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92.14% Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics / Chapter 3952: Chapter 3066: Mercury's Chronicles (16)

章節 3952: Chapter 3066: Mercury's Chronicles (16)

The foundational psychology course taught by Shiller was the longest he has ever taught at Gotham University. Due to a shortage of psychology professors and the insufficient level of some students who stayed on to teach, Shiller couldn't focus solely on supervising master's and doctoral students. He had to teach undergraduate courses, from the introductory to advanced level. When he spoke of working 40 hours a week, he literally meant lecturing for 40 hours.

But there were also benefits. For the introductory course in foundational psychology, he could teach it with his eyes closed. So-called lesson planning was nothing more than making slight modifications to the undergraduate lesson plans; the bulk of the content remained unchanged.

Foundational psychology was relatively dry, with the first few classes discussing various definitions. After that, the content was primarily introduced through various psychology masters and the developmental history of psychology. At Gotham University, this stage would likely take 10-12 class periods to complete.

Of these, the first 5 class periods were for memorization, the following 5-7 class periods for group discussions and presentations, and then there would be 1-2 field practice classes, which meant conducting street surveys.

After arriving on Mercury and teaching just two classes, Shiller realized that allocating 5 class periods to memorization underestimated the students. They had memorized all the key points from his first two lectures in their own time, so there was no need to repeat them. This part was condensed to around 3 class periods.

In other words, by the end of today's morning class, the definition consolidation and memorization portion had already concluded.

Shiller was in his office contemplating how to arrange the upcoming group discussion and presentation periods.

While at Gotham University, Shiller's teaching style was by the book because merely supervising memorization and requiring them to complete presentations was challenging enough.

All around the world, universities share a common phenomenon: a huge gap between the highest and lowest achieving students. Professors cannot afford to spend too much time spurring on underachieving students, which complicates advancing the curriculum.

They can't let the top students fall too far behind, nor can they completely ignore those who choose not to study, all while keeping up with the learning pace of the vast majority of average students. Thus, every time Shiller led a group activity, it was both painstaking and ineffective.

As a result, he wrote numerous reports requesting new undergraduate teaching staff so that he could focus on supervising graduate and doctoral students. Unfortunately, during Gotham's tough times, no one wanted to come, and just when things were getting better, the economic crisis hit, and the school couldn't afford new hires.

It could be said that for over a decade, Shiller alone upheld the psychology department at Gotham University.

Sitting in his office, Shiller was also struggling with how to plan the group activity classes for these students.

Theoretically, since they memorized so quickly, group courses should be a breeze, but if it turned out they were only quick at memorization and fell short in social and work coordination skills, then planning too tight a curriculum could easily lead to problems.

In the two classes that Shiller had taught, he had stuck to the textbook, and the students were busy taking notes with their heads down, barely interacting with each other. So, if Shiller wanted to understand the students' social skills, he would have to inquire with other professors.

Naturally, Shiller first sought out Oliver, who was closest to him. Conveniently, Oliver's military course also required students to be divided into different factions for war game simulations, an activity that could best reflect comprehensive abilities.

After hearing Shiller's doubts, Oliver thought carefully before saying, "I think you have to emphasize one requirement: that each group must have people of all different races, meaning you need not only Amazon warriors and Atlanteans but also humans, and preferably aliens or other superheroes as well."

"Because if you don't do this, they'll be more inclined to team up with their own race, forming tight cliques, which won't achieve the purpose of exercising their social skills and might also easily lead to conflicts between races."

"Won't dividing them into groups do the same?" Shiller asked.

"It at least creates balance," Oliver replied. "Of course, you'd best also stipulate that a group can only have one member of the same race, to prevent them from bullying those in the minority."

Shiller felt a headache coming on. Gotham University hardly had issues with racial discrimination. In fact, racial discrimination was not much of an issue in Gotham at all. Skin color wasn't a major problem here; under the muzzle of a gun, everyone was equal.

So, Shiller didn't have much experience in mediating racial conflicts, and he hadn't had students brazen enough to bring conflicts to his attention.

But he realized that it would be strange if there were no conflicts when groups of different races with completely different living habits, environments, educational backgrounds, and even physical structures, came together.

Therefore, the planning for group discussion periods was especially important. If the situation Oliver described occurred, with races sticking together, the classroom effect would be disastrous.

The analogy wasn't quite accurate, but it was somewhat like the Emperor and his subjects. If the Emperor allowed his ministers to form cliques, his leadership would be replaced by internal opinion leaders, and if he couldn't control them, subsequent teaching work would be very difficult.

Shiller couldn't rely on physical force now, partially because he didn't have an umbrella, and also because he wasn't in the best physical condition.

