Dad's famous!

"BYU professor puts effort into subject, students"
(Pg. 4 or read the article below)

Professor Keith Wilson studies color photographs of students that help him remember their names.

Many students may think they have it tough getting up early for a grueling day of three, maybe four classes starting at 8 a.m. What many don’t think about is how this feels from their professor’s point of view.

Early morning classes for professors means arriving at least 45 minutes before class starts, at least for Keith Wilson, a religion professor of ancient scripture.

While students scurry to finish last-minute homework, Wilson internalizes the lesson plan the night before teaching it.

“Just the night before, sometimes even, this sounds crazy, but even in my sleep I’m thinking about the lesson and some thought will come to me in my sleep … and my mind’s been thinking about the lesson and a piece suddenly fits in there that I want to add to the lesson,” Wilson said.

This internalization of the lesson plan also includes remembering all the students in his six classes. From Wilson’s perspective behind the podium, he is looking at a folder with colored pictures of all the students, with their names in order of where they sit, to help him memorize who each student is.

Religion professors are not on regimented time clocks, they are just expected to teach and complete their scholarly research. This aspect is similar to students in that after class is over, the work is not. In addition to prep time for lessons, scholarly work is required for teachers dependent on their schedule, so they retreat to research and study, like students.

“You’ll notice usually after you teach a longer segment … there’s quite a winding down time, almost like a decompression. You’ve been intellectually trying to lead a group of hundreds of students,” Wilson said.

That all revolves around formal teaching. E-mails, one-on-one meetings with students, office hours and review also come into play each day. “He’s very happy,” said Jamie Kottcamp, Wilson’s T.A. from Queen Creek, Ariz. “He’s very open to helping all students, and very personal ... which is hard, especially when you have 400 students.”

A student who currently has Wilson for a class expressed how he feels about him. “He is faithful and humble but not dogmatic, and I love that about him,” said David Sabey, an Italian major and junior from Littleton, Colo.

Sitting in Wilson’s class demonstrates the time and effort put into the lesson. With each individual student and lesson memorized, it is apparent by the atmosphere created in the classroom that Wilson knows and cares about the subject and students. “I’m not an ecclesiastical leader for many of my students, but I try to be there as a scholar/friend,” Wilson said.

(Posted in BYU's The Daily Universe 11/15/10. By Carly Curtis: carlycurtis@comcast.net)

Good work Dad!!