Will I Be A Teacher They Never Forget?

Happy Holidays!!!   I hope this semester has been wonderful, one where your students were inspired to think deeply and find joy in learning.  As I often tell my students:  the more you learn, the more the world opens up to you.  So, I hope you helped to open the world a bit wider for every one of your students.  Could any job be more rewarding than that?

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I needed an old picture last week for a project so I went searching through my college yearbooks.  They have remained on my book shelf, rarely opened, for nearly five decades.   Although I discovered hundreds of scenes of college life, my attention was captured by one tiny picture—about the size of a quarter.  Oddly enough, it was a photo of a sheet of paper—a paper that had 8 words handwritten on it.   The sheet looked like it might have been tacked to a wall.  I have no idea why this particular photo was included in a college yearbook but the words on that paper certainly meant something to me.

“Will I be a teacher they never forget?” 

I don’t know if those words had been written by a student who dreamed of a future in the classroom or by a faculty member who looked to that goal for inspiration.   But, the message has been on my mind since I leafed through that yearbook.  It stands at the heart of what you and I do every day as we enter our classrooms.

How do we make that happen?  That is something that you might ponder over the winter break.  My advice:  Set out to make a real difference in the lives of each student.  Then, your efforts will be worth remembering.

I like having a personal theme for each new semester.  The above words seem like a great candidate for the spring of 2017.  Make a real difference in the lives of the students and teaching becomes the greatest profession in the world.   Yes, the students will probably forget our names over the years but they will carry our influence with them for the rest of their lives.

Will I be a teacher they never forget?   That leads to a simple question with no simple answer:  How can a teacher manage to make a positive difference in the lives of his or her students?  That is a discussion that teachers should have more often.  When is the last time you actually talked with a colleague about how to make a difference in the lives of your students?  As we end the fall semester and begin to look forward to the spring, it is a question worth considering.  Making a difference is a lot more than covering subject matter.  At some point, teaching needs to go beyond content delivery.

I can describe my approach to working with students but that’s because I have thought about it for 45.5 years.  But, in truth, these thoughts only apply to me.  If you are serious about being a teacher your students will never forget, then spend some time coming up with your own insights.  

With that disclaimer, here are four things that I always put high on my list of actions that can help make a real difference in the lives of your students.

(1) – William Faulkner famously said:  “Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors.  Try to be better than yourself.”  I think that is a basic message teachers need to convey to their students.  Don’t let them settle for mediocre.  Many are happy to hide their talents.  They focus on their limitations.  A lot of students almost fight to avoid standing out.  Too many would be delighted to accept a B or C and simply head back to the dorm.  

To make a difference in the lives of your students, you have to convince them that they are capable of doing more than they ever thought possible.  Occasionally, I save messages from my students and pull them out when I need to recharge my enthusiasm.   Here’s one I received shortly after a student finished my course.  “You have taught me how to be a better student and how to believe in my own potential to succeed. You have definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone, but by doing so, you've helped me push myself to become a better student and person.”  That student never even mentioned whether I taught her any accounting.  It wasn’t about content delivery.

How does a teacher push a student to go beyond their own self-doubts?  First, you have to believe that what you are teaching is extremely important.  If you don’t believe that, neither you nor the students will be willing to put in the serious effort necessary for success.  Second, you have to push the students to work harder and think more deeply and you have to push them every day even when you get sick and tired of pushing.  Third, you have to guide them.  You cannot simply push—you must also guide.   In my mind, teaching is often no more than “pushing” and “guiding.”

(2) – I find the idea of language to be fascinating.  I have heard it said that the ability to use language was one of the most important steps in our evolutionary development.  I can use simple words (spoken or written) to take a complex idea out of my head and move it into the heads of my students.  Isn’t that marvelous?   Almost sounds like science fiction.   But words are necessary.  We do not teach through telepathy.  Students cannot read a teacher’s mind.  To make a difference, you have to come up with an efficient way to communicate with your students.  Without successful communication, you might as well be a picture on a wall.   

My spring classes start in one month but I have already written 2-3 emails to the new students.  I’ll write them every week until the semester starts and almost every day after classes begin.  I want absolute clarity.  I want no one lost and confused.  I want students to understand what I want from them and why.   I am beginning to create the environment that I want for the spring semester:  challenging, interesting, requiring work, and requiring thought.  Just yesterday I described a problem that one of my current students had posed.   It thought it was a fascinating question and I emailed it to my new students.  Company B directs Company C to send some inventory items to Customer A in China.  Company C certainly records sales revenue but does Company B also record sales revenue or did that company do no more than pass along a message.  I didn’t give them an assignment and I didn’t provide an answer.  I just wanted to start tickling their curiosity.

When something goes wrong in one of my classes, I am always reminded of the famous passage from the movie Cool Hand Luke:   “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.”     

(3) – To convince students to invest time and effort, a teacher has to explain why he or she finds the material interesting and important.  If it is not interesting and it is not important, why in the world should the teacher take up class time with it?  A teacher should never discuss topics just because they have always been discussed in the past.   Don’t take up class time purely because material is included in a textbook.  The subject matter has to be interesting or it has to be important.  If not, then skip it and move on.  Removing material from a course takes some courage.  But you are the teacher.  Within reason, you have to make the decision on how to allocate class time.  If material is interesting, then share that reason with the students.  If material is important, then share that reason with the students.  They have a right to know why you are taking up their time.

