WIll someone tell me why I decided to do this?
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I'm a programming student. I learned VB6 almost two years during my first semester at school. I've done a little with it since, but I haven't lost enough of the knowledge yet. A little over a month ago, one of my instructors was asking another student that I was talking to whether or not he could help teach a VB6 class for a bunch of high school students who are in some kind of engineering club or something. He couldn't due to work restrictions. I was there and immediately jumped at the opportunity. Now, after teaching the first session, I have no idea what I was thinking. I just got done with it a couple of hours ago. It was rough and rocky. I got a couple of complaints about going too slow and working too 'dumbed down'. I was incredibly nervous during the whole ordeal. And I didn't have enough time before the class to prepare and get comfortable enough with the material. My material was a VB6 text book that I used when I was in my instructor's class over two years ago. Granted, I haven't really done any teaching before. About the most I did before was introduce a VB.NET 2nd semester class to InstallShield Express last semester. That went well enough. Lots of blank stares, but actually got some input. But all that was showing off what ISX was. I know teaching at first can be a little discerning at first. But today was worse than that. I guess one of the difficulties was obviously not only being my first time teaching anything, but trying to get a mode for what the students were like. I guess I went a little elementary with it mainly because I'm used to adult classes where there's a mixed audience of people and their levels of computer literacy. Here, I'm dealing with kids in a geek club and who are all rather computer literate. Yeah, that was fun. I didn't get too high of a rating there. :sigh: Well, let's hope in two weeks with the next session things will go better. Where's the :pray: smilie at? :)
Who am I? Currently: A Programming Student trying to survive school with plan to go on to Univeristy of Advancing Technology to study game design. Main career interest include: Multimedia and game programming. Working on an outside project: A game for the GamePark32 (GP32) portable gaming console. My website: www.GP32US.com
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I'm a programming student. I learned VB6 almost two years during my first semester at school. I've done a little with it since, but I haven't lost enough of the knowledge yet. A little over a month ago, one of my instructors was asking another student that I was talking to whether or not he could help teach a VB6 class for a bunch of high school students who are in some kind of engineering club or something. He couldn't due to work restrictions. I was there and immediately jumped at the opportunity. Now, after teaching the first session, I have no idea what I was thinking. I just got done with it a couple of hours ago. It was rough and rocky. I got a couple of complaints about going too slow and working too 'dumbed down'. I was incredibly nervous during the whole ordeal. And I didn't have enough time before the class to prepare and get comfortable enough with the material. My material was a VB6 text book that I used when I was in my instructor's class over two years ago. Granted, I haven't really done any teaching before. About the most I did before was introduce a VB.NET 2nd semester class to InstallShield Express last semester. That went well enough. Lots of blank stares, but actually got some input. But all that was showing off what ISX was. I know teaching at first can be a little discerning at first. But today was worse than that. I guess one of the difficulties was obviously not only being my first time teaching anything, but trying to get a mode for what the students were like. I guess I went a little elementary with it mainly because I'm used to adult classes where there's a mixed audience of people and their levels of computer literacy. Here, I'm dealing with kids in a geek club and who are all rather computer literate. Yeah, that was fun. I didn't get too high of a rating there. :sigh: Well, let's hope in two weeks with the next session things will go better. Where's the :pray: smilie at? :)
Who am I? Currently: A Programming Student trying to survive school with plan to go on to Univeristy of Advancing Technology to study game design. Main career interest include: Multimedia and game programming. Working on an outside project: A game for the GamePark32 (GP32) portable gaming console. My website: www.GP32US.com
I know what you're going through. Starting Grad school about two years back my prof sometimes left me to teach some of his classes. In addition to all the complaints that you had above I also had the one about "having a funny accent" and "being difficult to understand" (both of which were true :) ). But hang in there. All I can say is things will surely get better , you'll improve drastically with every lecture you give, and if you're sincere people will respond to your methods. Hope things work out for you. "Fortunately I had given him a false name" said Ukridge "Why ?" I cried amazed "Just an ordinary business precaution" he replied
