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Re: Can a non-programmer teach Perl?

by majin (Acolyte)
on Aug 17, 2002 at 19:32 UTC ( [id://190907]=note: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??


in reply to Can a non-programmer teach Perl?

I am currently in high school and am one of those "self-taught whiz kids" who has learned such languages as HTML (I do not consider this a real programming language now as even the most remedial person can learn it), C/C++, JAVA, and am ccurrently learning Perl. I have also attended many courses offered by my high school on programming and computers and from my experience I can tell you this:

1) It is important that he does not show that he does not know his subject
2) It is also important that he answers ALL of the questions asked by the kids
3) And lastly he should tell them that if anybody in here would like to correct me they can

And I know a lot of self-taught programmers in my school and we always find that teachers who show that they do not know their subject will be often ridiculed by all the kids, even those who have never had any previous experience with the language


Majin

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(jeffa) 2Re: Can a non-programmer teach Perl?
by jeffa (Bishop) on Aug 18, 2002 at 02:21 UTC

    "It is important that he does not show that he does not know his subject"

    It seems to me that this will do more harm than good, because he does not know his subject. Since he does not know his subject, he eventually will slip, and might get caught in the act of lying. And if the students catch him lying, how can they trust him? Like i said before, honesty is the best policy.

    "It is also important that he answers ALL of the questions asked by the kids"

    While it is important to answer most of the questions - it is more important to know when to answer questions. Off topic questions and questions that will stump him should be overruled - "Let's talk about that after class." "I would love to answer that right now, but we only have 10 minutes left and the test is this Friday - besides, that won't be on the test anyway." He needs to be careful to not get caught in a pattern of wasting time entertaining each and every question/whim of the students, or nothing will be taught.

    While i don't necessarily agree with your first two suggestions, i heartily agree with the third. A good teacher knows that she/he is a student as well, and can learn a thing or two from their students. Leave the ego at the door, it only gets in the way - but this goes for the students as well, cheap shots at the teacher to impress fellow students may gain you a bit of respect from them, but that respect lasts no more than the lifetime of the course. It just ain't worth it. (Kid Gloves, anyone?)

    I myself was a bit of a 'self-taught whiz kid' (and an arrogant one at that) - my tool was an Apple ][+ back in 1986. These days however, whiz kids are much more abundant (and much more arrogant) thanks to items such as Windows and the Internet. I think that this teacher needs to identify the whiz kids on the first day of class and ask them to stick around after class - he should then explain to them in a most respectful manner that he is a newbie and needs their help. He needs to convince these talented kids that they will get more out of the class by supporting him instead of heckling him. Hopefully, there won't be any whiz kids. ;)

    And yes, sometimes teachers will be called out and ridiculed if they expose that they do not know their stuff. In high school it happens because kids hate authority, but it is worse in college because the students are paying money. I have been a heckler myself - but it was me that lost in the long run, because even though a particular teacher/professor might not have been as knowledgable in the subject as i liked, i failed to 'make my own lemonade.' Now ... teachers/professors that don't care are a completely different matter - in high school, tough luck - but in college, drop. Wait till a better professor teaches if you can.

    jeffa

    Glad he is not in high school anymore. :)
      I see your point but maybe I should clarify on one point, the teacher should answer all questions but not necesarrily in the same class period and thus meaning that he should write down the questions asked to him and try to answer them as the asker might ask the question again and thus lower the reputation of the teacher. And yes he should talk to the whiz kids first but hopefully there shall be only one as whiz kids get more arrogant in front of other whiz kids (speaking from personal experience ;) . Also you should tell the teacher to pick up little tricks of the trade that might impress the whiz kids and thus bringing them onto his side.

      Majin
Re: Can a non-programmer teach Perl?
by Abigail-II (Bishop) on Aug 19, 2002 at 12:12 UTC
    While I agree with you that HTML isn't a real programming language, I disagree with your reason. Whether something is a programming language (I'll leave out the 'real', unless you can indicate what "unreal" programming languages are) isn't related to how many people can lear it or not. HTML isn't a programming language. It doesn't calculate or drive anything, not in the most remote meaning of those words. It only describes a document - it's a language, but not a programming language.

    As for the most remedial person can learn HTML, you'd be surprised how few people actually know HTML. Even after 7 years, the programmers at Netscape still cannot fully parse HTML.

    Abigail

      Virtually anything described in a marketing document.

      Oh, there may be another language, vaguely similar, of the same name at some point. But it certainly won't be the silver bullet promised...

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