(4) – Finally, and maybe most importantly, it is difficult to make a difference in the lives of students unless you care about them as people.  Yes, college students can be lazy and rude.  You still need to care about them as people or you will never make a lasting and positive difference in their lives.  Trust me, after so many years and so many students, it is easy to view students as interchangeable parts – like various pieces of inventory sitting in front of you.  But, they are not unfeeling robots.   They are real people who deserve a genuine shot at an education.  You’ve probably heard the quote that is often attributed to Mother Teresa but was apparently written (according to Google) by Kent Keith:   “People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.  Love them anyway.”  Maybe those 9 words should be the theme for the spring of 2017.

Will you be a teacher they never forget?

--Push your students to go beyond what they believe they are capable of accomplishing.

--Communicate clearly to them so they always know what you want and why.

--Share your excitement by showing them why the material being discussed is interesting or important.

--Don’t look at them as an anonymous group but rather as distinct human beings.   Learn to care about them even if they don’t always meet your high standards.

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And, once again:  Happy Holidays.  Enjoy your break!!      Joe Hoyle

A THANKSGIVING ASSIGNMENT

I read recently an opinion column that stated the obvious:   Americans have become very angry people.  And, it is not just the recent election.  For months (well, more like years), news reports have conveyed an ongoing story:  People across this country are angry and upset for one reason or another.  I am not here to judge whether such feelings are justified.  That is not my point.  I just find the current level of anger especially sad since we are not involved in a world war that is killing millions or trying to live through the horrors of the Great Depression or having to watch our children perish with the bubonic plague or living with rampant inflation that makes our money worthless before we can spend it.

I think one reason for such universal anger is that most people simply don’t feel appreciated.  That is a basic human need that we tend to overlook in our daily lives.  People need to feel that their efforts have been noticed.  If they don’t get an occasional pat on the back, it is easy to be upset.  

So, during this Thanksgiving season, I decided to do something I had never done before.  If you have read this teaching blog for long, you know that I send out a lot of messages to my students.  Here is the one that I emailed to them this morning.  I had never before written to students like this.  It will not do any harm and maybe it will make a small difference in how they look at themselves as students.   Maybe it will help their self-image and their confidence.  That is always beneficial.

--I wanted my students to realize that I really had seen their efforts.

--I wanted my students to understand how much I appreciated them (even though I tend to fuss a lot when they seem to be lazy).

--I wanted to give them a genuine pat on the back.

--And, I wanted them to become a bit more aware and pass along that same message to another person.  The problem is not solved simply by receiving a pat on the back.  You must also be willing to give a pat on the back.

Here’s the email I sent to my students on this day before Thanksgiving.

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Three Things

(1) – I received a note yesterday from a student who was in my class 10-12 years ago and now lives thousands of miles away.  He said that he wanted to thank me – not for teaching him accounting but rather:  “You helped me appreciate the tremendous value of showing up to class every day ready to engage.”  I liked that comment a lot because it focused on two things that I hope to pass along to all my students:   (1) you’ve got to prepare fully and consistently or your education quickly becomes no more than training for a position as a stenographer and (2) once the class/job starts you have to be ambitious, you’ve got to engage—you cannot succeed by hiding in the shadows. 

(2) – Because it is Thanksgiving and because I received a word of thanks myself, I have decided that I want to pass along a word of thanks to you folks – my 53 accounting students for the fall of 2016.   As you can imagine, over the last four and half decades I have had great classes and bad classes and everything in-between.  I can truly say that your class this semester has been excellent.   Okay, I don’t think the group has any true accounting geniuses (every so often I get one of those) but the percentage of students who have done well this semester has been extraordinarily high.   Usually, I’m ecstatic if half of my students are truly ready, willing, and able to participate in class each day.  In your class, it has almost always been at least 70-80 percent.   When a teacher walks into class and 70-80 percent of the students are prepared and willing to think, talk, and try, teaching is both the easiest and the most fun job in the world.   So, thanks for a great semester (at least so far).  Your willingness to show up to class every day ready to engage has made this a lot of fun for me.

(3) – I received a word of thanks from a student.   I passed along a word of thanks to you.   Why not keep the ball rolling?   Think of a teacher (kindergarten, English professor, high school biology or the like) who was really helpful to you (you cannot do me – I’ve already received my note of thanks for this Thanksgiving).   Then, write them a note or email and thank them.   It doesn’t have to be more than a couple of sentences.  Just tell them that you still realize how much they helped you to become the person you are today.  Put it in your own words – tell them what their teaching meant to you.  My bet is that you will make that teacher's day.   It will only take you a couple of minutes and, trust me, it will make your teacher very happy.   And, if that teacher truly helped you, he or she deserves a word of thanks.  Every person appreciates a pat on the back now and then.   I won’t make this a class assignment.   You should do it because YOU want to do it and because YOU have the initiative to get it done.

Then, next week, take 3 minutes to come by my office and tell me who you thanked and why.   If you don’t show up, I’ll assume your teachers have all been so bad that you could not think of a single person who deserved one word of thanks.   So, do it!!

