Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Great Teaching

I witnessed some great teaching yesterday.

I am fortunate this semester to have Margaret Heron as my "assistant" in Women's Chorale. Yesterday, she achieved a breakthrough of sorts with the choir and I was quite impressed.

She correctly identified the problem, took her time with teaching the solution, reinforced what she saw was good, refused to accept anything that wasn’t exactly what she wanted, created strategies on the spot for solving what might be a contributing factor and did it all with a smile.

There is so much that impresses me about Margaret:
1. She's built a program where there was none
2. She consistently out-performs programs that have better resources and/or schedules
3. Her students exhibit respect and discipline after they leave high school
4. And more.

Margaret, thanks for being the teacher that you are. The choral program at UAB has benefited in multiple ways because you are who you are.

We:
- are proud to have you as a student,
- will be honored to have you as a graduate
- credit you with helping us build a program here through your outstanding teaching

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