During dinner, just as they did at Gotham University, Shiller and Victor went to the restaurant together after class.
As soon as the dishes were served, Shiller couldn't help but sigh and shared with Victor what he had learned from Clark that day, which caused Victor to frown deeply.
"They are indeed outstanding in many ways, but teaching is not that simple. Have you heard about Bruce leaving homework for two classes?"
"Of course, but nothing he does surprises me," Shiller shook his head and said, "Just thinking about him becoming a professor makes me think the future of human education is bleak."
Victor laughed and then said, "Right now, within our entire base, the only ones with real teaching experience are the two of us and Nora, while the others are still stuck in medieval apprenticeship methods of teaching."
"Indeed, they seem to think that modern classroom teaching is simply like having a few more apprentices. Such thinking could indeed be fatal."
"I heard you're going to start a teaching seminar? I remember you didn't like participating in those when we were in school."
"That's because too many topics were clichés, meant for new teachers. I would rather spend that time grading graduate students' papers."
"But what seems cliché to us might be something new for the members of the Justice League, are you planning to introduce them to modern educational theories?"
"It's too late for that," Shiller said while cutting a piece of steak, "they've already taught several classes. Rather than studying theory now, it's better to just teach them methods. Copying a cat's leap should work well enough."
"Without discussing theory, do you think you can persuade them? ... Oh, wait, I forgot you are the master of persuasion, and they all listen to you."
"I'll try to make them understand the necessity as much as I can, but if it really doesn't work out, then it will have to be up to them. We're just paid consultants; there's no need to worry excessively like the main stakeholders."
"You said the same thing at Gotham University, yet you ended up teaching undergraduates, masters, and PhDs. Did they pay you three salaries?"
Shiller smiled helplessly.
Unexpectedly, his email about the teaching seminar made the others feel like facing a formidable foe; under Oliver's organization, several of them gathered in advance to discuss why Shiller wanted to call them over.
"Is it because you've been up to mischief again?" Diana squinted her eyes at Bruce and said, "You're in trouble, Bruce. Professor Shearer must be planning to give you a telling-off."
Bruce also looked somewhat guilty and thought for a moment before saying, "That shouldn't be the case, he seems to have given up on making me write papers."
"But you just screwed up," Arthur said bluntly, "You haven't treated all the classes fairly. If Professor Shearer called us over, it's definitely to criticize you by name and then make an example out of you for others."
"I feel like it's not that simple," Oliver said, "He wants every one of us to bring our lesson plans over. Oh my God, I just finished revising mine for two hours!"
"We have to bring lesson plans?" Diana looked as if struck by a bolt from the blue and said, "Physical education needs a lesson plan too?!"
"Of course," said Bruce, "you'd better catch up fast, otherwise you're done for if you can't deliver."
Diana made herself scarce in no time, and Clark sighed and said, "I don't think it's going to be that awful..."
"That's because you've already finished your lesson plan," Oliver gave him a thumbs-up, "The variety of courses you teach and still managing to write proper lesson plans, truly worthy of Superman."
"I mean, Professor Shearer came to see me today and asked about organizing group discussions. When I told him I didn't have such arrangements, he seemed somewhat dissatisfied."
Now it was Bruce's turn to be surprised. He said, "You really didn't arrange it? Are you planning to teach it all by yourself from the beginning to the end?"
"What's wrong with that? I think my current pace is quite good."
Bruce shook his head and said, "Of course not, remember it's about the combination of family education, societal education, and school education? Oh wait, you never actually studied that, did you?"
"Then I'm definitely fine," Oliver said with his arms crossed, "My students have been engaging in discussions very well."
"But that's all you have, discussions," Bruce pointed out.
Although Oliver still appeared defiant, he seemed to have grown a bit uneasy and left early, apparently to work on his lesson plan.
Bruce and Arthur walked back together, and Bruce complained on the way, "In school we had to catch up on papers, and now as teachers we still have to catch up on lesson plans; there's never a moment of peace."
"You guys are still doing well," Arthur said, "I don't understand why you asked me to teach Natural and Life Sciences, I never even went to college."
"But you're part Sea Clan."
"What advantage would a fish have in teaching Natural Sciences? Using myself as a teaching aid?"
Although they both appeared relaxed, once they were out of each other's sight, they quickly returned to their own offices to work on their lesson plans.
By the time the research and teaching meeting was scheduled to begin, Shiller had arrived early in the conference room, with Barry following behind him, acting as his assistant. Barry's main task was to prevent anyone from forgetting their lesson plan, and he could retrieve it for them in less than a second if needed.
Soon, Clark peeked in through the door, smiled at Shiller, and walked into the classroom carrying several thick notebooks.
"Um, Professor, I looked up online how a real lesson plan should be written, but due to time constraints, I didn't change much. I will write it properly afterwards."
