Successful College Teaching Begins with Throwing Away Your Lecture Notes

Most professors are experts in their field, but woefully inept at the most essential part of their job—teaching—argues Martin (The Way of the Human), a retired history professor at Rutgers University, in this astute and idiosyncratic guide to college teaching. Early in his book he describes his technique for creating a seating chart and memorizing the names and faces of every student in a class—“I review my name chart... at traffic lights; while I’m shaving.” His goal in mastering a lecture-hall full of names is “to teach individuals, personalities, real people.” Content and brilliant scholarship—not to mention the instructor’s ego—are secondary concerns to the great teacher, he argues soundly. Over the course of this short book, Martin meanders from topic to topic in a way that is refreshingly off-kilter and personal. He goes from discussing term papers, which he views as a waste of time and energy for both students and professor (most students at the college level can’t write, he says, and unless you’re leading a writing seminar, it’s not your duty to teach them) to describing a lecture he conducted for more than an hour in the dark during a power outage, in which not a single student left or said a word. His point is that teachers need to establish a connection with their students to keep them truly engaged in learning. The book serves as evidence that Martin practices what he preaches: It feels like light reading, yet the message is deep and thoughtful. [em](BookLife) [/em]