This wonderful article is a testament of teaching excellence. Lucky are those who attend the lectures, even if they don’t fully appreciate the relevance now, they certainly will as they get older. I hope for everyone’s sake you don’t have to go virtual for all the reasons noted. Have a wonderful holiday season, stay safe and healthy as you enjoy friends and family. Thank you for everything that you do to educate, inspire and enlighten.
I get information and a reality check being apart of your listening community. I read out loud things you post to my husband, call my mother and read to her and forward friends what you post. Thank you. I’m happy I found you!! Good luck with in person teaching, good luck to us all. 💕
We humans are social animals, and we're at our best in all things when we're able to interact with our fellows in real time. Teaching is one of the most social activities we engage in, and one with the highest stakes for ourselves, and our planetary ecosystem (as we've learned over the years). The pandemic has taken so much away from all of us: Loved ones, friends, mobility and the social interactions that recharge our batteries and maintain our humanity. Continuing to teach in the face of this is an act of optimism and generosity. I have to thank you, and all your fellow educators for persevering. I hope we can all sit down together again and share our wisdom, and our company.
Thank you, Steven, for your comment and also for pointing out the stakes (our future!). This has been a challenging year for all teachers, and I know as a fact that many of them are not compensated nearly as much as they should be. So a big yes to supporting teachers, and in the years ahead, let's all fight to make sure they are paid what they deserve.
Robert, you are clearly a master teacher! I have never been in one of your classes, but I have watched a film of you teaching in a large UCB auditorium full of hundreds of students. It was improvisational theater at the highest level! You remind me of my most compelling professor -- Norman Jacobson -- when I was doing graduate work at UCB in Political Theory (1967-71). He was enormously creative, had a robust sense of humor, was full of passion and compassion. During my UCB years, there were numerous graduate students, myself included, who were not only Norman's students, but also part of Norman's exploratory crew. We, including Norman, often went out for lunch together at the end of a lecture or seminar. For me, that was the beginning of a friendship with Norman that endured for another forty years, until the day in 2007 when, at age 84, he passed away. Check out the "In Memoriam" for Norman at <senate.universityofcalifornia.edu>. Keep up the great teaching!
My first quarter at Berkeley (1966!) I had a Medieval History professor who taught as you do. To this day, I have clear memories of the excitement, energy, and the thirst for MORE his lectures generated. Teachers like you are a blessing to us all.
I, too, so enjoy reading your posts. As a history major years ago, I had class that was very large taught by a very engaging professor. This class made my day. How I wish I could have attended one of your lectures. Thanks again for being a bright light to me on some pretty dark days.
Reich’s students are lucky. I had 3 profs in college that influenced my development. One taught a Philosophy of History course which introduced me to Hegel and Marx. Another taught a contemporaries of Shakespeare course that introduced me to Nashe and Marlowe. The third taught a fine art film class that introduced me to 1920s-30s film animation in England where we focused on sensory input—color, sound, movement. This was called a liberal arts education.
Great piece Robert, I hear you. A coach of mine I respect said this to me, "People are underestimating the psychological and ontological impact of Covid and the gloom and doom and isolation that has resulted." I agree with him and your article reminds me of it. There is so much loss of communication over "zoom" ... and I run an online learning company. It's my job to make eLearning as engaging as possible, and the truth is it can never fully replace the real in-person classroom experience.
Jeff, thanks. I don't mean to deprecate online learning. As I'm sure you know, it can be an important complement to in-person learning. But it's no substitute.