Have a great Thanksgiving!! 

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Okay, now it is your turn.  Although I am nearly 70, last year I wrote three of my high school teachers and told them how very much their work had influenced my life.   I only wished I had done it many, many years earlier when more of my teachers were still alive.   Isn’t it time for you to pass along a pat on the back to one of your teachers?

And, as I said to my students:   Happy Thanksgiving!!

Want to Teach Better – Here’s My Ultimate Piece of Advice

My good friend C. J. Skender is an outstanding teacher at UNC (and genuinely nice guy).  He recently sent me a sheet of “Forever” stamps for my birthday that celebrated the work of Jaime Escalante.  You might already know about Jaime Escalante but, if not, I’ll talk a bit about him at the end of this blog posting.

I often have people ask for advice about teaching and I try my best to say something that might be insightful and helpful.   Unfortunately, it is often hit or miss.  But there is one piece of advice that I really think is the ultimate piece of advice that every teacher needs to consider if they truly want to grow in their work with students.

I was reminded of this by several things I read recently.

Story One:  Carole Bayer Sager has been a well-known writer of popular songs since the 1970s.  Her hits include “Don’t Say You Love Me,” “Arthur’s Theme,” “Groovy Kind of Love,” and “That’s What Friends Are For.”   She recently published an autobiography (They’re Playing Our Song) that was reviewed a few weeks ago in the Wall Street Journal.   

While having lunch at my favorite deli that day, I came across the following story in that book review:

“In high school, she and a classmate, Sherry Harway, made a dash for the piano every day after school and tried to emulate the words and melodies they were listening to up and down the AM dial. ‘I began to study every song I heard on the radio, dissecting each one to find out what was that special thing that made it a hit,’ she writes. ‘What wasn’t I doing yet?’

Story Two:  Somehow, I have recently gotten on a list where I receive regular emails full of teaching advice.  They are pretty good.   I try to read them as often as I can.  On October 24, I received one titled “Teaching Critical Thinking: Some Practical Points” by Linda B. Nilson.  It opened with these words.

“We all endorse it and we all want our students to do it. We also claim to teach it. ‘It’ is critical thinking, and very few of us actually teach it or even understand what it is (Paul & Elder, 2013). Research tells us that our students learn critical thinking only after we receive training in how to teach it and design our courses explicitly and intentionally to foster critical thinking skills (Abrami, Bernard, Borokhovski, Wade, Surkes, Tamim, & Zhang, 2008). We have to start by formulating assessable critical thinking learning outcomes and building our courses around them.”

For those of you who might want to read further:  Here are the two works cited.

Abrami, P. C., Bernard, R. M., Borokhovski, E., Wade, A., Surkes, M. A., Tamim, R., & Zhang, D. (2008). Instructional interventions affecting critical thinking skills and dispositions: A stage 1 meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 78(4), 1102-1134.

Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2013). Study of 38 public universities and 28 private universities to determine faculty emphasis on critical thinking in instruction. Available at http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/study-of-38-public-universities-and-28-private-universities-to-determine-faculty-emphasis-on-critical-thinking-in-instruction/598

Story Three:   A few years back, I wanted to get a better understanding of self-publishing so I wrote a book on success (Don’t Just Dream About Success—Stack the Odds in Your Favor) that I self-published.   It was a fun, learning experience for me.  In this book, I related (and discussed) a lot of stories that had influenced me over the past decades.   Here is one of my true favorites.

“Mark Rothko was a celebrated artist who worked during the middle part of the 20th century.  The website for the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, provides this assessment of his influence on the world of art.

“’One of the preeminent artists of his generation, Mark Rothko is closely identified with the New York School, a circle of painters that emerged during the 1940s as a new collective voice in American art.  During a career that spanned five decades, he created a new and impassioned form of abstract painting.’

“In 2009, the play Red opened in London before eventually moving to Broadway in New York City and then throughout the United States.  The action is set in Rothko’s studio and consists of conversations between the artist and his young assistant.  Red was recently staged here in Richmond, Virginia.  I am no theater expert, but found the play funny, interesting, and insightful.  Although the entire production is a fascinating look at Rothko’s ideas and personality, one short monologue about a painting by Henri Matisse really caught my attention.  Those few lines have reverberated through my brain numerous times since that evening.

“In this particular scene, Rothko is describing the evolution of the unique style that made his art both famous and influential.  At a critical point early in his development as an artist, he discovered a work that truly intrigued him:  Matisse’s The Red Studio at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.  Initially, he was baffled by how Matisse managed to create the painting’s stunning effect.   Unlike most people, Rothko could not let go of the need to understand what he was seeing.  How did the artist produce such a powerful impact?  What caused this mix of oils to be so mesmerizing?  Returning to the museum each day, he stood in front of the painting for hours analyzing Matisse’s techniques and talent.  According to the play, the daily pilgrimage continued until Rothko was able to unravel the mystery to his satisfaction.  He had a tenacious need to see more deeply—a characteristic that enabled him to grow artistically as he began to comprehend the secrets that made this painting great.

“He did not buy a book about Matisse and fall in line with some expert’s opinion.

“He did not take a class on Matisse so that a teacher could describe various theories about the work.

