What makes a good teacher

A lot of discussion has been directed to how to maximize your teaching effort. An article in the New York Times, which can be found here, talks of an interesting solutions to increasing the effectiveness of teachers. While the main focus of the article is not about the collegiate level, a couple of general points can be made pertaining to collegiate education.

Just as recently hired college faculty are paired up with more tenured colleague to get their research started, a similar technique can be made with regards to teaching. Since most incoming faculty members have little or no teaching experience, I think having a more experienced lecturer to bounce ideas off and ask for advice would be an extremely beneficial system for maximizing the efficiency of the lectures.

This mentor figure would be most valuable in classroom management, which the article describes as incredibly important to the learning process. Since most incoming faculty do not have the teaching experience to manage a classroom efficiently, advice from the senior faculty member would be invaluable in the classroom.

So why isn't this mentor relationship done more with an eye on teaching? In my view, teaching is viewed as a birthday cake at a party. It needs to be there, but the lack of a great cake isn't going to make or break the party. Considering faculty members need to bring in 85% of their effort in non-teaching related duties, spending the extra effort on teaching is often viewed as unnecessary.

Learning Journal Assessment

Apparently it is time for me to assess my use of this blog as tool to help me see how helpful this blog is at summarizing, developing, and advancing my thoughts on any subject, but specifically as related to the material covered in class. I have been given a rubric to assess myself, and discuss the rubric and my assigned grades, as well as offer myself up suggestions as to how increase the scores in later assessments.

The rubric has five categories: Engagement with Reading and Topics, Reflection on Learning, Community Engagement, Quality of Writing, and Overall Use of Learning Journal.

There are four grading categories: Insufficient, Transitional, Proficient, and Advanced.

Engagement with Reading and Topics: Grade: Transitional- Journal entries indicate engagement with most of the readings and topics. Links to additional readings are occasionally discussed.

• I was going to give myself a score of Insufficient, but I decided to start out on a high note. While I feel I am engaged with the topics discussed, the evidence is not really apparent in this blog. To increase this score to a solid Proficient (I'm a B-student, shooting for A's is too much work), I really need to make a concerted effort to put some of those thoughts whirling around my head down on paper.
  

Reflection on Learning: Grade: Transitional- Journal entries occasionally reflect on how the topics of study are related to and impact personal learning.

• While I do believe my personal learning experiences are elaborated on, or at least elaborated on in my head (see above comments), the connections to specific topics aren't always transparent. This definitely has it's roots in foresight. I need to plan what I write better.
  

Community Engagement: Grade: Insufficient- Journals entries rarely demonstrate connection to class community by lining to or commenting on the the journals, or the classroom contributions of fellow students.

• Simply, I need to start reading them to comment on them. Enough said.
  

Quality of Writing: Grade: Transitional- Journal entries demonstrate a blend of formal and casual writing styles. Attention is paid to grammar and syntax. Development of ideas is inconsistent. Entries are easy to read but often lack detailed development.

• Judging by the title of this blog, a little casualness is to be expected. However, it probably detracts from the development of ideas. Development of the ideas is linked to the problem discussed in the "Reflection on Learning" section. Again, I need to make a concerted effort to think through what I write down.
  

Overall Use of Learning Journal: Grade: Insufficient- Learning Journal does not reflect the development of a regular writing habit. Entries are sporadic and inconsistent. Reflection on learning is not apparent. Comments on the Journal are scarce.

• That about sums it up now, doesn't it...

I honestly think that keeping this blog is a good thing, if not for the sole reason that it allows me to write my ideas down rather letting them evaporate into the abyss. It also gets me writing, which I don't do, and I heard I'll need to do a little bit of that when I write dissertations, so the practice of putting thoughts on paper will be a good thing.

But, to get the most out of the journal, I need to make a concerted effort to get the most out of the journal. That means no more posting at 11pm on Wed. nights and reading on Thursday during lunch. That means reading others' posts to see different points of view in order to help come to my own conclusions. In essence, I need consider this journal an investment into the development of myself into becoming a quality biostatistician, researcher, and educator, and treat it as such. Hopefully I can do it.