His top ten requirements for good teaching was originally published in The Teaching Professor, Vol. It s about not only motivating students to learn, but teaching them how to learn, and doing so in a manner that is relevant, meaningful, and memorable. It s about caring for your craft, having a passion for it, and conveying that passion to everyone, most importantly to your students. It s about doing your best to keep on top of your field, reading sources, inside and outside of your areas of expertise, and being at the leading edge as often as possible. But knowledge is not confined to scholarly journals.
Good teaching is also about bridging the gap between theory and practice.
It s about leaving the ivory tower and immersing oneself in the field, talking to, consulting with, and assisting practitioners, and liaising with their communities. It s about eliciting responses and developing the oral communication skills of the quiet students. It s about getting only 10 percent of what you wanted to do in a class done and still feeling good. It s about deviating from the course syllabus or lecture schedule easily when there is more and better learning elsewhere. Good teaching is about the creative balance between being an authoritarian dictator on the one hand and a pushover on the other.