“He did not call Matisse on the telephone and ask for an explanation.

“He did not go online and pull up Matisse’s resume to discover the school where the artist had studied.

“No.  Rothko went back day after day, hour after hour, and stared obsessively at The Red Studio working to penetrate the wonder of its composition.  He was witnessing a work of genius which inspired him so completely that he was unable to rest until he mentally captured that essence.  Only then could those secrets be assimilated into his own artistic talent.  You cannot implement what you do not understand.”

Okay, what is the point of these three stories.   For me, the point is that becoming good at something does not happen by accident.  That’s the ultimate advice I can give to a person who wants to be a better teacher:   Being good doesn’t happen by accident.

--Carole Bayer Sager dissected the hit songs to try to determine what was special about them.

--Linda B. Nilson asserts that you cannot teach critical thinking simply because you say that you want to do it.   If that is the goal, then you have to learn how to do it and build the course entirely around that idea.

--Mark Rothko became one of the most influential artists of the last century because, at least in part, he obsessively spent hours coming to understand what made one painting so very magical.

Story Four:   Anyone who has read this blog knows by now that in 1991 (after about 20 years as a college professor) I switched from being a lecture style teacher to using the Socratic method exclusively.   I have told that story so often that people tell it back to me.  What I don’t tell people is that I spent the summer of 1991 breaking my teaching down into its smallest possible components:   how did I communicate with the students, how did I call on them in class, how often did I call on each one, how did I ask them to prepare for class, what did I ask them to do after class, how did I react to a missed question or a lack of effort, how did I test them, what did I do if I was unhappy with them (individually or specifically), how did I grade them, how available was I to mentor them, how did I motivate them, etc.   I tried to consider every aspect of my teaching.   Then, I tried to figure out which of those components was working and which were not working.   The parts that were working, I kept.   The parts that were not working, I tried to figure out how to fix.

If I became a better teacher after that, it was never because I switched to the Socratic Method.  It was because I invested a few months one summer thinking about every aspect of my teaching.

Story Five:   Okay, who is Jaime Escalante?  For 17 years, he was a high school math teacher in Los Angeles and the subject of the fabulous movie Stand and Deliver.  

I do not remember every detail of Stand and Deliver but Escalante becomes a teacher at a high school that is truly struggling.  In a very tough environment, the students seem lost and hopeless.   But, Escalante convinces several of these students to try preparing for the AP Calculus examination even though everyone else thought that was a useless idea for these students.   It seemed like a totally hopeless goal but, somehow, he managed to succeed, not just with a few students but with virtually all of his students.  I love that concept -- he succeeded with virtually all of his students.

According to Wikipedia, “In 1982, Escalante came into the national spotlight when 18 of his students passed the challenging Advanced Placement Calculus exam. The Educational Testing Service found these scores to be suspicious, because all of the students made exactly the same math error on problem #6, and also used the same unusual variable names. Fourteen of those who passed were asked to take the exam again. Twelve of the fourteen agreed to retake the test and all twelve did well enough to have their scores reinstated. In 1983, the number of students enrolling and passing the A.P. calculus test more than doubled. That year 33 students took the exam and 30 passed.”

Okay, you say you want to be a better teacher.  Great goal.   Watch Stand and Deliver and then write and tell me exactly how he did it.  Dissect the movie (to use Sager’s term).   Watch it a couple of times to see what you can catch.  You are not trying to become Escalante.  You are trying to understand teaching at its most fundamental level.  This guy is a true genius at teaching – heck, he has his portrait on a postage stamp.  You are not trying to become Escalante.  Rothko did not become Matisse.  Rothko used the Matisse work as his guide post – so that he could see how the magic was done?   My email address is jhoyle@richmond.edu.  If you truly want to get better, watch Stand and Deliver and then write and tell me (point by point), how he created that miracle.

THE QUALITY OF LIFE I WANT FOR MY STUDENTS

I had actually planned to write an entirely different blog this afternoon.   Had it all sketched out and ready to go based on something I read recently in the Wall Street Journal.   But, I received emails from two former students over the last four days and heard a third say something particularly interesting during a recent panel discussion.  All three of them made me start thinking about what I truly wanted for my students.  So, I decided to defer my original essay for a week or two and let my mind wander in a different direction.

College officials often say that one of the main purposes of a college education is to create well-rounded individuals who can lead meaningful and productive lives.  Gosh, who could possibly argue against that goal?   We are not training robots.   We are teaching flesh and blood people.   If we have any human feelings, we absolutely must want our students to live happy and fulfilled lives. 

As college teachers, what is our responsibility in helping our students achieve such a goal?  Or, is that someone else’s responsibility and not ours?

Where in college do we actually go about this process of helping students become well-rounded individuals ready to be productive members of society?   Okay, we can require courses in literature or art but that is just shifting the burden off on someone else.   Plus, requiring a course is not necessarily the same as sharing with them a love of Shakespeare or Botticelli.   We can require psychology or history or political science but that might only mean they must learn to pass a test on those subjects.  That is hardly life changing.

If you have read this blog for long, you know that I have two assignments in my Intermediate Accounting II class that have absolutely nothing to do with accounting.  But I truly hope they have an influence on the future quality of life my students will experience.

