笔辞蝉迟罢颈尘别：8/28/2017
“I am not a professor, not a Ph.D. I am a teacher.”
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David Agmon received his bachelor and master degree in Physics from Technion.? He worked about 2 years on his Ph.D. yet he didn't get it due to some unavoidable factors. After working in medical high-tech companies in Haifa for nearly 16 years, he found that he wanted to be nothing but a teacher. Therefore, he started teaching gifted children in high school and pre-academic courses in Technion. "I like to teach, I am not a professor, not a Ph.D., but I am a teacher." In fact, his teaching career started right back in his university days. He taught students even when he himself was a student. Around ten years ago, he was asked to teach mechanics and electricity for the Physics Department in Technion. Now, he is one of the faculty in GTIIT.
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Q: Why do you teach in GTIIT? And could you share your teaching experiences in GTIIT?
D: Well, you know, it is a challenge to teach here. China is an interesting country and Chinese students are smart. I like smart students.
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In GTIIT, I use the book I wrote as teaching material, but I don't sell books to my students, I don't like to build that kind of relationship with my students. So, I take some of the chapters of my book, put them onto the Moodle, and ask my students to download the PDF version from there. They can find out the answers to their homework, so they can check whether their solutions are right.
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David Agmon's book：《Classical and Relativistic Mechanics》
David's notes for classes
As a teacher, I also want to check the level of my classes. It's hard to get a good picture. It's tough to get the correct level. I found that most of the problems come from the language, especially the technical terms. Students understand the concept, but when they are encountered with technical English, they are confused. For example, they don't know that "one over two" is "1/2". So, I don’t take it for granted that all terms are understandable. I try to explain in several ways. When I taught the force of friction, I went to the supermarket and bought a clothes hanger. I cut it open and turned it into different shapes to use it as a tool for demonstration in the class. I also bought some wooden blocks for my classes. No demonstration, no education.
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I also like to tell some riddles and jokes in the classes. Statistically, students can usually concentrate for about 15 minutes. So, I need to make the classes interesting to them. Yet sometimes it is difficult, because there are cultures behind jokes. Your sense of humor can be different from mine. (laughs) Anyway, I need to keep changing all the time.
So, teaching is a tough profession. To be a good teacher is not easy. You need to be multitasking. You need a sense of humor. You need to think in a clear way and demonstrate to your students in a proper and simple way. Ultimate wisdom is simplicity. To be a teacher, you should always be at your best. That's the charm of teaching. And I love teaching.
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“You cannot succeed if you don't fail.”
Q: What do you think of GTIIT students?
D: I think that they are very smart. But they are shy and afraid from asking questions in public. They should be more open and take risks. I am very happy when they question me and say, "hey, David, you are wrong". That's how they can learn. You cannot succeed if you don't fail from time to time. If you want to learn something significant, you need to be a friend of failure. Don't be afraid of failure. Once I pointed at the door of the class and told my students in the class, "Look! This is an open door. All the wrong things come from here. But at the same time, wisdom, right things come from the same door."
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On the first day of class, I asked three questions. No one answered my questions. The whole class was silent. I encouraged them to speak and it's nice to see, that now, from time to time, students come to the board and write down their answer proudly.
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GTIIT students will be more and more open-minded, I believe. Don’t be reluctant to ask questions.
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On the 1st day, I asked my students to take a two-hour examination. I asked them not to hurry. One hour later, two students finished their exams and came over to me. Suddenly, all other students, seeing their friends handing over the papers, submitted their papers within 5 minutes. I prefer that each student works at his own pace and submit the paper after he is satisfied with it.
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Q: Could you give some advice to students how to learn physics?
D: Sure! Who is a good physicist? My professor taught me that a good physicist is one that did all the possible mistakes. Firstly, they must not fear failure. Secondly, they must be curious. Thirdly, they need to be skeptic. Don’t take it for granted that the answers the teacher gives you are correct. The students need to have some doubts. Fourthly, they need to cope with many physical problems and even do some experiments.
“Teachers are delivering good and challenging courses to GTIIT students.”
Q: What do you think of GTIIT?
D: GTIIT is organized in an extremely serious and profound way. A lot of thoughts and money is invested in it. The students are talented and teachers are selected in a very careful way. All the teachers are trying hard to deliver good and challenging courses to GTIIT students. I therefore feel confident that the institute will reach excellence.
Text/ Photo by News and Pulic Affairs Department
