SABBATICAL REPORT
Dennis Plies, Spring Semester, 1999
"Teaching for Excellence"

[Written to colleagues at Warner Pacific College, but hopefully readable for anyone]

It all began in the steam room of a Portland health club, December 1997. I had a thought, which I immediately shared with my 21 year old son, Daniel, who was likewise enjoying the warmth of the steam. I remember saying, "Daniel, you are the first to hear an idea, a seed, which, if it comes to fruition, could produce a dedicated time for study."

First, a little background information. I am a self-proclaimed generalist. I have great difficulty committing too much strictly focused energy to any one application. For example, after playing a musical concert, complete with practice and rehearsal beforehand, whether for days, weeks, or months, I am clearly in the mood to do something "other." If I were more of a specialist, this would not be the case, for I would scarcely complete one concert, before beginning to practice for the next. Rather, I get serious urges often to shift pathways, going for a hike in the woods, reading, writing, playing racquetball, or talking about concepts with any number of people.

Having said that I wish to challenge my self-appraisal, for a large part of what motivates me is an ongoing excitement and effulgence to teaching. I do not have to make appointments with myself to consider the art of teaching; it comes naturally, like breathing. As such, I do not have to coerce myself to "think teaching." Those thoughts are always with me both within and without the classroom setting. But because teaching is applied to all disciplines, I think of it as a general subject matter, pervasive, like an umbrella application to all fields of study. So, while I might not persist in any one academic sector, I make exception if it is pedagogy. I do believe teaching has to do with my "being," my ontology.

During the last fifteen or so years I have occasionally been asked by friends when I might contemplate a sabbatical. I have always brushed off the idea, since I have felt clueless as to what kind of content could absorb me steadily. But in that steam room came the revelation. My thoughts formed a project that would take me to visit classrooms and professors of identified model situations within higher education. I was aware that in U.S. schools K-12 certification requires teacher education courses, yet I have always wondered why post-secondary education has not required this formal preparation for teaching as well. It is my belief that without these formal education courses it is even more imperative that we as college educators help one another upgrade our teaching, or at least be regularly and seriously talking about it. In short, we need to be encouraging one another in the daily venture of teaching. So my sabbatical ideas began to take shape and to fill my mind.

I began thinking even more particularly about teaching per se. When I received a call at home from Adrian, one of our daughterıs friends, she asked me how life was going, so I informed her of my excitement about the upcoming sabbatical. I questioned her about her university education asking her what excited her about learning. She was unable to identify a particular class that ignited her in any spectacular way, but upon further reflection she realized that her chemistry class was uncommon. She does not typically enjoy that subject, but because of the professor, she was truly taking pleasure in this class. I asked her what it was that caused her to get so enthused about this course. This is what she said: (1) The professor is overflowing with his passion for the subject, (2) He cares about our learning, and (3) The class is interactive.

At the time I had no idea how prophetic and "right on" those three descriptors would become. But since I had determined not to "look for" anything in particular during my observations and interviews, I strove to keep Adrianıs trilogy out of my mind. My goal was to be as open-minded as possible, compiling what I saw and heard and sensed. After a few weeks of experiences however, I realized how much Adrianıs statements described powerful teaching. I was also committed to exploring with concomitant descriptive journaling.

A word about my approach. Not being a social scientist, I resolved to treat this project phenomenologically, i.e., I wanted to allow myself to experience settings, students, and professors as they initially presented themselves to my consciousness. Here is an example of what I mean: we say the sun rises, but indeed upon a scientific or educated consideration we know that in fact the earth revolves around the sun. I attempted to describe and analyze as much as possible without presupposition. My aim was to come to a class and to a professor wanting to receive "what appeared" in an essential manner. Obviously I have life experiences which color what I see and how I subsequentially convey todayıs experiences. But in this outlook, I was not attempting to prove anything, nor was I looking for certain characteristics. My aim was never to be able to say, "I knew it all along; this substantiates my expectation." Quite the contrary, I sought to recount what I saw and heard as simply and directly as I could. This is the material that hopefully depicts the essence, that which precedes a "spin." If several of us were to observe what is known as the sunrise, I would expect the narratives to resemble one another at the sensory descriptive level, that which precedes poetry. As Joseph J. Kockelmans further clarifies, "The whole universe of science is built upon the world as directly experienced, and if we want to subject science itself to rigorous scrutiny and arrive at a precise assessment of its meaning and scope, we must begin by reawakening the basic experience of the world of which science is the second-order expression" (358).

My emerging goal was to enlarge my vision. I had a particular desire to clarify in my own mind the qualities of exemplary teaching. But at this juncture in the process, I felt unable to communicate what it was I wanted or needed to learn, for it was the very insights I needed to discover that would enable me to proceed with the undertaking. Consequently I was geared for frontline experiences. I was ready for actual, vital stories. My experience would become a story, one of many stories, a fraction within layers of stories, intertwining to become an extensive story. In Daniel Taylorıs words: "The knowledge that Œall things . . . are relatedı can be approved by reason but is best felt and acted on through story. Such knowledge is a product less of analysis and deduction than of faith based on experience. Armed with such knowledge, we understand better how to save our world and ourselves" (36-37).

The time came in January, 1999, when free of course load, committee assignments, and most other accouterments of college life, I began the project. I had to consider what type of approach I would utilize when trying to understand what at that point was indistinct, along with what my role was to be at the outset of this journey. I had a few leads already, names previously given to me of exemplary teachers, as well as news clippings of award winners. Also, several weeks before, I had notified everyone I knew concerning my general purpose, requesting names of model teachers in higher education. I began placing pins on a map, noting the clusters of possible visits. I then consulted my wallet and determined that I would choose my destinations based on friends or family with whom I could stay. This resulted in a focus on the greater Portland area, Seattle, Southern California, the San Francisco area, where I attended a conference on teaching, and finally the Midwest. I began contacting the names on the list. By email I sent the letter below to the chosen professors with hopes that they would catch the spirit in which I was wishing to visit them:

Iıve wondered for a long time what makes great teachers. Through a happy set of circumstances, I am able to devote a semester of study of people like you in an effort to observe pedagogical practices in higher education. I understand that you are one who takes teaching seriously, and that students appreciate your concern and care for them. I am eager to meet with you, observe your class, and talk with you about our mutual love of the learning environment. I would like to interview you either directly after a class or as soon after as possible.

As I wrestle with what it means to be an intentional teacher, one who attempts to connect with the learner, I believe I can grow through exchange with reflective teachers. I come with three attitudes: (1) Curiosity, (2) Desire for dialogue, and (3) Both of these elements in the spirit of humility. No doubt you can agree that graduate school prepared us to be competitive and isolated. But now as we are teaching we must sustain the intellectual rigor, while engaging students in ways that allow them to learn maximally.

Because I am on sabbatical, I am choosing to be "away" from my office. Hence, I am not using the stationery and phone number of Warner Pacific College, Portland, Oregon, where I have been a full-time faculty member for 18 years, teaching music and humanities. Since my agenda is teaching, I am open to observing any classroom, seminar, lab, or rehearsal, regardless of subject matter. You might say the subject matter is pedagogy. My purpose is to learn.

I am interested in teaching. I am not interested in any particular teaching techniques that work for particular personalities. I am interested in the philosophy of teaching--why we teach and what that means regarding how we teach. Because we, as college teachers, have not received formal training in education, we havenıt been required to ask questions about what it means to be a teacher. Yet we have learned something about why we teach and how we teach.

My aim in this sabbatical search is to employ the metaphor of "confluence" rather conscientiously so that I might learn about teaching and learning from a multitude of informants regardless of their subject area. For instance, one person believes that the Swiss educator, Johann Herbart, who discussed "natural" stages of learning years and years before Whitehead, did so in such a way that Herbart, while not a household name, has not been challenged. If, as a teacher, I get in the way of a learnerıs natural processes without knowing it, this is something I want to know. What if this notion is fundamentally "right on" and my teaching, while sincere, prepared, and dynamic, is damaging the studentıs potential due to my ignorance of these stages, then, I want to know that it is a serious "river" or "tributary." Upon deciphering this kind of information, I can incorporate it into my confluence of a teaching philosophy.

Having taught piano, organ, trumpet, and percussion, and having taught improvisation to any instrumentalist and to singers, I have dealt with pedagogy a great deal. Piano teaching particularly has developed a pedagogical conversation for many years. I have experienced many workshops, conferences, and sessions regarding pedagogical matters. These opportunities have prompted my interest and given vision to transplanting them into the higher education arena.

In divulging where I am coming from in a quest to improve my teaching, I am impelled to share autobiographically. Herein might be the clue. I am on an expedition, one which I expect will allow me to get to know people, their passion, and their teaching experiences. Out of this understanding I anticipate widening my framework of teaching tactics, approaches, and learning activities.

Dennis Plies

For much of the first few weeks my energy was highly secretarial, receiving replies to this letter. Of course they were varied, but for the most part they were rather immediate, both in time and in manner. I anticipated the possibility of negative, distrusting reactions, wondering who I was, my credentials and such, but thankfully, the majority of responses were very positive and engaging, ready to schedule a class and a conversation over coffee. For me the most distressing aspect came when two simultaneous opportunities would present themselves, say, forty miles from each other at the same time on the same day. Unable to rectify such a situation was very disappointing and difficult to accept, but I had to absorb such reality and make a decision for one or the other knowing that both were "said to be by students a most exciting professor." Undoubtedly the least joyous factor for me was the scheduling, the meshing of places, professors, and when the classes met. All of this had to coordinate just right, a delicate interweaving of logistics. For a recovering perfectionist this process presented a double response. Each day was like Christmas, receiving word via e-mail that so-and-so professor could meet and share a class, but at the same time, if it was impossible for me to merge with the offering, I felt frustrated. Definitely the scheduling part of the sabbatical was the more grim and lonely time, being at my desk, thinking, reading, contacting professors and waiting, and then upon their response, attempting to settle the puzzle pieces into one panorama. However, once I was enroute to a class and a professor, that venture took on a life of its own. When I was in a classroom, I chose not to use a rigid approach to observing and listening, nevertheless I did maintain some guidelines or attitudes I expected to interpret. These included:

a.. The context: location, community, physical environment, atmosphere

b.. The professor: attitudes, beliefs, interests, expectations of students, perceived role definition, teaching behavior, use of language for the sake of teaching, awareness of context of students, including commuter/residential factor, professional relationships

c.. The students: their backgrounds, interests, concerns, values, attitudes, needs, expectations, goals, perceptions, learning strategies, behaviors, relationships, language and thinking skills and abilities, academic strengths and weaknesses

d.. The classroom: the dynamics of professor-student and student-professor interactions, the kinds of communication that occur, the subject matter in which teaching and learning focus, learning activities

e.. The curriculum: the rationale and goals, values, controlling ideas, instructional processes, texts and related resources, assignments and assessments through which teaching and learning are enacted. There is one more significant element I chose to include in this journey. Sensing the exploratory nature of this quest, I felt that it would be wise to have input from informed onlookers as I gave form and substance to my plans. I selected an Advisory Council made up of folks in my educational surroundings. Members were: Terah Coffman, Cole Dawson, Lou Foltz, Ron Joiner, and Heidi Owsley. They represented various teaching disciplines as well as both genders. Disciplines were respectively: Chemistry, History, Psychology, Theology, and English. (Rita Hughes was unable to participate due to her particularly intense semester.)