I would like to share my story and maybe inspire you to embrace remote teaching; one way of looking at it as that you will be able to increase your understanding of what handicapped folks have to manage in this able-bodied world, since it is a huge handicap for you, and I hope that after you embrace it, you will actually enjoy teaching remotely as much if not even more than you have been in the classroom. My professional story is analogous to yours, I think. When my arthritis made inpatient acute care nursing prohibitive, I had to look for other venues which were limited since as a Diploma RN, I was ineligible to teach and even ineligible to practice Home Health, since up close and personal was my shtick. But because I am very lucky and because I worked for a progressive healthcare company with a well- established phone call-in system, I was able to assimilate quite readily into becoming a telephone advice nurse. This required me to hone my listening skills and my communication skills since neither the patient nor I could be informed by our visual senses. In essence, we were temporarily blind. ( at times I also would advise deaf and/or mute patients via a special operator and we would “chat” which was not a coined term at that time ) What I discovered with 30 years of acute care under my belt, was that for the final 20years of my career I was able to advise and support patents and patients’ loved ones over the phone and feel that it was the most comprehensive and satisfying nursing ever. So, your situation is different in that you will need to change to relying on the one student interaction ( I hope this is the situation) )instead of the entire audience, but if you will only be able to hear one student at a time, same rules apply, and how lucky for that one to truly have your undivided attention! Don’t forget; most of those other students are paying attention just like we are in this forum. We learn from your statements and one to one responses whether or not you see our responses to them. Nothing you do or say is ever lost. Yes, you will still grieve the loss of being up close and personal with them all at once. But, haven’t we (same age) been honing our adjustment skills already as the warranties on our various body parts or our job descriptions have expired ?
Thank you, Peggy. I don't mean to suggest that in-person teaching and learning is the only or necessarily the best means of transmitting knowledge but only that it's far richer and multi-dimensional than what can flow through the lens of a laptop. If I have no other alternative, I'll make the best of it!
It seems like everything you do, how you operate, is teaching in some way; like it is just naturally how you move the world (and through it).
But please know, our eyes are still lighting up, we are leaning forward in our chairs at home when something piques our interest. We are picturing what it would be like to “argue” with you in the classroom. Most of all, your audience is learning whether we get the privilege of seeing you in a lecture hall or not… and you are still lighting that spark, if you can’t see it I’m sure you can imagine it.
I hate remote learning as a student, but I hedonistically enjoy my ability to light up a cigarette whenever I’m seriously struck with curiosity or insight from a professor.
Mr Reich, I know that many musicians used to playing in public venues for a live audience find studio recording sessions difficult in just the same way as you find conducting a distance learning class difficult. Indeed, there is a whole sector of "studio musicians" who have cultivated themselves for studio work independent of "crowd feedback." I have that kind of difficulty when exercising indoors when the weather is inclement. I've found it useful to have a video of a sports event playing as I exercise. It's a "state of mind" kind of thing.
Absurd - at first blush - as it might seem, the notion of making a silent video of a typical class, the kind of large class you speak of in your comment, preferably having students you know in it, and playing it on another screen as you lecture comes to mind. You >may< find it helpful in simulating the "feel" of an in person class - a kind of cognitive aid for the teacher, being you. You might try experimenting with that. Perhaps - in the end - it will prove to be unhelpful. But it would be an easy experiment to play around with, and in the end, >may< provide >some< measure of motivational success. It might even be a bit fun. Just a thought. Hope it helps.
Interesting idea, DZK. I wonder if it works is reverse. Maybe -- if I have to teach my students remotely -- I could also send them a video of me walking around the stage, interacting with them -- a kind of cognitive aid for them as well?
Concerning Mr Stockton's suggestion of a recorded video, you might consider developing a "Great Course" - separate from your university work - to offer per the link I provided earlier.
That way, those of us who for whom it's not possible to attend in a b&m classroom setting with you at the university could have the benefit of attending your lectures.
Although, with a real-time, live stream option, you could interact with real-time questions submitted by students through a text interface. That could be on a separate screen on a laptop. There would be no need to "hide" the laptop in the video. You could place it on a table nearby so the students could see you reading the questions before you respond.
It's all a question of access to resources & budgeting how >present< you wish to be with your students. You're IT department is another resource. as is your drama or "film" department.
