CTE Teaching and Learning News : Summer 2008

Volume 17, Number 5 Summer 2008

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From the Director's Desk: The Teacher as Alchemist

At a recent conference one of the speakers stated that “alchemists are individuals who turn ordinary substances into something special”. The speaker then likened this (turning something ordinary into something special) to good teaching. This was not to imply that students are ordinary but rather the special type of transformation that can and often does occur when students are guided in their learning by good teachers. We have all experienced the satisfaction that occurs when a student “gets it” and the deep sense of pride when a student exceeds their own perceived limitations and produces a product, insight, or personal growth that is unexpected. But is this alchemy, and are we alchemists? When I consulted Webster's unabridged dictionary I did indeed find that the second definition for alchemy as “any magical power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little or no value, into a substance of great value. This definition lead me to look up the definition of transmute in Webster's, “to change from one nature, substance, form or condition to another” . Given this line of reasoning then clearly we could

be considered as modern alchemists who transmute our students by changing them through our teaching activities. So what does it take to be good/successful alchemist?

Being a good teacher is more than knowing one's subject, preparing good lectures, giving fair tests and being available to answer student questions. Teachers who know their subject, prepare good lectures, give fair tests and answer student questions are adequate teachers. To go beyond this requires a transmutation or alchemy from the ordinary to the special. CTE works with faculty to help them become better teachers through a variety of programs including the CTE Lilly Fellows program, the CTE Summer Technology Institute, regular workshops during the year, invited speakers and individual one-on-one consultations. In each of these programs the alchemy occurs when faculty communicate with peers; why this is magical, I don't know. If I look back over the last five years as director of CTE and ask what works to improve faculty teaching it comes down to one item: having them talk with each other about teaching challenges, successes and techniques. When faculty talk and listen to each other they learn.

The same is true for students; however, too often the talking is done at the students rather than with the students and in many cases the conversation is teacher-centric rather than being student-centric. One way to be a better teacher is to talk less and engage in conversations with your students more. Good teachers engage students in conversations which lead to enhanced student learning. This can be difficult since they may not want to talk about what you need to teach unless you are fortunate enough to teach about a subject that is inherently interesting to all of the students in the class e.g. sex, popular music, food, personal relationships. A second way to engage students in conversations is to make the subject relevant to them and their world. Although this is easier for some subjects than others for most it is doable. In my non-majors microbiology class I have good success in getting most students to be better engaged with the materials by starting each lecture class with “microbes in the news,” where I point out recent news articles that feature microbes and their impacts. On ELMS I have a “microbes in the news” blog where students are encouraged to post their microbes in the news findings.

A second hallmark of a good teacher is that she/he is reflective and scholarly with respect to their teaching, i.e., she/he thinks about their teaching before, during and after the semester and engages in scholarly conversation with peers regarding their teaching. In order for the reflections and conversations to be productive it is best if they are based on more than a feeling that something is going well or not so well. Formative feedback is essential. There are many ways to build this type of feedback into the fabric of one's courses; if you are unsure how to do so contact us at CTE. We have large collection of resources on assessment and feedback that we can help you learn from.

A final hallmark (although I am sure there are others) of a good teacher is that he/she enjoys teaching and interacting with students. For me this is the true reward, the joy of teaching and interacting with an ever changing set of students. The joy comes from the challenge of trying new things, developing new pedagogies, continuing to learn about how people learn, and learning from my students. Next year I will be away from CTE on a Fulbright to Hong Kong where I will be working with other faculty to develop general education for the Hong Kong universities. I am excited about the opportunities to try something new, learn a new language and reflect on teaching and learning. I will miss the interactions of my UMD friends and colleagues during my absence.

Spencer


Center For Teaching Excellence University of Maryland 0405 Marie Mount Hall College Park, MD 20742 (301) 405-9356 cte@umd.edu http://www.cte.umd.edu Teaching and Learning News Spencer Benson, Director Dave Eubanks, Assistant Director Anna Bedford, Editor