During our meetings I took notes and received extensive ideas, all of which were helpful. It felt healthy to have this type of accountability, a mirror for my thinking. It was invaluable to have a forum in which I could express fresh, somewhat random and undeveloped ideas. Equally as valuable were the ideas and the feedback I received as I was fed a garden variety of suggestions from this group. These meetings helped greatly in establishing a sense of the sabbaticalıs process and product. The process involved questioning, listening, and responding. The product was a combination of rehearsals of data, analysis, questions, challenges, syntheses, but not in a predictable sequence.

From 1966-1969 I was in radio programming. Obviously the interview format works for radio and for my taste it is ideal for the next portion of this paper. I have found that when attending a public lecture I look forward to the question/response time, perhaps with even greater anticipation than the lecture itself. It is then that some of the deeper issues are often explored. Truly it represents the improvisational factors--realness, nowness, vulnerability, surprises mixed with predictability, and more of a sense of being "on the edge." So I have chosen to interview myself. The questions include some of those that I have heard enroute, but most of them I have posed in order to bring further clarification to the reader. [Q = Question R = Response]

Soliloquy

Q: Can you describe your timeline of activity?

R: Basically it went like this: January and February required considerable (make that MUCH!) time in contacting professors, creating energy and scheduling classroom visits and conversations with professors. February picked up a great deal with travel and experiences. March included a trip to Southern California for ten concentrated, profound days, along with many other contacts in the greater Portland area. In April and May I was gone more than I was home, with a visit to the San Francisco Bay area and then the Midwest.

Q: How did you finalize a decision regarding the professors?

R: I accumulated many more contacts than I was able to actualize so some decisions were extremely tough to make. Location, timing, and logistics were deciding factors.

Q: After all that planning and travelling around, how many places and people did you actually connect with?

R: I visited 33 institutions. I met 62 individuals. I attended 56 classes. Usually this meant one class per professor, however, in some cases I attended no classes and only had an interview. More rarely I was able to attend 2 or 3 classes of a professor. When I attended 3 classes as well, I considered this shadowing. I conducted 47 interviews.

Q: What did you expect to learn from this journey of learning about teaching?

R: By meeting individuals and seeing them in action in the classroom I anticipated a variety of personalities and styles. I knew that different kinds of classes would be conducted in contrasting fashions and that different professors would conduct a class uniquely. I was attempting to apply what I had read about effective teaching through leading a meaningful group discussion to this project. I confess a bias against straight ahead lecture, but I also remain open to inventive, interactive lectures. I wanted to distinguish process from procedure in the way C. Roland Christensen articulated: "Procedures are logical and rigid sequences of actions, indispensable in making an arrest, performing an appendectomy, or accessing a computer file--but fatal to leading a meaningful group discussion. Discussions are liquid. They do not move in straight lines; they undulate" (1056). To me, great teaching is when I make the process the product. My responsibility to my students is to ensure that they learn. And yet there is the mysterious confluence of students needing to know what they already know as well as what they yet need to know. Fortunately when I look back at all of the classroom visitations, I noted this liquid nature, whether in lecture, lab, or small group work.

Q: Youıre in music; why didnıt you focus on your subject area?

R: The pursuance of musical knowledge and further musical performing experiences excites me, but I felt the timing appropriate to examine teaching practices in higher education. By timing I mean the general movement in colleges and universities from "laissez-faire" to a conscious examination of teaching and learning for the sake of students.

Q: Why did you do this?

R: I have already explained how I have a continuous, insatiable thirst for pedagogical liquid. I suppose another way to say it is that I have known by firsthand experience from a variety of settings, the joy of being with the front-runners. And now that I know that this formal search for higher education teaching improvement is underway in a host of institutions, I am not only jolted, but stirred. For example, one faculty development office was established in 1979 to help the education process and it continues to be a presence. Its intention was to provide for students an avenue to more innovative and interesting teaching. The objectives are to assist in the improvement and evaluation of the instructional program, to assist faculty members in their professional growth processes, and to assist in the development and articulation of the universityıs goals and objectives. I want to be part of this kind of action. I am having conversations with myself about how thoroughly I will research all that is happening.

Q: Why have you chosen to share highlights of observations and interviews without attaching names?

R: My goal is not to lift certain persons and institutions. Actually I feel somewhat reluctant to even speak about visiting the "cream," for it might indicate a distasteful hierarchical posture I do not desire to portray. But if I were to include names I feel the report would become colored by associations one may have toward a department/discipline/institution/location/pedigree/and whatever else Iım forgetting. I want to stress the conceptual and that which is helpful for one and all.

Q: What did you learn from this set-aside time?

R: Two months into the sabbatical I began to construct some useful signposts. I noted several characteristic traits of exemplary teachers, and yes, at the same time the wonderful, surprising exceptions. Also, I was reading books and articles which were underscoring what I was observing. Additionally I was propelled to think philosophically about education, teaching, and learning. I thought, wouldnıt it be great if learners spoke of their baccalaureate education with even more acclamation than I typically hear?

Q: What are you discovering that could make education more meaningful for students?

R: I believe that as professors see their courses within a curriculum of relationships, the love of learning increases for the student. This approach views the student more as a person, than as a percipient in "our" field. Instead of teaching from a discipline, program, or department only, we would hold an integrated studies approach. How can we not uphold all knowledge, all education? Itıs all about life. David W. Orr uses the word "biophilia" with regularity in his 1994 book, Earth in Mind, an excellent pedagogical presentation simultaneously teaching environmental awareness and sensitivity. He is insisting that the love of life must become conscious. Possibly this presses the need for transdisciplinary education. Every discipline draws from life. "For those willing to do it, the task of mastering a particular field in depth while acquiring a broad and contextual knowledge demands time, patience, intellectual skill, and great commitment. It demands scholars who pay attention to large issues and who have loyalties to things bigger than the profession" (103).

Certainly we need people in this world who can think critically, examine themselves, respect the humanity and diversity of others, who can take charge of their own reasoning, who can see the different and foreign not as a threat to be resisted, but as an invitation to explore and understand. The question I deal with is, might this be more apt to take place because professors push toward more reflective and intentional teaching? What is the role of the professor in connecting with learners, facilitating them to develop as responsible persons? I resonate with Martha C. Nussbaum:

Our primary goal should be to produce students who have a Socratic knowledge of their own ignorance--both of other world cultures and, to a great extent, of our own. These students, when they hear simplistic platitudes about cultural difference, will not be inclined to take them at face value; they will question, probe, and inquire. Because they have a basic awareness of cultural and methodological issues, they will have a way of pursuing their questions further. They will approach the different with an appropriate humility, but with good intellectual equipment for the further pursuit of understanding. These traits, so important in a citizen of todayıs interdependent world, are very unlikely to be developed by personal experience alone. At present we are not doing well enough at the task of understanding, and these failures are damaging our nation--in business, in politics, in urgent deliberations about the environment and agriculture and human rights. We must, and we can, cultivate understanding through a liberal education; and an education will not be truly Œliberalı (producing truly free and self-governing citizens) unless it undertakes this challenge. (147)

This kind of articulation of values inspires my own longing for continual development in teaching and learning. I recognize that in an extremely pluralistic society with rapid changes taking place, our pedagogic styles must adapt as well. We must help students find their own voices, and to do that we may need to be less so they can be more. This may lead us to lecture less and teach more through Socratic questioning. Our heuristics will see the unity of the many factors, such as how the professor and the student can influence one another. The third force stemming from this dialogue is the fact that we are not likely to fight to save what we do not love, that the love of life (biophilia) must become conscious, and that as we develop a biologist, musician, historian, teacher, recreation leader, librarian, or whatever, we are concomitantly to develop character. In short, teaching, learning, teachers, and learners are inseparably and intricately interwoven.

Q: You have met so many wonderful people through this project. How do you expect to keep connected with all of them?

R: Time will tell, but assuredly I feel close to all of them, for I have entered right into the core of their everyday life--teaching. They enjoyed conversing freely about that which draws much energy out of them into the learning environment. I am also convinced it feeds energy into them as well. Keeping connected in spirit, knowing that I can email them, call them, or visit them again--are options. Presently, I do not have any formal plan to stay yoked compulsively. I feel relaxed and happy about the initial acquaintance. For now, that is sufficient.

Q: What might your prayer during the sabbatical sound like?

R: Lord God, may the thoughts, aspirations, and energy applied to this sabbatical be for you and your kingdom, not for my ego or in any sense for a kingdom I trust does not exist. May my observations and reflections help me to synthesize reality and help to adjust it judiciously for the sake of learners.

Q: What surprised you the most?

R: In separate situations within the first few weeks, four professors had told me of a publication, which once I saw it, raised my spirits. When I read The Teaching Professor, a monthly publication full of stimulating and substantial articles, I became acquainted with a colony of like-minded pedagogues in higher education--alive, thinking, and sharing. While I have found innumerable other publications subsequently, this tidy subscription (800-433-0499) commands much of the rich bibliography of the others as well.

Q: Since you work a great deal with the process of improvisation, how do you feel that interfaced with this study of quality teaching?

R: I believe it had to do with my implementation of the phenomenological appoach. I trust that the degree to which I was able to remain open to listening and following what I saw and heard contributed to this improvisational process. It allowed me to go with the flow and not be in control. To learn maximally from others I wanted to be there with open, attentive ears, not judging and placing value on what was taking place. This is certainly true for improvisation, for if one judges enroute in a musical solo, the improvisational freedom is lost and control factors begin to operate. Yet it is a paradox, for one is still rational with the self intact, but simultaneously the spontaneity of the moment is not lost. I believe the professors saw me as one who was there clearly to observe, enjoy, and encourage, not as an adjudicator.

Q: How did you process all this information?

R: Near the end of February I was amazed and dazed for a few days after meeting with one professor, one who was not only a highly effective teacher but who was also responsible for regularly gathering the faculty to converse about teaching. As a result, this individual was fully aware of the publications and centers for teaching and learning excellence. I was generously bestowed with many ideas, publications, bibliographic details, and conference opportunities. Suddenly it hit me that what I thought I was pursuing on my "lonely" quest is already out there big time. The uplifting emotion was nearly too strong, for I sensed that maybe I didnıt need to follow my path when it was trodden so mindfully already by the biggies. Let me illustrate why I was suddenly overcome with disquietude. In pursuing some of the information I was given, I came across a particular website that astounded me. That was The Searle Center for Teaching Excellence at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Amidst much material, I stumbled upon a statement that read: "Professor Lee Shulman of Stanford has argued that the scholarship of teaching is the highest form of scholarship because, unlike any of the other forms, it necessarily includes all of the others" (1). Fascinating! This reminds me of John Alexanderıs contention: "The lasting value of most scholars rests not on their scholarship but on how they relate to their students" (186). Then related to this Searle website was an article so unbelievably heartening, both in content, tone/attitude, and language used, that I felt overwhelmingly undergirded in my quest. It was through this expression of pedagogical thought and heart that I experienced the most unusual dynamic of unanimity.