He couldn't use the method of calling parents, which was common during his time with the Gotham Gang. Diana, Arthur, and Oliver weren't exactly leaders of these races, their demands didn't carry the weight of enforcement; at most, they could offer suggestions but not impose sanctions, and their deterrence to these people was greatly reduced.

Moreover, Shiller couldn't take the moral high ground because these students were much more excellent than those at Gotham University. They completed their learning tasks flawlessly, and without students making mistakes, Shiller wasn't one to seek out issues just to scold them.

So, to lead the group discussion class effectively, Shiller really had to bring his A-game.

After chatting with Oliver, Shiller went to find Clark, who was also working on his lesson plans. His plans were much more complex, involving half a day just to look up information. Fortunately, he was Kryptonian, and being close to the sun here, a five-minute charge could last for days. Had it been anyone else, they might not have been able to handle the workload.

Still, the strong coffee on his desk never ran out. When Shiller walked in, Clark, without lifting his head, said, "If you have questions, email me. Describe the problem clearly, and I'll reply within 24 hours."

"My question might not be clear in an email, Clark. How are you holding up?"

"Oh my God, Professor."

"You're a professor now too, has anyone called you Professor Kent?"

Clark smiled brightly as he stood up to pour Shiller some coffee, and he said, "They always call me that, it makes me feel awkward, but I'm starting to understand you now, Professor, it feels really good to be a role model."

Shiller also smiled and sat down, saying, "I know you're busy, so I'll try to keep it short. After so many classes, what's your opinion on these races? Who are the standouts among them?"

"Well..." Clark drew out the word, then said, "Actually, I think pretty highly of them; they are a group of smart and dynamic kids."

"Some of them are much older than you."

"It's not about age, Professor, it's about mental age, isn't it? The girls from the Amazons might live long lives, but they've only been integrated into society for a few years, spending the rest of their time training on a deserted island, so their mental age is similar to that of teenage girls."

"There are superheroes who came from other planets, who've wandered the cosmos for quite a while and have seen plenty, but the development of their bodies and spirits is slower than that of the short-lived races, with a mental age of just over 20."

"You don't think they should be treated as adults?"

"They are far from mature," Clark said, shaking his head. "Among these races, it's actually humans who are the most mature, especially the kids from Mexico. The poverty and riots at home have made them far more mature than their peers."

"What about the Atlanteans?"

"They have a lot of strange ideas." Clark laughed as he spoke, "Their way of thinking doesn't align with humans, but they're always full of inspiration and are proactive. If you interact with them more, you'll find they're actually quite likable."

"When do you plan to start group discussions?"

Clark was slightly taken aback and said, "Group discussions? Is there anything they could discuss?"

"No, Clark, it's not about them coming up with something to discuss, but there has to be a process of discussion, instead of them just receiving knowledge from a professor."

"Why is that?" Clark asked.

Shiller sighed. He suddenly realized he had overlooked a major problem: these professors weren't formally trained, and it seemed they were still planning their courses based on their own ideas.

"Because only receiving one type of education for a long time can lead to cognitive inertness and create rigid thinking. If knowledge is only obtained from teachers in a school, we usually call this spoon-feeding education."

"To avoid this phenomenon, the educational methods during the course progression need to be diversified, like organizing group discussions, social practice, home experiments, etc., to involve family education and social education, ensuring that the students' way of thinking remains active to the greatest extent."

Clark scratched his head and said, "I've already given them three classes, and I think they are learning quite well."

"Have you finished the first part of the theoretical knowledge?"

"It should be almost done, I've introduced quite a lot."

"Can I see your lesson plan?"

Clark rummaged and pulled out a stack of papers. As soon as Shiller looked at them, he frowned; the content was alright, but this wasn't a lesson plan. It just included the knowledge and the way Clark planned to convey it, without any mention of the students.

Those with teaching experience or who have passed a teacher certification exam know that the biggest difference between writing a paper and a lesson plan is that a paper only needs to revolve around knowledge, whereas a lesson plan must focus on the students, and the list of knowledge is meant to guide the students.

Shiller sighed and reluctantly wanted to speak up but didn't know where to start. He asked, "Hasn't Diana mentioned having group discussions to you?"

Clark shook his head and said, "She's a physical education teacher, should there be discussions in PE too?"

"There should also be group activities, including group exercises and team matches. Haven't you organized any social practices?"

"We're on Mercury now, where can we do any practice?"

Shiller let out a deep sigh and said, "Even though we're on Mercury, we're not cut off from the internet. It's entirely possible to do virtual practice, or to have video calls with their relatives and friends."

Shiller put down the stack of lesson plans and said, "How about this, tonight at nine o'clock, let's take two hours for a teaching workshop. I'll send an email to you."


next chapter

章節 3953: Chapter 3067: Mercury Chronicles (17)

During dinner, just as they did at Gotham University, Shiller and Victor went to the restaurant together after class.

