Post Classifieds

Prof. Stones: 31 years of teaching at NU

By Richard Macris

On December 14, 2009

Pin It

Prof. Johnny Stones is the longest serving member of the Norwich University psychology department; when the semester ends in December he will have been a member of the university for 31 years.

"I graduated from Windham College in southern Vermont and than I did all of my graduate work and I got two masters degrees and a PHD from the University of Colorado in Boulder," he said.

When Professor Stones left graduate school and arrived at Norwich he had to adjust to new teaching habits.

" Well my first years here were much different; I didn't know what I was doing. I liked teaching but I really had to figure how to organize myself and have activities all the time. So had to really learn a lot. I was pretty young," he said.

Teaching three classes with 60 students meant Stones had to learn classroom management. In some situations the students would sit all over Dole Auditorium and he had to figure out how he could get the students to sit up front, he said.

When he first started at Norwich, a majority of the students were from the New England area.

"Most of the kids back then and a majority of our students came from the Boston area in Massachusetts," said Stones. "… We only had five or six kids from California."

The small student population at Norwich University made working with students a lot easier, he said.

"The size of the classes I think are the best thing about this place; having smaller classes is good for the instructor because they learn more about teaching; and its good for the students," said Stones.

While men outnumbered women at Norwich, Stones had a different teaching experience in his classes.

"When I first came my classes were half male and half female," said Stones. "Most of the classes were majority of male but the classes I taught were half and half because of the subject matter."

Professor Stones teaches many different psychology classes.

"I like to teach intro and I like to teach developmental and … I try to do at least one upper division course if I can. I do the senior seminar and then my specialty is personality psychology," he said.

He also teaches social psychology.

As many students at Norwich know, Stones loves to teach his classes with enthusiasm.

"I like students to see that psychology is a subject that they deal with everyday. It doesn't matter what their major is, they are dealing with people," said Stones. "It's fun to get students to realize that they were better at psychology when they were born as infants than when they are now."

Professor Stones approaches exams with a different method that is meant to help students.

"I simulate a computer with my multiple choice I'm able to see which kids are not as good with multiple choice but still know their stuff," said Stones.

Stones' teaching and testing methods are effective for students.

"I believe his teaching method helps me. I am able to retain information although studying is required," said Mathew Montana, an 18-year-old freshmen history major from Cheshire, Conn. "The way he teaches, … studying is a little easier; you already have an idea what the information is about."

Psychology is one of the courses that can help students learn more about life

"I think Professor Stones' teaching methods are different, specially the way he gives tests and you learned from mistakes," said Josh Burke, a 19-year-old sophomore from Falmouth, Mass. "You get the question correct and you have another chance to answer it correctly."

"He really makes you think about life inside and out," said Jim Gentile, a 20-year-old sophomore psychology major from Mahaw, N.J.

" I think most people realize in life that understanding psychology will help you do what you do," said Stones.