I want to introduce you now to the ideas of Nancy MacLean. Though I have not met her, by her writings it is apparent that something is taking place at Northwestern University that is not traditional. This can be noted in her professional title: Nancy MacLean, Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence, History Department, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. Earmarking someone pedagogically indicates intentionality. Here is just a short sample of what captured my attention:

In this essay I want to describe what I think makes my teaching work--when it does. My remarks offer no new approaches, no strategies for honing important skills, and not even any fun gimmicks to experiment with. Instead, I will make the case for a simple proposition that will probably strike most readers as exceedingly obvious (although I hope to show that thereıs more to it than meets the eye): effective teaching--for me, at least--depends on making connections, above all on building relationships with and among students that help to create a genuine sense of community and collaboration in the classroom. (1)

Q: You seem supremely excited about this. Can you say more about the Searle Center?

R: Check this out. Among many pages I printed out via the Internet from this Center, I was constantly amazed at the quality and identical interests they and I shared. Take, for example, a list of some of their questions. What Do the Best Teachers Do? How Do the Best Teachers Prepare to Teach? What Do They Expect of Students? How Do They Treat Students? How Do They Check Their Progress, Evaluate Their Efforts?

Q: Those questions help me understand something you said in an early paragraph of this report, "My emerging goal was to enlarge my vision." Would you explore that statement and render some thoughts regarding why you had this goal?

R: Since my being reflects teaching, I am constantly wrestling with what it means to be involved in the teaching-learning process. I am concerned for the learner, that the learner is seeking truth and that the quest is personal, an act of being responsible. I am torn inside when the picture of education has the teacher filled with knowledge and the student is somehow to receive this barrel of information and advice, and in so doing will please the teacher so that a grade can be given which validates this experience. This is preposterous and ludicrous. It is also traditionally prevalent as the form of education. To a high degree, it is just that, a form--a system.

Questions for this type of instruction might sound like this. How many hours of lecture did the student attend (seat time)? How did the student do on the tests? Did the student submit an acceptable paper to demonstrate the ability to handle the material? These questions are dissimilar to the set of questions voiced in the Searle Centerıs topics. Listening to the tone of the Searle Center, I note a care for the studentıs learning and personhood, not just a bookkeeping of hoops jumped. Acknowledging the ongoing struggle of what it means to teach and how to be a facilitating professor to each individual learner requires commitment and responsiveness to students. That is my vision and I want it enlarged and enlarged. Iım asking for work. Concerned for every student learning to their maximum for their sake, is a dramatic contrast to the standard that students pass the course. Moving from a traditional stance of the teacher having the knowledge and students receiving a portion of it, to a stance of learning for the sake of learning and to enhance oneıs life, speaks for an enlargement of vision.

Q: I think we all recognize that learning takes place any- and everywhere to the degree that we seek to learn, yet many of us limit our conception of learning to formal situations. Since you have a holistic perspective on learning, not restricted to a classroom or a campus, what larger scheme are you considering?

R: Allow me first to give a backdrop. I had originally established a threefold plan: (1) Written description of highlights, (2) Ongoing catalytic dialogues--structured sessions, workshops, serendipitous conversations about teaching, and (3) A book, Confluence and Freedom in Learning. However, having dialogued with a large palette of professors and observed them in action, I have been energized in previously held but also new ways. This has influenced my teaching, my outlook, and my thinking All of these planned results have grown and changed since they were originally articulated. First, the "description of highlights" has evolved into a report, bolstered by more confidence on how to relay the experiences and insights. Second, what appeared to be a more general plan for talking about teaching has become more specific. Plans for a workshop came together when I was in Macomb, Illinois with Dan Colvin. While we talked for hours and hours about pedagogy and about workshop implications, we had a focused meeting on May 2, 1999, that pulled so much together and gave impetus to further formalized meetings. Compared to the nebulous yet exciting feelings I entertained in January onward, the May experience in the Midwest cinched the triumphant collaboration of Dan and myself. Third, contrasted with two months ago, my ideas regarding a book have increased to include more chapters. It will comprise more avenues of thought, more ideas and content than I realized earlier. This is all exciting, although it will mean more than the several years originally estimated. And this is fine.

Q: Looking back over the entire sabbatical, what would you have done differently if you were to know what you know now?

R: Absolutely nothing. Within a phenomenological design and hard work, I couldnıt be more satisfied with the process and the products. I have met wonderful people in great occasions. Not one slip has occurred, meaning, all scheduling came off as planned. My arriving to classes and appointments on time always worked out. This is not to be disregarded, since one has little control over congested freeways or scheduling glitches.

Q: What is your assessment of what is presently taking place in higher education?

R: My personal take on college in the 60ıs is that it was teacher dominated. The 70ıs brought in student-demanded changes and curricular adjustments. This was an era that focused on student satisfaction, though not always ultimately in the best interests of those students. Presently I see a stepped up awareness of educational potentiality. What is available for students today contrasted with say, thirty years ago, is a care for the individual learner in a way that goes beyond the facts. Professors perceive the educational process in ways that exceed the linear countenance of the syllabus. The learner is being addressed as a person with understanding of how knowledge and skills must be applied to this life. As Parker Palmer pens it, "This is what happens in academic culture when we are surprised by a new idea that does not fit our conventional frame--for example, the pedagogical insight that feelings are as important as facts..." (112).

Q: How can you describe an "excellent" professor?

R: One who takes each student seriously. An excellent professor not only has knowledge but he or she also demonstrates incredible concern for the student as a person. It involves the constant question, "Whatıs happening to the learner?" Obviously this requires getting to know the students.

Q: I need some illustrations to get the feel for what you are stating. This seems like the apex of our conversation. Would you unpack what you just said?

R: A year ago when talking pedagogically with my close friend, Dan Colvin, he told me three stories. They were so meaningful and moving that I asked him if he would write them out for me. At the time I had no idea how I would "use" them, but I knew they would be catalysts for consequential conversation. And, just now, as I am responding to my own question, it hits me that these vignettes will provide a window into my own heart. Also, it will yield very clearly the development of my thought over the sabbatical. The following comes from Dan:

Pedagogical Anecdotes: History as Story/Rhetorical Reality

The following incidents happened, but they are not historical. Rather, in the telling they have become stories, constructed fictions that, in their re-membering (that is, putting the pieces of a broken memory back together), have acquired the status of rhetorical reality: constructs that intentionally create a reality meant to achieve a particular purpose.

These three cases are particular in genesis, but they have become generic and heuristic in the narrative structure. Each has occurred once and many times. The names have not been changed, but they are irrelevant, for they are characters in a narrative; the details are true, but may not be accurate, having been chosen to convey a fidelity to the meaning of what happened more than to the facts (which, I admit, I can no longer remember).

Kathy

Kathy was an English major in my Survey of British Literature course. Although she was a junior, she had delayed taking the course until this time, in part because she had heard that the material was difficult.

From the first day Kathy had looked bored in class. I couldnıt tell if her seeming boredom came from my teaching, from the material, or both. Her first writing assignment gave me some clue: she had a great insight into the material and demonstrated real enthusiasm for Chaucerıs Canterbury Tales. So it wasnıt the material.

After that first writing assignment I took the opportunity to talk with Kathy. I told her that she looked bored in class and wondered if it was my teaching--obviously she could do the work, and perhaps I wasnıt getting through to her. She told me that she wasnıt unhappy with the class; in fact, it was one of her favorites. I asked her if perhaps she wasnıt being challenged, and suggested that she take the class for in-course honors, a way of providing her with enrichment and stimulation. Kathy told me that she didnıt want any challenge: she had a 4.0 average and didnıt want to jeopardize it by taking on extra work. She could do A work, she said, and would do just that.

And so it continued. She did what was needed in class, entering discussion from time to time, but without excitement or personal involvement. Each paper she wrote received an A--each was one of the best in the class--but was uninspired and uninspiring in the context of what she could have done.

Kathy received an A in the course, but probably learned little, and almost certainly nothing beyond facts. She maintained her 4.0 average.

LaToya

LaToya was a student in my Survey of British Literature course. The first day she caught my attention, not so much from her appearance (a large black woman) as from her enthusiasm. When offered the chance to talk about expectations for the semester, LaToya jumped right in, talking about how she loved literature and loved talking about it, especially about the individuals who inhabited the stories and about their moral predicaments.

In the next few class meeting LaToya made it clear by her comments that she had come from a Bible-believing, Bible-reading culture and that she knew the meaning of the Bible. She caught every possible Bible reference in Chaucer and made them known to the class, along with her exegesis of the passage. One day after class I took the opportunity to talk with LaToya. I told her I greatly understood her situation, having come from a fundamentalist home myself and, like her, seeing a great deal of Christian influence in the literature of the time. But, I told her, she might find it more advantageous to listen more carefully before speaking: determine whether the text really called for a religious interpretation (not all the authors are saying what the Bible says) and whether the discussion needs a Biblical exposition.

The first real problem came, however, with her first paper. While the religious element was still there, the main deficiency was the writing itself: it was unfocused, lacked a thesis, had no sense of paragraph or sentence structure, and was filled with mechanical and rhetorical lapses. I gave her a C-. The day I had returned the papers Latoya was the first student to come in during office hours. She began, "I want to talk with you about my paper." "Fine," I said. "What would you like to discuss?" "I donıt think I deserve this grade," she insisted. "Youıre right," I responded. "I donıt think you deserve that grade either. But I thought the ideas had enough interest that I didnıt want to give you an F." She wasnıt happy. She insisted that no other teacher had ever said such a thing to her. I merely went through the paper with her, noting for her each point where she could have improved the essay with a further revision. She left in stony, and seemingly unconvinced, silence.

The third paper for the course was to be an analysis of a poem by a Renaissance author. LaToya turned in a paper on one of her favorite poems--"Flesh and Spirit" by Anne Bradstreet, a pre-Revolutionary American poet. I returned the paper to her, telling her that Bradstreet was not a British author. "But she is a seventeenth-century writer," LaToya retorted. "Yes," I said, "but not a British author." She was unconvinced. She went to the department chair about the matter. He told her that indeed Anne Bradstreet was an American and that a paper on her poetry didnıt seem appropriate for a class in British literature. LaToya was left with my offer to her: redo the assignment on an appropriate poem by the end of the semester or receive an F.