The courses these folks offer provide beautiful background settings for recorded lectures. There's no reason you couldn't contact them for consultation assistance with providing great backgrounds modified for live-streamed video content in distance learning situations You can keep that info in your back-pocket even if you don't resort to distance learning this time around: https://www.wondrium.com/lp/t3/tgc-customers-search I believe they're just over in Chantilly if you still have business in the DC area.
As a further thought, if - at the end of a term - you commonly ask for student feedback on what they like and dislike about a class, include questions about if and how a video of you on stage interacting with them helps. I think that would be the best strategy in finding out a valid answer to your specific question here.
If I've helped in spurring an idea for further development with you here, my job is done and successful beyond my most remote expectation. Good luck with it, sir.
Robert, are you actually interested in being the next postmaster general? Questionaires on the internet keep asking me if I want you to be him. I won't keep voting "yes" if you aren't interested in the post. Like you I can't understand why that guy still hasn't been fired!
Dr. Reich, You clearly have the gift of teaching, and such an important gift it is! I loved reading your description of you as you relate to students. What you do for them is to teach them how to teach, even if that is not the topic of the day. Who knows how many of them will later walk in your footsteps, use your voice inflections to convey the best you have to give, and care deeply for those who are young and inexperienced speaking in front of a classroom. When I was teaching in college and university classrooms, I thought back to how my mentor might describe or ask questions pertinent to the subject at hand. I lived and loved the teaching process, and it is evident that you have captured their thoughts, their creativity, and their responses! I wish I could slip into your classroom after all these years, and be on the learning/observation end of your expertise! Thank you for sharing this particular subject with the reader/student!
This wonderful article is a testament of teaching excellence. Lucky are those who attend the lectures, even if they don’t fully appreciate the relevance now, they certainly will as they get older. I hope for everyone’s sake you don’t have to go virtual for all the reasons noted. Have a wonderful holiday season, stay safe and healthy as you enjoy friends and family. Thank you for everything that you do to educate, inspire and enlighten.
Thanks, Susan.
I get information and a reality check being apart of your listening community. I read out loud things you post to my husband, call my mother and read to her and forward friends what you post. Thank you. I’m happy I found you!! Good luck with in person teaching, good luck to us all. 💕
Thank you, Donna
We humans are social animals, and we're at our best in all things when we're able to interact with our fellows in real time. Teaching is one of the most social activities we engage in, and one with the highest stakes for ourselves, and our planetary ecosystem (as we've learned over the years). The pandemic has taken so much away from all of us: Loved ones, friends, mobility and the social interactions that recharge our batteries and maintain our humanity. Continuing to teach in the face of this is an act of optimism and generosity. I have to thank you, and all your fellow educators for persevering. I hope we can all sit down together again and share our wisdom, and our company.
Thank you, Steven, for your comment and also for pointing out the stakes (our future!). This has been a challenging year for all teachers, and I know as a fact that many of them are not compensated nearly as much as they should be. So a big yes to supporting teachers, and in the years ahead, let's all fight to make sure they are paid what they deserve.
Robert, you are clearly a master teacher! I have never been in one of your classes, but I have watched a film of you teaching in a large UCB auditorium full of hundreds of students. It was improvisational theater at the highest level! You remind me of my most compelling professor -- Norman Jacobson -- when I was doing graduate work at UCB in Political Theory (1967-71). He was enormously creative, had a robust sense of humor, was full of passion and compassion. During my UCB years, there were numerous graduate students, myself included, who were not only Norman's students, but also part of Norman's exploratory crew. We, including Norman, often went out for lunch together at the end of a lecture or seminar. For me, that was the beginning of a friendship with Norman that endured for another forty years, until the day in 2007 when, at age 84, he passed away. Check out the "In Memoriam" for Norman at <senate.universityofcalifornia.edu>. Keep up the great teaching!
it's hard to say something is "the best" but as a teacher I will share this marvelous post far and wide. THANK YOU.
Good!
This is Lizzie Ryan BTW - keep up the good work
what a wonderful commentary on teaching and on you; a powerful lesson for us all! Thanks!
