, was super relevant and practical for classroom use. If these are typical PLS courses, I am looking forward to many more similar experiences in future courses.

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