WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT THIS SUMMER?

 

One of my favorite quotes was sent to me rather anonymously many years ago from England.  “Great teaching does not come from years of doing it.  Great teaching comes from years of thinking about it.” 

Unfortunately, during the school year, we are often so busy with students, writing, research, lesson plans, committee assignments, advising, and the like that we never have the time to sit and think deeply about our teaching.

Now, though, it is summer, a time for serious reflection.  I measure my summer from around May 1 (around the end of the spring semester) to September 1 (around the beginning of the fall semester).  With that calendar, July 1 (today, as I write) means that summer is half over.  Time is slipping away.  So, how much thinking have you done about your teaching?  The summer is half over.  As I tell my students endlessly, procrastination is always everyone’s biggest enemy.

When I go out (prior to the pandemic) and talk with faculty around the country, I describe summertime thinking to them.  Interestingly, there is often a mystery as to, “What exactly do I think about?”  That is a reasonable question.  Let me provide you with a little thinking assignment.  Maybe it will push your thinking forward for the rest of the summer.

Last week, I was exercising (at my age, I need a lot of exercise) and my wife came running in exclaiming, “You are going to love the quote that I found in the book I am reading.”  And, she (as always) was 100 percent correct.

The author is Ann Patchett and the book contains a group of essays titled (interestingly enough) This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage.   Here are the words that caught my wife’s attention.  And, notice, they are from the student’s perspective rather than from that of the teacher.

“There are two kinds of educational experience you can have in college.  One is passive and one is active.  In the first, you are a little bird in the nest with your beak stretched open wide, and the professor gathers up all the information you need and drops it down your gullet.  You may feel good about this—after all, you are passionately waiting for this information—but your only role is to accept what you are given.  To memorize facts and later repeat them for a test might get you a good grade, but it’s not the same thing as having intellectual curiosity.  In the second kind, you are taught to learn how to find the information, and how to think about it, for yourself.  You learn how to question and to engage.  You realize that one answer is not enough and that you have to look at as many sources as are available to you so that you can piece together a larger picture.”

I am on sabbatical in the fall so I will not be teaching.  If I were, I would immediately email this paragraph to all of my fall students with a challenge, “I hope you want the second kind of educational experience because I want that for you.  It will take work on your part and work on my part but if we both try, this can be the greatest educational experience of your life.  I promise you that.” 

          I want my students to know that I am shooting for something well beyond passive learning.  I want them to come to class on the first day with the expectation that I am going to offer them more than treating them like a bunch of baby birds, too weak to feed themselves. 

And, yes, before you ask, I do have students who immediately drop out of my class in fear that I will expect them to think and that is just incredibly scary to them.   They’ll go looking for a momma bird where they can memorize and get that beloved A. 

Okay, to push your thinking, let me pose some questions for you to ponder.  I will include some of my own thoughts where I have them. 

(1) – Do you agree with her general description of the college educational experience? 

          I suspect most teachers are okay with this description.  We can certainly spend time dividing these two experiences into more subdivisions, but I am not sure that adds any benefit to our thinking.

(2) – For the author, what are the key words in this paragraph? 

          I would bet that if you ask Ann Patchett she would say that the key words are “intellectual curiosity.”  She never says explicitly but I think she obviously prefers the second kind of experience based on the development of the student’s intellectual curiosity.  That seems to be what she thinks students should want.

(3) – If you gave your students a secret ballot, which of these two experiences would they sign up for in their college classes?

          I teach at what I believe is an excellent university, but I am surprised by how many students come in from middle school and high school having been trained (almost religiously) in the “down your gullet” form of education.  People prefer experiences that are familiar.  Most, but certainly not all students, have an affection for this “conveyance of information” model.  Many students (possibly including myself at 18) would sign up for nothing but “down the gullet” classes even if they knew (a) they would be bored to death and (b) learn little.  I think it is a role of colleges to protect students from themselves.  Students should not live in fear of having their thinking challenged.  They should demand that.

(4) – If you were designing a perfect course structure for yourself (not your colleagues but you), how much of your class time would be “down your gullet” information conveyance and how much would be pushing students toward intellectual curiosity?