(1) – I give my students up to five points on the final exam for visiting up to five places in the city of Richmond.   I provide an approved list of sites they can visit:   the art museum, the history museum, the Edgar Allan Poe museum, a park, the opera, a play, and the like.  I have a great number of photos on my office walls of students at the ballet, a nearby James River park, an ancient house brought to Richmond from England, and so on.   Does this assignment make them better accountants?   I don’t know and I don’t care.  I deeply hope it makes them better adults.   I like that idea a lot.   I truly believe that every college class needs to be about more than just the conveyance of subject matter if our students are going to have happy adult lives.

(2) – Every semester since 1993, I have asked my students to write an essay about the best book they have ever read.   I get beautiful, long, thoughtful essays about books that range from 1984 to Harry Potter.   From To Kill a Mockingbird to The Catcher in the Rye.  You wouldn’t believe that accounting majors could write so eloquently about literature.   I then accumulate the list (all the way back to 1993) and give it to the students and challenge them to start reading books from that list.   Does the assignment make them better accountants?   I don’t know and I don’t care.  I do hope it makes them better adults.  

Okay, what made me think of this?  As I said, I recently received two emails from former students and heard another former student speak at a panel session.

Former Student One:   It was not an easy process to adapt to the busy life in New York, but I like it so far. Inspired by the bold success story you wrote in your book, I have pushed myself to participate in different sorts of activities around the city and find my passion and dream outside of work. There are two of my adventures that I am eager to share with you (I have included photos). Two weeks ago, I signed up for a wine and painting event organized by my firm. Despite all my efforts, my painting still looked pretty sketchy.  I am still very happy that I did it. This painting is currently proudly exhibited in my bedroom. The second picture was taken during a recent visit to the Guggenheim Museum.

Former Student Two:  I heard that you're doing your best books assignment (which I remember from when I was in class but I can't remember what my answer was). I wanted to reach out and see if you'd share the list that you come up with? I'm looking for some books to read while I'm traveling for the holidays.  I love that you do such an assignment - I find myself encouraging the staff that I work with to do more than just audit and go on social media/watch TV.   I feel like my attitude is a result of you emphasizing that so much in your classes.

Former Student Three:   (I am paraphrasing this because it came from a panel discussion to about 50 of our students).   I have spent the last 27 years doing a great job of Managing My Career.   I have pushed myself very hard to be very successful.  I made all the sacrifices I could to be successful.   Then last spring, at about 49 years of age, I had a heart attack.  Since that day, I have done a much better job of Managing My Life.  I wish I had thought about that a bit more when I was a student. 

In 46 years, I have never had a former student thank me for teaching them to properly account for deferred income taxes.  Never, not once.  Last week alone, I had a student thank me for pushing her to get out and experience her environment (including visiting the Guggenheim Museum) and another thank me for pushing the importance of reading good literature. 

This all struck me when I heard my other former student talk about Managing His Life rather than Managing His Career.  

I cannot tell you how to do it in your class.   I think that is up to you and what you feel comfortable doing.   I just believe that college education should be about more than just knowing how to get all the rules lined up correctly.   Think about some small assignment that you could add to your class that might have a positive effect on the quality of life that you want for your students.  Start small and work your way up.   Yes, of course, college needs to be about subject matter but it also needs to be about how to live a meaningful, satisfied life.   And that is not a responsibility we should outsource to someone teaching a general education requirement.  That should be an underlying goal of 100 percent of our classes.

A PLEASURABLE RUSH

Several weeks ago I was honored to lead a 2-hour teaching program for the Tennessee Society of Accounting Educators in Nashville.  I had spoken to the group a few years back and they were kind enough to invite me to return.  I tried my best not to repudiate everything I had said in my previous visit.  When you talk and write a lot, you worry that you’ll start contradicting yourself.

Whenever I give any teaching presentation, I like to include a thought or suggestion that I discover during the preceding few days.  For me, adding a new idea at the very last moment has become almost a superstition.  I enjoy doing this because it forces me to keep my eyes open for words or actions that are interesting and inspirational—something that will make me a better teacher, something that I can share with the group.  I am aware that it is easy for me to see obvious pieces of wisdom and still miss their significance.   (When the Wright Brothers were first learning to fly their new airplane in an open field near Dayton, they were pretty much ignored by the local newspapers because no one could grasp that their results might have some importance.  It is easy, I think, for all of us to have that kind of blurred vision.)

Before I left for Nashville, I was reading Why Don’t Students Like School? by Daniel T. Willingham, an interesting book that a good friend of mine (Laura Webb) had given me.  Professor Webb is a wonderfully insightful teacher in our law school here at Richmond.  I was sure that any book she recommended would be full of good advice.

Not surprisingly, I found my last-minute idea for the Tennessee conference almost immediately in that book.  I do not know if these words had any influence on the members of my audience but they certainly touched me and have influenced my teaching this semester.  When you are in your 46^th year in the classroom, it is easy to believe that nothing ever needs to change.  In fact, at my age you want to put the whole process on auto-pilot.  (“I’ve done this for so long there is no reason to even consider doing something new.  Good enough is good enough.”)   But, that’s pure and total nonsense.  Improvement is a daily battle that never ends.  Every teacher can (and should) work to get better.  Consequently, I have made a number of changes in my class this semester and the quote from Why Don’t Students Like School? has been the impetus for several of them.

