2.5 - Who’s Your Favorite Teacher

[Professor Davidson]
Hi, this is my favorite part of teaching this Coursera course, which is getting to ask fabulous people about their favorite teachers. So I'm here with my colleague and friend, Beth, and I'm going to ask her to introduce herself and then tell us about her favorite teachers.

[Beth]
Hi my name is Beth Perry. I am the program coordinator at the Franklin Humanities Institute, which means that I plan workshops; conferences; short-term residencies; various events with both Duke academics as well as visiting academics from all over the the world.

[Professor Davidson]
Great. And do you have a favorite teacher or two that you want to tell us about?

[Beth]
I actually have two. One was a teacher from high school, Dr. B, and he was my AP biology teacher. And it's funny, I ended up not becoming a scientist, but I loved that class. And I just loved his lesson of encouraging us to always be thorough, to always really try and pay attention to detail, and using our attention to detail to then sort of analyze what we had in front of us. My favorite part of that class, actually, was writing the laboratory reports. We had these long lab sessions doing various things and I really liked the reports, the time where we would analyze all the data we'd collected.

[Professor Davidson]
What kind of data did he have you you collect? What were you doing?

[Beth]
We did all sorts of stuff. One particularly fun lab we did was we were doing gene splicing in bacteria.

[Professor Davidson]
In high school?

[Beth
In high school.

[Professor Davidson]
Incredible.

[Beth]
It was great. We did gene splicing of bacteria. And I think we could tell if it had worked if the bacteria turned blue, because then they had correctly been spliced with a gene that allowed them to produce this blue pigment. So that was one of the fun things that we did in his class.

[Professor Davidson]
So it wasn't just lecturing, or telling you to pay attention. You were actually doing things and then seeing how they worked and how it worked.

[Beth]
Exactly.

[Professor Davidson]
How cool.

[Beth]
Exactly. And then taking the time to analyze it and write about it.

[Professor Davidson]
Is there anything from that lesson that you feel like it's still with you in some way, in your everyday life or in your work?

[Beth]
Certainly. I think it's taught me to continue to be observant, to really try and pay attention to things that, at the time, might seem insignificant, but then sort of can add up to something more significant or-- you know-- can sort of surprise me when I put the pieces together.

[Professor Davidson]
That's actually a theme of this class.

[Beth]
Oh great.

[Professor Davidson]
Is how sometimes things that don't seem like they're important at all can be life-changing.

[Beth]
Yeah.

[Professor Davidson]
Yeah, great. And you said you had a second teacher.

[Beth]
I did. As an undergraduate at NYU, there was a then graduate student. Now she's Doctor Allenbaugh, who taught a "Women in Literature" course that I took, and I really loved it. I mean, it wasn't my introduction to close reading, but it was definitely reinforcing-- in a sort of surprising way-- some of the things I had learned as that kid in the science class in high school, of really paying attention to small
details in language, and particularly take-- also considering the context of what we are reading, since it was a "Women in Literature" class, in particular. And that class was also where I learned about intersectionality, which I think is such a valuable lesson, in terms of just keeping more than one frame of reference in mind at once, and how valuable that can be when you're studying almost anything.

[Professor Davidson]
A lot of our people taking this class won't know the concept of intersectionality. What specifically relates to women's studies with intersectionality? What are the kinds of issues you have to keep in mind at once?

[Beth]
Certainly. So, one example from that particular class was we read Their Eyes Were Watching God, which is a novel by--

[Professor Davidson]
Zora Neale.

[Beth]
Right, of course. By Zora Neale Hurston. And so, in that class, we weren't just considering the role of gender on the particular narrative; we also had to consider the role of race. We also had to consider the role of class. And that's something that, most of the time, is useful to do in any text you're looking at. In keeping of the fact, well, maybe this is written by a person of color, but I should also consider class issues; I should also consider gender issues at the same time. And all of those things matter. And that was a really valuable lesson, sort of to the way I approach the world.

[Professor Davidson]
Oh, so again, it's a teacher who does something that actually gives you a framework that helps to see the world.

[Beth]
Certainly, yes.

[Professor Davidson]
Yeah, yeah. We just talked about Kant and the way Kant believes, you don't see the world; you see the world through a filter. And I've been talking a lot about how teachers help you have a very special filter that allows you to see the world; hopefully in a good way, but sometimes in not such a good way.

I know you're about to have a baby.

[Beth]
Yes.

[Professor Davidson]
Can you tell us about the kind of education and learning that you aspire to for your baby; that you want your baby to have?

[Beth]
Well, I really hope that the education my baby gets is one that will encourage him to always ask questions and to really never take anything for granted, but always want to know more. I mean, certainly, I have a humanities background-- and that was extremely valuable to me-- but as I said earlier, I also really value my earlier science education. So I just-- I hope his education encourages him to remain curious.

[Professor Davidson]
Fantastic. And I know, in addition to all of the things you do at the Franklin Humanities Institute, you're also a yoga teacher.

[Beth]
Yes.

[Professor Davidson]
How do you think that-- do you think being a yoga teacher-- what does it mean to be a yoga teacher? Is it about just physical? Is it mental? Is it emotional? Is it spiritual? What does it mean to be a teacher? Because I bet you're a favorite teacher of a lot of your younger students.

[Beth]
I really enjoy teaching. And I think, obviously one gift of yoga teaching is I certainly don't have to grade, which is nice. But in particular, some of the lessons I learned from yoga are about being mindful, which is being mindful and sort of meditative, which isn't necessarily to empty your mind or clear your mind so much as to give yourself the opportunity to observe and make note of patterns without judgments. So it really helps my stress, because if I'm starting to get nervous about something, sometimes I can take a step back and say, "Oh wait a second. What am I stressed out about?" "Oh this, this and this." "Well, how do I address these things that are making me nervous, or that are making me anxious?" And usually, then, I'll feel better. Or also, if there's something that I'm having difficulty with, in terms of the physical side, thinking about the fact that, "Oh, well, there's this particular pose I couldn't do before that, now, I can do very easily." Like, now, I could do a headstand in the middle of the room. That took me a while to do, but now it's something very familiar and very comfortable, and so not being troubled by discomfort is one of these things I get from the physical sides. I mean, certainly, I think it's helped me be fit, which is a gift-- it's really a gift-- but I think there's other benefits.

[Professor Davidson]
That's fantastic. That's fantastic. I love the idea that there are things-- it almost gives you the confidence to know, if you can't do something, you might be able to learn it. You might be able to practice and build up to it. That's great. Thank you.

[Beth]
Thank you.

[Professor Davidson]
This has been absolutely wonderful, and so germane to the history and future of higher education. That's what our theme is for the course. Thank you.

[Beth]
Thanks.