Requirements for Good Teaching

A while back, I came across an online Faculty Focus article about the top 10 requirements for good teaching. Please see the abbreviated list below. The full article, which was reprinted from the Teaching Professor Newsletter, can be found at the Faculty Focus site. I hope you will click comments below and give us your thoughts on the list and suggest additions and/or deletions.


Good Teaching: Top 10 Requirements by Dr. Richard W. Leblanc (rleblanc@yorku.ca. ):

One. Good teaching is as much about passion as it is about reason.
Two. Good teaching is about substance and treating students as consumers of knowledge.
Three. Good teaching is about listening, questioning, being responsive and remembering that each student and class is different.
Four. Good teaching is about not always having a fixed agenda and being rigid, but being flexible, fluid, experimenting, and having the confidence to react and adjust to changing circumstances
Five. Good teaching is also about style.
Six. And this is very important, good teaching is about humor.
Seven. Good teaching is about caring, nurturing and developing minds and talents.
Eight. Good teaching is supported by strong and visionary leadership, and very tangible institutional support—resources, personnel, and funds.
Nine. Good teaching is about mentoring between senior and junior faculty, teamwork, and being recognized and promoted by one’s peers.
Ten. At the end of the day, good teaching is about having fun, experiencing pleasure and intrinsic rewards … like locking eyes with a student in the back row and seeing the synapses and neurons connecting, thoughts being formed, the person becoming better, and a smile cracking across a face as learning all of a sudden happens.

Why Do You Teach?

If you read the previous post, you know that I love the talks at the TED conference. I could not resist bringing up this conference one more time and highlighting a talk some years ago by John Wooden, former basketball coach and legend at UCLA. If you are a teacher at any level, this will be a thought-provoking video. It is clear that John Wooden saw his role at UCLA as a teacher of young people, not only about basketball, but life in general. There is no doubt that Wooden was a masterful teacher and in this video he gives us several gems of wisdom about teaching and life. One of the stories that caught my attention was one about a teacher that was asked "why do you teach?." I would imagine that many of us has asked that question at various times. The answer given by this teacher was quite profound and is discussed at 4:55 min into the video. Part of her answer was "where could I find such splendid company?."

As your summer schedule allows, I hope you will take the time to watch this video of John Wooden and reflect on your role as a teacher in higher education. If you have anything to share, please click COMMENTS below.