Okay, what the heck did I read that caught my attention and influenced my semester?

   “People are naturally curious, but we are not naturally good thinkers; unless the cognitive conditions are right, we will avoid thinking.  

   “The implications of this principle is that teachers should reconsider how they encourage their students to think, in order to maximize the likelihood that students will get the pleasurable rush that comes from successful thought.” 

It was the last few words that hit home for me:  “students will get the pleasurable rush that comes from successful thought.”   Wow, that is such a wonderful description of how education should work and feel.  

--It is NOT about memorization.  

--It IS about thinking.  

--It is NOT about the pain of tolerating a boring class. 

--It IS about the pleasure of learning.  

--It is NOT about some grade on a test. 

--It IS about a personal epiphany. 

--It is NOT about conveying information.

--It IS about figuring out logical solutions.

How did those few words affect my thinking and teaching?  That is easy:   I have been working on how I can help my students “get the pleasurable rush that comes from successful thought.”  Not 30 percent of my students or 50 percent of my students but all of them--100 percent.

There is no way that students can be successful every day.  Regardless of the subject, students have to learn to work their way through complex material to arrive at true understanding.  Failure is a natural part of that process.  A wrong assumption is made or a step is taken without logical support.  Education is just full of failure.  We all know that.  But, at some point, there has to be success or students become discouraged and intimidated.  “I am too dumb to learn this material” is certainly not the outcome anyone wants.  If things always seem to be sliding downhill, students will fall back on what I refer to as “high school habits” – note taking, cramming, and memorization.  I don’t want that.  That leads to neither understanding nor a pleasurable rush.  

My goal is not to prove to my students that my classes are so challenging that no one can possibly learn the material.  Gosh, what good would that do them or me?  My goal is to help my students work their way through the swamp of complexity so that they can ultimately figure out the path for themselves.  I like that goal (no, actually, I love that goal).  I want 100 percent of my students to get to that point.  Making a good grade on a test is great but there needs to be a better reward than that.  Learning should not be solely a quest for grades.  There needs to be that pleasurable rush that comes from successful thought.  I have come back to those words over and over during the past few weeks.  That pleasurable rush can be additive.  It can turn a mediocre student into a fabulous student.  It can make students want to try harder, want to think more deeply.   Nothing succeeds like success.  However, you have to help make sure that true success happens—at least occasionally.

If there is so much failure in the learning process, how can a teacher introduce that pleasurable rush into class?  That’s a legitimate question for any teacher to consider.  If you have suggestions, please let me know.  I am always on a quest for more and better ideas.  

Here are a few things that I have been trying this semester.

1 – Openly acknowledge when a student makes a mental leap.  That’s when the critical thinking is happening.   “See – you took what we discussed in our previous class and you adapted it to solve this new problem.  That’s excellent.  Good job.”  You don’t need to make such comments every day but now and then can be a real boost for a student’s morale.  And, you cannot just deliver that message to the top 10 percent of the class.  Anyone can teach those people.  They are already familiar with the pleasurable rush that comes from successful thought.   Figure out how to say something positive to every student as often as possible.

2 – When you see a student outside of class, mention something they have done well.  Be as specific as possible.  “Good work” just sounds like you are being a cheerleader.  “Your answer on that third question today was excellent.  I loved how you methodically walked your way through the facts and the assumptions to come up with a great answer.  That shows what you are capable of.” 

3 – If a student stumbles on a test, they immediately face a crisis of confidence.  Before they lose faith in themselves, send them an email “Listen, I know you could not possibly be happy with that grade.  Believe me, you are capable of doing much better work in this class.  Come by and see me ASAP and let’s talk about how you can perform better in my class.  There are things that you can do that will help.  I think some adjustments will lead to better results on the next test.”  Successful thought has to be a viable outcome or no student is ever going to work very hard.

4 – Rethink how you are discussing material in class.  If you are simply presenting material so that it is copied and regurgitated, there is never going to be a pleasurable rush from that.  That is education at its dullest.  Over the years on this blog, I have repeated one quote several times from What the Best College Teachers Do by Ken Bain because I think it is relevant to better teaching.  “One teacher explained it this way:  ‘It’s sort of Socratic  . . .  You begin with a puzzle—you get somebody puzzled, and tied in knots, and mixed up.’  Those puzzles and knots generate questions for students, he went on to say, and then you begin to help them untie the knots.”

“And then you begin to help them untie the knots.”

I never read those words that I don’t say to myself “Yep, that’s exactly why I am here teaching these students.  To puzzle them and then help them untie the knots.”

Could there be a better way to introduce your students to “the pleasurable rush that comes from successful thought.” 

Helping to Make Business Come Alive for Your Students

I have always thought that if I taught theater I would take my students to see plays.  Theater has to be live to be fully appreciated.   And, if I taught art, I would lead my students through art museums.   Monet and Picasso can only be really understood when you are looking at the real thing.   No book is ever going to be so alive as the paint on those canvases.  