By this point in the term I thought I had lost her. LaToyaıs writing continued to be unfocused and her insistence on reading everything through the lens of the Bible went unabated. Although I had told her that I was looking for change from her and that I would focus on the growth rather than on averaging the grades, I didnıt expect much from her by that time. But I was wrong (again!).

The last paper LaToya submitted was focused, clear, and insightful. It was an A. And her final examination was an A.

The day after final examinations LaToya stopped by my office. She asked how I was doing on the finals. I told her that I was just about done and that I had already graded hers--she had earned an A in the class. "Thanks," she said. "I learned a lot from your class. It was tough going, but thanks."

Repentance or accommodation, I donıt know. But at least a change in behavior.

Ric Monti

Ric was one of my students during my second year of teaching. I was teaching a survey of American literature--not my specialty at all. It was a course that satisfied the humanities requirement in the Basic Curriculum, however, and Ric was a history major taking it for that purpose.

Somewhere in the first few weeks of the class, Ric raised his hand. "Mr. Colvin, why do we have to read this stuff?" I knew that someday I would be getting a question like that, but hadnıt yet. Now it had come, and in as bald and straightforward (perhaps even confrontational) a way as possible. I donıt really remember what I said. Probably something about the role of the imagination or about cultural values or something like that. Or maybe just enjoyment. Anyway, I had given an answer.

A few weeks later he asked the same question, in just a little different way. Again, I struggled to answer, hoping to find a satisfactory response. Apparently the response wasnıt enough for him, for he continued to raise the issue throughout the rest of the course. At least, I thought, I would be done with Ric at the end of the semester. But I wasnıt. The next semester his name appeared on my class list for Survey of British Literature class. Why, I wondered, couldnıt he have chosen Introduction to Philosophy for his next humanities class? And as I had feared, he continued to raise all those hard questions in class--in short, to be a pain in the pedagogical side. Well, I figured that at least this would be the last time for Ric Monti. There would be no reason for him to take me again. I was wrong.

The next year Ric appeared in my Renaissance Literature class. I was dumbfounded. So I asked Ric to see me at his convenience. He came in during office hours a few days later. I didnıt beat around the bush: "Ric," I said, "Why are you taking the class?" "Well, Iım an English major," he replied. "An English major?" "Yep. And because of you. No other teacher has bothered to take the time to answer my ornery questions in class. So I thought there must be something to English."

Ric went on to take another class from me--Shakespeare--and then to teach English at a junior high school not too far from Macomb. And some of his students still take my humanities classes, saying "Hi" from Mr. Monti.

One Ric Monti per decade is enough. Enough to keep you on your toes. Enough to keep you teaching.

Q: These stories give insight into what you are describing as high level teaching. They seem to be more spiritual in nature, rather than gimmicks that are supposed to "work." Teaching the person is different than teaching the subject matter. What about your own teaching? How will your experience these past few months change how you teach?

R: I have particular notes in my journal as teaching ideas for implementation. But beyond these very practical devices, I expect this experience has had a larger impact on my subconscious. I will continually draw from the memories and notes I took. When I am in the midst of teaching, I expect to spontaneously recall incidents and ideas from my larger repertoire. I anticipate that I will always be incorporating ideas gleaned from the sabbatical.

Q: Could you share some of the notes you took, especially the comments you jotted down regarding teacher traits?

R: I can give a sample. Understand, these remarks are from a variety of courses, such as science labs, skill courses, history lectures, English courses, psychology and philosophy courses. They will come off as exceedingly random, for truly they are. They are either statements I heard the professor make verbatim or my paraphrase during the interview or an observed descriptive trait. It is a must to read each one as a solo. If you care to combine soloists, that is your prerogative. The Appendix contains a complete record of these statements.
a.. Warmly welcomes me before class
b.. Relaxed and engaging, works personality
c.. A born teacher
d.. Relates with students, obviously their friend, knows them by name
e.. Very interactive
f.. Proclaims goals of the day in a very integrated, natural way
g.. Talks fast, clear, moves around
h.. Talks autobiographically, uses improvised illustrations
i.. Class in the palm of professorıs hands
j.. Dynamic changes occasionally, a performer, all as if in own home with own kids
k.. Conversational and scholarly language interwoven naturally
l.. Obvious love of subject matter, knows material cold, truly cares that they get it
m.. Calls on different students, asking them to share present feelings, insights, thoughts, bewilderments
n.. Uses attractive, imaginative words to portray concepts; uses meaningful words that help relate
o.. Lots of analogies
p.. Keeps calling new persons and asking questions
q.. Gives instant feedback to what students say, for sake of concept rendered
r.. Relates concrete events from which to relate/attach concepts being taught
s.. Makes students feel very important
t.. Refers to other professors healthily
u.. Very conversational
v.. Clearly on autoplay; able to be thinking beyond words for ideas, so as to be creative
w.. Links to the content of former class
x.. Always asked questions to personıs first name
y.. Very animated, always on feet
z.. Listens to students carefully and patiently

One word of explanation: Remembering the phenomenological approach I took when I was taking notes of observations and interviews, I was in no way thinking of specific future use, implications, or anything subsequential. I simply wrote what came to me intuitively. So these statements are obviously through my grid, but not contrived for a specific purpose. I literally highlighted in yellow from my notes, all of the comments which related to teaching and descriptive matter relevant to education. I then copied the highlighted yellow phrases as seen above.

Q: Did you interview any students?

R: For the most part, i.e., 99.9% of the time, I focused exclusively on teachers. This was a deliberate choice, so that I could be single-minded. Being unusually focused for this sabbatical time (recall my propensity is to be a generalist) was vital to me. I elected to stay off my own campus all I could, in order to keep my emotions tuned to the quest "out there." This also helped to keep my brain clear for the single task.

On extremely infrequent occasions I did talk to students. Also, I was asked to take the last class of two sections of a course, called Introduction to Literary Studies, each with about twenty students, many of whom were to become teachers. My charge was to facilitate dialogue so that the students would think about their own learning in the course and in college. At first I felt chagrined by the assignment, believing this was out of my focus on the sabbatical quest. However, I realized how vitally valuable this was for students as a reflective exercise. At the same time, it revealed a great deal to me. I was thrilled at my ability to put at ease learners who did not know me, but who, within five or ten minutes, felt rather safe to the extent of opening up freely with their thoughts and feelings. I realized I might have another available expression of professoring as a sideline!

Knowing this was to be "my" class for the hour, and in order to expedite the discussion, I asked the professor to circulate a survey of topics from which students could select and rate in priority of interest. Each class reflected its own rating of questions. The first class became a discussion of the following topics:

How to motivate students

What literature do you want students to read and in what order?

What place is there for discussing "values" in the class?

Is it important to you to discuss gender, class, and race in literature?

What do you like and dislike in the learning experience?

The second class had as many potentially hot questions but they didnıt finish the first one, which was:

What is good teaching?

Q: When you interviewed professors, what types of questions did you ask?

R: Here are a few: (1) What troubles you the most, right now, about teaching? Put another way, what is your cutting edge? What do you think about constantly regarding your teaching and studentsı learning? (2) What do you like and not like about teaching? (3) What compelled you to higher education? (4) How is teaching a performance?

In total I had about eighty questions from which I could select. It was much more natural for me to dialogue informally while driving toward crucial issues in teaching. So, for the most part, I would sense the situation and then ask questions instinctually based on the context of the particular professor.

Q: What overwhelming truth brought clarity to your thinking about teaching?

R: Though it may seem basic, I would have to say that as an overarching basis for discussion I came to this theory: I must treat people courteously and lovingly. Students are more prone to be engaged in learning with sensitive caring than if they feel tyrannized, in which situation they are usually disinterested in studying and learning. Being treated as a person rather than an object is as significant as the subject matter. I would wager that the sowing of this belief when acted upon, will reap bountifully. I find that all of the meaningful pedagogical purposes are subsumed in viewing and considering every student under our tutelage as a human being.

Q: You mean you buy this idea called "character education?" You believe ethics can be included in education when we have so much material to get across?

R: A few questions back, I explained that my humble assessment of the 60ıs higher education practice was that of the professor having control of the subject matter and dangling it in the faces of the students with the terrorizing bell curve reality. This motivates for a season, but it does not necessarily build healthy human beings who ultimately take responsibility for their lives. I would promote instead, community, compassion, and reflection. It may be convenient to instill competitiveness and selfishness to inspire learning, but I believe it to be short-sighted. Also, I believe it to be self-defeating, for the process is the product. As one regularly behaves, that becomes firmly incorporated habit. The means is the message. An alternative approach would be to teach cooperation, nurture, generosity, and curiosity. This is character education.

Q: How could you keep energized for five months simply concentrating on teaching and learning, and not be involved in your field of music?

R: I think it is pretty obvious from what transpired and has been shared thus far, that continual natural energy was built into this time. But most specifically with the feasibility of producing a workshop with my good friend, Dan Colvin, I was propelled consistently with thoughtful input from what I was beholding. Once he and I began putting on paper our corroboratory ideas, we soon had a mock brochure. This type of project excites me for it is a way of sustaining the nature of the sabbatical.

Q: What are the goals of the workshop you two plan to offer?

R: (1) To think about teaching critically, creatively, and corporately. (2) To become more reflective and intentional about our own teaching. (3) To enlarge our repertoire of teaching strategies. (4) To explore holistic approaches to teaching and learning. (5) To develop understanding of relational pedagogy. (6) To derive more joy from teaching and learning.

Q: What is the title of the workshop and what is it all about?

R: "Succeeding or Surviving?--A Workshop on Intentional Pedagogy." It will serve as a dialogue about teaching and learning facilitated by Dan and me. For many, I would expect, it will serve as a time for renewal, a time to think, write, listen, and exchange ideas with others and then to apply such learning to oneıs own teaching. Instead of being a "how to" approach, this workshop concentrates on conversation regarding the "how" of teaching. Our sessions would include: "Developing a Learning Community," "Reflective and Intentional Teaching," "The Wise Teacher," "Teaching Through the Learnerıs Eyes," "After They Know, Then What?," "Voices of Teaching," and "The Examined Life."

Q: If I am interested in learning more about this, whom do I contact?

R: Either Daniel L. Colvin, E-mail Address: colvin@macomb.com (or)

Dennis B. Plies, E-mail Address: dennisp@teleport.com

Q: You mentioned that you have a title for a book. What is your plan for that project?

R: I am fascinated with the potential for humanity to take learning more seriously in all of life, not just in formal classroom situations. If every minute were viewed as a learning minute, such heightened consciousness would make every hour of the day, upon reflection, more valuable. I also contend that our person, call it our past, our autobiography, folds into the experiences of the day. Owning our upbringing and living out our daily responsibilities can be likened to the confluence of rivers. This is a very general overview for the book but I will share the current list of chapters: (1) Confluence, Freedom, and Faith; (2) Compartmentalizing; (3) Criticizing; (4) Confluence; (5) Freedom; (6) Learning; (7) Arts, Creativity, Spirituality; (8) Life As Learning--Family, Friends, Workplace, Leisure, Service.

