PGDE in UCD (2009-2010)

Dionysus

I know there are a few regulars here who are doing the PGDE in UCD this year so I think it would be a good idea, given that today was the first day of this year's PGDE, if we have a thread here for discussing the course over the next year.

It will also give people who want to do it next year a good idea of how we found it during this year, and allow people who've done it before to contribute their experiences or perspectives. I know that I couldn't find much of that sort of feedback in the past two years while I was thinking of doing it.

*******************

I counted 228 names on the list of students in this year's PGDE in UCD, but there are certainly more than that as a guy pointed out that his name was not yet on the list. I was stunned at how many students are on the PGDE and at over €6,500 per EU citizen, and around €13,000 per non-EU citizen I figured this particular course must be taking in at least €1.5 million into UCD coffers.

Not bad going for a course that is, by all accounts, supplying an already crowded market of qualified teachers! (Irish possibly being the exception)

Anyway, how did you all find the first day?

maynooth_rules

I pray none of those 228 people get the supervisor i got. I won't mention her name her but by god she made my year a living nightmare. Regret so much that i didn't complain about her.

Dionysus

maynooth_rules wrote: »

I pray none of those 228 people get the supervisor i got. I won't mention her name her but by god she made my year a living nightmare. Regret so much that i didn't complain about her.

What happened (generally speaking)? To be honest I haven't heard much good about the course, particularly the way it has been organised. I would be extremely angry if my supervisor and/or tutor let me down given that they are the people who decide the final grade in the PGDE, and if you only get a 'D' in the Teaching Practice (which is graded by them) you only get a 'D' in the entire PGDE, despite the theory/academic side being 50% of the course. That was a shock to me.

The lecturer today was at pains to tell us how excellent and supportive supervisors and tutors are.

Tell us another side.

niall3r

I couldnt help notice how many English/History PGDE'rs there were. . .There will be ALOT of competition for those jobs. (unfortunately as one of them is my second)

But I thought it was grand overall.

Chilli Con Kearney

Hi all

Today was fine. Looking forward to starting the lectures.

I have a question on fees. I see the overall price is €6530. We paid of 270 (ish) earlier but this hasn't been taken off the price. Has anyone any information on this/why it hasn't been deducted??? Thanks

Dionysus

niall3r wrote: »

I couldnt help notice how many English/History PGDE'rs there were. . .There will be ALOT of competition for those jobs. (unfortunately as one of them is my second)

But I thought it was grand overall.

I thought precisely the same and, like you, I have one of those subjects. I did notice that there were relatively very few people taking Irish, a subject where teachers are genuinely needed. If UCD weren't making so much money out of this the intelligent thing would be to allocate places based on the subjects which are most in need at secondary level.

boogle

Have to admit that I didn't enjoy the PGDE in UCD at all. Found the campus a bit grim, not enough facilities for the amount of students (pcs, toilets, parking spaces, bus services, seats in cafes!). Some lecturers were helpful but the majority were not generous with their time. Yer wan in the office (you'll meet her) is a grumpy ould cow, and the guy who runs the library is fairly grumpy too. My favourite parts were the subject method courses. I did Geography and Science and both were brilliant. My tutor was overly critical about silly stuff (once told me that I didn't get a class of second years excited enough about their Christmas exam ) but she ended up telling me on the last visit that she was just trying to encourage me and that I was really doing great. Got an A in teaching practice and for my portfolio. So not as bad as I had been worrying about all year! Teaching practice is the hardest part so make sure you are prepared prepared prepared.

By the way, I made a Word template for Lesson plans to print out and fill in. It fits everything on to one sheet back and front which stops you flipping through pages during class. Got me an A and I'm willing to email it to anyone who wants it, just PM me.

Dionysus

Fidge9 wrote: »

Hi all

Today was fine. Looking forward to starting the lectures.

I have a question on fees. I see the overall price is €6530. We paid of 270 (ish) earlier but this hasn't been taken off the price. Has anyone any information on this/why it hasn't been deducted??? Thanks

A girl in the audience had this problem as well but I didn't raise my hand up either to say I had it. I went into the Student Desk last week as the phone kept ringing out and they were trying to charge me the full amount. When I told the guy that I had paid the €260 (?) he checked and it wasn't showing up on the screen. He then checked with a more senior guy who found it and he came back and said I only need to pay €3,005 for my first instalment

I assume that applies to everybody else but double-check it.