          In a perfect class, whatever that means, I would never convey information directly.  I would just prod the students to figure the stuff out for themselves.  We do not live in a perfect world but it is fun to dream.

(5) – If you surveyed your students, how much of your class time would they say was “down your gullet” teaching? 

Teachers are not always the most unbiased evaluators of their own teaching.  I think that holds us all back.  We see ourselves through our own hopes and doubts.   Thus, I am interested in what students believe they are seeing.  Would your students say you convey information 40 percent of the time and push intellectual curiosity 60 percent of the time or what?  That is something to think about.

(6) – Take your answer from (5) and assume it is reasonably accurate.  How would you like to see those percentages change over the next academic year?  Now is the time to do the thinking to make that happen.

Remember that in (4), you have indicated a perfect course division.   That should be a guideline.  Are you satisfied with how your class is divided between information conveyance and intellectual curiosity?

(7) – Okay, here is the question that is really at the heart of this essay.  Let’s assume that you want to have less of a “down your gullet” style of class and more intellectual curiosity.  I think that is a reasonable summer goal.  As you think about teaching during the remainder of the summer, what might you do to help make this change in your class structure during the 2021-22 academic year?

          Everyone must answer this question in his or her own particular way.  Teaching Shakespeare and teaching biology have things in common but there are quite a number of obvious differences.  Nevertheless, my answer to this question has become a type of personal litany:  (1) stress preparation prior to the class experience and (2) ask more questions, especially questions that really do not have easy answers. 

I am convinced that I can make any class at any university appreciably better simply by convincing the students to work harder before they show up for class.  What kind of logical and interesting assignments can you develop that will encourage students to do the work necessary prior to entering into the class discussion?  You can approach class preparation with a whip or with a carrot.  What kind of carrot can you provide that will entice the students to overcome their natural procrastination and do the work.  Just making an assignment is not enough.  You have to convince the students to do it.

And, as Socrates must have figured out, asking questions can be the driving force behind developing intellectual curiosity.  What is happening here?  Is it a moral action or not?  What would you do in this situation?  If you spend time thinking, every grain of sand can prompt an infinite number of fascinating questions.

 **

The summer is half over.  I hope you make great use of the first half.  Now, go out and make even better use of the second.  When the fall semester begins, you want to be ready for your greatest semester ever.

FIVE WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR TEACHING OVER THE SUMMER (PLUS A BONUS OR TWO)

 

Jackie Robinson was the first Black to play major league baseball.  I am old enough that I can remember watching him on television.  That had to be an unbelievably difficult challenge for him but Robinson was a person with style and grace and a fabulous amount of talent. 

His own words are inscribed on his tombstone,

         “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” 

I suspect that none of us will ever come close to facing the challenges that Jackie Robinson endured and conquered.  Nevertheless, his words must ring out to all of us who think of ourselves as teachers.  You and I have the wonderful opportunity to impact hundreds and thousands of lives through our classes.  If you believe Robinson’s words, that gives us the chance to mold a life for ourselves that has true meaning.  Who could ask for more than that?

 --“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”

--Perhaps I am simply getting old but I cherish that opportunity more every year.

--I wish I had 50 years left to keep on teaching.

For most of us, this semester is done.  The 2020-2021 academic year is finished.  If you have read this blog for long, you know the question I ask myself at the start of every summer, “A year from now, will I be a better teacher?”  

My longtime readers know how much I believe in the power of evolution, the importance of trying new techniques and tactics to see what might make my teaching better.  It can be difficult to improve a course during the school year because everything moves so quickly.  If you and I are going to get better as teachers by next year, the foundation for that improvement must begin right now.  As I say often to my students, “Procrastination is your biggest enemy.”  Putting off the battle for improvement is probably the single most significant reason that holds us back and prevents our evolution. 

DO NOT PROCRASTINATE, SPEND TIME RIGHT NOW THINKING ABOUT HOW TO BECOME A BETTER TEACHER DURING THE NEXT YEAR.

