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What have I taught so far, and what are my
main goals for
this course?
I have been teaching the Intermediate Microeconomic
Theory
course for the last two years.
I recognize that the majority of my students are
non-economics majors, and for most of these
students this class is only the
second economics class they will have taken after Principles of
Economics.
According to the prerequisites for the Intermediate Microeconomic
Theory
course,
students are expected to already have some
understanding of the main
microeconomics
concepts, such as consumer theory, producer theory,
and market
structure. However, I realize
that after even a short period of time, most
students may have forgotten many aspects of
what they learned in the
prerequisite class. Therefore, I spend
at least one class refreshing
their basic economics knowledge (i.e. demand,
supply, elasticity, market mechanism).
Furthermore, in the Intermediate
Microeconomic Theory course, students are expected to solve
many applied
economics problems using mathematical and statistical tools. In the
beginning
of the semester, I also spend some time reviewing
their basic quantitative
skills. My main
goals for this microeconomics course for non-majors
are
twofold. The first is to facilitate an
appreciation for the science of
economics. The second goal is to increase students' fundamental
knowledge of
the main microeconomics concepts in order to improve their economic
reasoning
skills.
In my understanding, what does it mean to
be a
successful
teacher?
In my understanding, a successful teacher
possesses three
major characteristics. First, a
successful teacher is always well
prepared for
lectures. By being well prepared, I mean that a
successful teacher has
well-structured class notes for each lecture. For students, the absence
of
well-structured notes leads to difficulties in following the logic of
the
lecture. As a result,
students start losing focus on the topic of the
lecture,
which may lead to unsatisfactory overall
performance in the class.
Second, a
successful teacher masters the subject matter which he
teaches. For
instance, all
classes consist of heterogeneous groups of students, and there can be
cases
when some groups of students may fail to understand a concept after the
first
explanation.
If a teacher feels that the concept is not
well-understood
by
several students, he should change
his strategy and use a different
approach in
explaining the same concepts to these students.
This is possible if a
teacher
is very confident with the concept and he has mastered the subject
matter.
Finally, a successful teacher should be able to actively engage
students and
bring the
course material to life. This characteristic is
especially
important
while leading a class for non-
majors. Non-major students are less
motivated,
and a failure to connect the course material to
the real world leads to
a lack
of interest in the subject matter among these students.
What do I do to become a successful teacher?
After teaching the Intermediate Microeconomic
Theory course
for two years, I believe that
I have already come up with lecture notes
which
are well-structured. However, after each lecture
I leave memos in my
lecture
notes if something was not clear for students, and if I think something
should
be added or changed in the future. In the beginning of each semester, I
always
revise my
old lecture notes, taking into consideration all
memos from
the
previous semester. Furthermore, the
experience gained from teaching the
same
course several times allows me to distinguish the concepts
which are
the most
misunderstood among students. To deal in
advance with possible questions, I
always keep in mind 2-3 different
approaches
or examples related to the material. Finally, I always
use applications
from
the real world, which are generally different from those mentioned in
the
textbook. This allows my students to have a wider
set of applications
for the
same concept.
