MRS LECTURER (2)

Imagine for one minute as a lecturer (for one minute!) that you are a student and you arrive in class at the right time (no, not ten minutes into the hour of the lecture, hmn hmn!) and while you wait for your lecturer, you bring out your netbook, look up your last lecture notes, mark sections of it in different colors in accordance with your understanding of the material,  bring out your modem and connect to Google to look up information about this topic elsewhere in the world, say Trinidad & Tobago, because you heard from your boyfriend who is currently holidaying there with his family. While you were doing that, the said boyfriend pings you on your Blackberry, sends you a message asking you to log in to Skype,< baby I miss you, just want to see your face> and suddenly in walks a man holding like almost a ream of paper haphazardly arranged and flying in all directions, as he manages to place the paper down, his colored chalk (chalk?!!) roll in 3 different directions and nicer students help to stop the escape of the chalk(s) with their feet while Mr Lecturer, smelling of ground nuts and roasted corn attempts to get himself together for this one hour class.

I dont know about you, I would be on Skype listening to sweet nothings from the BF and attempting (and failing!) to look interested in the poor man who is trying to make me interested in the diseases of Small Animals (sorry, Tayo, was too tempting, could not resist!).

Contrast this with this image of your lecturer, who arrives (2minutes before the time the lecture is about to begin!) on time, wielding a netbook that she immediately connects to the electronic board in your lecture hall, projects the salient points of her topic to you and images make her meaning abundantly clear, dressed like she has an interview for a job at the US embassy or a casual dinner with her hubby, wafts of the richest, warmest designer fragrance tantalise your senses everytime she walks by you and you have to battle your wits to refrain from rising to follow her. At the conclusion of the class, she hands out assignments and wants you to prepare for a short quiz during the next class. You have a puppy dog look on your face that says you are her willing slave for life and your seat mate has to shake you awake to bring you back to earth while you log into Skype to share the shock to your senses with your BF. You wonder if this woman has Project students? To be able to remain in the presence of such greatness?

All is about packaging! Notice I made no comments about the intellectual ability of both lecturers, just the packaging and that is exactly what lecturing is about. Yes, you are to deliver lectures but you must do it in such a manner that inspires the lectured to aspire to learn. Not by dubious means, but within reason, by inspiring affection and a desire to please you.

This is probably why lecturer-student relationships occur but only where the lecturer crosses the lines of decorum and morality. If you do not inspire some confidence in your students to cause them to aspire to better, you are failing them and its ALL (as in more than 75%!) about packaging!

As a lecturer, you must speak the language your students speak. Dont ask me what this means because it differs from one set of students to the other, just learn what they say and its real meaning.

You must deal with your deficiencies, else they will be magnified by your students. If English-challenged, make more of an effort to learn proper usage of the language and more importantly, keep it simple! Leave all the crazy-sounding words to Obiahagbon!

Learn your material, be ready to discuss the latest in your field intelligently and this can ONLY happen if you read up constantly,regularly. Read and understand your material and be ready to defend what you are teaching.

Be prepared for the 'smartass student'- this one knows a lot and his/her sole aim in your class is to disparage you, and become a star. Be gentle and kind. Do not ever get in a shouting match or be condescending, instead, use this one for entertainment breaks during class. Ask him/her, 'what's your take, would you please share with us all, so we may learn?' and mean it!

Be informed about events happening around the world, they make for great discussion topics! Do not ALWAYS talk about what you teach, talk about other stuff too. Be caring enough to be understanding. Not all students are trouble (seriously!).

Most students just want the information you have as quickly as you can give it as their lives are full of more interesting stuff. If you then cannot match the level of interest they need, they will switch off. Life is too short to be dealing with the intricacies of electromagnetic waves when Irokotv has new Nollywood movies online!

I have been lucky not to have met any student who can match my degree of horribleness as a student (touches wood). Let's hope it stays that way!