ANST - Screening Instructors

[Gunnora Hallakarva]

Sael og heil!

While I have to say that, like Dieterich and Hans, I prefer not to attend
badly taught classes, I also am not afraid to walk out of a class that I
find to be badly taught or poorly researched.  I also think that I do
better to stay and take notes, and then later try to guide the instructor
towards better sources or more accurate information if I know how to do so,
or to offer the instructor suggestions and coaching as to how to present a
more effective class.

I don't want to see us screening instructors for Kings College.  One of the
good things about Kings College is that it provides a valuable venue for
people to learn how to teach.  Not everyone can teach, or can teach well,
but even a bad teacher can overcome that and learn better techniques.
However, they have to have the opportunity to teach so that they can learn
to teach better.

Screening teachers is like saying, "We will not allow anyone to fight in a
tournament who has not been thoroughly tested and certain to give a good
fight to any opponent and entertain the onlookers every time as well."  We
don't screen fighters in that way - they let me onto the field even at
Crown if I want to get out there and fight, and it is my sovereign right to
get out there and make a complete ass of myself by getting one-shotted by
any number of people.

We do have higher-level educational venues.  For example, the Alexandrian
Society is actively working to encourage better teaching and more
academically accurate classes.  You can assume that any member of the
Alexandrian Society will give a good class, and we are starting to
recognize Teaching Fellows and Research Fellows for their skills in these
areas -- and Teaching Fellows certainly can give a good class, and for that
matter all of our current recognized Research Fellows are likewise good
teachers.

The way the Alexandrian Symposium series has worked is that we have asked
to see the presenter's paper ahead of time,  unless we knew that person's
teaching ability by personal experience.  We have not turned any
instructors down ahead of time to date.  We also do some quality control by
passing out class evaluation forms.  If we see that a certain instructor
did a bad job (great research but stultifying presentation that was
inaccessible to the audience, for example) we just won't invite that person
to present again until and unless we've seen them do better job in some
other venue.

We have venues for higher level classes - the Alexandrian Society Symposium
Series and Lillies War have been mentioned.  But we also must have a
training ground for those high level teachers.  Academia is not the
training ground we need -- lord knows I've gone to the Texas Medieval
Association Conferences and been bored out of my mind, or driven nuts by
bad presentations, all by well-credentialled, respected history
professionals.  

We should not restrict who can and cannot teach at Kings College, for
example - that is a valuable training ground for SCA instructors.  I do not
think it unreasonable, however, to ask for would-be teachers to submit at
least an outline and list of sources ahead of time - say, at least 2
months.  That would allow the organizers to look over these items, and
perhaps consult with those who are skilled in the field in question, and
instructors who were relying on bad sources, or who had a confused
presentation, could then be encouraged to work with others to refine the
class ahead of time.  This would not only serve to bring the level of
teaching at Kings College to a higher level, but it would also allow
would-be instructors to learn and correct problems ahead of time, providing
a valuable learning experience for both teachers and students.

I don't think Hans needs to go into hiding -- I certainly understand the
frustration that drives the comments.  But I do think that there are good
ways and bad ways to go about making better classes, and training better
teachers to present them.


Wæs Þu Hæl (Waes Thu Hael)

::GUNNORA::

Gunnora Hallakarva
Herskerinde
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Ek eigi visa þik hversu oðlask Lofstirrlauf-Kruna heldr hversu na Hersis-Aðal
(Ek eigi thik hversu odhlask Lofstirrlauf-Kruna heldr hversu na Hersis-Adhal)

============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.