I am going to provide five suggestions on how to get better as a teacher.  There is no need to try them all.  Instead, pick one or two just to see where they might lead you over the next few months.

Suggestion Number One:  Break through the psychological ceiling.  I rarely meet teachers who have not established a ceiling in their minds as to how good they are going to be as teachers.  They will practically chant these mantras, “I am as good as I am ever going to get” or “I am good enough for this place” or “I am as good as time will allow.”  I am never sure whether these teachers (a) actually believe this nonsense or (b) use this artificial ceiling as a convenient excuse for not working to improve or (c) believe that teaching is essentially unimportant and not worth additional effort.

Stop telling yourself such limiting stories!!  The main thing that holds any of us back is ourselves.  As Shakespeare wrote, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings.”  I believe that absolutely.  It is a theme in my life.

During the summer, work on a new story for yourself, “Teaching is important.  I am having a real effect on the lives of my students.  I AM going to find ways to improve during this coming year.” 

Suggestion Number Two:  Make better use of your emotional energy.  Many of the teachers I speak with seem perpetually annoyed with something.  “Students are not like they used to be.”  “The administration does not appreciate how hard this job is.”  “I can only teach what the department tells me to teach.”  “The school has the wrong priorities.”  “The other departments are ruining this university.”

Stop and listen to yourself.  Complaining is fine and often justified.  Obsession is different.  Would the people who listen rate you as a positive or as a negative person?  How much emotional energy are you burning up by being annoyed?  Think about switching that energy to more positive channels like, “I had a bunch of great students in the spring.”  “Several students really wrote great papers this semester.”  “I truly enjoyed working with my classes, even during the pandemic.  Now and then, they were just brilliant.” 

How much benefit are you getting from your emotional energy and how much of that energy are you wasting by being annoyed at your own favorite grievances?

Suggestion Number Three:  Ask a proven talent for advice.  If you want to become a better teacher, you need ideas.  Unless you are Picasso or Bob Dylan, you probably cannot get enough interesting ideas purely from inside your own head.  I have often told my children, “If you want to have a few great ideas, then you must first seek out a whole lot of ideas.”  I think that approach is so very important for success.  Lots of ideas à a few great ideas.  Become an idea gathering machine. 

In every school, college, and university, there are professors who are known across campus for being great teachers.  Pick a few and send them an email, “I have heard from many that you are an excellent teacher.  I am trying to get better.  I want to improve as a teacher.  Can you provide me with one or two pieces of advice as to what has helped you become such a good teacher?” 

I am always mortified that teachers do not do a better job of sharing the secrets of the trade.  You never have to follow their advice, but why not seek it out?  I will bet that any truly excellent teacher can give you a couple of pieces of fabulous advice right off the top of their heads.  No one becomes a great teacher by accident.  Be brave enough to ask for advice. 

Suggestion Number Four:  Read a book on teaching.  Here is another suggestion about generating ideas.  You have a summer.  There are a great many excellent books on teaching:  Make It Stick, What the Best College Teachers Do, any book by James Lang, Teaching for Critical Thinking, and so many more.

Go to Google and type in “What are the best books about teaching in college?”  Take a few titles to Amazon and read the reviews to see what appeals to you. 

Do not read these books like they are novels.   Read 2-5 pages per day at a maximum.  Write down one or two things you learned each day from those pages.  You want to draw the reading experience out as long as possible.  You want the reading to become a type of daily devotion.  You read a bit and then you let those words bounce around your brain until the next day’s reading.  By the end of the summer, you will be amazed by how many teaching ideas you have generated from your reading and from your own reflections.

(If you have a teaching book that you really like, send me a note at Jhoyle@richmond.edu and tell me about it.)

Suggestion Number Five:  Focus on what you learned during the pandemic.   Hopefully, we will all go back to “regular” teaching soon.  However, we cannot abandon the lessons of the past 15 months.  We should evaluate what we had too learn quickly and consider how to make the best use of that going forward.  We should think about blending our old teaching with our new teaching. 

For example, I have never been a technology person but I am amazed by how much I learned in working with our learning management system (Blackboard).  Videos on YouTube and LinkedIn were a great help.  With a little patience, you can learn to do virtually anything. 

