To all the teachers out there

[stonehart]

Big thumbs up to all those that teach.

I am almost through my first year as an engineering teacher..... it is harder than you think.

Sort of miss just chilling out and reading stuff here but damn if I have the time, having said that next year should be a little more relaxed as I have my teaching plans more or less in place now.

So give the teacher you know a thumbs up.. hard job people.

Right I have a two hour class on Equalization/spectrum analysis and room tuning to teach today.

The math and concepts of use is easy to teach the instinct as an engineer is sort of impossible.

 

[Goggs Mackay]

Hey Stoney. I had realised you were not around and having a close friend who trained to be a teacher at around age 34, I know the work involved. In fact teaching used to be a job I was interested in. I do like the act of teaching but in this country, the paperwork and ridiculous PC brigade have ruined an otherwise noble profession.

But thumbs up to teachers for sure.

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

Ahh, so you are an AUDIO engineer... Very cool. Me too, in a self-taught, studio rat kinda way. I've tried to teach a few folks about boards, EQ, levels, mic placement, outboard effects, pinking out rooms, blah blah. You are right, it ain't easy—especially if you are teaching them the right way/professional way to do things, etc instead of my amateur learned thru the school of hard knocks and rock kinda way

 

[Burnt State]

Big thumbs up to all those that teach.

I am almost through my first year as an engineering teacher..... it is harder than you think.

Sort of miss just chilling out and reading stuff here but damn if I have the time, having said that next year should be a little more relaxed as I have my teaching plans more or less in place now.

So give the teacher you know a thumbs up.. hard job people.

Right I have a two hour class on Equalization/spectrum analysis and room tuning to teach today.

The math and concepts of use is easy to teach the instinct as an engineer is sort of impossible.

Congrats, Stoney, on pushing through year one. It's a tough one, and if you can get past year seven you will be on the career path as the majority of teachers who leave the profession do so in the first 5-7 years. 22 years later and I'm still working on reinventing myself, how I teach and what I teach, to keep me and the students engaged, otherwise I would go balmy.

Keep it fresh; Keep it professional and Keep it fun. Because you already know your stuff you will always be prepared. Hopefully your students are eager and want to be there, as my advice to junior teachers who are busy trying to focus on classroom management is this: just remember that every time a student acts out or doesn't do their homework or freaks out it has absolutely nothing to do with you (unless you're a jerk) as all kids act out for their own personal reasons. Your job is just to help them along the path and get them from their point a to the next point b. Good luck! Keep it real.

 

[Wade]

Big thumbs up to all those that teach.

I am almost through my first year as an engineering teacher..... it is harder than you think.

Sort of miss just chilling out and reading stuff here but damn if I have the time, having said that next year should be a little more relaxed as I have my teaching plans more or less in place now.

So give the teacher you know a thumbs up.. hard job people.

Right I have a two hour class on Equalization/spectrum analysis and room tuning to teach today.

The math and concepts of use is easy to teach the instinct as an engineer is sort of impossible.

A welcome return to you Stoney. So what have your students taught you?

 

[boomerang]

Congrats, Stoney ! My late wife taught middle school for some twenty odd years. I didn't catch the grade level you are teaching. But most effective principles of the student/teacher relationship always apply. It sounds cliched, but teaching really is a calling, a job that demands a deep inner commitment going beyond that of just another job. Is it harder than most people think? You betcha' !

 

[stonehart]

Congrats, Stoney ! My late wife taught middle school for some twenty odd years. I didn't catch the grade level you are teaching. But most effective principles of the student/teacher relationship always apply. It sounds cliched, but teaching really is a calling, a job that demands a deep inner commitment going beyond that of just another job. Is it harder than most people think? You betcha' !

I am teaching Tertiary Level .. Degree level engineering.
To be honest from what I have seen of the work load High School teachers have to deal with my job is a bit less intense

 

[stonehart]

A welcome return to you Stoney. So what have your students taught you?