Well, I teach accounting.   How do you open up the world of business to accounting students?   Nothing in this world could be more alive than what happens each day in business.   Decisions and innovations and advertising campaigns and take overs occur every day in full view of the public.  Think Wells Fargo right now.   The CEO is having to explain the company’s action to Congress.   To a true business person, this stuff is better than great fiction.   It is alive all around us.  The good, the bad, and the ugly.  

I want my students to feel that excitement as they walk into class each day.   When business feels alive, the relevance of accounting becomes a lot more obvious.  

For years, I suggested to my students that they read the Wall Street Journal each day.   That continues to be a great idea but, for a college student, that can come close to overkill.   The WSJ has hundreds of stories, many of which only appeal to people highly experienced in the world of business.   My students are 20 years old and not 30 years old and there is a big difference in many ways.   For college students, reading the WSJ can become a daily game of hide and seek—trying to find something they can understand and find relevant.

About 3 semesters ago, I switched my student recommendation to Morning Brew, a morning email synopsis of the business news of the day that winds up in my email at 6 each morning.   I can read for 15 minutes and be ready for a new day in the world of business.   I don’t remember how I first heard about it but there are several things I like about Morning Brew as it pertains to my students.

--It only hits the top stories in a quick fashion but gives links if students want to read more.

--I love the fresh and friendly writing style.   This is not stuffy business statistics.  They make business feel exciting.  And, that is something very few business publications manage to capture.  But, that style appeals to younger generation of business students.

--It was created by a couple of guys while they were still in college.  I love the entrepreneurial spirit of young people.   Plus, they have a great feel for what will interest business students.

If you are interested in subscribing or having your students subscribe, the website is:

 http://www.morningbrewdaily.com/

As a quick example, here is the first story from this morning’s edition:

“End of an Era for BlackBerry

...As it pulls the plug on its ailing smartphone business. Time to get nostalgic. Not too long ago (think 2011), BlackBerry, once dubbed "CrackBerry," reigned supreme in the global smartphone market. The BlackBerry became a status symbol and sales climbed rapidly, peaking at 52.3 million handsets sold in 2011.

But then it fell…precipitously. Bested by Apple (shoutout to the OG iPhone in 2007) and other smartphone giants, BlackBerry hit rock bottom —and boy was it a long way down. Yesterday, after the company reported a measly 3.2 million handset sales last quarter, CEO John Chen announced that the Canadian company will stop making phones altogether, solely focusing on software and security services. BlackBerry’s game plan is now focused on emphasizing its lower cost, higher margin businesses, and investors took a liking to it: shares finished up 5% yesterday.”

That’s the kind of news that I want my students to think about as they walk into our Business School.   I enjoy it when one of my students will ask me something like “Were you surprised that Blackberry gave up on smart phones?”   The education feels alive.  We are talking about today and not 20 years ago.

After I had recommended Morning Brew for a couple of semesters, I actually met the two guys who started and operate the company.  They are only a few months older than my own students.   (In the “small world” category, I discovered that one of my students this semester is good friends with the sister of one of the founders and that's how I made the connection.)   I was in New York City and the founders and I chatted for about 90 minutes in a hotel lobby.   What college professor wouldn’t enjoy talking with two young and ambitious entrepreneurs about their goal of changing the way people learn about the business world each day?

I read it.  I love it.

Many of my students read it and seem to enjoy it.

Check it out.

ARE YOU TELLING YOURSELF THE WRONG STORIES? THEN CHOOSE TO CHANGE THEM!

A few years ago, I wrote a short book on Success, a topic that has always fascinated me.   In Chapter Five of that book, I relay the following story.   I tend to read a lot of books but no single quote has meant more to me over the last few years than the one I discuss in this little section of that book (slightly edited):

“This past summer I listened to a fascinating audiobook in my car:  Wild by Cheryl Strayed.   It was long and complex so I will not include a detailed synopsis here.  However, at the beginning of this autobiographical work, the author believes that she has lost control over her life (at least in part because of the death of her mother).  She decides to focus on a genuine challenge in hopes of regaining inner peace and balance.  In that circumstance, I might have taken up a hobby like pottery.  With virtually no experience to guide her, Strayed chose to walk 1,100 miles alone through the mountains of California and Oregon on the Pacific Crest Trail.  Even now, the level of that challenge seems absurd, beyond belief.  Although she faced horribly frightening experiences during those months, she ultimately succeeded.  She was not the fastest hiker, actually one of the slowest, but she made it.  Along the way, she faced enormous challenges, but figured out ways – often by herself – to get through them all.

“One day, I was listening to Wild as I drove to campus.  The author was getting ready to begin her incredibly long, difficult journey.  Not surprisingly, she lost her nerve and almost quit before marching off resolutely to the starting point.  In describing her emotions, she wrote a line that is so insightful that I pulled over to the side of the road so I could write it down.  

“’Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story.’

“Shakespeare could not have said it better.  ‘Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story.’  For me, this was the most brilliant sentence I read this past year.  The words have stuck with me like an arrow for months.  And, the sentence is even more relevant if you begin to swap out the word ‘Fear’ for other words such as ‘Joy,’ ‘Excitement,’ ‘Hate,’ ‘Love,’ and, of course, ‘Success.’  

“We all tell ourselves stories each day that hold us back.  Look around and you will find dozens.” 

