Student Guide Corner

In my previous blog on this site, I provided some tips for becoming a great teacher. Not surprisingly, the question came up as to what constitutes great teaching. I think most of us probably have some fairly firm definition of �good teaching� but what is the next step up the ladder? What exactly do we mean by�great teaching?� If you describe someone as a great teacher, what characteristics are you describing? Do we know what great teaching is? As I sometimes tell my students, �if you don�t know where you are going, then a road map won�t be of any help.� One possibility is that we are all satisfied with being good teachers so we have no real reason to consider what comes next. There is no urgency. In your dreams, do you seek to be a good teacher or a great teacher? If you say�great teacher,� then you must have some definition in mind as to what that means. As I often mention here, I teach at the Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond. My colleagues take teaching very se...

My life is now officially complete.    I was mentioned recently in the Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ethan-senack/back-to-school-back-to-sk_b_3845386.html Life will surely be downhill for me from here on out. ** I have written about Ken Bain on this blog on a number of occasions.     He is author of What the Best College Teachers Do , a work that I have recommended to hundreds of teachers in my teaching presentations.    Several years ago, Dr. Bain spoke on our campus.    In the evening, he met with probably 75 faculty members.    During the program someone near the back of the room raised a hand and asked the direct question:    How do you become a great teacher?   Okay, the question that everyone really wanted to have answered was officially on the table.    What does a teacher need to do to become great? Dr. Bain responded immediately with a response that went something like this: ...