As soon as the dishes were served, Shiller couldn't help but sigh and shared with Victor what he had learned from Clark that day, which caused Victor to frown deeply.

"They are indeed outstanding in many ways, but teaching is not that simple. Have you heard about Bruce leaving homework for two classes?"

"Of course, but nothing he does surprises me," Shiller shook his head and said, "Just thinking about him becoming a professor makes me think the future of human education is bleak."

Victor laughed and then said, "Right now, within our entire base, the only ones with real teaching experience are the two of us and Nora, while the others are still stuck in medieval apprenticeship methods of teaching."

"Indeed, they seem to think that modern classroom teaching is simply like having a few more apprentices. Such thinking could indeed be fatal."

"I heard you're going to start a teaching seminar? I remember you didn't like participating in those when we were in school."

"That's because too many topics were clichés, meant for new teachers. I would rather spend that time grading graduate students' papers."

"But what seems cliché to us might be something new for the members of the Justice League, are you planning to introduce them to modern educational theories?"

"It's too late for that," Shiller said while cutting a piece of steak, "they've already taught several classes. Rather than studying theory now, it's better to just teach them methods. Copying a cat's leap should work well enough."

"Without discussing theory, do you think you can persuade them? ... Oh, wait, I forgot you are the master of persuasion, and they all listen to you."

"I'll try to make them understand the necessity as much as I can, but if it really doesn't work out, then it will have to be up to them. We're just paid consultants; there's no need to worry excessively like the main stakeholders."

"You said the same thing at Gotham University, yet you ended up teaching undergraduates, masters, and PhDs. Did they pay you three salaries?"

Shiller smiled helplessly.

Unexpectedly, his email about the teaching seminar made the others feel like facing a formidable foe; under Oliver's organization, several of them gathered in advance to discuss why Shiller wanted to call them over.

"Is it because you've been up to mischief again?" Diana squinted her eyes at Bruce and said, "You're in trouble, Bruce. Professor Shearer must be planning to give you a telling-off."

Bruce also looked somewhat guilty and thought for a moment before saying, "That shouldn't be the case, he seems to have given up on making me write papers."

"But you just screwed up," Arthur said bluntly, "You haven't treated all the classes fairly. If Professor Shearer called us over, it's definitely to criticize you by name and then make an example out of you for others."

"I feel like it's not that simple," Oliver said, "He wants every one of us to bring our lesson plans over. Oh my God, I just finished revising mine for two hours!"

"We have to bring lesson plans?" Diana looked as if struck by a bolt from the blue and said, "Physical education needs a lesson plan too?!"

"Of course," said Bruce, "you'd better catch up fast, otherwise you're done for if you can't deliver."

Diana made herself scarce in no time, and Clark sighed and said, "I don't think it's going to be that awful..."

"That's because you've already finished your lesson plan," Oliver gave him a thumbs-up, "The variety of courses you teach and still managing to write proper lesson plans, truly worthy of Superman."

"I mean, Professor Shearer came to see me today and asked about organizing group discussions. When I told him I didn't have such arrangements, he seemed somewhat dissatisfied."

Now it was Bruce's turn to be surprised. He said, "You really didn't arrange it? Are you planning to teach it all by yourself from the beginning to the end?"

"What's wrong with that? I think my current pace is quite good."

Bruce shook his head and said, "Of course not, remember it's about the combination of family education, societal education, and school education? Oh wait, you never actually studied that, did you?"

"Then I'm definitely fine," Oliver said with his arms crossed, "My students have been engaging in discussions very well."

"But that's all you have, discussions," Bruce pointed out.

Although Oliver still appeared defiant, he seemed to have grown a bit uneasy and left early, apparently to work on his lesson plan.

Bruce and Arthur walked back together, and Bruce complained on the way, "In school we had to catch up on papers, and now as teachers we still have to catch up on lesson plans; there's never a moment of peace."

"You guys are still doing well," Arthur said, "I don't understand why you asked me to teach Natural and Life Sciences, I never even went to college."

"But you're part Sea Clan."

"What advantage would a fish have in teaching Natural Sciences? Using myself as a teaching aid?"

Although they both appeared relaxed, once they were out of each other's sight, they quickly returned to their own offices to work on their lesson plans.

By the time the research and teaching meeting was scheduled to begin, Shiller had arrived early in the conference room, with Barry following behind him, acting as his assistant. Barry's main task was to prevent anyone from forgetting their lesson plan, and he could retrieve it for them in less than a second if needed.

Soon, Clark peeked in through the door, smiled at Shiller, and walked into the classroom carrying several thick notebooks.

"Um, Professor, I looked up online how a real lesson plan should be written, but due to time constraints, I didn't change much. I will write it properly afterwards."

Shiller took the stack from him and noticed that the bottom part was still the same, but the top few pages had been revised decently, including some questioning segments as well as explorations of the students' knowledge mastery—all of which were now included.