Q: Why do you think this book is needed?

R: I am of the opinion that too often people sell themselves short. When knowledge is exposed and contextualized, I anticipate and expect more wisdom. In making mindful a fitting and creative twist to some areas not customarily dealt with per se, I propose a juxtaposition of thought. Awareness is the key to change and growth. New ways of thinking about lifeıs verities can cause adjusted approaches to life.

Because the sabbatical time has afforded me the privilege to think in a concentrated manner about teaching, I thought that it could be a catalyst for thought for others. So I offer a draft, which could serve as a conversation piece, entitled "A Suggestion Toward A Position Paper On Educational Philosophy"

Education As Confluence

Educational Philosophy: Aware of the limitations of my mind, my heart, my most educated disciplinary thinking (music), my autobiography, along with my desire to be interdisciplinary and to experience community, I submit a heavyweight rendition lightly, i.e., humbly. Recognizing the variance on the interpretation of Stanley Fishıs "reader response" school of literary theory, and again I am out of my field, I submit that in reading and thinking, we form a "community of readers and thinkers." (Is There A Text In This Class?) The key idea which I am stealing unabashedly for teaching is that each person brings a unique perspective to a class. These perspectives will be reflected in the teaching of the professor and in the response of the students to what is read and considered. Some ideas may seem contradictory but the community works together to determine which ideas can actually be supported by the text. This style hearkens back to the old idea of the university--a community of learners humbly seeking knowledge and working together to achieve as a group what no one person could ever achieve alone. In that sense, I am advocating and expecting synergy.

Within this outlook students do not compete against one another, but success is acknowledged as they achieve their own potential. From this perspective, students are free to desire success for their peers as well as themselves. As Martha C. Nussbaum articulates:

.the ability to think what it might be like to be in the shoes of a person different from oneself, to be an intelligent reader of that personıs story, and to understand the emotions and wishes and desires that someone so placed might have. The narrative imagination is not uncritical, for we always bring ourselves and our own judgments to the encounter with another...understanding we will also judge that story in the light of our own goals and aspirations. (10-11)

I am advocating educating rather than training. This would find expression in educating students to be (1) Self-confident rather than training students to become competitive, (2) Intellectually lively rather than conformist, and (3) Empathetic instead of uptight. Education emphasizes the self-learning process, while training is more about what others make you do.

Pushing the interdisciplinary approach I appreciate Gerald Graffıs eloquence:

.it is as if you were to try to learn the game of baseball by being shown a series of rooms in which you see each component of the game separately: pitchers going through their windups in one room; hitters swinging their bats in the next; then infielders, outfielders, umpires, fans, field announcers, ticket scalpers, broadcasters, hot dog vendors, and so on. You see them all in their different roles, but since you see them separately you get no clear idea of what the game actually looks like or why the players do what they do. No doubt you would come away with a very imperfect understanding of baseball under these conditions. Yet it does not seem farfetched to compare these circumstances with the ones students face when they are exposed to a series of disparate courses, subjects, and perspectives and expected not only to infer the rules of the academic-intellectual game but to play it competently themselves. (113-114)

Deborah DeZure, Director of the Faculty Center for Instructional Excellence at Eastern Michigan University, promotes intentionality in seeking "to promote connected learning beyond the discipline as a primary goal--pursuing knowledge that integrates and synthesizes the perspectives of several disciplines into a construction that is greater than the sum of its distinctly disciplinary parts" (1).

Another outlook deserving exposure is the seeming polarity between art and science. While art exhibits intuition, ambiguity, and finds expression in a person as a practitioner, science exhibits precision, clarity, and finds expression in a person as a researcher. My educational philosophy marries these two differentiations. The confluence of both gives a more powerful voice than a one-sided perspective. A liberal arts education exposes the learner to a wide variety of human discoveries that one might not find otherwise. This comes through interdisciplinary study with higher aims than self-interest. Composer Iannis Xenakis feels that: "When scientific and mathematical thought serve music, or any human creative endeavor, it should amalgamate dialectically with intuition. Man is one, indivisible and total. He thinks with his belly and feels with his mind" (181).

Reflective thinkers pursuing truth

The general thrust then, is a movement from facts toward truth in a safe environment where rigor and love coexist, where the individual is prized and community is esteemed. The goal of both reason and faith is truth. We must know how to compute AND to be able to consider the social implications of such computations. I see an environment where students are engaged, ask questions, and think about course materials until they understand traditional and competing approaches to knowledge, taking responsibility for their own learning. The ability to own oneıs thought because the inquiry is informed by how things could be otherwise, sounds very exciting. It is recognizing interdependency and mutual respect in action. As Davis and Sumara articulate this concept: "It is not the individual organism that shapes the environment, and it is not the environment that necessarily conditions the organism; rather, the two are engaged dialectically in a mutually specifying choreography where, all at once, each specifies the other" (116). Psychiatrist and author M. Scott Peck describes this dimension: "Community is a Œsafe place,ı where all the players feel free to speak their mind and where their voices will be listened to with seriousness. It is an environment in which differences are not only allowed but encouraged. It is a group whose members have learned to fight gracefully so that ethical stones are not left unturned and the tension is not abandoned" (310-311). Iım reminded of what Jerome Bruner calls "interactive, intersubjective pedagogy" (22).

We all have our story. That story is so vital as it weaves itself into the patterns of history and the multitudinous stories of time and cultures. Walking into a class to learn about chemistry, literature, or philosophy, and simultaneously asked to leave oneıs personhood out in the hall, is a distasteful act. On the other hand, it is unpleasant to me to be in a class to learn about biology, art history, or sociology, and to experience individuals using the learning space as a time to voice their biographies or platforms in self-absorbing, self-indulgent, and self-serving ways. I concur with Daniel Taylorıs rendering, "I could create a story of my own childhood that focuses on trouble and pain. The many individual details would be true but the story would be a lie. As with many people, troubling things were part of my beginnings, but none of them set the tone, none of them tell the story" (62).

There is a masterful blend in teaching and learning that is holistic, toward health and salvation. We can either play upon pain and oppression and hence portray ourselves as victims, or we can choose to be active participants within our story as it unfolds. Either the plot is already set in our own mind, or it is being discovered as we activate the power of choice within our given setting, family, historical context, and our personality.

Learning how to live, not simply how to make a living, necessitates the integration of all disciplines. It embraces a comprehensive view of the world. Again, Martha C. Nussbaum: "Becoming an educated citizen means learning a lot of facts and mastering techniques of reasoning. But it means something more. It means learning how to be a human being capable of love and imagination" (14). Looking at life as love, or as formerly alluded to, the value of viewing the love of life, hear Daniel E. Seeger: "It is unlikely, therefore, that we shall debate each other, or our fellow citizens, into ways of love. For we touch peopleıs hearts not by what we debate with them about, but rather by the quality of our being--by who we are, and by how we live, and by what we do. Thus, all of our merely verbal efforts in education or politics have meaning only insofar as they spring out of our own very direct experience of joyfully seeing what love can do in practice" (30). This moves us from facts to feelings, from doing to being, from What to How, which then involves Why. I believe education is for the sake of the student. I have personally experienced sufficient "education" which I internally translated as teacher-centered. The sense I received was that my existence was secondary to the professorıs. But I advocate that the professor take the role of a servant toward the subject matter and toward the learners. In pressing this notion, I believe I am advancing the studentıs voice. This stance requires something beyond regurgitation of data. It involves the relationship between the learner and the material, the learner with other learners, and the learner and the professor. Eventually it means relationship with family, friends, neighbors, vocation, recreation, religious expression, the local and global communities--in short, service. Borrowing from the highest standard in writing (level six) from the state system in Oregon for "voice," I have substituted the word teacher for writer and hence consider this to be a description of a model teacher. Other liberties are noted by parentheses. "The teacher chooses a voice appropriate for the topic, purpose, and audience. The teacher seems deeply committed to the topic, and there is an exceptional sense of Œteaching to be read (experienced).ı The teaching is expressive, engaging, and sincere. The teaching is characterized by:

a.. an exceptionally strong sense of audience; the teacher is aware of the reader (learner) and of how to communicate the material most effectively. The reader (learner) may discern the writer (person-teacher) behind the words and feel a sense of interaction.

b.. a sense that the topic has come to life; when appropriate, the teacher may show originality, liveliness, honesty, conviction, excitement, humor, or suspense" (3).

Elizabeth Stern, a powerful piano teacher, stated in Pettiboneıs article in Sforzando, "Iıll forgive you wrong notes, wrong rhythm, but I wonıt forgive you if you bore me. Music is meaningless unless you communicate. I usually sing with them to get them to express something. Eventually I realize that I am no longer singing, because they are singing from the inside" (39). This is my goal as a teacher.

Educational Philosophy Applied

Over the years of receiving music lessons as well as giving music lessons to others, I have been shaped and influenced by pedagogy. Very often I can see direct transference to my college teaching. I enjoy adjusting musicıs pedagogical input to the college environment, regardless of subject matter.

My chosen role model and pedagogical mentor in piano teaching for over twenty years has been Richard Chronister. His leadership in bringing prominent piano pedagogues together to share insights with one another is unquestioned. As an innovator and convenor, Richard is unparalleled. When he gives an address or writes about teaching, I always listen or read quite carefully, for I know he is very reflective and intentional. He has studied, observed, and responded with compelling ideas.

On March 27, 1999, I had the pleasure of meeting with Richard for nearly five hours in Los Angeles. He had recently presented his rendition of the heart of the venerable Frances Clark, who died last year. She taught at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey, as head of the piano department since 1955. He applied his thoughts to the first eight lectures he heard her give in a course called Fundamentals of Piano Pedagogy. I will present a distillation of his November 19, 1998 address to the New School for Music Study. Richard titled it, Eight Fallacies of Education/Eight Basic Principles.

"The important thing about basic principles, of course, is that they never change, they never get old, they never go out of date. But, the applications of those principles grow and change every day that we teach, so long as we manage to keep our minds open and for as long as we accept the fact that any problems our students have are our problems, not theirs. I think it is possible to pinpoint each problem that comes up as a violation of a basic principle. Then, after recognizing which basic principle we have broken, we can go the next step and devise a way to teach that gets us back on track. To me, learning how to do that is the definition of teacher training" (1).

"Frances began her first lecture by saying that it takes three things to be a successful teacher. One is knowing WHAT to teach. Another is knowing HOW to teach. The third is knowing WHY we teach. She went on to say that the WHAT and the WHY are pretty simple" (1). You can not learn to teach from a book. "Teaching, like performing, is an art, and in its best form it canıt be copied. No one can become a good teacher by mimicking another teacher. No one can tell you how to teach. Teaching is personal; every teacher is different. The art of teaching is created out of a study of the people we teach, of how they learn, under what circumstances they learn best" (2).

These are the fallacies and principles that informed Frances Clarkıs teaching:

Fallacy 1: I Tell You, Therefore You Know.