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I'm a programming student. I learned VB6 almost two years during my first semester at school. I've done a little with it since, but I haven't lost enough of the knowledge yet. A little over a month ago, one of my instructors was asking another student that I was talking to whether or not he could help teach a VB6 class for a bunch of high school students who are in some kind of engineering club or something. He couldn't due to work restrictions. I was there and immediately jumped at the opportunity. Now, after teaching the first session, I have no idea what I was thinking. I just got done with it a couple of hours ago. It was rough and rocky. I got a couple of complaints about going too slow and working too 'dumbed down'. I was incredibly nervous during the whole ordeal. And I didn't have enough time before the class to prepare and get comfortable enough with the material. My material was a VB6 text book that I used when I was in my instructor's class over two years ago. Granted, I haven't really done any teaching before. About the most I did before was introduce a VB.NET 2nd semester class to InstallShield Express last semester. That went well enough. Lots of blank stares, but actually got some input. But all that was showing off what ISX was. I know teaching at first can be a little discerning at first. But today was worse than that. I guess one of the difficulties was obviously not only being my first time teaching anything, but trying to get a mode for what the students were like. I guess I went a little elementary with it mainly because I'm used to adult classes where there's a mixed audience of people and their levels of computer literacy. Here, I'm dealing with kids in a geek club and who are all rather computer literate. Yeah, that was fun. I didn't get too high of a rating there. :sigh: Well, let's hope in two weeks with the next session things will go better. Where's the :pray: smilie at? :)
Who am I? Currently: A Programming Student trying to survive school with plan to go on to Univeristy of Advancing Technology to study game design. Main career interest include: Multimedia and game programming. Working on an outside project: A game for the GamePark32 (GP32) portable gaming console. My website: www.GP32US.com
Did you get the complaints during the session or after ? I'd have thought a first session would have been more of a meet the students, establish where they are at, rather than really get into anything much. Christian I have drunk the cool-aid and found it wan and bitter. - Chris Maunder
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I'm a programming student. I learned VB6 almost two years during my first semester at school. I've done a little with it since, but I haven't lost enough of the knowledge yet. A little over a month ago, one of my instructors was asking another student that I was talking to whether or not he could help teach a VB6 class for a bunch of high school students who are in some kind of engineering club or something. He couldn't due to work restrictions. I was there and immediately jumped at the opportunity. Now, after teaching the first session, I have no idea what I was thinking. I just got done with it a couple of hours ago. It was rough and rocky. I got a couple of complaints about going too slow and working too 'dumbed down'. I was incredibly nervous during the whole ordeal. And I didn't have enough time before the class to prepare and get comfortable enough with the material. My material was a VB6 text book that I used when I was in my instructor's class over two years ago. Granted, I haven't really done any teaching before. About the most I did before was introduce a VB.NET 2nd semester class to InstallShield Express last semester. That went well enough. Lots of blank stares, but actually got some input. But all that was showing off what ISX was. I know teaching at first can be a little discerning at first. But today was worse than that. I guess one of the difficulties was obviously not only being my first time teaching anything, but trying to get a mode for what the students were like. I guess I went a little elementary with it mainly because I'm used to adult classes where there's a mixed audience of people and their levels of computer literacy. Here, I'm dealing with kids in a geek club and who are all rather computer literate. Yeah, that was fun. I didn't get too high of a rating there. :sigh: Well, let's hope in two weeks with the next session things will go better. Where's the :pray: smilie at? :)
Who am I? Currently: A Programming Student trying to survive school with plan to go on to Univeristy of Advancing Technology to study game design. Main career interest include: Multimedia and game programming. Working on an outside project: A game for the GamePark32 (GP32) portable gaming console. My website: www.GP32US.com
Hang in there - you'll get better at it very quickly, or you'll have a riot on your hands in no time.;P Once you get your confidence up, and get to know the level of the class, it will become like talking to friends about a new toy you've discovered, an ideal attitude to take when you're trying to impart new knowledge to young minds. I've felt much better since I gave up hope.
