Two teachers on contract discuss their pedagogical approaches.
Pedagogist:
Why don’t you teach more classes?
Iconoclast: Can’t. I already have six a week. Can’t do eighteen a week like you.
Iconoclast: Can’t. I already have six a week. Can’t do eighteen a week like you.
Pedagogist: You’d make three
times as much. All you got to do is walk in, open the text to the right place
and tell them to get on with it. Piece of cake.
Iconoclast: Can’t do textbooks. Have to do something edgy and new each week. Something I’ve never taught before.
Pedagogist: Stressful!
Iconoclast: Stimulating. I get input from preparing, and I get output from teaching what I just learned. You teach a lot, make a lot of money. Yes, but where’s your input time?
Pedagogist: A day a week. I relax, I read.
Iconoclast: So my reading does double duty. I read it, I teach it. Improvized Jazz vs Play it Again Sam. Louis vs. Sam.
____________
Voice-over
Comparing Sam to Louis Armstrong is a little misleading, yes. The misquote notwithstanding, did Sam really play the same songs every night the same way? And did Louis always play freestyle? The pedagogist has a point; there is something to be said for having a script to depart from.
…Iconoclast: Can’t do textbooks. Have to do something edgy and new each week. Something I’ve never taught before.
Pedagogist: Stressful!
Iconoclast: Stimulating. I get input from preparing, and I get output from teaching what I just learned. You teach a lot, make a lot of money. Yes, but where’s your input time?
Pedagogist: A day a week. I relax, I read.
Iconoclast: So my reading does double duty. I read it, I teach it. Improvized Jazz vs Play it Again Sam. Louis vs. Sam.
____________
Voice-over
Comparing Sam to Louis Armstrong is a little misleading, yes. The misquote notwithstanding, did Sam really play the same songs every night the same way? And did Louis always play freestyle? The pedagogist has a point; there is something to be said for having a script to depart from.
