>Whenever a student answered incorrectly, he would make a huge point of thanking them and then go on to explain in great detail how their logic led them down a wrong path.
Can you imagine how much that practice would bulk out the volume of posts to this message board if every nutty idea posted were to be dissected in a similar manner? My guess is that your professor would have abandoned the practice if 75% of the answers he got were wrong. The message board equivalent would be if the instructor had asked something related to, say, integral calculus and a student had answered "aardvark". You could spend the rest of the class trying to figure out what sort of faulty wiring in that person's neural network had produced that one.
The reality seems to be that there are some folks who have drifted so far off course on some matters that it's unlikely they will ever realize it. It's just a waste of time to correct them and much more practical to just write their questions/opinions off as random noise that's possibly good for a laugh, but that's about it.
ha!! yes, I'd say the average entry-level hung-over college trig class is "laser focused" by comparison.
Yes, photos.
Show lots of photos of scribed blazes, old monuments, etc.
People love show and tell.
I taught Private Pilot ground school.
My mentor had me practice for her before my first class.
She said you just went through 8 hours of material in about 2 hours; way too fast. Slow it down. They can't keep up with you.
If you are teaching a knowledge based skill, such as computing weight and balance, you have to make them do it. I would put it up on the white board and go around the class asking them to tell me what number to put where.
If I just do it up there (like most math instructors do because math people generally are terrible teachers) they will see me and hear me but it won't stick.
I testified in Court.
I asked the Attorney about making large exhibits and having them glued to poster board.
He said it wasn't necessary. Just bring letter sized exhibits and he will project them up onto a screen. The Courtrooms have an overhead projector that can project anything (transparencies not necessary) up onto a screen at much larger size.
It was amazing; my little exhibit appeared large and readable on the screen. I keep them simple.
I gave an anecdote about a friend and surveyor. A
competitor of my friend called him a liar. I quickly
responded that Bill was a great politician.
Start with the traditional Royal Navy toast as related by Patrick O'Brian (Aubrey-Maturin series)...
"Gentlemen, Here's to Wives and Sweethearts!"
Hopefully some sing out "Wives and Sweethearts!"
Then you finish the toast...
"May they never meet!"