Principle 1: I Tell Myself, Therefore I Know.

"A question that has the answer within the question is not a question, it is simply interactive telling" (2).

Fallacy 2: The Best Way to Present Material Is in a Mass of Fragments.

"All of us remember trying to memorize a list of dates for history examinations--a mass of fragments. We have all taken tons of true-false and multiple choice quizzes--more masses of fragments" (3).

Principle 2: The Best Way to Present Material Is From the Context of the Whole.

"Our job when we teach anything new is to decide what the context of the whole is, and then to create situations in which students can practice the whole rather than the fragments, to allow the whole to tell them the fragments. When we find that students are having problems with little details, we have probably committed this fallacy" (4).

Fallacy 3: We Assume That the Fragment Is the Same to the Student As It Is To Us.

"To teach is to communicate. There are several levels to making communication work. Sometimes it is simply necessary to be careful with the words we use" (5).

Principle 3: It Is the Teacherıs Job to Make the Fragment the Same to the Student As It Is To the Teacher.

Fallacy 4: It Is More Important to Measure Than It Is To Teach.

"Much of our education system, including music teaching, proves that we believe the following: It is more important to measure than it is to teach.

The usual routine is simple: Teacher assigns, Student studies, Student recites, Teacher grades--measures.

Think for a moment about college jury examinations. A performance major spends a semester practicing a particular set of repertoire. The teacher shapes each piece into what all hope will be a stunning performance come jury time.

The teacher assigns, the student practices, the student plays, the jury measures.

But what has the jury measured? The studentıs ability to recite what the teacher has coached, or the studentıs ability to teach himself or herself without help from the teacher?

Alter the scenario: At the beginning of the semester, the student is assigned a Beethoven Sonata that the teacher intends to mold into a perfect performance--always a very worthy goal. But at the same time, the student is assigned a 2nd Beethoven Sonata and told: this one is your project alone. At the end of the semester, the jury will hear both sonatas. Your grade--your measurement--will be based on how well you apply what the teacher teaches you to the sonata you are learning without help. The jury wants to know what you are able to teach yourself.

That jury is saying it is more important to teach than to measure--that it is important to measure what students teach themselves.

And just think how different this performance teacher will go about teaching. It will suddenly make a difference between what students can do by simply being told and what students understand well enough to tell themselves, what they can apply to a new situation. (6-7)

Principle 4: It Is Important That Students Learn to Measure Themselves.

[A side note: While at North Seattle Community College, interviewing Tom Drummond, one who teaches Early Childhood Education and also applies concepts to faculty-wide development, he personalized an example for me. His rhetorical question was, "Dennis, of whose benefit is it that your triplets, when played, are truly accurately placed in time--the professor or the student?" I saw it more fully than I had ever seen it before. Assessment is for the student.]

Fallacy 5: The Teacher Furnishes the Motivation.

Principle 5: Students Furnish Their Own Motivation.

"Our job is to understand the motivation that already exists in each student and then find ways to expand it beyond where it already is. Our job is not to replace his motivation with our own" (8).

Fallacy 6: The Answer Is More Important Than the Process by Which It Is Reached.

"Think of the algebra assignment which the teacher grades by checking for correct answers. The student who has no idea of how to solve the problem but has gotten the correct answer with help from someone at home will get an A. Students who understand the process and do their own work, but make mistakes in some small part of the addition or subtraction, get wrong answers and fail. The math teacher who does not go further, does not make sure who understands the process, believes, that the answer is more important than the process by which it is reached.

For piano teachers, the recital performance is the equivalent of the correct answer. We tend to judge a piano teacher by how his or her students play on recitals, juries, contests, auditions, etc. At the same time, we really know that many of those performances do not represent what students understand, only what the teacher could somehow get the students to do" (8).

Principle 6: The Process by Which an Answer Is Reached Is More Important Than the Answer Itself.

"The opposite of this fallacy is, of course, The process by which an answer is reached is more important than the answer itself. The cause is more important than the result. Only understanding leads to more learning. It is understanding that makes students ready to supply their own answers" (8).

Fallacy 7: Working On Tasks Devoid of Purpose Is Good Discipline.

"Tasks for which the student sees no purpose make sense only to students who simply want to please the teacher."

"Or we produce a submissive person, one who just does what heıs told--and then forgets just as quickly" (9).

Principle 7: Working On Tasks With a Purpose Is Good Discipline.

Fallacy 8: Education Is Preparation for Life.

"Much of what goes on in all our educational programs suggests that we believe that the purpose of education is to prepare students for the cold, cruel world. Education that seeks to prepare people for something in the future, without providing opportunities for using that preparation as part of the learning process, produces two kinds of people:

One group is just champing at the bit to get out of school and start living. Theyıve never tried what theyıve been prepared for, but they are convinced that they are prepared enough--let me loose on the world, Iım ready. They may even believe that they know more than their professors--otherwise why arenıt they out there living in the real world instead of sticking around these fusty halls of learning.

The other group is made up of those who try to find ways to stay in school forever, afraid to get out there and start living. They may even know that their preparation stopped short of actually doing anything useful, but as long as they can find more courses to take, more degrees to earn, more repertoire to learn, more research to pursue, they can avoid taking responsibility for their own lives--they can remain in a state of preparation forever" (11).

Principle 8: Real Education Is Life Itself.

How has this sabbatical experience changed me? What difference has it made? Several initial thoughts come to mind. Permission to think in a convoluted, confluential manner is one glorious effect. General confidence is another. Some freedom from shyness has occurred. How could I possibly have the courage to ask professors I had not met to allow me into their classroom and into their mind? But through these many experiences I grew and I gained a wider purview of the world and how it works in general. By isolating the area of teaching in higher education, I was afforded the privilege to focus. Through watching how systems worked in many institutions, I am quicker at perceiving systems at work in other organizations. I learned about warmth of personality, of great teachers extending themselves to all people around them. That trait will always catch my attention in whatever situation.

The joy of focusing was paramount, the protected space of time during which it was thoroughly legal to edit from my life. While the edited matter would otherwise be healthy, nevertheless it served as a distraction, for it paled in light of my essence. I learned again, the power of knowing who I am and what the pith of my personal/professional mission statement comprises. I need now to continually remind myself of who I am and what motivates me. Based on that knowledge and applying such wisdom, I find greater joy when excluding what otherwise are fine activities but not warranted in the scheme of my ontological locus.

Having determined who I am, then being who I am and living into that, has become priceless insight. I have known that I am gifted in teaching. I know that teaching is ultimately energizing, as students grapple with content and their being. I know that I wish to serve a community where learning is valued everywhere, not limited to the classroom or professorıs office. I want to be a part of a learning community where everyone cares for everyoneıs learning, which includes each personıs being. I am convinced that helping students grow in knowledge, acquiring skills, and developing their talent conjoined with seeking and finding truth is life-giving to me. I expect that a subsequent expression will occur as a result of students moving toward the truth, for the truth makes one free indeed, free to serve others. So I agree: Real Education Is Life Itself.