In addition, I have grown extremely fond of Zoom videos.  They are easy to make and post to YouTube.  Students can then review the material whenever they need a second look. 

So, as a bonus feature for this blog entry, I have made a YouTube video with a few additional suggestions for better teaching.  I used Zoom.  It was easy.  It will not look like it was made by Steven Spielberg, but I believe it gets the message across. 

And, it is unlisted on YouTube so the only way to get this extra bit of teaching help is to go through this blog.   Here is the URL.  Hope you enjoy.  It is only 11 minutes.  I am biased, of course, but I think it is worth 11 minutes of a teacher's time.

 

https://youtu.be/TOzwdtobPKc

 

Suggestion Number Six:  Write out your thoughts.   Okay, I lied about passing along five ideas.  Here is number six because I had one more thought that seemed worth bringing up.

I have long said that the one thing that helped my teaching the most (by far) was creating this blog.  For many years now, I have had to force myself once or twice each month to write about my teaching.  More than anything else over the past 50 years, that writing process has helped me improve as a teacher. 

--Because I write about my teaching, I have had to become very observant as to what is working and what is not working.  That consideration has been extremely helpful.  Good days are not accidental.  The same is true for bad days.  Watch and you will figure out what happened.

--Because I write about my teaching, I have tended to become more experimental so that I will have material to write about.  If I lectured every day, I would never have a blog.

--Because I write about my teaching, I have had to probe deeper into what is happening and why.  I cannot just dismiss a classroom or student occurrence as an aberration.  I find that I think more deeply about such events so that I can understand them myself and deal with them. 

Creating a blog is great and I would highly recommend it as long as you will force yourself to write 8-12 times per year.  However, a journal will work as well.  I think you need to write as if scores of people are going to read and think about what you have to say. 

Do not be shy.  People are interested in your teaching so start writing down your thoughts.  You will be surprised by how quickly that process will help you become a better teacher.

I added the following few lines several days after the original posting.  This morning I was reading a novel.  One of the main characters is a song writer and she says, "I write songs to discover what I want to say."  I immediately responded to her as if I were talking with a friend, "I write compulsively about teaching to explore the very depths of what I think and believe about teaching."

MY TEACHING PHILOSOPHY (AFTER 50 YEARS ON THE JOB)

This is the 300^th essay on teaching that I have written for this blog.   Thanks so much to everyone who has consistently read my thoughts over the years and passed them along to others.  I hope they have helped you become a better teacher.  At present, the blog has had 567,500 pageviews.  That is, at the very least, half a million more readers than I would have expected when I first began posting.

On Monday, April 26, at the end of my third class of the day, I will complete my 50^th year as a college teacher.  300^th teaching essay.  50^th year as a college teacher.  Good time to take stock. 

I tell people that developing into an outstanding teacher is like learning to be a chess master.  The subject is so deep and complicated that a dedicated person can study forever and never do more than scratch the surface.  That is one reason I enjoy teaching so intensely.  The complexity is mind-boggling.  Any teacher who does not embrace that complexity is destined for a frustrating career.  The number of possible permutations to consider moment by moment during any one class period is endless.  Student personalities vary from person to person day to day.  They walk in the classroom (either virtual or live) happy or sad, prepared or lost, interested or distracted.  Their needs and moods change constantly.  The subject matter never stops evolving.  Teaching, as the saying goes, takes “A minute to learn and a lifetime to master.”  That is the reason I have avoided retirement.  There is always more to learn.

In my previous blog entry, I included the teaching philosophy of Dr. Aswath Damodaran of NYU.  At that time, I promised I would outline my own teaching philosophy in my next posting.  After all these years, I wanted to put my personal teaching philosophy into words.