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I'm a programming student. I learned VB6 almost two years during my first semester at school. I've done a little with it since, but I haven't lost enough of the knowledge yet. A little over a month ago, one of my instructors was asking another student that I was talking to whether or not he could help teach a VB6 class for a bunch of high school students who are in some kind of engineering club or something. He couldn't due to work restrictions. I was there and immediately jumped at the opportunity. Now, after teaching the first session, I have no idea what I was thinking. I just got done with it a couple of hours ago. It was rough and rocky. I got a couple of complaints about going too slow and working too 'dumbed down'. I was incredibly nervous during the whole ordeal. And I didn't have enough time before the class to prepare and get comfortable enough with the material. My material was a VB6 text book that I used when I was in my instructor's class over two years ago. Granted, I haven't really done any teaching before. About the most I did before was introduce a VB.NET 2nd semester class to InstallShield Express last semester. That went well enough. Lots of blank stares, but actually got some input. But all that was showing off what ISX was. I know teaching at first can be a little discerning at first. But today was worse than that. I guess one of the difficulties was obviously not only being my first time teaching anything, but trying to get a mode for what the students were like. I guess I went a little elementary with it mainly because I'm used to adult classes where there's a mixed audience of people and their levels of computer literacy. Here, I'm dealing with kids in a geek club and who are all rather computer literate. Yeah, that was fun. I didn't get too high of a rating there. :sigh: Well, let's hope in two weeks with the next session things will go better. Where's the :pray: smilie at? :)
Who am I? Currently: A Programming Student trying to survive school with plan to go on to Univeristy of Advancing Technology to study game design. Main career interest include: Multimedia and game programming. Working on an outside project: A game for the GamePark32 (GP32) portable gaming console. My website: www.GP32US.com
Suggestions... Make sure you have an agenda set out, especially if you are instructing knowledgible students, it will help you stay focused and not go off track too much with non relivant questions that knowledgible pupils are bound to ask, simply make a note of any difficult questions and tell them that you will come back to it (possibly during the next session) this gives you time to bone up on anything that catches you off gaurd.. if the off topic question is one that you are comfortible answering, answer it.. but make a point of coming back to the topic at hand (this will have your students perceiving you as not only professional, but knowledgible) Remember that during public speaking of any kind.. S P E A K S L O W .. just listen to yourself, if you sound like your talking at a normal pase it's too fast for someone in the room. Remember to ask frequently if there are any questions while you are speaking... this allows for 2 wonderful things to happen .. first it provides an opening for those students that feel a little lost to get thier questions out without feeling dumb, second it's a question answer session in a controled maner (giving you the experiance in answering questions... you can even call on the other people in the room to help with a "Thats a great question... joe smith, can you answer bill's question?") Re-inforce to the students that "the only dumb question is the one you never ask" and you will be well respected, after all everyone learns sometime! Provide a 3 prong approach... 1) Tell them what your going to tell them (point form) we are going to cover x, y, & z. 2) Tell them about X, Y, & Z in detail (asking if there are any questions as you go). 3) Tell them what you told them (so now you know what X is, how Y works, and why use Z) Best of Luck and remember "It's all just an exercise in Resume building" ;) qcha0s
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Did you get the complaints during the session or after ? I'd have thought a first session would have been more of a meet the students, establish where they are at, rather than really get into anything much. Christian I have drunk the cool-aid and found it wan and bitter. - Chris Maunder
Christian Graus wrote: I'd have thought a first session would have been more of a meet the students, establish where they are at, rather than really get into anything much. These are teenagers, they're impatient little brats. Well, in reality, it was session that was about 60-90 minutes. It was expected to start out with introductions and tried to get a feel for what the students were like, including finding out the experience level of the students. But we are also expected to get into some of the actual VB stuff right away. The only thing we did right away was make a form with 2 labels, an image, and a command button. Then we coded the command button to exit the program. Not a whole lot for a first session. Christian Graus wrote: Did you get the complaints during the session or after ? One was during the session, mainly about the pace of the lesson. Then afterwards the same student came up to me and my instructor and talked to us about the lesson. Those included the pace and the experience level of the other students. One of the other reasons this was so bad was bacause there was a period of time that we weren't sure the class was even going to happen. Then last week, it was dropped on me that it was all going to happen. And that the first session had to happen before the Spring Break (next week monday my school and the high school will have off). Well, with the combination of how bad my last few weeks has gone and how akward my sleeping schedule has been lately and my schedule with work and martial arts, it has not been fun times. Once again, :sigh:.
