TITLE: Learn Humility By Teaching
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: January 24, 2016 10:33 AM
DESC: 
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BODY:
In <EM>The Books in My Life</EM>, Henry Miller writes about
discussing books with an inquisitive friend:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 I remember this short period vividly because it was an
 exercise in humility and self-control on my part.  The
 desire to be absolutely truthful with my friend caused
 me to realize how very little I knew, how very little
 I could reveal, though he always maintained that I was
 a guide and mentor to him.  In the brief, the result
 of those communions was that I began to doubt all that
 I had blithely taken for granted.  The more I endeavored
 to explain my point of view, the more I floundered.  He
 may have thought I acquitted myself well, but not I.
 Often, on parting from him, I would continue the inner
 debate interminably.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

I am guessing that most anyone who teaches knows the feeling
Miller describes.  I feel it all the time.

I'm feeling it again this semester while teaching my Programming
Languages and Paradigms course.  We're learning Racket as a way
to learn to talk about programming languages, and also as a
vehicle for learning functional programming.  One of my goals
this semester is to be more honest.  Whenever I find a claim in
my lecture notes that sounds like dogma that I'm asking students
to accept on faith, I'm trying to explain in a way that connects
to their experience.  Whenever students ask a question about why
we do something in a particular way, I'm trying to help them
really to see how the new way is an improvement over what they
are used to.  If I can't, I admit that it's convention and
resolve not to be dogmatic about it with them.

This is a challenge for me.  I am prone to dogma, and having
programmed functionally in Scheme for a long time, so much of
what my students experience learning Racket is deeply compiled
in my brain.  Why do we do that?  I've forgotten, if I ever
knew.  I may have a vague memory that, when I don't do it that
way, chaos ensues.  Trust me!  Unfortunately, that is not a
convincing way to teach.  Trying to give better answers and more
constructive explanations gives rise to the sort of floundering
that Miller talks about.  After class, the inner debate continues
as I try to figure out what I know and why, so that I can do
better.

Some natural teachers may find this easy, but for me, learning
to answer questions in a way that really helps students has
been a decades-long lesson in humility.
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