I was traveling again last week and dining by myself in a local restaurant. I had forgotten to bring something to read, but the restaurant, named the The Library, had stacks of old books decorating the short walls between different sections of the dining room. In the stack near my table I found Teacher Education [...]
Blog » Improving Teaching
Feedback: Negative, Positive or Both?
Posted Thursday, August 26th, 2010 by Maryellen Weimer“Feedback by nature must be negative to an extent if it is to be helpful in improving performance. Much of the feedback that instructors give on assignments is to specifically point out the shortcomings of a student’s work and motivate the student toward improvement. Such feedback is intended to be received as ‘constructive criticism.’ However, [...]
Thinking Constructively About Teaching Problems
Posted Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 by Maryellen Weimer“One telling measure of how differently teaching is regarded from traditional scholarship or research within the academy is what a difference it makes to have a ‘problem’ in one versus the other. In scholarship and research, having a ‘problem’ is at the heart of the investigative process; it is the compound of the generative questions [...]
Teaching—More than a Set of Skills
Posted Thursday, July 15th, 2010 by Maryellen WeimerRonald J. Markert captures the “more” in a set of principles. The context is medical education, but the principles he proposes are broadly applicable. Here’s a sample.
A good teacher wants to be a good teacher—“Teaching has to be its own reward.” (p. 809) Reward and recognition are fine, but they cannot provide the motivation necessary [...]
Lessons: Humility, Acceptance, and a Commitment to Improvement
Posted Tuesday, May 18th, 2010 by Maryellen WeimerWe can all improve. And we should feel at least some responsibility to do so. I also don’t think we reckon as we should with the fact that teaching skills don’t stay the same, at least not for very long. Either we are improving or the opposite is happening.
Paradigm Shifts
Posted Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 by Maryellen WeimerI just received a copy of Michael Harris and Roxanne Cullen’s new book, Leading the Learner-Centered Campus. I’ll be writing more about it in the newsletter. When I first reviewed this manuscript, there was one idea that struck me as being so insightful and on target. It’s what these authors say about the now common [...]
Joining the Conversation
Posted Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 by Maryellen WeimerIn a previous blog entry, we revisited the market metaphor and its applicability to higher education. Robert Knapp pointed out some of the comparisons that stimulate thought, analysis and hopefully response. But he concluded, as most in higher education have, that overall, a business model does not capture what higher education aspires to be about. He suggests an interesting alteration—a slogan that captures what Knapp considers an appropriate guiding metaphor for higher education. “Joining the conversation.”
Good Courses and Good Papers
Posted Monday, April 19th, 2010 by Maryellen WeimerI’m always on the lookout for new teaching metaphors and I found a good one this weekend.
“What magic is it that removes the barrier—that allows teachers to converse with, rather than to talk at, our students? It’s my private theory that the solution is analogous to writing itself: that good classes, like good papers need a thesis, a plan, a problem, and, finally, a sense of larger significance.” (p. 38)
The Market Metaphor
Posted Thursday, April 15th, 2010 by Maryellen WeimerI remember the first time something in the newsletter generated all kinds of reader response … well, the very first time was when I used “criteria” when I should have written “criterion”, but the first response to substance involved an article suggesting that higher education ought to be run more like a business. The response was overwhelmingly negative—some of it thoughtful, a lot of it visceral. It is a metaphor that still rankles and does not do justice, given the aims and purposes of higher education. But as Robert H. Knapp, Jr. points out, the metaphor does highlight some comparisons to which educators should attend.