Who am I? Currently: A Programming Student trying to survive school with plan to go on to Univeristy of Advancing Technology to study game design. Main career interest include: Multimedia and game programming. Working on an outside project: A game for the GamePark32 (GP32) portable gaming console. My website: www.GP32US.com
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Christian Graus wrote: I'd have thought a first session would have been more of a meet the students, establish where they are at, rather than really get into anything much. These are teenagers, they're impatient little brats. Well, in reality, it was session that was about 60-90 minutes. It was expected to start out with introductions and tried to get a feel for what the students were like, including finding out the experience level of the students. But we are also expected to get into some of the actual VB stuff right away. The only thing we did right away was make a form with 2 labels, an image, and a command button. Then we coded the command button to exit the program. Not a whole lot for a first session. Christian Graus wrote: Did you get the complaints during the session or after ? One was during the session, mainly about the pace of the lesson. Then afterwards the same student came up to me and my instructor and talked to us about the lesson. Those included the pace and the experience level of the other students. One of the other reasons this was so bad was bacause there was a period of time that we weren't sure the class was even going to happen. Then last week, it was dropped on me that it was all going to happen. And that the first session had to happen before the Spring Break (next week monday my school and the high school will have off). Well, with the combination of how bad my last few weeks has gone and how akward my sleeping schedule has been lately and my schedule with work and martial arts, it has not been fun times. Once again, :sigh:.
Who am I? Currently: A Programming Student trying to survive school with plan to go on to Univeristy of Advancing Technology to study game design. Main career interest include: Multimedia and game programming. Working on an outside project: A game for the GamePark32 (GP32) portable gaming console. My website: www.GP32US.com
nssone wrote: Not a whole lot for a first session. Depending on the level of the students, perhaps not a whole lot. nssone wrote: Then afterwards the same student came up to me and my instructor and talked to us about the lesson. If only one student complained, then there may be no problem. You need to work out if other students feel the same. You should probably have asked them when this student said so in the class. Christian I have drunk the cool-aid and found it wan and bitter. - Chris Maunder
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Suggestions... Make sure you have an agenda set out, especially if you are instructing knowledgible students, it will help you stay focused and not go off track too much with non relivant questions that knowledgible pupils are bound to ask, simply make a note of any difficult questions and tell them that you will come back to it (possibly during the next session) this gives you time to bone up on anything that catches you off gaurd.. if the off topic question is one that you are comfortible answering, answer it.. but make a point of coming back to the topic at hand (this will have your students perceiving you as not only professional, but knowledgible) Remember that during public speaking of any kind.. S P E A K S L O W .. just listen to yourself, if you sound like your talking at a normal pase it's too fast for someone in the room. Remember to ask frequently if there are any questions while you are speaking... this allows for 2 wonderful things to happen .. first it provides an opening for those students that feel a little lost to get thier questions out without feeling dumb, second it's a question answer session in a controled maner (giving you the experiance in answering questions... you can even call on the other people in the room to help with a "Thats a great question... joe smith, can you answer bill's question?") Re-inforce to the students that "the only dumb question is the one you never ask" and you will be well respected, after all everyone learns sometime! Provide a 3 prong approach... 1) Tell them what your going to tell them (point form) we are going to cover x, y, & z. 2) Tell them about X, Y, & Z in detail (asking if there are any questions as you go). 3) Tell them what you told them (so now you know what X is, how Y works, and why use Z) Best of Luck and remember "It's all just an exercise in Resume building" ;) qcha0s
Yeah, luckily, if I wasn't knowledgable enough with something my instructor was there to help fill in for me. In case I stepped over something, he was there to let me know and tell me what else to mention. During the next two weeks, we will have things better laid out. My instructor's the one with the teaching experience, though. Not me. :|
Who am I? Currently: A Programming Student trying to survive school with plan to go on to Univeristy of Advancing Technology to study game design. Main career interest include: Multimedia and game programming. Working on an outside project: A game for the GamePark32 (GP32) portable gaming console. My website: www.GP32US.com