My first quarter at Berkeley (1966!) I had a Medieval History professor who taught as you do. To this day, I have clear memories of the excitement, energy, and the thirst for MORE his lectures generated. Teachers like you are a blessing to us all.
I, too, so enjoy reading your posts. As a history major years ago, I had class that was very large taught by a very engaging professor. This class made my day. How I wish I could have attended one of your lectures. Thanks again for being a bright light to me on some pretty dark days.
Reich’s students are lucky. I had 3 profs in college that influenced my development. One taught a Philosophy of History course which introduced me to Hegel and Marx. Another taught a contemporaries of Shakespeare course that introduced me to Nashe and Marlowe. The third taught a fine art film class that introduced me to 1920s-30s film animation in England where we focused on sensory input—color, sound, movement. This was called a liberal arts education.
Great piece Robert, I hear you. A coach of mine I respect said this to me, "People are underestimating the psychological and ontological impact of Covid and the gloom and doom and isolation that has resulted." I agree with him and your article reminds me of it. There is so much loss of communication over "zoom" ... and I run an online learning company. It's my job to make eLearning as engaging as possible, and the truth is it can never fully replace the real in-person classroom experience.
Jeff, thanks. I don't mean to deprecate online learning. As I'm sure you know, it can be an important complement to in-person learning. But it's no substitute.
I didn't take it that way at all. :-)
Wow, what a heart warming description of what it really means to educate.
Professor Robert,
I would like to share my story and maybe inspire you to embrace remote teaching; one way of looking at it as that you will be able to increase your understanding of what handicapped folks have to manage in this able-bodied world, since it is a huge handicap for you, and I hope that after you embrace it, you will actually enjoy teaching remotely as much if not even more than you have been in the classroom. My professional story is analogous to yours, I think. When my arthritis made inpatient acute care nursing prohibitive, I had to look for other venues which were limited since as a Diploma RN, I was ineligible to teach and even ineligible to practice Home Health, since up close and personal was my shtick. But because I am very lucky and because I worked for a progressive healthcare company with a well- established phone call-in system, I was able to assimilate quite readily into becoming a telephone advice nurse. This required me to hone my listening skills and my communication skills since neither the patient nor I could be informed by our visual senses. In essence, we were temporarily blind. ( at times I also would advise deaf and/or mute patients via a special operator and we would “chat” which was not a coined term at that time ) What I discovered with 30 years of acute care under my belt, was that for the final 20years of my career I was able to advise and support patents and patients’ loved ones over the phone and feel that it was the most comprehensive and satisfying nursing ever. So, your situation is different in that you will need to change to relying on the one student interaction ( I hope this is the situation) )instead of the entire audience, but if you will only be able to hear one student at a time, same rules apply, and how lucky for that one to truly have your undivided attention! Don’t forget; most of those other students are paying attention just like we are in this forum. We learn from your statements and one to one responses whether or not you see our responses to them. Nothing you do or say is ever lost. Yes, you will still grieve the loss of being up close and personal with them all at once. But, haven’t we (same age) been honing our adjustment skills already as the warranties on our various body parts or our job descriptions have expired ?
Thank you, Peggy. I don't mean to suggest that in-person teaching and learning is the only or necessarily the best means of transmitting knowledge but only that it's far richer and multi-dimensional than what can flow through the lens of a laptop. If I have no other alternative, I'll make the best of it!
It seems like everything you do, how you operate, is teaching in some way; like it is just naturally how you move the world (and through it).
But please know, our eyes are still lighting up, we are leaning forward in our chairs at home when something piques our interest. We are picturing what it would be like to “argue” with you in the classroom. Most of all, your audience is learning whether we get the privilege of seeing you in a lecture hall or not… and you are still lighting that spark, if you can’t see it I’m sure you can imagine it.
I hate remote learning as a student, but I hedonistically enjoy my ability to light up a cigarette whenever I’m seriously struck with curiosity or insight from a professor.
