Henk Learns to Swim
22 Pages Posted: 21 Oct 2008
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Abstract
This case describes how an inexperienced teacher, Henk Vogts, prepares for his debut as a case teacher. The main text of the case outlines a dialogue on case teaching between Henk and his mentor, Peter Klamp. The case exhibit consists of the teaching note Henk prepared. The two main learning objectives are (1) how to prepare a teaching note and (2) how to use the teaching note in the classroom.
Excerpt
UVA-PHA-0036
HENK LEARNS TO SWIM
Hey, Henk, I think that the best time for you to teach would be on Friday of the first week. By then I should have gotten them up to speed with the spreadsheets.
Henk Vogts, a 28-year-old case writer at the Dutch Executive Training Institute, heard his professor, Peter Klamp, reminding him of the teaching commitment he had made some months earlier. It was the end of June, and Vogts realized that he should try to incorporate preparation time for the teaching commitment into his summer planning. Vogts felt a bit anxious about the assignment; it would be his debut as a teacher. Actually, he thought that the whole thing was a bit crazy—to begin a teaching career with a class of experienced, high-level, international executives. It was like learning to swim in the Olympics.
Offering his full support in the preparation work, Klamp had encouraged Vogts not only to develop cases, but also to try and get some teaching experience during his two-year employment on a casewriting project. The opportunity intrigued Vogts because it could help him decide whether he really wanted to be a teacher. In addition, it was a much-needed break from writing cases. After six months as a casewriter, Vogts had learned the hard way that writing cases was a much more cumbersome process than he had anticipated before accepting the job. Vogts looked in his calendar and found the week when the course started; with a lead pencil, he entered “Teach Robin case” on Friday, 13 September 1991.
The Dutch Executive Training Institute
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Keywords: teaching note pedagogy new teacher using in classroom
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