Finkel's point (page 8) that good teachers "shape" the environment is an interesting one; how many teachers have you had that did nothing to really shape the environment of the classroom?If you know me, you probably have guessed that I have a bias. I believe that good communication is more about listening than speaking. And Finkel does, too (page 9).
How many of us actively listen to our students? How do we demonstrate that we're listening? I had a professor that always came to class with a legal pad. It was a seminar class, and although he sat at the front of the room (actually, the head of the table), he let the class do most of the talking. And when we spoke, he acted like he was learning from us. He took more notes than anyone in the class, and it modeled his belief that what we said mattered.
I will never forget Dr. Guzlowski for that. He's retired now, but you might be interested in hearing one of his poems -- read by Garrison Keiller himself:
http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2007/12/28
1 comment:
Hi, Brett, and thank you for saying those nice things about that class and my teaching.
For me teaching has always been about having a dialogue--listening and talking.
I teach an online course now for Eastern Illinois, and what I like about it is that it's mainly dialogue.
Everybody -- including me -- is talking and listening. It's great.
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