Bad teaching is just failure to connect

In the previous post, I defined creativity as the ability to make connections. In this post, I want to talk about good teaching. We've all had teachers who we consider to be good and others that we consider to be bad. But just what is it that separates the two?

What does it mean to be a good teacher? Do you have to be fun and cool? If that was true one of my professors that I consider to be good would have failed this criteria because he has socially awkward while another one that I thought was bad would pass because she was young and cool. Being fun and cool makes for a good friend, but not necessarily a good teacher. It certainly can add to your teaching ability though if you possess these qualities, but on their own, they do not make you a good teacher.

I believe that good teaching is about making connections visible to students. Learning is a creative process of connecting ideas and concepts together. It is a personal process that can be aided by the teacher. Good teaching is about making as clear as possible the connections that join different ideas and concepts together. Doing this helps the students to see and make the connection for themselves and embed that connection into their existing understanding of the world. This latter part is what it means to have meaningful learning.

The most common way of teaching encountered at the college level is lecturing (direct instruction). We are all familiar with the stereotypical professor who lectures in monotone and probably have sat through such a course already. Lecturing while useful in some instances is not very pedagogically potent because it does not make connections very salient to students. Lessons that incorporate multiple modes of learning (universal design) are a more powerful way of teaching. One mode may suit a certain student better than another mode, but I believe that more often not, students are able to use more than one mode when learning. This allows for a synergistic effect that reinforces the connection being made by each independent mode.

As an educator, I try to keep any lecturing I have to do to a bare minimum. Class is better spent with discovery/experiential learning as well as discussion. These types of classes are more engaging, leverage higher ordered thinking processes, and values student contribution. It becomes more student centered and empowers students by treating them as capable individuals.