I try to be the kind of teacher that I would want if I were on the other side of the podium. I enter a classroom. Penn is a research institution.
Most faculty come here and stay here to do research.
Doing research rewards me personally, and I find my own research quite interesting. We are not directed in our research because there is no sure way of knowing a priori what is important and what is not. The formula tinkered out for fun by the professor down the hall last week may lead to her winning a Nobel prize twenty years from now. Teaching, on the other hand, is objectively and immediately important. So, even if Penn is a research institution, if I do not try to be the very best teacher I can be, I feel I am betraying that trust.