Dionysus

boogle wrote: »

Have to admit that I didn't enjoy the PGDE in UCD at all. Found the campus a bit grim, not enough facilities for the amount of students (pcs, toilets, parking spaces, bus services, seats in cafes!). Some lecturers were helpful but the majority were not generous with their time. Yer wan in the office (you'll meet her) is a grumpy ould cow, and the guy who runs the library is fairly grumpy too. My favourite parts were the subject method courses. I did Geography and Science and both were brilliant. My tutor was overly critical about silly stuff (once told me that I didn't get a class of second years excited enough about their Christmas exam ) but she ended up telling me on the last visit that she was just trying to encourage me and that I was really doing great. Got an A in teaching practice and for my portfolio. So not as bad as I had been worrying about all year! Teaching practice is the hardest part so make sure you are prepared prepared prepared.

By the way, I made a Word template for Lesson plans to print out and fill in. It fits everything on to one sheet back and front which stops you flipping through pages during class. Got me an A and I'm willing to email it to anyone who wants it, just PM me.

Well done, Boogle. I hope I do as well in the teaching practice. I know I'll have absolutely no problem with the academic side of things but I get terribly nervous when I'm conscious of somebody assessing me. The scariest part of today was when a lecturer said if you only get a 'D' in the teaching you'll only get a 'D' for the entire year even if you get 'A' in all the academic stuff. I suppose I'll just have to learn what's required in the teaching practice very quickly.

Because of this, I think I'll pm you gan mhoill and take you up on your generous offer.

maynooth_rules

Dionysus wrote: »

What happened (generally speaking)? To be honest I haven't heard much good about the course, particularly the way it has been organised. I would be extremely angry if my supervisor and/or tutor let me down given that they are the people who decide the final grade in the PGDE, and if you only get a 'D' in the Teaching Practice (which is graded by them) you only get a 'D' in the entire PGDE, despite the theory/academic side being 50% of the course. That was a shock to me.

The lecturer today was at pains to tell us how excellent and supportive supervisors and tutors are.

Tell us another side.

She came to the exact same class on the exact same day for each supervised visit. This angered me as i was putting a lot of work into my other classes and i would have liked that to be appreciated. During one of the supervisions, a student took a quick drink from his bag while i was writing on the blackboard, and she gave out to me for not noticing it. She gave me quite scathing feedback after the first couple of visits and this obviously worried me. I asked two teachers in the school to come in and check out a number of my classes to see if what was being said to me was fair. Both teachers thought i had areas to work on but felt that i in no way deserved the poor feedback i was getting(both these teachers had more experience that my supervisor. It was my supervisors first year in the position). One of the teachers decided to have a chat with the supervisor about me. My supervisor was quite rude to the teacher and was I got the feeling she felt i had set this all up to improve my grades:mad:. Then my last supervised visit went exceptionally well and i was delighted with it. Afterwords she said, and I quote 'That class only went well becuase there was so few students in it'. I was gobsmacked. There were 16 students there out of 25. I still had a job to do with that class and still had to ensure that it was a good lesson. To be told that afterwards just crushed me. She wanted to cancel out that supervised lesson and do another. I refused, saying that it says in the handbook that there only needs to be 12 or more students for a supervised visit to take place. Again she wasn't best pleased with this.
On the issue of my folders, she said that one of them was not completly in chronological order, which was a lie. She also gave out to me for not doing a lesson plan for a couple of lessons. Both these lessons were taken up fully with an in class exam, which i explained in the folder.
She gave me a D, which ensured that i only got a pass grade for the year, despite doing enough to get a 2nd class honours. Ruined my experince of the year completly and it kills me to this day that i didn't complain about her to the powers that be. It also angers me to think she might be like this to new Dip students this year

niall3r

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
that sucks. . .and now im nervous. . . .

Does anyone know if supervisers take into consideration your school? i.e. if your in a rough school having the kids behave and attentive is more of an achievement in schools in "better off" areas?

spurious

niall3r wrote: »

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
that sucks. . .and now im nervous. . . .

Does anyone know if supervisers take into consideration your school? i.e. if your in a rough school having the kids behave and attentive is more of an achievement in schools in "better off" areas?