Lots of patience my friend .. There are many times with an outward smile but a big sigh on the inside I have to explain the same things over and over again.. The big challenge for a teacher is to make the students feel that they are achieving and don't feel stupid.

Ahh, so you are an AUDIO engineer... Very cool. Me too, in a self-taught, studio rat kinda way. I've tried to teach a few folks about boards, EQ, levels, mic placement, outboard effects, pinking out rooms, blah blah. You are right, it ain't easy—especially if you are teaching them the right way/professional way to do things, etc instead of my amateur learned thru the school of hard knocks and rock kinda way

Much of my knowledge is self taught Chris just like your good self, I spent 23 years on the front line as a touring tech (specialize in stage monitors, the hardest job :-( ) much of my knowledge was really learned on the job by experimentation and talking with other techs... There are just some things you can not teach however, oh you can show students but unless they have the theory right they just don't understand what and why you are doing what you are doing. There is an engineers instinct that you just can't teach.

 

[stonehart]

By the way I have almost a years worth of shows to listen to and six weeks off from the second week of December! oh yeah I am going to play catch up

 

[boomerang]

Much of my knowledge is self taught Chris just like your good self, I spent 23 years on the front line as a touring tech (specialize in stage monitors, the hardest job :-( ) much of my knowledge was really learned on the job by experimentation and talking with other techs... There are just some things you can not teach however, oh you can show students but unless they have the theory right they just don't understand what and why you are doing what you are doing. There is an engineers instinct that you just can't teach.

I spent two years at the local community college piling up semester hours in electronics. The tech industry was hot at the time, and I supposedly had one of the highest scores on the company qualifying exam they had seen in a while.

Which led management to the erroneous conclusion that I would be a crack troubleshooter out of the gate. They assigned me to the company's problem product with high expectations. The unit was a technical problem child with inherent design problems. (Its design engineer later admitted as much to me.)

My high score was the result of having taken umpteen similar tests in school, but I soon found I couldn't troubleshoot my way out of a paper bag. It probably won't surprise Stoney that it took a full year of experience under my belt before I knew what the hey I was doing. Knowledge of basic theory is vital. But Like most jobs, there was no substitute for hands on experience.

And then there are the whiz kid outliers, usually engineers, who can walk in 'cold' and fix almost any problem with nothing more than time and schematics. But as you said, it takes a certain kind of mind to do this.

 

[Randall]

Big thumbs up to all those that teach ...

Well Maybe Not All ... And All ... Some Are
Just Another Brick In the Wall

​

 

[Randall]

Thumbs Up To The Few Who Teach Well and From The Heart

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

Telling off Schneebly:

"You're tacky and I hate you!"

I'll see you after class...

 

[stonehart]

I spent two years at the local community college piling up semester hours in electronics. The tech industry was hot at the time, and I supposedly had one of the highest scores on the company qualifying exam they had seen in a while.

Which led management to the erroneous conclusion that I would be a crack troubleshooter out of the gate. They assigned me to the company's problem product with high expectations. The unit was a technical problem child with inherent design problems. (Its design engineer later admitted as much to me.)

My high score was the result of having taken umpteen similar tests in school, but I soon found I couldn't troubleshoot my way out of a paper bag. It probably won't surprise Stoney that it took a full year of experience under my belt before I knew what the hey I was doing. Knowledge of basic theory is vital. But Like most jobs, there was no substitute for hands on experience.

And then there are the whiz kid outliers, usually engineers, who can walk in 'cold' and fix almost any problem with nothing more than time and schematics. But as you said, it takes a certain kind of mind to do this.

Oh I hear you

I have just such a student who just seems to nail it every time .. Born instinct for it. what he has no idea of is one of the companies I worked for for many years will take him on right after graduation as they want him before anyone else gets him.. Good techs are hard to come by.

My problem is keeping him interested as he is miles more advanced in understanding than the rest of the class... So I have thrown him in the deep end with major projects and nasty technical issues to work out.