In 2010, I received an excellence in teaching award. Here is a photo of the plaque.
I really enjoy teaching. And, I am grateful that some students enjoyed my teaching enough to have nominated me for such a pleasant award. However, I also find teaching very hard – it requires major efforts. But, I also think: learning is probably harder.
Hard as it may be, what is nice is that when learning happens to a learner, we tend to know it! We all know that simply listening to the lecture is not a true learning. Nor is getting a homework problem done, or even doing well in an exam, is equal to a true learning. Amid all these activities, I would suppose that a true learning happens in only one place – in the mind of a learner, in an “Aha” moment. I do not think we know exactly how a certain “Aha” moment occurs, but it seems to occur to everyone who perseveres, and when a true learning happens and is expressed, we – people around that learner – know it and experience the joy together! I think this is the moment.
As a teacher, I like to, and try to, foster more such moments. One thing that I try to do is to provide a friendly environment for inquiries, discussion, and independent work. Another thing that I do is to provide rigorous, and well-explained, learning materials. By now, I have accumulated a fair amount of course materials in my teaching web site.
