ME 101 is designed to be an appreciation course.  Unless you plan to major in meteorology, this course is not background  for a future area of study as mathematics may be.  It is not a necessary life skill like English and probably is not a course required for your major.  Knowing this, my main goal when teaching introductory meteorology is to enable you to understand, and therefore appreciate, this area of the natural world that is probably the most commonly discussed topic on earth (especially in this country where the weather is so variable and, at times, severe).  If I am successful, it will make your life just a little more enjoyable each day.  That is what an appreciation course is all about.  It helps fulfill the “well-rounded” requirement that a college graduate is expected to have accomplished.

    If I had to reduce my objectives for ME 101 to a sentence, it would be:  I want to make this course as interesting and enjoyable as possible without sacrificing the real learning and thinking necessary to appreciate the subject to the fullest.  So as not to be misled,  the student must keep in mind several things concerning the statement that “I try to make the course as interesting as possible.”  To begin with, this should not be interpreted to mean that the course will be unusually easy.  It is comparable in difficulty to most introductory college science courses.  You will have to pay attention in class, take good notes and study hard for tests.  You will be required to think for yourself.  Memorizing the facts is a necessary start, but coming to logical conclusions to explain a phenomenon after examining the facts is the ultimate goal.  Those who make the effort will find it worthwhile.

    Secondly, this is a survey course.  We will cover a broad spectrum of the subject so that you are at least aware of what all is included in the science of meteorology.  Not everyone will be interested in the same things to the same degree.  Although we want to at least touch on most of the major areas of meteorology, we will not spend the same amount of time on each topic.  The following is a list of considerations I use to shape the course content of ME 101:
    
    1. What do students find most interesting - catastrophic weather, optical phenomena?

    2. What aspects of the weather are most students likely to come in contact with now or in the future - daily weather reports, clouds, storms?

    3. What is important for personal safety and health - severe weather safety rules, sunburn?


    4. What is important globally - the greenhouse effect, ozone depletion, acid rain?

    5. What are the most common newsworthy events (esp. what is in the news today) -  severe or unusual conditions, effect on local activities?

    6. What are the basics that the student must understand before he or she can fully appreciate the more important weather phenomena - density, buoyancy, phase changes of water?


SEVEN PRINCIPLES FOR GOOD PRACTICE IN
UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION

    The following is a brief summary compiled in a study supported by the American Association for Higher Education.  I think it is a excellent guideline and I try to read it before the start of each semester.  Reading my previously stated objectives and the following principles will help you to understand better some of my teaching techniques.

1. Good Practice Encourages Student - Faculty Contact
Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of classes is the most important factor in student motivation and involvement.  Faculty concern- helps students get through rough times and keep on working.  Knowing a few faculty members well enhances students’ intellectual commitment and encourages them to think about their own values and future plans.   I might add that a faculty member can only encourage such a relationships not force them.     

  2. Good Practice Encourages Cooperation Among Students
Learning is enhanced when it is more like a team effort than a solo race.  Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive and isolated.  Working with others often increases involvement in learning.  Sharing one’s own ideas and responding to other’ reactions improves thinking and deepens understanding.

3. Good Practice Encourages Active Learning
Learning is not a spectator sport.  Students do not learn much just sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing prepackaged assignments, and spitting out answers.  They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives.  They must make what they learn part of themselves.

4. Good Practice Gives Prompt Feedback
Knowing what you know and don’t know focuses learning.  Students need appropriate feedback on performance to benefit from courses.  In getting started, students need help in assessing existing knowledge and competence.  In classes, Students need frequent opportunities to perform and receive suggestions for improvement.  At various points during college, and at the end, students need chances to reflect on what they have learned, what they still need to know, and how to assess themselves.

5.  Good Practice Emphasizes Time on Task
Time plus energy equals learning.  There is no substitute for time on task.  Learning to use one’s time well is critical for students and professionals alike.  Students need help in learning effective time management.  Allocating realistic amounts of time means effective learning for students, faculty, administrators, and other professional staff can establish the basis for high performance for all.

6. Good Practice Communicates High Expectations
Expect more and you will get it.  High expectations are important for everyone - for the poorly prepared, for those unwilling to exert themselves, and for the bright and well-motivated.  Expecting student to perform well becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when teachers and institutions hold high expectations for themselves and make extra efforts.

7. Good Practice Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning
There are many roads to learning.  People bring different talents and styles of learning to college.  Brilliant students in the seminar room may be all thumbs in the lab or art studio.  Students rich in hands-on experience may not do so well with theory.  Students need the opportunity to show their talents and learn in ways that work for them.  Then they can be pushed to learning in new ways that do not come so easily.


     I have worked hard to develop a teaching system that accomplishes my primary goal of (once again) making the course as interesting and enjoyable as possible without sacrificing the real learning and thinking necessary to appreciate the subject to the fullest.  If you pay attention in class, study hard for tests, and approach the course with a positive attitude, the chances are very good that we will both be successful.  Finally, I hope I get to know you as a person as well as a student and that you will enjoy taking the course as much as I enjoy teaching it.  Good luck and never hesitate to ask for help when you need it.