Any dipper we had in our school always did very well.
It's amusing to see some of the supervisors coming in and being shocked that the kids in our place are not killing each other.
Sometimes old fashioned Irish snobbery works for you. Just look at some of the threads on boards reporting what people think goes on in public/VEC schools and schools in 'disadvantaged' areas.

maynooth_rules

niall3r wrote: »

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
that sucks. . .and now im nervous. . . .

Does anyone know if supervisers take into consideration your school? i.e. if your in a rough school having the kids behave and attentive is more of an achievement in schools in "better off" areas?

Oh please, don't be nervous. I just think i was very very unlucky. I got someone on their first year on the job who had a power trip. Most people who i talked to had lovely supervisors

Please miss

Hi Boogle, I would really appreciate it if you could send me on a template of your lesson plan. I am having trouble downloading it from the website that ucd gave us and i just registered to boards to ask if i could borrow yours but i think this site will be very very useful throughout the next year

Dionysus

Please miss wrote: »

Hi Boogle, I would really appreciate it if you could send me on a template of your lesson plan. I am having trouble downloading it from the website that ucd gave us and i just registered to boards to ask if i could borrow yours but i think this site will be very very useful throughout the next year

I'm having the same difficulty with that Google sites website which UCD gave us a link to for the lesson plan. This is what I'm keying in:

http://sites.google.com/site/thecrowducd


Have I got a letter or something out of place?

Dionysus

That's just too weird! For the first time, it works perfectly above and you can access the lesson plan.

However, when I put the url into Google I get nothing, like: http://www.google.ie/#hl=en&source=hp&q=http%3A%2F%2Fsites.google.com%2Fsite%2Fthecrowducd&btnG=Google+Search&meta=&fp=3f2c7e2bf89e53ae

PS: And when you put the address into the location bar, it also works perfectly.

lawl

boogle wrote: »

Have to admit that I didn't enjoy the PGDE in UCD at all. Found the campus a bit grim, not enough facilities for the amount of students (pcs, toilets, parking spaces, bus services, seats in cafes!). Some lecturers were helpful but the majority were not generous with their time. Yer wan in the office (you'll meet her) is a grumpy ould cow, and the guy who runs the library is fairly grumpy too. My favourite parts were the subject method courses. I did Geography and Science and both were brilliant. My tutor was overly critical about silly stuff (once told me that I didn't get a class of second years excited enough about their Christmas exam ) but she ended up telling me on the last visit that she was just trying to encourage me and that I was really doing great. Got an A in teaching practice and for my portfolio. So not as bad as I had been worrying about all year! Teaching practice is the hardest part so make sure you are prepared prepared prepared.

By the way, I made a Word template for Lesson plans to print out and fill in. It fits everything on to one sheet back and front which stops you flipping through pages during class. Got me an A and I'm willing to email it to anyone who wants it, just PM me.

Hiya
I have just started the ucd pgde and im finding it hard enough already.
i start teaching next week but im still a bit confused when it comes to the lesson plan.Could i get a copy of your([/email]), also do u have a filled out one that i could have look at to see the type of languague you are ment to use?]cheers for any help or tips

Dionysus

How's everybody getting on so far?

I haven't had a chat with my supervisor yet, although I now know her name.

So far I find the course a bit too waffly and wish they could focus more on ideas for teaching our classes in the subject methodology. They definitely need to emphasise that creative element. There is very little if any of that. I'm learning much more in the classroom and indeed in the staff room.

Some of the lecturers are very funny - John Fahy yesterday being one of them.

Dionysus

lawl wrote: »

Hiya
I have just started the ucd pgde and im finding it hard enough already.
i start teaching next week but im still a bit confused when it comes to the lesson plan.Could i get a copy of your([/email]), also do u have a filled out one that i could have look at to see the type of languague you are ment to use?]cheers for any help or tips

The UCD Lesson Plan template is posted a few posts above you. For filled-in lesson plans I'd ask one of the new teachers in your staffroom. They are usually very happy to show you one of their lesson plans from a previous year.

niall3r

How long should the critical reflection be? are we taking sentences or paragraphs here?

maynooth_rules

Is the old battel axe still in the office?? So ignorant ita unbelievable she still has a job. And as for the guy in the library

Rosita

maynooth_rules wrote: »

Is the old battel axe still in the office?? So ignorant ita unbelievable she still has a job. And as for the guy in the library

I called into the office in the first few days because there was something missing from my folder. I had made a dash across the city to get there before they closed for lunch. At that early stage I hadn't the remotest idea what time they closed for lunch but (incredibly) they do so for an hour at 12.45.