Shiller took the stack from him and noticed that the bottom part was still the same, but the top few pages had been revised decently, including some questioning segments as well as explorations of the students' knowledge mastery—all of which were now included.
While others still hadn't arrived, Shiller began explaining to him.
"Firstly, a lesson plan is a primary standard by which a teacher's excellence is assessed. Having a teaching concept alone is not enough. You need to write down your blackboard work in advance and prepare handouts for the students or the notes they need to write ahead of time."
"You should include in-class quizzes in this part, which are your main means of understanding the students' knowledge in the current class. The questions in this part need to be more detailed, and you should add two follow-up questions..."
Clark listened intently, taking notes as he listened, and seemed to find more and more sense in what he heard.
Then he asked, "My next lecture is mainly about the international economic situation, focusing on analyzing the world's major economic organizations. Do you think this might be too scattered?"
"It's impossible to condense into one class," Shiller said. "Not everyone has a super brain like you. You need to start with an introduction when explaining the economic situation of each country..."
Soon, Oliver arrived too, looking rather worried, which indicated that his lesson plan was not well-prepared.
Being an action-oriented person, many of his experiences were accumulated through practical activities. Although he had received an elite education, he had seldom looked at some details from a teacher's perspective.
In fact, in Europe and America, most teachers are fairly laid-back, largely because there isn't the pressure of a national exam on the entire population. Even in elite education, comprehensive abilities are valued, and the classroom only accounts for a smaller part of that.
Thus, in these countries, the main material used to assess a teacher's ability is the lesson plan. Their lesson plans are even more polished than those of teachers from Eastern countries, who are preoccupied with large exams, because as long as the lesson plan is well-written, promotions and salary increases are not just dreams.
Moreover, their lesson plans are even more comprehensive. Some include every word they will say in class, every response they expect from students, and what those responses represent. Everything must be included: handouts, notes, in-class quizzes, exam papers, group report details, and nothing can be missed.
Gotham University also takes lesson plans very seriously, with regular lesson plan evaluation and display competitions, which come with monetary rewards. Most young teachers look to the quality of lesson plans for promotions, so although Shiller taught undergraduate, master's, and doctoral courses, he still had to spend a lot of time writing lesson plans.
After a while, Diana, Arthur, and Bruce arrived, followed by the Friess couple and several other teachers skilled in agents' techniques.
Once Barry collected all their lesson plans, the most significant issue emerged among the members of the Justice League.
Victor and Nora were from teaching backgrounds, even having experience from elementary to university. Lesson plans were second nature to them, with Nora's plan particularly impressive. Shiller thought hers could win an award even at the more competitive Metropolitan University.
The teachers sent by the Special Agent Organization were obviously also former agents, and their lesson plans, while not overly beautiful, were proper and showed the expertise of experienced teachers.
But the lesson plans from the members of the Justice League were all over the place. Diana's lesson plan was obviously patched together last minute. Fortunately, she was skilled in magic and could produce several days' worth of material in just a couple of hours. The problem was that her lesson plan was content-less, listing only what to do at what time, with no difference from a to-do list.
Arthur's lesson plan was a template downloaded from the internet, and it wasn't even filled out properly, with only half-sentences that left much to be desired in terms of classroom practice aligning with the lesson plan.
Oliver's was even more outrageous—his plan contained almost no theoretical teaching, focusing entirely on group discussions. From the start of the course, he required group discussions from everyone, without delivering even a bit of foundational military science, which was very in line with his belief in the value of practical experience.
Bruce's lesson plan was the best of the group. He seemed to have self-studied modern education theory, and his lesson plan was relatively well-structured. However, Shiller immediately spotted that Bruce had copied a section on criminal psychology from one of his own award-winning plans.
But strict speaking, since criminology is an interdisciplinary subject that includes criminal psychology, using others' materials isn't too problematic.
Shiller singled out Bruce's lesson plan for praise, saying, "Clearly, Professor Wayne's lesson plan is the most correctly written of them all. It would be even better if you could indicate the sources you've cited."
Bruce had not yet had a chance to revel in the first part of the praise when he heard the second part and began to cough violently. Then he said, "Ahem, Professor, actually..."
"Alright, let's first address the issue with the lesson plans. Mrs. Friss, could you give me your lesson plan? I'd like to use it as a display," Shiller said.
Nora smiled at him and nodded.
Shiller photocopied Nora's lesson plan and distributed copies, then started emphasizing the important points with the others. Although the plans didn't need to be as beautifully written, they had to include all necessary parts, and it was vital to stick to them when teaching.
Generally speaking, for veteran teachers, it's not necessary to follow the lesson plan 100%—there may be a need for flexibility. However, for this group, it was best to emphasize perfect execution, otherwise there'd indeed be countless issues.
After completing the discussion on lesson plans, it was time to report on teaching progress and discuss teaching strategies. It was only after they had finished that Shiller realized that the lesson plans weren't really the problem at all.