teaching

Updated 6-Feb-08. I frequently give talks on climate change and am often asked to share my presentation. Here is a recent one for download and use. If you use it, please let me know. Choose the appropriate format and spread the word about global climate change.

The talks are really intended for me to present, so there is very little text. I've tried to add some notes and references to help you. Contact me if you have any questions.

• PowerPoint 2008: Global Warming Talk Updated 6-Feb-08.
• Older versions of PowerPoint: Download

The files are zipped and approximately 30 MB in size, each.

Somehow, in all my years in school, I never stumbled upon this classic bit of logic.

...can students really be "surprised" when the teacher tells them it will happen?

On Friday, a high school teacher announces to his class that there will be a surprise quiz some time during the next week. "By surprise," he states, "I mean that, the night before the quiz, you will not be able to deduce that the quiz will be the next day." A clever student raises his hand and says, "Well, the exam definitely cannot be on Friday because on Thursday night, we would be 100% certain that the exam would be the next day. But then, the exam cannot be on Thursday either because, knowing that it cannot be on Friday, on Wednesday night we could deduce that the exam must be on Thursday. By similar reasoning, it is impossible to give the exam on Wednesday, Tuesday, or Monday. Therefore, your claim that you will give a surprise quiz next week is clearly false."

This is clearly a silly paradox. If you add the possibility that there might not be a quiz, the logic breaks down. Still, can students really be "surprised" when the teacher tells them it will happen?

To truly surprise students, the teacher must never let on that there might be a quiz. Having no inkling of the quiz is the only way to make it a real surprise. Students beware!

...your job can have one of the biggest impacts on your happiness and health. While many things in your life affect your health, such as proper diet, exercise, breathing, relaxing, and so on, your job can have one of the biggest impacts on your happiness and health. According to a survey conducted by Monster.com, the 10 healthiest jobs to have are:

• Yoga instructor
• Personal trainer
• Professor
• Florist
• Activity specialist
• Chiropractor
• Choreographer
• Massage therapist
• Nutritionist
• Running coach

The also list the seven most stressful occupations as:

• Air traffic controller
• CEO
• Firefighter
• Police officer
• Taxi driver
• Farmer
• Junior high school teacher

As much as I loved working at Cornerstone as a Middle School Teacher, this should help everyone see that I made a healthy choice!

Two years ago, when I was teaching Flash to some Middle School students, I published their movies here. Enjoy. Or as one of my students wrote, "injoy".

It's a shame that the previous year's work is not included. There were some very talented flash designers!

Hands down the best professor I have ever had. Over the last 9 semesters I have taught 11 classes at TCC and have gotten student evaluation results from 5 of those classes (student evaluations are not given in summer classes for some odd reason). Below is a table of the accumulated results of those surveys. (Click read more if you don't see the table.)

	Always	Average	Sometimes	Low	Never
	5	4	3	2	1	Skipped	Average
1. Explains subject matter clearly.	110	10	1	0	0	3	4.90
2. Presents subject matter with enthusiasm and interest.	110	1	0	0	0	3	4.99
3. Explains what is expected of students. (States assignments clearly.)	105	5	0	0	1	3	4.92
4. Uses class time effectively. (Organizes classrooms presentations.)	111	10	0	0	0	3	4.92
5. Stimulates interest and curiosity in subject matter.	105	11	1	1	0	3	4.86
6. Presents meaningful applications of subject matter.	111	5	2	0	0	4	4.92
7. Allows reasonable time for questions and comments.	110	6	1	1	0	3	4.91
8. Listens to opinions of other people. (Accepts other possibilities or alternatives.)	110	8	2	0	1	3	4.87
9. Is fair and consistent in grading policies.	107	4	1	0	1	3	4.91
10. Is willing to help students with course work.	105	1	3	0	1	3	4.90
11. General estimate of instructor.	114	4	0	0	1	3	4.93
12. Additional comments (complete and unedited).	"Hands down the best professor I have ever had. Class flies by and I can't wait to get back." (MET 1010 Fall 2005)
	"Todd Albert is an excellent instructor. This has been a meaningful, interesting, and inspiring experience." (ISC 1140 Fall 2006)
	"Making a note on Mr. Todd Albert's enthusiasm and interest - he has done an emaculate job on presenting the subject matter. I myself, have never found Science as interesting as I do now - b/c of his apparent love for teaching science & being a scientist. I am more than glad to of gotten him as a teacher." (ISC 1140 Fall 2006)

My rough students statistics are as follows:
Male: 40%
Female: 60%
Black: 29%
Hispanic: 9%

Students that took more than one of my classes: 11
Total: 370 students (just at TCC)

In teaching my Middle School Computer Graphics course, one of the topics I like to discuss is how the media use photo manipulation to change how people look, and in doing so, change our perceptions of how people should look.

I show various before and after images of women being transformed from plain to perfect using photoshop.

I hope that teaching these students not to trust what they see in the media, they will learn more self-esteem and more respect for natural beauty.

Along those lines, the video below highlights just how far companies go to turn a plain looking woman into their model of beauty.

I look forward to your comments below!

Why shouldn't we teach children about the environment?So, you've probably come across media propaganda like the video below from CNN and FOX. They are calling the new movie, Happy Feet, an animated version of An Inconvenient Truth, which I had an earlier post on.

"Bah," I say. Why shouldn't we teach children about the environment, about being stewards of the Earth, about climate change, and about the interconnectedness of nature? And putting it in an animated film? Have you ever heard of The Lorax (which, by the way, my children love).

I encouraged one of my former students to publish a paper she wrote in my class. Here it is: Climate change threatens life, security and property. I'm thrilled to see this paper published. Obviously she scored an A on the paper!

I've just begun my second year of teaching at Cornerstone Learning Community. This year I am teaching Science and Social Studies as a lead teacher for the Middle School program. I also teach computer graphics and other electives.

In order to facilitate communitcation between the teachers and parents, I set up a new Middle School website where we can update students and parents on assignments and what's going on in our classes. I like drupal and the leaf template so much, I've used them on this site and the CLC MS site!

My students always have very positive things to say about my teaching. By then end of a semester, I usually have been complimented on my teaching by most of the students in class (and I don't give out "brownie points"). They really do seem to like me.

On anonymous student evaluations, I usually come out on top of any department I teach in, and rarely receive any negative feedback. Still, I would not consider my classes "easy".

See what students who have taken my class have had to say at ratemyprofssor.com.