Kevin R. Parker, Ph.D.
Master Teachers
I consider it a blessing to have been taught by so many outstanding educators, and I base my teaching style on their examples.
I encountered my first master teacher during my Junior year at Hobbs High School in Hobbs, New Mexico. The most vivid lecturer I ever met was Tom Burcham, my teacher in multiple history classes. He was one of the most entertaining educators that I’ve ever had the good fortune to encounter, but also so knowledgeable and able to share that knowledge. He had a talent for spinning tales that made history come alive. I still remember his stories about early aviation in World War I, the "Desert Rats" and the Battle of El Alamein, and Operation Mincemeat in World War II. He told those stories to our class over thirty years ago, and his descriptions were so vivid that I still recall them. Tom Burcham's great lesson that shaped my teaching was to know your material, and that if you make a subject interesting students will retain the material longer.Another master teacher at Hobbs High was Martha Whitman, my English teacher. She was so caring and compassionate, but able to drive her students to greater accomplishments through encouragement and motivation. We never heard her raise her voice. Any disappointment in her students was reflected in a look of profound sadness that made the students want to try hard to never let her down again. She frequently stayed after school to work with those of us on her NMJC Academic Games team, and we appreciated her dedication and sacrifice for her students. (Yes, we won.) Her compassion and patience helped to mold my teaching style today.
At New Mexico Junior College I encountered Dr. Harry Scott ("Scotty") Klein. He had a knack for making trigonometry fun and enjoyable. He always had time to joke around with and tease his students. His love of teaching showed in everything that he did. Scotty's contribution to my teaching style was that caring about your students makes them work even harder for you.
At the University of Texas I met Dr. Robert Ewing Greenwood, who was able to make even calculus come alive with his colorful presentations. An old man with a flowing beard, he told stories about the first shunt wound calculators and even performed magic shows to keep the class's attention. His lesson in teaching, like Tom Burcham's, was that humor and fascinating stories get and keep a student's attention.
At Texas Tech University I met Dr. James E. Archer, one of the most brilliant and able educators that I’ve ever known. He was a computer science professor who managed to take all the CS courses that I had in my lifetime and find the common thread that ran through all the courses, relating the material in a more synergistic whole that students could easily grasp. He was one of the most challenging and knowledgeable teachers that I ever encountered and helped to mold the high standards that characterize my own teaching.
I've often reflected that I learned how to teach by following the good examples set by these teachers. (I also learned how not to teach by avoiding the poor teaching techniques of some of my other teachers.) I've been fortunate to have learned from so many master teachers in my lifetime, and I thank them and hope that I can repay them by having a similar impact on my students.