I Got to Watch My Son Teach Today

NOTE: This is being posted roughly a month after I actually got to watch Steven teach.

I got to watch my son teach today. Dave and I got up bright and early and drove into Berkeley to see Steven teach his discussion section for CS10, which is "the Joy of Computing" class at UC Berkeley. It's billed as a sort of intro to computer science, but after sitting through this one discussion section I would have to say that if that's an introductory class then I can't even imagine what's going on at the next level. I'm really not even sure I could tell what was going on at the introductory level.

But what I do know is that watching that kid teach made me smile.

We sat in the back of a fairly small classroom. Some kids might have noticed us there, but Dave and I are young at heart, so it's possible we actually blended right in. Maybe we just looked like fifth year seniors.

Steven had his computer projection system all set up as the kids came in, and they all settled in quietly and opened their computers. Since we were sitting behind everyone we could see their screens. Not a single kid was on Facebook or social media or whatever else they might be on these days. Every single one of them had a screen following Steven's every move. You might think to yourself, "Of course they were paying attention! Why else would they be there?" And to this I would say you clearly have not walked past the open door of a college classroom while there is class going on lately. The number of students you would see with their computers open to anything BUT what is going on in class is astonishing. Not in Steven's section.

He began by asking if they had attended the weekly lecture and if they had any questions up front for him. Then he succinctly stated his objectives for the hour and then proceeded to accomplish his objectives one at a time, noting to the students each time he had completed an explanation and asking if they understood.

His teaching strategies were stunning for anyone, but especially impressive considering he's had exactly zero teaching instruction. It just comes to him naturally. A few examples: as previously mentioned, he outright let the class know what he wanted to accomplish before the hour was over, so they knew what to expect; he constantly but seamlessly checked for understanding, and if he sensed anyone wasn't clear on a concept he re-explained it, but slightly differently (because there's nothing more annoying than telling a teacher you don't understand and having the teacher repeat exactly what you didn't understand in the first place); he encouraged the kids to ask questions, even telling them that he expected that they would have questions, and each question was accepted with a genuine "great question!" and a smile; and he kept an eye on the clock to make sure he was able to get through his entire lesson plan because, as he explained to the class, they needed all of the information in order to best understand the upcoming assignment.

That may all sound like teaching 101 to you. But from experience I can tell you that there just aren't that many seasoned teachers who actually do all of that in one class period. And he's still in college.

Also impressive is that he knows and takes seriously the amount of work it takes to create and carry out a great lesson. And he puts in that work for every.single.lesson. It's his idea of fun. (credit to his dad and grandfather for passing down great planning/execution genes)

To hear Steven talk about his teaching is to hear a voice filled with passion and excitement. You can't miss it. His students can't miss it.

I think if he ever decides to teach as career,  he will, year after year, have classes of kids who, when they get their schedules, get great big smiles on their faces because they got Mr. Traversi.