What did you notice about the better teachers that you had when you were a student? It was probably a just a few things such as:
- Organized
- Enthusiastic
- Good communicators
- Easy to understand
- Practical
- Connected the material to your world
At the end of the course you probably said to yourself, “That was a good course. I actually learned something.” Unfortunately, there were probably too few of those types of teachers.
If this is what you noticed as a student, then one can ask the question, “Do I try to do this as a teacher?” If not, why not? If so, great. What methods do you use? What kind of improvements have you made? Do you share your methods with other teachers?
I think about the attributes that I want students to recognize in me and in my teaching. I don’t want them to think of me as disorganized, unenthusiastic, a poor communicator, someone who is difficult to understand, overly focused on theory, disconnected from their world, and, worst of all, does not know or cannot teach the material.
I have found the Lean teaching pedagogy to be exceptionally helpful in improving my teaching so that most students think of me in ways that I would like them to think of me. But, more importantly, it delivers a better and more memorable learning experience for students.