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I'm a programming student. I learned VB6 almost two years during my first semester at school. I've done a little with it since, but I haven't lost enough of the knowledge yet. A little over a month ago, one of my instructors was asking another student that I was talking to whether or not he could help teach a VB6 class for a bunch of high school students who are in some kind of engineering club or something. He couldn't due to work restrictions. I was there and immediately jumped at the opportunity. Now, after teaching the first session, I have no idea what I was thinking. I just got done with it a couple of hours ago. It was rough and rocky. I got a couple of complaints about going too slow and working too 'dumbed down'. I was incredibly nervous during the whole ordeal. And I didn't have enough time before the class to prepare and get comfortable enough with the material. My material was a VB6 text book that I used when I was in my instructor's class over two years ago. Granted, I haven't really done any teaching before. About the most I did before was introduce a VB.NET 2nd semester class to InstallShield Express last semester. That went well enough. Lots of blank stares, but actually got some input. But all that was showing off what ISX was. I know teaching at first can be a little discerning at first. But today was worse than that. I guess one of the difficulties was obviously not only being my first time teaching anything, but trying to get a mode for what the students were like. I guess I went a little elementary with it mainly because I'm used to adult classes where there's a mixed audience of people and their levels of computer literacy. Here, I'm dealing with kids in a geek club and who are all rather computer literate. Yeah, that was fun. I didn't get too high of a rating there. :sigh: Well, let's hope in two weeks with the next session things will go better. Where's the :pray: smilie at? :)
Who am I? Currently: A Programming Student trying to survive school with plan to go on to Univeristy of Advancing Technology to study game design. Main career interest include: Multimedia and game programming. Working on an outside project: A game for the GamePark32 (GP32) portable gaming console. My website: www.GP32US.com
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Sorry to take this off topic but who is your instructor? I went to UACT (Back then they had the "C") in '97 so I was curious....
No, sorry, not at UAT yet, if ever. I think I need to update my sig, though I still think I should go out there to finish up schooling. This was at my school, MATC (Milwaukee Area Technical College). So I kind of doubt you would know my instructor.
Who am I? Currently: A Programming Student trying to survive school with plan to go on to Univeristy of Advancing Technology to study game design. Main career interest include: Multimedia and game programming. Working on an outside project: A game for the GamePark32 (GP32) portable gaming console. My website: www.GP32US.com
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I'm a programming student. I learned VB6 almost two years during my first semester at school. I've done a little with it since, but I haven't lost enough of the knowledge yet. A little over a month ago, one of my instructors was asking another student that I was talking to whether or not he could help teach a VB6 class for a bunch of high school students who are in some kind of engineering club or something. He couldn't due to work restrictions. I was there and immediately jumped at the opportunity. Now, after teaching the first session, I have no idea what I was thinking. I just got done with it a couple of hours ago. It was rough and rocky. I got a couple of complaints about going too slow and working too 'dumbed down'. I was incredibly nervous during the whole ordeal. And I didn't have enough time before the class to prepare and get comfortable enough with the material. My material was a VB6 text book that I used when I was in my instructor's class over two years ago. Granted, I haven't really done any teaching before. About the most I did before was introduce a VB.NET 2nd semester class to InstallShield Express last semester. That went well enough. Lots of blank stares, but actually got some input. But all that was showing off what ISX was. I know teaching at first can be a little discerning at first. But today was worse than that. I guess one of the difficulties was obviously not only being my first time teaching anything, but trying to get a mode for what the students were like. I guess I went a little elementary with it mainly because I'm used to adult classes where there's a mixed audience of people and their levels of computer literacy. Here, I'm dealing with kids in a geek club and who are all rather computer literate. Yeah, that was fun. I didn't get too high of a rating there. :sigh: Well, let's hope in two weeks with the next session things will go better. Where's the :pray: smilie at? :)
