Interview with the Professor

It’s been over 20 years since I watched Interview with the Vampire, so I no longer remember the story. I haven’t read the Anne Rice book on which the movie is based, but it surely must have been interesting enough for a movie to be made with a bunch of famous actors. Interviewing a vampire could be quite dangerous to one’s health. This is true even if you’re a wizard, as Harry Dresden finds out in the first book of the Dresden Files.

In today’s post, I present to you, without a hint of danger, the much-less-interesting Interview with the Professor. I occasionally get interviewed by students who have some sort of writing assignment. Last year, a student interviewed me for a project canvassing opinions of chemists and non-chemists on renewables. And I honestly don’t remember what the topics were in previous years. That’s what happens when you fail to document, and your memories fade. Yesterday I was interviewed by a student in my general chemistry class on a project related to another of his classes. I’ve decided to document my response before memory fades. Just for fun, I also decided to make a book cover mimicking the 1^st edition cover of Rice’s book (although I was too lazy to get the font and dimensions just right).

No movie will be made out of this interview since I have no magical or paranormal powers that I’m aware of. Neither is the story dramatic or tension-filled. It might even have clichés, since I’m simply not that interesting of a protagonist. It does reveal what students might be interested in knowing or writing about, and how I responded. In any case, I record this as an aid to fading memories. I wrote this up half a day after the in-person interview. I did not record myself, so I’ve likely edited my responses to make it more readable. The student sent me the questions 24 hours in advance so I did have some moments to think about them.

Why did you want to become a teacher?

Since young, I’ve realized I have a knack for it. I enjoyed helping people learn something that I (hopefully) knew or understood. My parents were both schoolteachers when I was growing up. I think they provided positive role models. I don’t recall them complaining about their students or the teaching. (On the other hand, as in most places, the public school system was problematic.) I helped grade multiple choice questions starting at the age of maybe nine. I also thought how wonderful it would be to continue having lots of school holidays! (Now, that I’m a teacher I’ve been slightly disabused of the notion.)

What do you like most about teaching?

I enjoy talking about something that I know. (As an introvert, I keep quiet when I don’t.)

Helping students and seeing the aha! moment continues to be gratifying to me as a teacher. I learn when I teach. One might argue that I’m the one learning the most. And teaching is

never dull – students are different every year!

What do you like most about chemistry?

There’s a beauty to it. All of matter and its interactions can be explained by the structure and behavior small entities that you can’t see. Understanding chemistry requires words, numbers, pictures, equations, and imagination! At first glance, it seems there’s a grand system – but it’s actually full of idiosyncracies. The Periodic Table looks organized, and is a fantastic organizing principle – your first encounter usually hides the particularities, but as you learn more chemistry, it makes you appreciate the uniqueness of each element, and how its chemical behavior can change in different environments.

How do you see the value of grades in schoolwork? What do you think would change if work was not graded?

I think grades provide a measure of what and how much students have learned, although imperfectly since we use proxies such as exams to measure what we cannot see – the learning going on inside someone’s brain. For example, if someone knew over 90% of the material, as demonstrated on an exam, I might say the student’s knowledge in that area is excellent. That would be an ‘A’. Knowing two-thirds of the material means there are still many holes. Not so great. That might be a ‘C’.

The second thing it does is motivate students to learn. For a small number of students who are internally self-motivated, whether or not there are grades would make no difference. But for many others, knowing one will be graded provides some (external) motivation.

Do you find readings from textbooks, lab experiments, or class lectures and discussions to be most important? Or, how do they each present value for learning?

They’re all important, but for different reasons. The textbook is useful to read before class because it gives you a sense of where things will be going. If you read the text ahead, even if you don’t understand everything, you’ll be much better able to follow along in class. The textbook is also useful as a comprehensive reference. It provides additional worked examples and lots of problems to try. Learning chemistry requires practicing problems!

Lab experiments provide hands-on experience. There is no other way to learn lab techniques than to actually do things in lab. Simply watching a video just doesn’t cut it. In lab, you get to see and experience how science actually works in all its glory and messiness. Many students who become chemistry and biochemistry majors actually do so because they enjoy the lab experience.

Sometimes difficult to figure out things on your own. That’s where the lecture and class discussions are useful. One role of the teacher is to pre-digest harder-to-learn or complex material. An expert can also provide context and alert you to common errors. Being co-located in the classroom also allows learning interactively. Students can ask questions immediately. Teachers also ask questions to probe student thinking. The interaction also allows the teacher to tailor/adapt to student learning needs in real time and space.

Does your teaching style change depending on how advanced a class you’re teaching is?

Yes, it depends on the nature of the class, how challenging the material might be, but also background knowledge of students. If the students do not have much background, it is important (at least in chemistry, and likely in the natural sciences) to tell the student the key things. Lecturing therefore works well. Also working through examples of problem solving is helpful to the novice learner. So in general chemistry, part of my class is lecture, part is discussion, and sometimes there are worksheets where you work both alone and in groups to solve problems in chemistry. In a special topics class where I want the students to dig into the primary literature, the class is much more discussion-based. Students lead some of those discussions. In a mathematically heavy class like physical chemistry, I have to go through some of the math more slowly. So yes, I try to adapt my style to the topic at hand, to the background of the students in the class, and what we are trying to accomplish in class.

Epilogue. After the student left my office, I was reminded how much I enjoy the teaching part of my job as a professor. That was more than worth the time taken to think about the interview questions and write up this post!

P.S. Maybe I should also read Interview With The Vampire at some point.