While others still hadn't arrived, Shiller began explaining to him.

"Firstly, a lesson plan is a primary standard by which a teacher's excellence is assessed. Having a teaching concept alone is not enough. You need to write down your blackboard work in advance and prepare handouts for the students or the notes they need to write ahead of time."

"You should include in-class quizzes in this part, which are your main means of understanding the students' knowledge in the current class. The questions in this part need to be more detailed, and you should add two follow-up questions..."

Clark listened intently, taking notes as he listened, and seemed to find more and more sense in what he heard.

Then he asked, "My next lecture is mainly about the international economic situation, focusing on analyzing the world's major economic organizations. Do you think this might be too scattered?"

"It's impossible to condense into one class," Shiller said. "Not everyone has a super brain like you. You need to start with an introduction when explaining the economic situation of each country..."

Soon, Oliver arrived too, looking rather worried, which indicated that his lesson plan was not well-prepared.

Being an action-oriented person, many of his experiences were accumulated through practical activities. Although he had received an elite education, he had seldom looked at some details from a teacher's perspective.

In fact, in Europe and America, most teachers are fairly laid-back, largely because there isn't the pressure of a national exam on the entire population. Even in elite education, comprehensive abilities are valued, and the classroom only accounts for a smaller part of that.

Thus, in these countries, the main material used to assess a teacher's ability is the lesson plan. Their lesson plans are even more polished than those of teachers from Eastern countries, who are preoccupied with large exams, because as long as the lesson plan is well-written, promotions and salary increases are not just dreams.

Moreover, their lesson plans are even more comprehensive. Some include every word they will say in class, every response they expect from students, and what those responses represent. Everything must be included: handouts, notes, in-class quizzes, exam papers, group report details, and nothing can be missed.

Gotham University also takes lesson plans very seriously, with regular lesson plan evaluation and display competitions, which come with monetary rewards. Most young teachers look to the quality of lesson plans for promotions, so although Shiller taught undergraduate, master's, and doctoral courses, he still had to spend a lot of time writing lesson plans.

After a while, Diana, Arthur, and Bruce arrived, followed by the Friess couple and several other teachers skilled in agents' techniques.

Once Barry collected all their lesson plans, the most significant issue emerged among the members of the Justice League.

Victor and Nora were from teaching backgrounds, even having experience from elementary to university. Lesson plans were second nature to them, with Nora's plan particularly impressive. Shiller thought hers could win an award even at the more competitive Metropolitan University.

The teachers sent by the Special Agent Organization were obviously also former agents, and their lesson plans, while not overly beautiful, were proper and showed the expertise of experienced teachers.

But the lesson plans from the members of the Justice League were all over the place. Diana's lesson plan was obviously patched together last minute. Fortunately, she was skilled in magic and could produce several days' worth of material in just a couple of hours. The problem was that her lesson plan was content-less, listing only what to do at what time, with no difference from a to-do list.

Arthur's lesson plan was a template downloaded from the internet, and it wasn't even filled out properly, with only half-sentences that left much to be desired in terms of classroom practice aligning with the lesson plan.

Oliver's was even more outrageous—his plan contained almost no theoretical teaching, focusing entirely on group discussions. From the start of the course, he required group discussions from everyone, without delivering even a bit of foundational military science, which was very in line with his belief in the value of practical experience.

Bruce's lesson plan was the best of the group. He seemed to have self-studied modern education theory, and his lesson plan was relatively well-structured. However, Shiller immediately spotted that Bruce had copied a section on criminal psychology from one of his own award-winning plans.

But strict speaking, since criminology is an interdisciplinary subject that includes criminal psychology, using others' materials isn't too problematic.

Shiller singled out Bruce's lesson plan for praise, saying, "Clearly, Professor Wayne's lesson plan is the most correctly written of them all. It would be even better if you could indicate the sources you've cited."

Bruce had not yet had a chance to revel in the first part of the praise when he heard the second part and began to cough violently. Then he said, "Ahem, Professor, actually..."

"Alright, let's first address the issue with the lesson plans. Mrs. Friss, could you give me your lesson plan? I'd like to use it as a display," Shiller said.

Nora smiled at him and nodded.

Shiller photocopied Nora's lesson plan and distributed copies, then started emphasizing the important points with the others. Although the plans didn't need to be as beautifully written, they had to include all necessary parts, and it was vital to stick to them when teaching.

Generally speaking, for veteran teachers, it's not necessary to follow the lesson plan 100%—there may be a need for flexibility. However, for this group, it was best to emphasize perfect execution, otherwise there'd indeed be countless issues.

After completing the discussion on lesson plans, it was time to report on teaching progress and discuss teaching strategies. It was only after they had finished that Shiller realized that the lesson plans weren't really the problem at all.


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