Who am I? Currently: A Programming Student trying to survive school with plan to go on to Univeristy of Advancing Technology to study game design. Main career interest include: Multimedia and game programming. Working on an outside project: A game for the GamePark32 (GP32) portable gaming console. My website: www.GP32US.com
Don't get me wrong, after attempting to teach teenagers computer science your post made my blood run cold, so I definitely respect what you're trying to do! The thing is, you have to keep their interest, which basically means finding the "cool" factor. Can you do whatever you like? If so, why not start a competition to build something they vote on? Not only would their minds suddenly be concentrated, but as they'll be trying to do their best work you'll get some idea of their strengths and weaknesses while helping them with the project :) HTH
Look at the world about you and trust to your own convictions. - Ansel Adams
Meg's World - Blog Photography -
Don't get me wrong, after attempting to teach teenagers computer science your post made my blood run cold, so I definitely respect what you're trying to do! The thing is, you have to keep their interest, which basically means finding the "cool" factor. Can you do whatever you like? If so, why not start a competition to build something they vote on? Not only would their minds suddenly be concentrated, but as they'll be trying to do their best work you'll get some idea of their strengths and weaknesses while helping them with the project :) HTH
Look at the world about you and trust to your own convictions. - Ansel Adams
Meg's World - Blog PhotographyMaybe if we can get far enough within the next month and a half, but I doubt it. Mainly all my instructor and I are going off of is a 2 year old text book that was used when he taught it and from when I first learned VB6 (the instructor I'm doing this for is the same one that taught me VB6). The whole 'cool' factor is a little difficult. I can tell because of the 'uber-geeks' of the club basically just chat away during the whole class because they see me up there and probably think I'm some kind of poser-geek because I wear nice clothes and had a hard time remembering everything about VB6. I'll see what my instructor has to say, but I doubt we'll be able to put anything together that'll teach VB decently to these kids. Yeah, the more I think about how badly today went and how much I fear the next time I have teach these damn kids, the more I wish I could build a time machine and tell myself to not offer to teach the class. Man, what was I thinking....
Who am I? Currently: A Programming Student trying to survive school with plan to go on to Univeristy of Advancing Technology to study game design. Main career interest include: Multimedia and game programming. Working on an outside project: A game for the GamePark32 (GP32) portable gaming console. My website: www.GP32US.com
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I'm a programming student. I learned VB6 almost two years during my first semester at school. I've done a little with it since, but I haven't lost enough of the knowledge yet. A little over a month ago, one of my instructors was asking another student that I was talking to whether or not he could help teach a VB6 class for a bunch of high school students who are in some kind of engineering club or something. He couldn't due to work restrictions. I was there and immediately jumped at the opportunity. Now, after teaching the first session, I have no idea what I was thinking. I just got done with it a couple of hours ago. It was rough and rocky. I got a couple of complaints about going too slow and working too 'dumbed down'. I was incredibly nervous during the whole ordeal. And I didn't have enough time before the class to prepare and get comfortable enough with the material. My material was a VB6 text book that I used when I was in my instructor's class over two years ago. Granted, I haven't really done any teaching before. About the most I did before was introduce a VB.NET 2nd semester class to InstallShield Express last semester. That went well enough. Lots of blank stares, but actually got some input. But all that was showing off what ISX was. I know teaching at first can be a little discerning at first. But today was worse than that. I guess one of the difficulties was obviously not only being my first time teaching anything, but trying to get a mode for what the students were like. I guess I went a little elementary with it mainly because I'm used to adult classes where there's a mixed audience of people and their levels of computer literacy. Here, I'm dealing with kids in a geek club and who are all rather computer literate. Yeah, that was fun. I didn't get too high of a rating there. :sigh: Well, let's hope in two weeks with the next session things will go better. Where's the :pray: smilie at? :)
Who am I? Currently: A Programming Student trying to survive school with plan to go on to Univeristy of Advancing Technology to study game design. Main career interest include: Multimedia and game programming. Working on an outside project: A game for the GamePark32 (GP32) portable gaming console. My website: www.GP32US.com