Diane M. Enerson
Director, Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching

 

 

This is a question I have asked and have been asked literally hundreds--possibly thousands--of times. Countless research articles, books, and essays have been written on it, an astonishing number of which I have read. Although the basic approach to the task may differ, the findings and general claims often bear a striking resemblance to one another. Similarly, the many voices within this book offer a diverse set of perspectives and approaches to teaching while still agreeing on a few basic conditions of good teaching.

In the voices from outside Penn State as well as within there is a general consensus. Good teaching is a complex process that begins and ends with students. It takes into account who they are, what they already know, what interests they may already have, and what they will need to know. Focusing on students in this way can mitigate, if not totally prevent, the all-too-common experience of completing the "perfect" explication of a critical concept only to discover later that your students have imposed some entirely "new" meaning on what you thought you said. Focusing on the students and what they need to learn is also comforting. To quiet the inevitable stage fright that overcomes me when walking into a class for the first time, I always find it helpful to ask,"What two new ideas or concepts do I want my students to walk away with today?"

There is also very little disagreement that good teaching-especially at the university and college level-demands a high level of subject matter expertise. But subject expertise alone does not a good teacher make. The difference between subject expertise and the kind of explanatory expertise that results in good teaching is real and important. Explanatory expertise involves more than merely telling students what you know in the hope that they will come to know it too. Rather, it involves revealing the solutions to the problems and also how you got there. In a sense, the real difference between being an expert in something and being an expert who teaches is showing your students how you got--and how they can get--the rabbit out of the hat.

There is generally also consensus that good teaching plays off the strengths of each individual teacher. Good teachers fall back on their strengths while working on their weaknesses. Cute tricks and theatrics are not my forté, so I don't try to use them. Your love and enthusiasm for the subject matter, your belief that it is relevant, important, and absolutely fascinating is critical. Enthusiasm is compelling and infectious. Lack of enthusiasm is also infectious, but it is deadly.

Finally, good teaching is about community. Like a good community, good teaching is purposeful, open, just, disciplined, caring and celebrative. (6) But as Bunny Willits notes in the recent report on Penn State as a Community of Learning, these are abstract principles that "need to be personalized in time and space." (7) Implementation is not always easy. And the same strategy does not work in every situation. There are no simple algorithms that will guarantee good teaching. A specific strategy like taking attendance or requiring homework may work in one class but not in the next. What works for me may not work for you. But each solution suggests another, which in turn suggests still others. We can always learn from one another.

While there is no one-size-fits-all strategy for good teaching, happily there are a few activities that do seem to make a difference and around which this book is designed. One such activity is planning. Good teaching involves planning, lots of it and at every level. What do I want my students to learn? It's hard to get somewhere if you don't know where you are going. What makes the subject interesting to me? What will make it interesting to my students? Good teaching also involves adapting to the constraints of the circumstances in which we teach, including the constraints of students' prior knowledge and the constraints of scale. Good teaching never happens in a vacuum but is part of a larger cultural and institutional context. Good teaching involves feedback--both feedback collected from your students and feedback provided to them. Feedback, accurate feedback, is the bedrock that supports learning. It is necessary for learning. Sometimes students can provide it to themselves, but often they can't. And good teaching involves critically analyzing and responding to the feedback. Finally, good teaching is about self knowledge and growth. Finding and respecting your limits is an important part of effective teaching.

We began the previous edition of The Penn State Teacher by noting that good teaching requires a considerable amount of thought, planning, and self-analysis. The same principles underlie this new edition. Good teaching is an ongoing, iterative process that involves careful planning, feedback, analysis, and the courage to try again when things don't go quite as expected. As even a cursory glance at the philosophies in the appendix of this text will attest, good teaching is something that is always labor intensive, sometimes frustrating, but doable. And it is worth the effort.

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