I was there at 12.48 and knocked on the door. She opened and I told her my story. She said they were closed for lunch and I should call back at 1.45pm (which I didn't because I had a lecture at 2pm across the campus). All she had to do was reach into a box and hand me the pages but she wouldn't do it.

I can handle basic ignorance as I have come across it many times but I was shocked when I heard that all assignments have to be handed in there and stamped by her when (a) they are closed from 12.45-1.45 before lectures (hard to see 200+ people having assignments stamped in 15 minutes but oddly most people don't seem to see it as an issue and it was dismissed when someone raised it in one class) and (b) she seems utterly intransigent and unhelpful.

Rosita

As someone who has used a fair few computer applications over the years none baffles me quite like Microsoft Word routinely manages when something other than merely writing words is required to be done with it.

Here's a question: On the lesson plan template there is on one side 'student activity' and on the other 'teacher activity' - is there any way of writing these boxes separately in word. I can't find a way to prevent the second one being a continuation of the first so that when I hit return at one side it affects the other as it is the same line.

tangerinepuppet

Dionysus wrote: »

How's everybody getting on so far?

I haven't had a chat with my supervisor yet, although I now know her name.

So far I find the course a bit too waffly and wish they could focus more on ideas for teaching our classes in the subject methodology. They definitely need to emphasise that creative element. There is very little if any of that. I'm learning much more in the classroom and indeed in the staff room.

Some of the lecturers are very funny - John Fahy yesterday being one of them.

Met my supervisor last Tuesday so I'm expecting a visit soon.

Agreed on the waffliness of lectures, but maybe Fintan Tuohy will sort that out?! They are indeed wasting a lot of our time!

John Fahy and Bernard McGettrick are hilarious. One of my co-operating teachers said John Fahy's lectures were the only ones she looked forward to when she was doing the HDip/PGDE in UCD, and I can see why. His English methodology classes are great too. He gets the waffle out of the way first and then gives practical advice on how to approach material, how to involve all pupils in the class, how not to speak to pupils ... all the stuff we need to know now.

I'm really enjoying my time in school. College is okay, apart from certain staff members I'm trying hard to like/respect but just can't. On the up side, time is flying!

sitstill

When I was doing the dip John Fahy was my favourite lecturer. I really liked the English methods classes. So much of the dip I just found pointless and/or boring and some of the lecturers, not mentioning any names *The man with no name (mod edit)* hadn't got a clue - - does he still put his hand up at the start of the lecture and count down from 5 with his fingers to get you to stop talking?!

tangerinepuppet

sitstill wrote: »

When I was doing the dip John Fahy was my favourite lecturer. I really liked the English methods classes. So much of the dip I just found pointless and/or boring and some of the lecturers, not mentioning any names *The man with no name (mod edit)* hadn't got a clue - - does he still put his hand up at the start of the lecture and count down from 5 with his fingers to get you to stop talking?!

Yeah, he still does that. :rolleyes:

Dionysus

niall3r wrote: »

How long should the critical reflection be? are we taking sentences or paragraphs here?

I wrote about two or three paragraphs, or 200-300 words, in the 'Lesson Review' section. The supervisor said that was fine.

She did, however, suggest that I change the 'Lesson Objectives' section to 'Learning Outcomes'.

allyatsea

Hey guys, new here but thinking of doing PGDE for French and Spanish teaching at secondary level. Any idea of how many students in the current PGDE have those subjects?

Is it as popular as the English/history combination? Is it an interesting combination in terms of employment after the course?

I would just like to know more or less how much competition I would be up against!

Thanks

Dionysus

So, what's everybody doing this week for the "Reading Week"? I get the impression from the name that we are meant to, em, read! But I'm not quite sure what there is to read.

We are off school as well as college this week so it's basically a week of working to earn money to pay for this course in my realworld experience here.

