Post by dudleyb on May 2, 2007 10:18:20 GMT -5
You all may wonder where the character of Dr. Ignatius Medelius Winklestein [pronounced: Winkle-`steen] came from. Well, I had a bad experience for my first two years of college at Un-named State Institute of Technology. Actually, it's a good school, just a poorly run program. In two years I barely set foot in any engineering building. I thought I was going there to sit at the feet of the great masters and learn the secrets of the universe [as related to making things which consume fuel go much faster and make much more noise]. Was I ever disappointed! I never even saw my advisor. There were cob webs on the door and no evidence of life. Fortunately, my room mate's advisor (in another department) would sign anything for anybody; so I was able to register each semester. [Back then we called them quarters.]
I took everything *but* engineering: Obscene Literature 101, 102, 103; Communism 101, 102, 103; Calculus 101, 101, 101 [That wasn't a type-o. Two of the teachers didn't speak English, even as a second language. The third demanded we derive the Chain Rule from memory on the first test. Only 3 students passed. The teacher was found dead in the parking lot--I am not making this up--after having been run over numerous times by several vehicles.] Needless to say, I was really naive and really jaded.
Then I encountered the first of several really wonderful teachers. This guy made things come alive. He knew the answers to real-world questions. He was truly inspiring. He changed the course of my life. His tests were entertaining. His test questions were frequently about someone who had been involved in a car accident and insisted that they hadn't been speeding in spite of the fact that they left 300 foot skid marks; or some crazy professor who claimed to have invented a bolt-on device that would get you 200 mpg! Now how would you go about proving/disproving these claims?--and you had better be convincing if you want full credit!
When I became a teacher I invented Dr. Winklestein to put on my tests. I have lots of pictures of him and his crazy inventions. I even have a bust, complete with No. 2 pencil in the lab coat pocket, ping-pong ball eyes, and hair! One of the biggest obstacles to taking tests is choking up. I bring the bust of Dr. Winklestein to tests and tell students if they get choked up to come up and ask Dr. Winklestein a question. If they can do it with a straight face they just might get an answer. No one has ever been able to do it with a straight face. Everyone laughs and a lot of tension is released. I'm not your average teacher!
I took everything *but* engineering: Obscene Literature 101, 102, 103; Communism 101, 102, 103; Calculus 101, 101, 101 [That wasn't a type-o. Two of the teachers didn't speak English, even as a second language. The third demanded we derive the Chain Rule from memory on the first test. Only 3 students passed. The teacher was found dead in the parking lot--I am not making this up--after having been run over numerous times by several vehicles.] Needless to say, I was really naive and really jaded.
Then I encountered the first of several really wonderful teachers. This guy made things come alive. He knew the answers to real-world questions. He was truly inspiring. He changed the course of my life. His tests were entertaining. His test questions were frequently about someone who had been involved in a car accident and insisted that they hadn't been speeding in spite of the fact that they left 300 foot skid marks; or some crazy professor who claimed to have invented a bolt-on device that would get you 200 mpg! Now how would you go about proving/disproving these claims?--and you had better be convincing if you want full credit!
When I became a teacher I invented Dr. Winklestein to put on my tests. I have lots of pictures of him and his crazy inventions. I even have a bust, complete with No. 2 pencil in the lab coat pocket, ping-pong ball eyes, and hair! One of the biggest obstacles to taking tests is choking up. I bring the bust of Dr. Winklestein to tests and tell students if they get choked up to come up and ask Dr. Winklestein a question. If they can do it with a straight face they just might get an answer. No one has ever been able to do it with a straight face. Everyone laughs and a lot of tension is released. I'm not your average teacher!