In Ken Bain’s excellent book, What the Best College Teachers Do (Harvard University Press), he tells the story of Professor Donald Saari, a mathematician from the University of California, who uses the WGAD (“Who Gives A Damn?”) principle. On the first day of class, Professor Saari informs students that they can ask this question at any moment, and he will do his best to explain how whatever obscure thing he’s talking about connects to why they signed up for the course. If your goal is to keep people interested, give them permission to let you know when they’re having trouble following and are
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