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GOOD TEACHING: THE TOP TEN REQUIREMENTS
By Richard Leblanc
York University, Ontario
This article appeared in The Teaching Professor after Professor Leblanc won a Seymous Schulich Award for Teaching Excellence.
See entire article:
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/topten.htm

One.
Good teaching is as much about passion as it is about reason.

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.
Two.
Good teaching is about substance and treating students as consumers of knowledge.

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 liaisoning with their communities.
Three.
Good teaching is about listening, questioning, being responsive, and remembering that each student and class is different.

It's about eliciting responses and developing the oral communication skills of the quiet students. It's about pushing students to excel; at the same time, it's about being human, respecting others, and being professional at all times.
Four.
Good teaching is about not always having a fixed agenda and being rigid, but being flexible, fluid, experimenting, and having the confidence to react and adjust to changing circumstances.

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.
Five.
Good teaching is also about style. Should good teaching be entertaining? You bet! Does this mean that it lacks in substance? Not a chance!

Effective teaching is not about being locked with both hands glued to a podium or having your eyes fixated on a slide projector while you drone on. Good teachers work the room and every student in it. They realize that they are the conductors and the class is the orchestra. All students play different instruments and at varying proficiencies.
Six.
This is very important -- good teaching is about humor.

It's about being self-deprecating and not taking yourself too seriously. It's often about making innocuous jokes, mostly at your own expense, so that the ice breaks and students learn in a more relaxed atmosphere where you, like them, are human with your own share of faults and shortcomings.
Seven.
Good teaching is about caring, nurturing, and developing minds and talents.

It's about devoting time, often invisible, to every student. It's also about the thankless hours of grading, designing or redesigning courses, and preparing materials to still further enhance instruction.
Eight.
Good teaching is supported by strong and visionary leadership, and very tangible institutional support -- resources, personnel, and funds.

Good teaching is continually reinforced by an overarching vision that transcends the entire organization -- from full professors to part-time instructors -- and is reflected in what is said, but more importantly by what is done.
Nine.
Good teaching is about mentoring between senior and junior faculty, teamwork, and being recognized and promoted by one's peers.

Effective teaching should also be rewarded, and poor teaching needs to be remediated through training and development programs.
Ten.
At the end of the day, good teaching is about having fun..

, experiencing pleasure and intrinsic rewards ... like locking eyes with a student in the back row and seeing the synapses and neurons connecting, thoughts being formed, the person becoming better, and a smile cracking across a face as learning all of a sudden happens. Good teachers practice their craft not for the money or because they have to, but because they truly enjoy it and because they want to.

Good teachers couldn't imagine doing anything else.

Some excerpts from an article...
Underachievement In Boys
By Rupert Kirby

The subject of raising the achievement of boys is one that is attracting a lot of attention and interest in the current educational scene. Although there has always been a gap between girl and boy achievement, especially at the 11+ where girls had to score a higher mark than boys to gain grammar school entry, it is generally accepted that the gap between achievement of boys and that of girls is widening at an alarming rate. I will start by reviewing some of the statistics that reflect the cause of concern and some of the suggested explanations for difference, including arguments from both sides of the nature-nurture debate. Following this I will introduce some of the strategies that have been suggested to help improve achievement in boys without putting girls at a disadvantage. At age 11, according to Geoff Hannan, an expert in the field, Boys are 11 months behind girls in oracy, 12 months behind in literacy and 6 months behind in numeracy. The pattern of achievement of girls differs from that of boys, in that although both boys and girls are represented among lowest achievers and highest achievers the distribution shows marked advantage in girls at the above average levels. At a recent conference the Devon Statistician, Robert Oxburgh, gave a snapshot of county statistics. At the baseline level, assessment shows boys achieving less than girls in all areas. At key stage 1, prior to this conference, 85% of girls scored level 2 and above, with 30% scoring above level 3. This compares to only 72% of boys reaching level 2, with 20% scoring above level 3. Girls were on average a quarter of a level higher than boys at the KS1 SATs in English, equating to six months progress, whilst in maths there was not a statistically significant difference. By the time of the Year 6 SATs in Key stage 2 girls are on average approaching half a level (nearly a year) ahead in English, but in Devon boys appear to gain ground on the girls in maths and science. At key stage 3 SATs girls are on average well over a year ahead in English, with boys two months ahead in maths and four months ahead in science. Although boys are well represented in the high ability sector of maths, there are more girls reaching the average level or above than boys. Indications are that the gaps in achievement in English is widening. ...
Classrooms should be socially engineered for the best learning experiences. The teacher should decide where a pupil sits with whom he or she will work. Pairs are generally far more effective than larger groups and it is suggested that highly structured tasks for mixed ability pairs will give the best results. Pairs should be swapped frequently. When larger groups are used it is suggested that they contain children who have already worked as a pair. The underlying principle of paired working, as opposed to working individually in pairs, is that it will activate what is called proximal learning. By taking away one worksheet the children share a piece of work. They are forced to co-operate. Each has a shared responsibility for the quality of the work. Boys have been found to use 35% more language skills in mixed gender pairings. Having high and low attainment children paired together encourages the more able to think through a task in order to explain it, gaining insight, and gives the low attaining child an explanation at their own language level. Geoff Hannan suggests a policy over time of one third friendship pairs, one third mixed gender mixed ability pairs and one third single sex pairs. Structured class talk is a quick strategy that aims to level the opportunities for all children in 'hands up' situations such as class discussion, which is becoming more and more common with the literacy hour and mental maths section of the numeracy hour. In such a session the girl will think over an answer, reflects on the possibility of getting it right, the consequences of being wrong, whereas the boy shoots up his hand and speculates with the first thing that comes in to his head. Children should be given time to think, communicate and then respond to a question. The children are paired informally and given between 30 seconds and two minutes, depending on the question, to talk in pairs. At the end of that time the teacher selects those who should respond, choosing for example an equal number of boys and girls. As all children have talked the question through they don't just tune out when they think they won't be chosen. The technique develops further their communication skills, particularly in boys, and gives girls longer to think and come up with safe responses. This technique can be adapted to writing tasks. Children in pairs think about what they will write, talk with their partner, make notes and listen to their partners ideas, before both set out to write down the ideas which they have already communicated. ....
The task ahead of us in tackling underachievement, not just in boys, but also in the socially disadvantaged and disaffected, is not an easy one. However by taking a step towards identifying possible directions we will be able to say that we continue to put the welfare of all our children at the centre of our planning and hopes for our schools.
This article was part of a research project by Rupert Kirby to read the entire article ( and others ), go to this site:

http://www.practicalparent.org.uk/boys.htm

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