Had the two supervisions so far and the supervisor was giving out to me for being experimental in the classroom. Well, that's a bit harsh; it was suggested that I give more conventional classes. So far so good anyway but will have to perfect my conventional classroom stuff asap before the next visit.

How's everybody else finding it now that we have two of the six supervisions under our belts?


PS: Anybody go to Flannery's and D2 the other night? What was it like?

Dionysus

Just to give everybody the heads-up on something quite important: your supervisor will be examining you on your second subject before the Christmas break - i.e. in the next 3 weeks or so.

My supervisor just pounced on me the other day saying that she was here to examine my second subject. I felt more aggrieved than this post could possibly betray. Everybody in our tutorial had been told unequivocally that we would only be examined in our second subject, by our tutor, in January. This was made crystal clear, and repeatedly so.

However, that was the system last year - they changed it for this year but just forgot to tell us PGDE students (minor detail, it appears). Now, our Tutor will examine us in January - however, he/she will examine us in our first subject.

Fintan is bringing it to Marie Clarke's attention so expect a clarification from on high later this week.

niall3r

Only if the superviser is aware. The other dipper in my school got his 3rd supervision yesterday in his first subject.

Chilli Con Kearney

How did everyone find the exam today?

tangerinepuppet

Wasn't too bad at all. Well we knew what was coming up for EdPsych ... and the SEN question I did was easy to adapt from previous years. Bottom line ... It's over ... Happy Christmas .

Chilli Con Kearney

Has anybody tried to pay their fees and have the €250/€280 deposit that we paid to the CAO (PAC) office taken away from the €6530 total? I was told by Admin that it would be taken away in November and so decided to wait until then however it still hasnt. Anybody any dealings with this? Thanks

Rosita

I presumed that we (at least those of us who paid by the giro method) will receive the request for the balance in the new year less that amount (€260 - I paid I think it was). Even if the requested balance includes this amount I would intend paying it less that amount and raising the matter with them at that stage as presumably they have that payment on record and simply have not made the connection between the two.

On another note, does anyone who is taking English as a methodology know the precise deadline for the first English assignment? I have January written down but no specific date.

Dionysus

Fidge9 wrote: »

Has anybody tried to pay their fees and have the €250/€280 deposit that we paid to the CAO (PAC) office taken away from the €6530 total? I was told by Admin that it would be taken away in November and so decided to wait until then however it still hasnt. Anybody any dealings with this? Thanks

Thanks for this, Fidge. I had forgotten totally about it but I had surmised that it was automatically deducted from this January instalment. You are correct: it has not been deducted. I think I paid €260 deposit, but I wonder now that I've seen your figures of €250 and €280. Where did you get them from?

The Fees Office does not open until tomorrow morning so accordingly I have just emailed them about this precise issue so hopefully a response will be forthcoming by tomorrow evening and I'll let you know here.

Dionysus

tangerinepuppet wrote: »

Wasn't too bad at all. Well we knew what was coming up for EdPsych ... and the SEN question I did was easy to adapt from previous years. Bottom line ... It's over ... Happy Christmas .

Likewise, it was fine. The downside of this of course is that our mark will be relative to each other so it would make sense with an easy paper for the standard to be higher and thus marking to be harder.

Does anybody know when we get the results back for the exam or the assignment for Conor Galvin? I have checked Blackboard and no results are up for either yet (indeed John Fahy's results from last autumn, which we all have, are also not on it yet).

Chilli Con Kearney

To be honest, I couldn't remember exactly how much the deposit was. I presume everybody paid the same amount, so if you are certain it was €260, then I paid this too! I just thought it was somewhere in and around these figures. Let us know what the office says Dionysus - thanks!

rayro

Hi guys!

I am hoping to get accepted into UCD to complete a PDGE. I'm just wondering as to what hours you are expected to work and what times you have classes in UCD at?

Rosita

rayro wrote: »

Hi guys!

I am hoping to get accepted into UCD to complete a PDGE. I'm just wondering as to what hours you are expected to work and what times you have classes in UCD at?

The invariable hours of attendance in UCD are 2-5pm on Monday. 2-3pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We need to attend only one in four Fridays from 2pm-4pm.

These are the invariable hours. Depending on the two subject methodologies you will have you could be there up to 4pm, 5pm or if your subject has a later start even 7pm, with a couple of hours to kick your heels after the 3pm lecture finish.