Consequently, I have been thinking about my teaching rather diligently for the past few weeks.  I started with a question that has long puzzled me.  I have known scores, if not hundreds, of outstanding teachers.  I have listened to them and learned from them.  One characteristic of all those teachers has struck me over the years:  They each seem excellent in their own unique style.  Some lectured in large classes.  Some held seminars with only a handful of students.  Some were gruff and demanding.  Some were kind and comforting.  Some were funny and engaging whereas others were not.  Some gave lots of high grades.  Some gave virtually no high grades.  Some taught grad students.  Some worked only with first-year students.  Some taught with words and thoughts.  Some taught with numbers and logic.  Some motivated with carrots.  Others motivated with sticks. 

Nevertheless, somehow, they were all outstanding teachers.

With my fascination for teaching, I have long looked for a common thread running between all the excellent teachers I have known.  Surely, some identifiable aspect of teaching cuts across all styles and is present in each of these outstanding individuals.  What do they all have in common?

After decades of observation, I have arrived at the conclusion that at least one characteristic can be found in all great teachers.  It forms the basis for my teaching philosophy.

     Outstanding teachers manage to convince their students to believe in them. 

Those eleven words seem so simple but I cannot think of a single excellent teacher who did not have this aptitude.  Like soldiers being urged into a fierce battle by a great general, the students of these teachers seem willing to do whatever is asked of them and do it with an impressive degree of enthusiasm and tenacity.  They work hard and love it.  Those students study late into the night.  They complete assignments on weekends.  They do not look for short cuts.  They do the work the right way.  They willingly make sacrifices because they believe in their teacher with a faith that is unshakeable. 

--If the teacher asks students to read a chapter in a textbook, they do it without question because they are convinced that the teacher would not make the request if it was not reasonable and important. 

--If the teacher asks them to solve a complex problem, they put in their best effort because they trust that the benefit will outweigh the cost. 

--If the teacher asks them to write out an explanation for a theoretical concept, they complete the assignment well and without question.

To be a great teacher, I must convince 100 percent of my students that what I am going to help them become is worth the effort that I will demand of them.  And, if they do what I suggest, they will succeed.  Those two sentences form the foundation of my teaching.  Maybe most challenging, I have to earn this faith anew each semester.  Student trust last fall has nothing to do with student trust this spring.  Every new student walks into class as a skeptic. 

If your students come to have this type of belief in you as a teacher, you will be amazed by the wondrous things they can accomplish.  You can help them learn to leap tall buildings in a single bound.  There will be no limit to what your students can accomplish if they believe in you. 

That leads to the obvious question:  What are the keys necessary to generate this degree of faith?  I suspect all great teachers create their own unique paths to this goal, but I will list a few attributes that I believe are essential. 

(1) – Clear and honest communication is absolutely imperative.  This will always be number one on my teaching list.  Communications can be used by the teacher to encourage and guide, to explain and intrigue.  Or, to put this in the reverse position, a failure to communicate well is a deadly problem.  Students cannot read your mind.  Teacher must be transparent as to what they are doing and why.  “Trust me, I know what I am doing” is never a winning teaching mantra. 

The method you use to communicate with students is up to you.  I rely on email.  I begin emailing my students two months before the semester starts and about 7-10 times per week once classes commence.  Keep the communications short and to the point.  You are trying to be helpful and not a burden.

I want my students to know what I want from them each day and why.  I want them to know what I believe and why I find the material interesting and useful.  I want them to know why I do what I do.  I want them to know that I have faith in them.  That level of understanding can only be achieved through a successful communications strategy.  By the time each semester is completed, I actually do want my students to be able to read my mind. 

No student is going to believe in you unless you take the time to talk with them either orally or in writing.  So much of the remainder of my thoughts tie back to the ability to communicate your reasons and intentions.

(2) – Teachers need to have a clear understanding of how they want their students to be changed by the last day of the class.  If there is no intended growth, there is no reason for the course.  It is all a waste of time.  No one achieves greatness without clearly delineated goals.  Never fall back on vague platitudes such as “I want smarter students” or “I want my students to be well educated.”  Those sound fine, but they are not helpful in any practical sense.  Focus on your vision of the last day of class.  You are going to work with these students for an entire semester.  At the end, how do you want them to be better?  Until you can define that goal in specific terms, the students will sense that your aspirations for them are mediocre or, worse, nonexistent.

