Teaching is also about community. A community of learners, an atmosphere of high expectations for learning, students committed to learning by doing - these are all aspects of effective teaching and learning. Effective teaching involves community outside of the classroom as well. Effective teaching invites students to expand their own circle of community to join the community of scholars, and to learn the new discourse of this community without undermining their membership or role in other communities that are important in their lives. The teaching community is not limited to students.
Teachers require a community among themselves on which to base their practice.
Collaborative teaching, participatory research, reflective practice, these are the hallmarks of the effective teaching community. Finally, effective teaching is about learning. I must continually meet the challenge of learning about my own discipline to keep current with the content and issues in my field outside of my immediate research interests. I need to learn how to harness new technologies such as web-based learning to enhance the effectiveness of my learning activities and to provide students with alternative access to education. I struggle to learn students' names and the issues that affect their lives.