I am lucky in that my subject methodologies are immediately after my lectures but still my only early finish is on a Wednesday when I have just the 2pm-3pm lecture. So if the hours look very attractive at first glance they are less so in reality even if they are hardly crippling.

You need to work a minimum of 4h 30m in a school in the mornings and be able to be in UCD for 2pm. And parking is not good out there to put it mildly!

Teaching Practice (six visits) is a large part of the assessment and a portfolio with class plans etc. needs to be given in at the end of the year. There's a two-hour exam in early December on Special Needs Education and Educational Psychology - other than that it is an assignment based course, and there seems to be about 6/7 of those throughout the year as far as I can recall.

Dionysus

Anybody know if UCD is closed as well until next Thursday?

Nothing mentioned on the website yet so I suppose we'll only find out on Monday morning: http://www.ucd.ie/

Rosita

Dionysus wrote: »

Anybody know if UCD is closed as well until next Thursday?

Nothing mentioned on the website yet so I suppose we'll only find out on Monday morning: http://www.ucd.ie/

It's closed on Monday anyway.

I find it hard to believe that anywhere deeming it necessary to close on Monday will have any reason to open on Tuesday or maybe Wednesday if the forecast is to be believed.

http://www.ucd.ie/news/2010/090110_announcement_snow_closure.html

Chilli Con Kearney

I spoke to the fees office today an the €260 deposit was taken off my account this morning. This should be the same for most people I suspsect. Hope this sorts things for everyone.

Dionysus

Fidge9 wrote: »

I spoke to the fees office today an the €260 deposit was taken off my account this morning. This should be the same for most people I suspsect. Hope this sorts things for everyone.

Ah, they sent me an email telling me that I had to get PAC to refund UCD the money first. I rang PAC and they said they had "automatically" refunded UCD when they received the €260 initially. I emailed UCD, told them to ring PAC at the number I gave them and talk to their IT section to confirm it. Haven't heard from UCD since and it has not been taken off the fee which I am being charged on the SIS form online this evening.

tangerinepuppet

Just got my EdPsych/SEN and PP1 results on SIS. Not sure if results for the whole class are there yet but they should be by 5 p.m. (Just in case anybody hasn't heard!)

Dionysus

"After 1915 you had (hands moving in encouragement) ...1916 and all that"

hehehe. Roll on the history of Irish education.

Jesus, these Cork accents in the confines of Dublin 4 are fierce heavy on the ear, like.

Dionysus

Many of you may be interested in going to this:


Dear PGDE Student,

The Education fair 2010 will be held in the Astra Hall in UCD Student Centre on Wednesday 24th February 2010 from 6 pm – 8 pm.
The UCD Education Fair brings Employers, Education Organisations and students together face to face to give them a chance to discuss exciting teaching career opportunities in Ireland and overseas.
We would encourage you to attend as these employers have vacancies and employment opportunities for September 2010.

Looking forward to seeing you next Wednesday

Employers confirmed attendance include:
County Council
South End on Sea
Noredco
ITN
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
MPS
Red Teachers
Uteach
Engage Education
IFARFAN
Eteach
Impact Teachers

redmons2

Is there many maths PGDE in the course this yr ?

niall3r

redmons2 wrote: »

Is there many maths PGDE in the course this yr ?

Aparantly 41% of maths teachers are business/science grads who ought not be allowed teach maths according to the 6oclock news the other day.
not my subject tho so makes no difference to me.
If you have a maths degree that ought to be hiighlighted in your CV though.

crascred

Brings back memories. Almost 6 years since I finished what was then the plain H Dip. John Fahy was a gem no doubt about it. Humorous and well able to explain things, you felt it was worthwhile. The Geography guy was good too. Other than that the best I felt was a teacher who gave a seminar on behaviour at the very beginning of the year. She was excellent. As for the other stuff I hav'nt had call to use any of it in the classroom in the 6 years since.

Nice to see the office people havn't changed much either. All in all an enjoyable year but tough at the same time. However in my opinion the best training is the year after, full timetable and exam classes.

Good luck to all for the rest of the year and more importantly in May when applying time comes

Dionysus

That Billy Redmond guy today was amazing. Very insightful guy. He just seemed to notice and think about every single thing in his classroom - and was very, very funny in his observations. We need more of these sort of lectures.