Student Guide Corner

The September 16, 2015, issue of The Wall Street Journal provided a wonderful essay by Jason Stevens titled �A Professor Who Put Teaching First.�   He writes about one of his professors (Peter W. Schramm of Ashland University) who recently died.   I found almost every word to be moving.  However, here are two sentences that were really wonderful:   �His office was always full of students wanting to tear off a bit of wisdom . . .  Schramm taught his students how to think and live well, how to be prudent and judge wisely, how to seek the just and the true.�  Words like those were what made me want to become a college teacher way back when I was a young person.   For me, kings and presidents could not have a more important and interesting life than Stevens describes. Reading this essay started me thinking.   Do students today still talk about their college teachers in such glowing terms?  In some ways, the description o...

As most people know, I am a full-time faculty member here at the University of Richmond.   Over the summer, Dr. Ronald Crutcher was named the 10 th president of our University.   I was at one of the opening ceremonies for the fall semester this morning.   President Crutcher spoke and was kind enough to mention this teaching blog.  He said that he had been reading it since he was appointed to the position of president.   So, I want to wish President Crutcher a true welcome to the University of Richmond.   No matter how good you think we are, your job is to make us better.   Make it happen. **   I was at a conference in Chicago last week and was part of two panel presentations on teaching.   In such wide ranging discussions, I inevitably talk about quite a number of ways to become a better teacher over the course of the next academic year.   Not surprisingly, I tend to give a variety of answers...

My next set of classes starts on Monday, August 24.   However, I emailed my students their first assignment back on April 28.   I did not want them to waste their summer.   More importantly, I wanted to start having a positive influence on them as soon as possible.   The assignment had several parts culminating in their writing a short essay on the characteristics of a great student.   I just wanted them to think about what that meant.   I�ll write more about the results of that assignment during the fall when I see whether it had any impact on the students. Today, though, I want to give you an assignment to complete before your fall semester begins.   When I put on teaching presentations, I often begin by instructing my audience to do the following exercise.  Standing in front of all those teachers, I ask every person to close their eyes.   (I always warn them that they cannot fall asleep.)  ...

This website recently went over 146,000 total page views.  That is about 145,000 more than I ever expected when I began.    I want to take a moment this morning to thank everyone who reads these postings and shares them with other teachers.  Obviously, there is no real marketing of this site.  People tend to learn about it from other teachers.   Word-of-mouth.   So, thanks for sharing!!!  I sincerely believe that most teachers want to think more deeply about the art of teaching.   I hope this website serves as an occasional prompt for such thoughts. This will be my 211 th posting.   Several of these essays over the years have gathered more interest than others.   In terms of readership, here are the Top Ten in case you would like to check out some of the more popular postings. --What Do We Add?  (July 22, 2010) --What Is the Purpose of A Final Exam? (May 12, 2010) --Introduction�Teaching Financial...

In a March 5, 2015, blog entry, I posted the results of a survey that I had conducted.   I have 76 students this semester and they were each asked to identify the characteristics they believed exemplified great teaching.  I read and classified each of their responses.   I then ranked the various response categories by frequency.   This essay generated heavy traffic.   It quickly jumped onto my all-time top five list in terms of the number of page views.   Readers of my blog apparently have a genuine interest in what students say about great teaching.   I hope you will consider doing a similar survey with your students just to see if the results are consistent. Although I was fascinated by what my students had to say, they were clearly thinking about teaching from a student perspective.   That is hardly surprising.   However, having taught in college now for 44 years, the characteristics that I associate...

How do we ever get better as college teachers?   Albert Einstein has been quoted as defining insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."   What can we do differently as teachers in order to improve our results?    How can a college teacher go from being average to being good and then move from good to absolutely great?    I think that is a legitimate goal for any professor.   From my own observations, not enough teachers make significant improvements over time.   Average teachers tend to stay average while good teachers tend to stay good.   I believe every teacher should push toward greatness.   I often tell my students that the secret to success is to experiment, evaluate, and evolve.   The same, I believe, is true of college professors.   Try something new and see how it works.   Experiment frequently.   You CAN get better in the classroo...