Thank you, Holly.
Mr Reich, I know that many musicians used to playing in public venues for a live audience find studio recording sessions difficult in just the same way as you find conducting a distance learning class difficult. Indeed, there is a whole sector of "studio musicians" who have cultivated themselves for studio work independent of "crowd feedback." I have that kind of difficulty when exercising indoors when the weather is inclement. I've found it useful to have a video of a sports event playing as I exercise. It's a "state of mind" kind of thing.
Absurd - at first blush - as it might seem, the notion of making a silent video of a typical class, the kind of large class you speak of in your comment, preferably having students you know in it, and playing it on another screen as you lecture comes to mind. You >may< find it helpful in simulating the "feel" of an in person class - a kind of cognitive aid for the teacher, being you. You might try experimenting with that. Perhaps - in the end - it will prove to be unhelpful. But it would be an easy experiment to play around with, and in the end, >may< provide >some< measure of motivational success. It might even be a bit fun. Just a thought. Hope it helps.
Interesting idea, DZK. I wonder if it works is reverse. Maybe -- if I have to teach my students remotely -- I could also send them a video of me walking around the stage, interacting with them -- a kind of cognitive aid for them as well?
Professor, maybe it would be like a TED talk; you could record your lecture for each specific class with you on the stage "doing your thing"!
Concerning Mr Stockton's suggestion of a recorded video, you might consider developing a "Great Course" - separate from your university work - to offer per the link I provided earlier.
That way, those of us who for whom it's not possible to attend in a b&m classroom setting with you at the university could have the benefit of attending your lectures.
Oddly, I just got a message from Microsoft advertising interactive distance learning for youngsters that you might investigate. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/partner-benefits/Outschool?ocid=eml_core_cons_cgc_ret_eml_PartnerBenefits_OutschoolOffer
Although, with a real-time, live stream option, you could interact with real-time questions submitted by students through a text interface. That could be on a separate screen on a laptop. There would be no need to "hide" the laptop in the video. You could place it on a table nearby so the students could see you reading the questions before you respond.
It's all a question of access to resources & budgeting how >present< you wish to be with your students. You're IT department is another resource. as is your drama or "film" department.
The courses these folks offer provide beautiful background settings for recorded lectures. There's no reason you couldn't contact them for consultation assistance with providing great backgrounds modified for live-streamed video content in distance learning situations You can keep that info in your back-pocket even if you don't resort to distance learning this time around: https://www.wondrium.com/lp/t3/tgc-customers-search I believe they're just over in Chantilly if you still have business in the DC area.
As a further thought, if - at the end of a term - you commonly ask for student feedback on what they like and dislike about a class, include questions about if and how a video of you on stage interacting with them helps. I think that would be the best strategy in finding out a valid answer to your specific question here.
By all means, >try< it.
If I've helped in spurring an idea for further development with you here, my job is done and successful beyond my most remote expectation. Good luck with it, sir.
What a blessing to have a teacher like you, Mr. Reich 🎓🎓
Robert, are you actually interested in being the next postmaster general? Questionaires on the internet keep asking me if I want you to be him. I won't keep voting "yes" if you aren't interested in the post. Like you I can't understand why that guy still hasn't been fired!
Dr. Reich, You clearly have the gift of teaching, and such an important gift it is! I loved reading your description of you as you relate to students. What you do for them is to teach them how to teach, even if that is not the topic of the day. Who knows how many of them will later walk in your footsteps, use your voice inflections to convey the best you have to give, and care deeply for those who are young and inexperienced speaking in front of a classroom. When I was teaching in college and university classrooms, I thought back to how my mentor might describe or ask questions pertinent to the subject at hand. I lived and loved the teaching process, and it is evident that you have captured their thoughts, their creativity, and their responses! I wish I could slip into your classroom after all these years, and be on the learning/observation end of your expertise! Thank you for sharing this particular subject with the reader/student!
Kathleen Peterson,