Student Guide Corner

I love being a teacher.   My decision to become a teacher was certainly one of the 2 or 3 best moves I have ever made in life.  As I journey through my 45 th year at this job, I only wish I could carry on for many more decades.   Looking back from such a long distance, it is easy to become reflective.   How would I change anything if I were to do it all again?   Perhaps this is a question we should all ponder earlier in our teaching careers.   In hindsight, I would probably adjust my vision a bit as to what I really want to accomplish with my students. I teach accounting.   I really enjoy teaching accounting.   I love the complex thinking that is necessary to understand and communicate the logic of its rules.   Accounting is like a complicated game where only about half of the rules are written down and you have to figure out the other rules on your own.   (If it were just about following spec...

BE DARING Over the years, I have met a lot of good students.   I have met far fewer great students.   Over the years, I have met a lot of good teachers.   I have met far fewer great teachers. Occasionally, students swing by my office to ask how they can become great college students.   They feel that they are good, probably even very good.   But, they know they are not great.   At least, they are not yet great. Occasionally, emails arrive from teachers around the country who ask about becoming great teachers.   They feel that they are good, probably even very good.   But they know they are not great.   At least, they are not yet great.   Of course, many people are interested in how to move from good to great.   Jim Collins has managed to earn a fortune by writing fascinating books about companies that make the transition.   I am more interested in people who succeed in...

As I have mentioned, I was involved with two panel discussions recently at the annual meeting of the American Accounting Association.    At one point, I was asked about the best teaching advice that I ever received.    Over a 44 year period, everyone hears a lot of good teaching advice (and some bad advice also).    Deciding which advice is best can be a challenge.    But, my mind always goes back to something my boss told me during the first year I was teaching.    The advice came at a time when I was struggling to figure out who I wanted to be as a teacher.    Those first few years are so important because they form the structure on which a teacher builds an entire career. One day the head of the business program was talking with me about teaching.    He looked at me and said �If you truly care about these students, you will push them as hard as you can to be great.�    There was a lot that I liked about ...