Good teaching requires making many thoughtful decisions from a variety of complex choices.
In addition to assessing one's own abilities realistically and evaluating the university and classroom environment, there is the investigation and then subsequent questions that must be raised about the nature of knowledge, the general aims of education, and the nature of students. Making important decisions about teaching includes carefully examining all of the above, and then selecting approaches to instruction that are compatible with one's own teaching values. I view students as individuals who enter the classroom with a wealth of knowledge and experience. Therefore, I view my instructional status not as one who is an expert, but as a teacher who has expertise. The distinction between expert and expertise is a reminder that I must also be a learner and that students can also teach.