**

I work with 50-100 students every semester and have done so now for over 45 years.   I am always amazed by how many tell me negative stories about themselves—stories that serve no possible benefit except to hold them back from reaching their potential.  Students often seem to be searching for an excuse to fail.  If you have taught for long, I’ll bet you have heard many of these same student stories.  They sound like confessions of dark sins rather than self-doubts.

--I am not good with numbers.

--I do not take tests well.

--I am not as smart as the other students.

--I tend to over-analyze things.

--I work slower than most students.

--I get so nervous during tests that I never do well.

--Everyone else in class seems to understand the material better than I do.

--I work all the time but I never seem to do well.

These stories hang like chains around those students—dragging them down.   They are doing it to themselves—creating barriers that make success so much harder (if not impossible).  They are building a wall between themselves and success.   And, because they have come to believe these negative stories, they often won’t even put up a fight.  That’s the part that bothers me.  They accept poor performance as inevitable.   Yesterday was bad so tomorrow is bound to be worse.

When I hear such stories from my students, I always have the same response:   “Don’t tell me negative things about yourself.   I can find out the negative things by myself.   I want to hear the positive things that I might otherwise miss.”  Student often fall into complete silence as if positive self-assessment was simply beyond them.   Maybe tearing yourself down is more socially accepted than building yourself up. 

I am convinced that most students (not all but most) make the grade they expect to make when they walk into class on the first day.   “I’m going to do the work necessary in this class to make a good grade” usually leads to an A or B.   “I’m going to do enough work to get by” usually winds up with a C or D.

Students should tell themselves the right stories.   As a teacher, I need to encourage them to have the right stories.

I work to figure out how I can get my students to choose to tell themselves better stories about their connection to school and especially to my class.   Like Cheryl Strayed, students have a choice in the stories they tell themselves.   I like these:

--I will simply work harder than other students.

--I will schedule out each day so I can make efficient use of my time.

--I will find another student and we will work together and help each other.

--I will do my school work first and go to the party second.

--I will not procrastinate.   I will not wait till the night before the test to try to learn all the material.

--I will not get involved in so many extracurricular activities that I have no time left for education.

--I will write down questions and concepts I don’t understand so the teacher can give me some specific guidance.

--I will sit up front and away from my friends so I am not distracted and don’t miss anything.

--I will organize my notes right after class before I have time to forget anything.

--I will set aside some extra time so I can do additional practice.

--I will walk into class each day as the best prepared student.

--I will learn to anticipate what the teacher wants from me.

If you can get students to change the stories they tell themselves, you will have made a wonderful stride toward having a great class.   If students constantly doubt themselves, every teacher is going to have a real challenge.   Push your students to come up with better stories and, thus, a better self-image.

Okay, I could stop this blog posting right there.  But, let’s take this idea one step further.   What stories are YOU telling yourself that are holding YOU back?   This is not just a habit that students have.  This is a human being problem.  I talk with teachers from across the country and many open up with their own self-doubts.  Negative stories just abound when you talk with teachers.

--I cannot get the students excited.

--I cannot write good test questions.

--I cannot explain the material very well.

--I am not as interesting as some of the other teachers.

--I am stuck trying to teach boring material.

--My boss will not support me if I give any bad grades.

--I will get bad student evaluations if I push the students to work hard.

--I cannot get the students to do what I want.

--I always seem so unorganized.  

--I do not have much experience so the students don’t respect me.

Gosh, that is depressing.   I am sure that some element of each story is true but that does not mean that we cannot make improvements.   Don’t let such negative stories hold you back.  There’s a famous Michael Jordan quote:

“Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”   Okay, that is a better story.

Unfortunately, I hear as many negative stories from teachers as I do from students.  If you have negative stories in your head, you are never going to be a great teacher.   So Begin to Change Your Story!!!   As with your students, those negative stories are not doing you any good.   There are better stories that every teacher can tell themselves.

--I am going to teach better tomorrow than I did yesterday.

--I am going to do a better job of writing out my teaching notes so the class time is better used.

--I am going to read a good book (such as What the Best College Teachers Do or Make It Stick) so I can come up with some fresh ideas.

--I am going to try something new each week and see what the impact is.

--I am going to think about my own student days and what I wanted to see in my teachers and think about how I might apply some of that to my own teaching.

--I am going to identify great teachers at my school and observe their classes or just buy them coffee and pick their brains.

--I am going to more actively engage my students in class conversation.

--I am going to spend more time in preparation so my class coverage is more efficient.

--I will provide my students with extra materials to help them organize and review important concepts.

--I am going to read all 200+ essays in Joe Hoyle’s teaching blog and see what ideas I can discover.  :)

We all tell ourselves stories that do us harm.  If yesterday was bad, tomorrow can be better.  Trust me on that.  If you have been a good teacher in the past, you can become a great teacher in the future.  There is absolutely no reason why your best days as a teacher are not right out in front of you.

We can change our future but first we have to change our stories.

Whether you are a student or a teacher, pay attention to your stories.   Are there negative stories that you repeat over and over like a mantra that are holding you back from reaching your potential?   As you get started in this new semester, if you don’t like the stories you are telling yourself, then make a concerted effort to change them.  That is often the first step to success in teaching (and in life).