"I don't think I'm very good in the performance aspect [of teaching]," he said. "I speak in a monotone, forget where I'm going [with a certain point], only look at one side of the classroom. I find my talking and teaching totally unbearable," he says.
Vaux says he videotapes his lectures occasionally.
"It's profoundly depressing to watch myself," he says.
Yet, since Vaux began teaching, he's seen class sizes balloon from 15 when he first taught to 450 in his current class.
Vaux does teach with humor, often making sarcastic remarks during his lectures.
"I'm not interested in people learning a specific body of facts from rote. I'm more interested in that [students] are satisfied with the way they spent their time," he said.
Students seem to be satisfied.
"I enjoy his class," said Jessica M. Matthews '04. "Humor makes his class more interesting."
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