(3) – Focus on puzzles and questions more than the conveyance of content.  I have long asserted that too many college classes have a 1950s feel where the communication of content was both the teaching method and the goal.  Stenography and memorization were valued skills in those “good old days.”  We live in different times.  Pose everything to the students in terms of puzzles or questions so that you and the students can work out the answers together.  Whether you create an entire class session around a single question or use a string of puzzles to guide students through a complex array of information, try to avoid telling your students the answers.  As the saying goes, “The journey is everything.”  In class, the journey to the answer should be more important than the answer. 

(4) – Never, never, never waste the students’ time because they will resent that.  They lead busy lives.  Students are willing to share their time but only when they believe that the work has a worthy consequence.  Over the many years of their schooling, they have suffered through a multitude of assignments that had no legitimate purpose.  Teachers need to think about each reading and each problem and determine how they tie into the course goals.  Sadly, assignments can become a rote part of a course long after they have become ineffective.  It is never a bad idea to ask yourself, “How does what I am getting ready to ask my students to do today get us closer to my goals?”

(5) – Students want you to know them as individuals and not just as members of the hive.  It is difficult to believe in a teacher who does not even know your name.  I am lucky in that my class sizes are usually between 20 and 25.  I try to call on each of my students at least twice each day just so they can hear me say their name and look directly at them.  I want Mr. A or Ms. B to understand that I do know them as individuals.  This can be one of the most difficult part of being a teacher over a long period of time.  After a few years, hundreds of students become thousands of students and the current group starts to meld into the generic “spring class of 2021.” 

It was said that when a person talked with Mother Teresa, she treated them like they were the only person in the world.  She is not a bad role model.  Ask your students to tell you a little about themselves so they stay real to you.  Frequently, before class, I quietly read aloud the names of my students so I have a moment where I think about each of them as a single, identifiable human being.  I find that helps me stay connected to them as individuals rather than merely thinking of them as indistinguishable components of a larger group. 

(6) – Never underestimate the importance of good testing.  Students are raised to believe in the absolute significance of testing and grades.  That is not going to change suddenly when they enter your class.  They are never more interested in you and your course than when it comes to taking a test.  Spend time (a lot of time) writing test questions that are (a) fair, (b) challenging, and (c) interesting.  Each question must be carefully crafted so that the students can demonstrate what they have learned and what they can accomplish with that knowledge.  If the questions are too easy, students will assume that serious work is not necessary for the course and they will oblige you by not giving you any serious work.  If the questions are too hard, students will question the reason for the disconnect.  Were they taught poorly or was the question simply unfair?  I have long believed that the more time and thought you spend learning to write great questions, the quicker you will become an outstanding teacher. 

(7) – Nothing succeeds like success.  I listened recently to Sal Khan (who I believe is one of the most influential people of our time) in a podcast and he stated that giving a student a learning boost provides confidence and that confidence then drives them toward success.  I could not agree more.  Students live up or down to their self-image so you want to push that self-image forward.  “I know you.  You can do this” will go a long way to improve one student’s learning. 

In school and most of life, success comes from believing in yourself.  There are many ways a teacher can help instill confidence but I think getting the student to prepare appropriately before class has to be one of the most important.  If the student prepares prior to entering class and then does well, the chance of ongoing success immediately increases.  A teacher can influence class preparation by telling students exactly what to do prior to class and then making sure that this preparation proves beneficial in class.  Create success during the one class and the student will be ready to do even more and better work for the next class. 

I give students a list of questions in advance of every class.  They run the gamut from easy to complex, from verbal to quantitative, from easy puzzles to hard ones.  Then, in class, I ask students to address each question.  At times, it might seem like I cross-examine them but I want my students to succeed and I am trying to get them there.  I am giving them the opportunity to show me that they did the work.

There is a wonderful feeling when you pose a complicated question to a student and, because they are well prepared, they provide the class with an outstanding answer.  Teaching never gets better than that.  Even if that student has previously thought of themselves as a dummy, you might well start to see a better self-image blossom forth.  Once that happens, there is no limit to what a student can accomplish.

