Bob Barkman:


It’s Not About the Banjo


By Chris Gregor


LikE mAny ProfEssors bEforE him, robErt bArkmAn mAdE A PrEsEntAtion At thE End of his yEAr As distinGuishEd sPrinGfiELd ProfEssor of humAnics. Unlike any other distin- guished professor before him, Barkman took the stage and played a banjo. Performing for the first time in public, he delighted the assembled dignitaries with When the Saints Go Marching In, This Little Light of Mine, and a couple of irish jigs. The presentation that followed the music was the culmination of his deeply felt work on “A Celebration of Teaching.” it was not about the banjo, but more on that later. According to Barkman, he had


two main goals in his year’s work: to celebrate and showcase great teaching and teachers at Springfield College, and to provide a resource for new faculty. “What is interesting is that many of us prepared for careers in higher education, but rarely had any of us been trained to teach. Most of us did it by our bootstraps, made mistakes, and learned from them. i wanted to create a resource and guide for helping future professors to possibly make the process easier,” he says. it seems that this theme of


Bob Barkman


teaching was many years in the making for Barkman. “This subject


was close to my heart, i am beginning my 42nd year at Springfield College. i started teaching biology and chemistry and later took a leave of absence to work for an educational research and development firm in Cambridge, Mass., authoring Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks for


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science. Education and teaching had always been dual interests for me, and this was an excellent place to get my feet wet to see if it was what i wanted to do in the second half of my career. At the end of that leave of absence, i got a call from Springfield College informing me of an opening in the education department and i jumped at the chance.” As a professor of biology and education, Barkman has for the last fifteen years dedicated himself to training teachers to teach science. He was of course surprised to be honored with the


distinguished Humanics professorship, but it did not take very long for him to decide on his subject matter. “Teaching has always been a priority at Springfield College, and the theme also reflects on my background in science and my interest in education. i have always been fascinated with how students learn and had a passion to teach how students learn and how you can meet their needs with different kinds of teaching,” Barkman says. Beginning in April 2010, he began his Humanics year with in-depth research interviewing faculty and students. Asking the central question “What makes a great teacher?” He spoke with 90 percent of the faculty about teaching and learning, including professors from almost every depart- ment. He also interviewed and had conversations with nearly 30 students. “From students i heard the repetition of words, phrases, and themes like: passion, enthusiasm, the importance of knowing their names, knowing how they learn, and being prepared. i discovered similar themes from faculty: they said ‘know your students, it is even more important than the content you teach.’ Another thing that


teachers at Springfield College, and to


provide a resource for new faculty.


According to Barkman, he had two main goals in his year’s work: to


celebrate and showcase great teaching and


TRIANGLE 1 Vol . 83, No. 2


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