Appendix

[A word about the purpose and use of this set of statements: As mentioned in the self-interview, this listing is quite random. There is no order, no moving towards. Each bullet reads unto itself. In fact, the words mean much more to me, for I recall the place, the feel to the occasion, and something of the inflection of the words. For me each phrase has a particular context. Nevertheless, I believe these can be valuable for you as you allow them to spark a pedagogical moment for you, or as they serve to stimulate your thinking about teaching. Read each slowly, then reflect.]
a.. Teaches caveats to them, steers them toward wisdom
b.. Humor, playful, light while dealing with very heavy material, yet never cheapened
c.. Whetted my curiosity, giving me several handles/tools so I would want to try these on new material and/or reading chapter after class
d.. Rapport very high
e.. Infectiously caring, friendly
f.. Before class begins, lots of noise and plenty of conversations going on; energy--talking with professor and with one another
g.. Suddenly, exactly at 3 p.m., professor speaks boldly, announces, "Letıs begin!"
h.. Very aware of pop culture, the world at large, own world, their world, the world
i.. Never uses knowledge to show off, always as a way of relating the material
j.. Love and laughter characterize what I am witnessing in the professor within this classroom
k.. Clear that professor is very certain of what is to be accomplished during the class time
l.. Moves around a lot, down the aisles sometimes
m.. After one heavy thought, professor with open arms says expectantly, "Comments!"
n.. Class is like a liturgy
o.. Cites feedback instantly to studentsı comments to full class
p.. Hitchhikes on good comments/events within the room
q.. Teaches using examples
r.. "Anybody lost? George, you look lost. Talk!"
s.. Ends promptly at class closing time, energy right up to end
t.. Brings energy, enthusiasm, and intensity to it
u.. Just prior to class, writes an outline on the board, of what I eventually realized during the class was the essence of the review as well as the presentation of the day
v.. Talks about the content of the day, referring to the board, moving around, sitting down, standing, pointing to the board, occasionally writing on the board
w.. Constantly interjecting expectations/standards of the work being done in the class, not like a rule, not at all insular, but rather adding scope to oneıs life
x.. Uses two current mass culture illustrations to convey concepts being delivered
y.. Throughout the class I find my mind being transported beyond the room--transcendent thinking
z.. Shows a video clip, then from guided questions, students are to cogitate and write for about five minutes, follows that with dyadic sharing
aa.. Room is vibrant with conversation before class begins, a good energy
ab.. Professor listens to some of the dyads as time permits circulation; had announced the visiting process
ac.. Asks dyads to reveal to full class by one of the dyad dealing with content, the other person the response
ad.. Facilitates with great ease, interjecting, clarifying, questioning, and in general, modeling the connecting process
ae.. Fields student responses but never "tells" them, as in professorial telling
af.. Amazing how much material is covered, experienced, and dialogued in just over an hour
ag.. Never did I feel a sense of rushing in the class, always space for anyone to raise any question--something specifically requested by professor at beginning of class
ah.. Views self not as a writer, nor teacher, but as one who is truth-telling; no, make that truth-finding
ai.. Experiences students like pieces of writing; students are making writings; professor making writers
aj.. Faith in fragments--sees in the students, their potential, an honoring concept
ak.. Good teaching exhibits good questions, leading beginnings -- the trick of beginning
al.. As a teacher, plan like everything, then be present to the moment
am.. Seeing the syllabus as the bargain between the student and teacher
an.. Asked to lecture less, students want to hear from one another
ao.. Very important to professor to have and declare educational philosophy
ap.. Looks at self as a teacher of life
aq.. Loves teaching ideas, not skills
ar.. Loves true team teaching where it is all integrated
as.. Never gives tests
at.. Relational, friendly rapport
au.. Quietly instills what is desired boldly and confidently
av.. Knows what is expecting and clearly articulates that to class
aw.. No intimidation, but definite standards required without being cruel
ax.. Has students locate a masterwork, the best in any field: art, music, literature, outstanding case in law or lawyer
ay.. Students are to experience, inquire (most closely aligns with traditional education), create, and reflect
az.. What I expect from you and what you can expect from me
ba.. Engaging the learners to do what they cannot do
bb.. Goal of professor is for students to reflect and represent what they know
bc.. Teacher finding a pathway that facilitates learner -- locus is the learner
bd.. Tests: so professor can see what the learner is learning, but it is for the learnerıs perception and sake
be.. Can only learn if there are questions, so stimulate chaos for questions
bf.. Teaching as art
bg.. How to facilitate learning spiritually
bh.. Begin with problems and bring disciplines into it, not the other way around -- a confluence
bi.. Teaching is engaging the learner, focusing on learning, whatıs happening in the learner
bj.. Professor knows aims and objectives
bk.. Learning is a relational act
bl.. Taking class on a journey of thought using the learning communityıs thought and discussion
bm.. Anticipates the next class in suggestive ways
bn.. Encourages students to look, think, ask questions
bo.. Connecting to concepts, to text, to art, to life
bp.. Professor interested in changing peopleıs lives, not facts to be dumped on them
bq.. Wants to erase boundaries
br.. I note that professor is the same over coffee as when teaching in class
bs.. I note that a professor is considerably more subdued over coffee that when teaching
bt.. Students feel comfortable interacting with professor
bu.. Keeps students pointed to text, not what learners want to think it says, as a class
bv.. "Weıll take this up Friday."
bw.. Arrives very early, has materials set out for teaching, roving, talking and mingling with students informally and in a friendly manner
bx.. Speaks about last class, aims of this class, and now asks a student to talk about a concept from a former class
by.. Very facilitative, drawing in as many as possible into the conversation
bz.. Standing and moving, leaning toward speaker
ca.. Told story in order to craft a question that would grab the students
cb.. "Tammy, donıt go to sleep!"
cc.. Writes key concept on board
cd.. Eye contact with all
ce.. Takes class through problematic material by asking questions and discovering, using suspense before resolution
cf.. "Thatıs for Friday, see you then!" (twinkle in professorıs eyes)
cg.. Ten years ago same course: different now--more depth, width, increase in wisdom, increase in experiences from which to draw, more into developing studentsı worldview as a more central task, also finds own adult development influencing the how of teaching--gentler while holding rigor, plus paradox is ok
ch.. "Other questions?"
ci.. Humor, wanders around, lecturing, eye contact
cj.. Impassioned communication, logical thinking applied to the historical "facts"
ck.. Real, vital responses to all studentsı comments
cl.. Smiling, has a great time; smiling with the material
cm.. Makes simple the heavy stuff
cn.. Heart
co.. A student raises hand: "Iım unacquainted with . . ." This is rigorous education, where honesty prevails.
cp.. Absolutely a performer, rhythmic buildup, flowing, never judgmental
cq.. "Are we done? Then weıre done!"
cr.. Itıs new each time the professor teaches the same course, because professor is teaching students.
cs.. Always trying to do something to make it connect with their lives
ct.. Keeps alive in the subject matter to represent the scholarship responsibly and fairly
cu.. Hermeneutical connection--to their reference point in life
cv.. Subject matter has to connect to each studentıs autobiographical reality
cw.. Know your audience
cx.. Think about the material from studentıs point of view
cy.. Outlook: material --- teacher preparation --- students
cz.. Writing terms on the board to slow down information intentionally, specially helpful for visual learners
da.. Spontaneous or planned role playing, but chooses to perform only in present tense roles, otherwise itıs theatre
db.. Students can ask a question for clarification at any time, can interrupt, but professor manages dialogue of disputation
dc.. Sees role as spiritual formation
dd.. During first class professor asks students their hopes and fears
de.. Thinking on feet and allowing students to challenge
df.. Doing what works best for professor in terms of style, approach, handling class
dg.. Teasing with the right ones, gives them attention
dh.. Getting all students to have a stake in the class
di.. Wants the class to be more emotional/transformative than factual, turning the student in another direction
dj.. Power of story
dk.. Has changed from telling to having discovery
dl.. Elaborate study notes asking for observations of whatıs happening within learnerıs mind as the student reads assigned text
dm.. Know that if I write on your paper, Iım giving your ideas respect
dn.. If not college level, rewrite it!
do.. Begins class with a review
dp.. Asks excellent questions (critical thinking) that stir the group to respond
dq.. Superb leading questions, keeps students talking in focused fashion
dr.. Makes textbook information very accessible
ds.. Talks and asks questions based on content, making students interact with the material
dt.. More focused on what is most important
du.. Full of questions rather than answer -- listening
dv.. Expects students to give as much as professor does
dw.. Cares so much for the students
dx.. Demanding, loving, dynamic; has deep passion for students
dy.. Is warm!!!!!!
dz.. Professor needs to have options for the students and for the classroom
ea.. Says: "I want to see what you have done."
eb.. Interactive
ec.. Receiving what students say, then immediately flowing with that content by commenting and/or questioning
ed.. Connecting conversationally with last class and todayıs proceedings
ee.. Excited about what students share
ef.. Concept -- explaining while doing
eg.. Total personal attention
eh.. Very articulate, crystal clear communication
ei.. Gives clear expectations to the students
ej.. Style follows essence in speaking
ek.. Economy of well-chosen words--language very important
el.. Creates a learning space
em.. Sense of attending; learners feel attended
en.. Very open
eo.. Patience exhibited
ep.. Philosophical within a lab environment
eq.. Intense concentration
er.. Pacing seems important
es.. Empowering students, giving them hope
et.. Being there for students
eu.. Says: "I canıt teach. I present. I respond."
ev.. Asks the class questions, pushing their imagination and thinking
ew.. Emotionally into the material--really gets into it, very emotional
ex.. Talks fast and clearly
ey.. Takes their responses and runs with them
ez.. My imagination is provoked to think with professor while professor talks, draws me into the very exciting world of knowledge and thinking/considering of the subject
fa.. "What I will have you do sometime this semester is set up an experiment with this kind of information"--clear statement of expectation
fb.. Casting forth love
fc.. Keeps at task on the objective material
fd.. Engages the students
fe.. Always 100% devoted to the sake of the learner
ff.. Seems comfortable with noise when passing out papers and housekeeping type chores
fg.. Says: "How many want the exam on March 19? How many strongly do not want it then?"
fh.. Cares for them, their whole life, not just facts within the course
fi.. Connects everything relevant within the course to life with appropriate connecting
fj.. Enlivens the information
fk.. Interweaves stories/teaching/video clip/overheads
fl.. Clear organization but not parading it
fm.. Everything very integrated
fn.. Some of the professorıs questions particularly relevant to studentsı world
fo.. Very human, makes it very exciting humanly speaking
fp.. Interested in teaching students, contact point is the subject
fq.. Professor says: "My product is the student."
fr.. Begins class: "OK, ready to go? Letıs get started. Todayıs class is about -------."
fs.. Next statement in the form of a question: "Can you tell me . . . ?"
ft.. Cassette recorders lined up on front desk for those who wish to go over the material again, and in one case a known absence; professor begins them
fu.. "Any questions?"
fv.. Conversational as if all are friends
fw.. Begins from a STORY to use and teach vocabulary and concepts
fx.. Fast, neat board writing
fy.. Delivers clearly the essence of material
fz.. Stable, sweet, verbally direct--transporting heavy information with ease
ga.. Interweaves language that propels information to oneıs imagination and understanding
gb.. Everything stated, gestured, and demonstrated seemed rendered for sake of helping students receive
gc.. My discovery of why one is perceived as dynamic teacher--teacher as translator, infotrainment
gd.. Very organized, handing students organization
ge.. So human, warm, accessible
gf.. Flows, does not feel linear
gg.. Clear communication, differentiates for students
gh.. Concise
gi.. Seeing "teaching" as a calling
gj.. Studentsı course, not my class
gk.. Wants to meet all their expectations but impossible unless we get to know one another
gl.. Professor as studentsı advocate, networking for everyone, connecting
gm.. Dealing with responsibility: "What are your excuses--Iıll help you eliminate them;" now weıre down to the student
gn.. Student comes in to talk about problems regarding the content, but must have studied the material to warrant appt.
go.. Passes sheet around to take attendance mainly for accountability so that if a student says the course is difficult, even though taking notes and studying hard, professor can remind that in actuality student missed, say, six classes, not the two mentioned
gp.. Before a quiz, "What questions do you have for me?"
gq.. Provides practice quizzes
gr.. Always thinking about teaching, how to relate to students
gs.. Everything professor is doing is determined from the standpoint of the student--whatıs important for them
gt.. Tries to have interdisciplinary approach to, for example, biology, with ethical, economic, and social implications
gu.. Used to teach a factual presentation, now takes this data and interprets
gv.. Involves students more by integrated and experiential experiences including student presentations
gw.. Trusts students more, students love course more, less facts covered admittedly, but OK
gx.. Regardless of course title within a department, get students excited about the departmentıs subject matter
gy.. View class as a play or a novel with structure and props
gz.. First class, hook them
ha.. Trust professor, trust student
hb.. An educational philosophy where everything is connected