**

None of this is easy.  That is why teaching is so challenging.  Over the years, in this blog, I have often quoted the words from the movie A League of Their Own.  “It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”  I cannot think of a better description of the wonders of being a teacher.  After 50 years, that is my philosophy.

DO YOU HAVE A TEACHING PHILOSOPHY? PART ONE

My students (I hope) realize that I take teaching very seriously.  As a result, they often talk with me about teaching or share some of their ideas on the subject.  A couple of weeks ago, a student who had been in my class here at the University of Richmond a few years ago sent me an email.  He said that one of his current teachers had shared a website with the class created by one of her teachers. My former student simply said that he thought I would find the website interesting. 

I was intrigued and followed up.  What I found was fascinating.  I am so glad that I was led to this site.  It is inspirational.  I wish I were as creative and organized in my work.  The website is the creation of Aswath Damodaran, Professor of Finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University.  Here is the URL.  I hope you will click on the link and enjoy.  This site is clearly the work of a dedicated and thoughtful college professor. 

 http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/

One of the first things that caught my attention was Dr. Damodaran’s teaching philosophy.  I have always been hesitant about putting out a teaching philosophy for public consumption because my philosophy seems to change a lot over time and even seems to change according to the individual student.  On this blog, I have written approximately 300 essays on teaching, yet I have rarely talked at all about a personal teaching philosophy. 

Nevertheless, as I read Dr. Damodaran’s words, I was struck by how much I agreed with his thoughts.  Time after time, I found myself mumbling agreement, “Yeah, that is exactly what I believe as well.”  I found his words comforting and supportive – he verbalized what (for the most part) is in my mind about teaching.  I especially liked the sentence, “There is nothing else I would rather do than be in front of a classroom, teaching a topic that I enjoy, trying to alter the way people think and act.”

 “Trying to alter the way people think and act.”  Good stuff. 

Because I appreciated his thoughts so much, I asked him if he would mind my sharing them on this blog and he graciously agreed. 

Below is the teaching philosophy of Aswath Damodaran.  If you are looking for a teacher as a role model, his words certainly seem to provide excellent guidance for all of us. 

I was so inspired that, in my next blog posting, I am going to, once and for all, write out my own teaching philosophy.  After 300 essays on teaching, it is time to be brave and develop my own teaching philosophy.  I am not sure what I will choose to say (I might simply copy the words of Dr. Damodaran) but I am challenging myself to make a decision.  You might make the same promise to yourself.  What is your teaching philosophy?

Now, from Dr. Aswath Damodaran:

This may sound like a cliché, but I love teaching. There is nothing else I would rather do than be in front of a classroom, teaching a topic that I enjoy, trying to alter the way people think and act. Here are some of the core beliefs that I try to stay true to (but sometimes fail to):

1.    Preparation is key: Paraphrasing Edison, teaching is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration. If you are prepared for your class, you are well on your way to being a good teacher.

2.    Respect your students: I did not care for those teachers that I had, when I was a student, that looked down on their students, either as being less learned than they were or less motivated. I believe that anyone who sits on my classroom is as capable as I am, though perhaps not as experienced, and is passionate about learning.

3.    Be fair: I don't believe that students dislike or punish tough teachers, but I do believe that they dislike and punish teachers who are unfair, either in the way they test students or in the way they grade them. I know that I will make mistakes, but as long as I keep an open door and correct my mistakes, I think that students will cut me some slack.

4.    Have empathy: It has been a long time since I was a student in a classroom, but I try to keep my memory fresh by remembering the things I liked and disliked in my classes and trying not to repeat them.

5.    Teaching is not just in the classroom: Your impact on students does not come just from what you do in the classroom. It is affected just as much but what you do outside the classroom, in your office hours and in your interactions (online and in person) with your students.

6.    Have fun: If you look at the joy that young children show when they learn something new, it is obvious that human beings enjoy learning (though our education systems are often designed to stamp out that joy). I want my classes to be meaningful, impactful and profound, but I also want them to be fun. For that to happen, I have to have fun teaching and I will!

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I could not have said it better myself.