Wednesday, October 10, 1984/THE BLUE BANNER/4
‘Good students make good teachers’
good students, he said
that makes all the differ
ence in the world. The
students, in fact, are the
second reason Sabo likes
to teach here.
"I feel that you can*t
be a good teacher without
good students, so a lot of
credit for good teaching
goes to the students, *’
said Sabo.
"I'm really fortunate in
having students to make me
work. I*ve been very lucky
in that I've had very good
students," he said.
"The onl)T thing that
really gets to me though;
is that students see col“
lege education, not as a
rare experience to grow,
but in terms of 'will it
help me to get a job,'"
Sabo said.
"It's very hard to get
through that mental block.
Students aren't aware of
how inq)ortant they are to
us teachers," he said.
Other professions know
if their final product is
a reward, such as a doctor
or a lawyer, but the re
wards of teaching aren't
immediate or apparent.
"The average M.D. makes
five times more than me,
so you know it's not the
financial awards," said
Sabo *
The third thing Sabo
likes about teaching here
is his subject.
"Political sdenoe is
inherently fas cinating.
There are so many nuances
and it's related to so
many things," he said.
"Every time I prepare a
lecture or read a new
book, I leam something
new," he said.
"I really enjoyed col
lege and to me this is an
extension of it. It opens
so many different atti
tudes .
"I would throw in the
towel if one of these
things were missing. It
just wouldn't be worth
it," he said.
Sabo and his wife,
Theresa, have two sons,
Dylan and Jefferson.
"Dylan is named after
the poet Dylan Thomas and
Jefferson after Thomas
Jefferson," said Sabo.
The e3q)lanation behind
these names is simple. Sa
bo likes Thomas' poetry
and he really admires Jef
ferson for his understand
ing of education.
And Sabo has some defi
nite ideas about educa
tion.
"I don't think this
state spends very much
money on schools and it
shows. It may be like this
elsewhere, but from my
Staff photo by Caroline Brown
Outstandiiig Teacher of the Year recipient Bill Sabo
is looking for Bruce Sprlngisteen and Soiling Stmies
albuBS, but he's not telling vbat for.
second-hand experience,
not much is spent on
primary and secondary
schools in North Caro
lina," said Sabo.
"The focus is on the
university level but I
feel that primary and
secondary education is far
more important," he said.
Sabo believes, however,
that a college education
is important, but teaching
students who haven't
learned the basics, make
it harder on the teacher.
educators give hands-on experience
Sabo says
By Anna Wilson
"I was so surprised when
I won the award, that all
I could think about was
not falling on ny way to
the stage," said Dr. Bill
Sabo, political science
lecturer and winner of the
Outstanding Teacher of the
Year Award given at grad
uation last May.
"It was a conq)lete
shock," said Sabo. "I'm
not sure at all that I am
a good teacher. In terms
of the award, I feel a
tremendous pressure to
live up to it.
"I feel that there are a
lot of teachers more de
serving than I," he said.
One of the three things
Sabo likes about teaching
here is the faculty.
"This school has as
extraordinarily talented
faculty," said Sabo. "I am
astonished at how good
they are.
"I steal ideas and tech
niques shamelessly and I
have to work really hard
to fit in," he said.
Sabo said teaching is
hard work and it is hard
sometimes to get motivat
ed.
"It takes time to get
everything together," said
Sabo.
But if a teacher has
Experiential
By Donna Obrecht
Educators from all over
the country arrived at
Lake Junaluska Assembly on
October 5. These weren't
ordinary school teachers
however.
The Association for Ex
periential Education held
their annual conference.
Ejqperiential education
means siiq)ly, learning by
doing.
The approximately 700
people attending the con
ference, believe that stu
dents leam better and
remember longer by doing
something than they do by
hearing about it or read
ing about it.
Zeke Zeliff, associate
director of North Carolina
Outward Bound,(NCOB), was
instrumental in having the
conference held in North
Carolina.
The North Carolina Out
ward Bound school is a
welHoiown exanple of ex
periential education. In
its 21-day course students
hike, can^, canoe, rock
climb and do other chal
lenging activities.
NCOB believes their stu
dents leam problem solv
ing techniques, how to
work with each other, and
how to depend on their own
resources.
Experiential education
doesn't have to involve
physical exertion in the
outdoors, however. Elliot
Wigginton proveid this by
starting Foxfire Magazine.
As an English teacher in
Rabun Gap, Georgia, Wig
ginton wanted to stimulate
his lethargic students. So
he started a magazine that
the students wrote and
published; a magazine
about mountain crafts and
old fashioned ways of
doing things.
Wigginton found that the
excitement of putting out
their own magazine encour
aged his students to do
work superior to what they
believed they could do.
Groups of students in the
Foxfire project have
published several books on
the same subject as the
magazines.
Wigginton was a major
speaker at the conference
and was the recipient of
the 1984 A.E.E. Kurt Hahn
Award.
The Campbell Folk School
in Brasstown, N.C. and the
Nantahala Outdoor Center
in Bryson City, N.C. are
two local experiential ed
ucation organizations that
presented workshops at the
conference.
Mack Kells
60 Tunnel Rd.
Buy one draught,
get one free
Limit one coupon
per customer
enjoy a dynamic di version...
progressive—professional
dance
with ^
j. moore bannister
tap
downtown asheville /
252-5270 fl^Ave.