hc.. Making material real, useful, and doing outrageous things to advantage of learning
hd.. Moving students beyond simplistic knowledge, making them do better than simply facts and figures
he.. Never misses an opportunity to teach--explore, ask questions, seek answers
hf.. Asking questions about different ways of knowing and how to think about the subject
hg.. Does not talk about syllabus until teachable moment
hh.. After first exam, conversations, a reckoning
hi.. Expects a lot from students
hj.. Professorıs job is to bring student as far as can take, hence receive greatest possible value from the course
hk.. Humor in the classroom, important
hl.. As the professor, sell the value of this experience, which includes the struggle, but is the great learning journey
hm.. Welcome talking after class with students
hn.. Relate course material to studentıs life, to other classes and disciplines, to the understanding of present day situations
ho.. Care about the student as a person
hp.. Likes students and subject matter
hq.. Makes them think hard, keeps the pot stirred and the heat on, yet is like one of the students, an example of co-teacher/co-learner
hr.. While the class struggles with the meaning of the text: "What do you think, Gary?"
hs.. Clarifies
ht.. Presses students to give evidence for everything they say
hu.. Takes them on a learning journey
hv.. Listens to each student
hw.. Very honest
hx.. Constantly redefining and contextualizing to keep thinking skills focused
hy.. Keeps returning to the textbook
hz.. Professorıs questions are consistently excellent, whether prepared or spontaneous--always probing
ia.. Absolutely attentive class
ib.. Dealing with students as people
ic.. Lays down the law in lighthearted yet firm manner
id.. Teaches with the outlook of why students are to be in college--to develop their own goals, not professors doing anything to them, therefore says to the students: "If you only want a grade, take someone elseıs class. You are establishing a pattern. Do you think you are going to change when you get a job?"
ie.. Tells students: "Do not take things for granted. Challenge every belief you have."
if.. Not worried about their heightened knowledge of the particular course (itıs a general education requirement) but more concerned for the student receiving education, thinking, and learning via the class
ig.. Helps keep students accountable so that content is read
ih.. Puts the grading in the studentsı hands as much as possible
ii.. Hard grader, allows extra credit; sees this as treating students as humans, not objects
ij.. Warm, asks questions, interacts a lot, saying to students: "This is about you and your soul."
ik.. Heard it said: "Subject matter never as important as the student"
il.. High level interchange with interspersed phrase: "Letıs be text intensive!"
im.. Recasts what the class has been thinking and saying thus far
in.. During the class,keeping to task is vital; subject matter is central, not students or professor
io.. Begins class with a quiz
ip.. Professor a person, interacting casually, directly, officially, collegially--simultaneously
iq.. Very animated, into subject matter "bigtime," pushing students to respond
ir.. Like a huge conversation hosted by professor
is.. Teaches relevance, not just subject matter for its own sake, but content for impact, not necessarily a certain direction
it.. Empowering thinking humans, teaching them to read for life, for aesthetic beauty, and for their future--not so concerned where it goes, for thatıs up to them
iu.. Responding to where the students are at, how to communicate with the "who" of each person in class
iv.. "Students have to know Iım not doing this as a job, but I care about them; hence I expect so much from them."
iw.. Using an opposing concept to teach
ix.. Casual, relaxed, loving, helping, listening, clarifying, organic, real, flowing, and via studentsı questions professor teaches
iy.. So much to cover and professor does not worry about it; if good questions, goes with that
iz.. Sees course as how one idea relates to the other
ja.. Very careful with language and the rhythm of speech, all as purposeful to communicate maximally; also, eye contact
jb.. Takes very fascinating material and makes it relevant
jc.. Checks in with students, wanting them to handle/comprehend what it is intended they learn
jd.. "Adhering to subject matter requires intellectual honesty."
je.. Knows/accepts/communicates with actual class (knows audience), and engages them maximally
jf.. Students can e-mail professor their reactions to course content; often affects how professor teaches next class
jg.. Hip, honest, fascinating, humble, academic, objective/subjective confluence, subject matter constantly, tells stories, illustrations, alludes back to content at beginning of class, interweaves autobiographical content
jh.. Feels very safe in here, not stiff; integrated, relating and connecting, walking toward them, amongst them, humor, joy, having a great time, feels very comfortable with the class, lecturing via students
ji.. Much material shared in a relaxed manner
jj.. I note that powerful teachers draw out the higher level thinking and make students look better
jk.. Professor is quick, efficient, handles much, never displays stress
jl.. Professor humanizes (subjectivizes) the "objective," an act of connecting
jm.. When preparing for a class, ask: how can I connect: subject matter, students, and myself?
jn.. Relates!
jo.. Teaches them how to study
jp.. Communication approach always for the sake of the subject matter in reference to knowing the students in the class
jq.. Been to two faculty meetings in eighteen years, had to speak at both of them
jr.. Truly a teacher, not trying to be one
js.. Ultimate desire, want the best for the kids!
jt.. Content and skill!!!
ju.. Heard it said: "More I spend one on one with students, the better the whole class."
jv.. Locks door at the beginning of class time; students are there five minutes early
jw.. Teaches from the heart and includes autobiography, stories, and concepts
jx.. Definitely provides a safe environment
jy.. Presents a concept, asks questions from it, tells story to clarify
jz.. Students very attentive
ka.. Pushes their minds
kb.. Quiz to discriminate if students have read the chapter; and quiz is one question
kc.. Humor, teasing, a smile, and concerned that there is too much ground to cover
kd.. Able to draw off of the intelligence and knowledge of students
ke.. Causes the class to think together
kf.. Keeps it rigorous, at the same time allows the shadows of subjectivity
kg.. Causes great introspection and reflective thinking
kh.. Humble response to a student: "I hadnıt thought of that but it makes perfect sense."
ki.. Aim is to get students to think about the material, get them to understand the argument of the book
kj.. Professor says of self, reviews more than anyone
kk.. Is trying to get them to see today within the semester-long journey
kl.. Exam: talk as a group where you are, in preparation for it
km.. Purpose not so much to get students into a certain movement, but to get them radically involved
kn.. Really listens and attends to students, very honest
ko.. Responses to students are so magical and unpredictable
kp.. Professor seems like the students with a thirst for learning, yet simultaneously Ph.D. level there
kq.. Liberal education seen as liberating minds
kr.. Two unique classes, same signature (composer), but different symphonies -- #23 & #29
ks.. After reading some text, asks: "What is this communicating?"
kt.. Language, how words are emoted; words: sound having power
ku.. Must have a solid grip/understanding of material to do heavy thing on it
kv.. From general to specific
kw.. Very accessible
kx.. Very well-spoken, loves to disseminate information, interspersing questions
ky.. Urges students to feel free to ask questions
kz.. Speaks very fast, high level vocabulary, has them in palm of hands
la.. Digs the material so excitedly, such passion and such obvious knowledge
lb.. Connecting with another human being = love
lc.. Not about me but we
ld.. Giving tools to students
le.. After reading a poem, reminds students to understand that the author is human like us
lf.. Pushing context
lg.. Dynamic discussion pedagogy
lh.. Using studentsı ideas and opinions to illustrate the material, pushing imagination
li.. Marks in gradebook after class, those who do not talk
lj.. Takes roll for sake of semester completion (full picture), wants their participation
lk.. Not adversary, but rather facilitator
ll.. Wants students to grow morally and ethically; penchant for how we treat other people
lm.. To be a good teacher must be a good listener
ln.. Care for the under-represented students
lo.. Only teach courses that you the professor would like to take
lp.. Have to see the audience Iım talking to
lq.. If you teach a really finecourse, donıt have to motivate
lr.. Detest grading
ls.. Class has to be understandable for "C" students
lt.. Has created a mid-semester course evaluation--how the course is going--in subsequent class presents summaries, both plus and minus qualities, only revealed to professor (self) and students
lu.. Full of energy, very engaging, writes outline on board, two handouts
lv.. Entertaining, full of life, like TV with academic content
lw.. Prints rapidly on board, speaks rapidly
lx.. Dramatic, all very congruent
ly.. Loves the material
lz.. Gives the understanding of why terms are called what they are--instills the logic of the language
ma.. Analogous to overtraining not being good, studying wrong is not good
mb.. The room is important
mc.. Tells students that education is a gift to the self
md.. Getting people fired up about the subject
me.. Know your subject so well that you can be proud of your presentation
mf.. Teaching is an art and skill, per teacher, per day, per class; dynamics different each day
mg.. Selects readings students will appreciate
mh.. Ministry via teaching
mi.. Easygoing person, tough grader
mj.. Always an pressing matter, how the professor administrates course
mk.. Learning what to do, how to treat students, through determining what not to do by observing studentsı thinking
ml.. No overhead, but uses distributed "note guide," with space between guided ideas
mm.. Has changed over the years, now less material, not rushed
mn.. Feels job is to make class interesting
mo.. When speaking, tries to be dramatic
mp.. Warm, hospitable, caring
mq.. Study questions distributed for use during the video
mr.. Does not tell them facts, but gives them feel for subject matter, whetting their appetite for discovery, leaving their independent thinking intact
ms.. Really into the subject matter, as if it were the first time learning/sharing this material
mt.. Solicits responses from class, then writes in articulate language of the subject on board, which becomes teaching
mu.. Announces office hours for help on research paper
mv.. Knows names of students and knows from where they hail
mw.. Handouts to steer thinking
mx.. Does not necessarily expect students will remember the information, so instills/forces high level critical thinking
my.. Very articulate, uses language precisely, and it goes with caring
mz.. Very entertaining, fascinating, honest, clarifies subject matter, not distant, insightful, academic without separating self, one of them (the students) in the healthiest way, brings the best out of them, everything spoken in class flowing dialogically to teach as sharing not telling, feedback to students, empathizing but still bold about truth, counters with a challenging question stated in such a way not to corner student, telling stories
na.. Has ability to ask tough critical, confrontive questions in a way that does not cause the student to become defensive and separated from questioner
nb.. Affirms students naturally and regularly, humble; human like them
nc.. Thinking of what is in the best interests of the learner/believing in the learner
nd.. Next week I would like to hear from you by e-mail, phone, or in person, concerning what you plan to write, then the following week set up individual appointments
ne.. Reminds me of a jam session, rhythm of class established by professor, but input from the students
nf.. Is taking them on a journey of deep thinking, using text, former weeksı material, as well as where headed
ng.. Advanced, useful, meaningful vocabulary, expressive, intellectual
nh.. Connecting!! material to material, student comments to other student comments, their comments to the text, professorıs phenomenal knowledge to their reading and their thoughts
ni.. Expanding studentsı perspective
nj.. Feeds off students
nk.. To keep mentally alive, rereads each book used each year
nl.. The challenge is to spark beyond the studentsı apathy and cynicism, getting them engaged and participating
nm.. Activity oriented, less concerned about content than process
nn.. Teaching the students toward the heart of knowledge
no.. Creating an environment where students are equal contributors
np.. Finds the passion of studentıs heart and teaches to that
nq.. Ten minutes, once a week, open mike, talk about ways you disagree with me
nr.. Intersperses a personal comment/a human reaction with the academic, critical thinking
ns.. Honest, warm, accessible, real, natural, no role for teaching, very enthused about subject matter
nt.. Professor tells where the best responses to final exam questions are displayed
nu.. Definitely sees students as human beings
nv.. Prods, pushes, yet one of them, doesnıt separate self
nw.. Enjoys self, being self
nx.. Far beyond the facts, using the facts for intelligent conversation
ny.. A natural teacher, a great listener, has an instinctive sense for the rhythmic pacing of the discussion, never puts down any student comment or question
nz.. Has developed a community of learners
oa.. Professor takes own exams
ob.. Asks students what they learned about the name of the course from the course
oc.. Tells them, "I donıt lecture; you have to talk."
od.. Knows the studentsı learning because their ideas are better as semester proceeds--telltale
oe.. Feels the pay is for grading papers and committee work
of.. Believes conference papers pull up level of teaching
og.. Always teacher as performer, albeit different kinds, but always a rush from it, not neutral
oh.. Views writing as a way of learning, true for all courses, can talk back to text
oi.. Wants to light fires of passion, to get the lights to go on
oj.. Wanting to develop an appetite in the learner that transcends the syllabus
ok.. Enters into the studentıs story, then gets their story integrated into the story (life)
ol.. Sees teaching as ritual (secularized form of worship) -- what brings us together that we value and love; giving it loving attention because we value it
om.. Teaching has to be incarnational; we donıt just learn in the classroom, rather a whole life experience
on.. Realize the craft of teaching; keep teaching from getting vulgarized
oo.. Must get the text (the subject matter) to move into a personıs life
op.. How can professor get students to experience with professor the subject matter?
Not to think about Shakespeare, biology, history, music, or whatever, but to think with i

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