What the Best College Teachers Do

Is this book somewhat vague and light on how-to's? Yes, of course. Thank goodness. You can't survey everything from theater to calculus and expect to produce a how-to manual worth 5 minutes of your time.The two take-home points, and the big values, of the book are:1. There is a general mode of learning that transcends disciplines. IT EXISTS. It's a single thing that comes in many, many varieties, but it's still one basic thing. And it's not a mystery or the lottery. The particular details that motivate students, and the skills and challenges they bring to the classroom, may change with the times, but people's basic cognitive (and, I would even say, spiritual) needs that are satisfied with real learning *do not change*. Halle-fricking-lujah. The target has stopped moving.2. Therefore, there is a corresponding general model for effectively facilitating that learning. Unsurprisingly, good teaching is a path, a journey, that does not end. But, by repeatedly circling around to several basic pedagogical questions and concerns, the quality of your teaching will spiral upwards. It's a craft, and not just a skill like riding a bike.Through the various chapters, the author presents and discusses those general questions that you should concern yourself with to improve your craft. He compares and contrasts highly effective teachers with less effective teachers (and occasionally abysmal teachers) in terms of using vs. not using these general pedagogical principles, including copious specific examples from various disciplines.Methodologically, I like this book because:1. It's basically a report of a study (formatted to be readable, interesting, and useful). It's not just some guy serving up opinion, soap-boxing, cherry-picking, or re-gifting the same pedagogical fruitcake that's been passed around for the last couple of decades. If you want to object on samples or bias or whatever, he gives you the info to make an informed objection. I think many of the critiques above respond to the book as if it was just another guy's opinion, but it's the results of a lengthy study.2. It lays out the general framework for good teaching in terms of questions and principles - or, I would say, the principle of asking yourself a certain set of questions, repeatedly, for the rest of your teaching career.This enables you to exercise your expertise, creativity, and freedom of judgment as an instructor to do what works for you, your discipline, your students, and your institution. (I can't believe people object at the scarcity of how-to's in the book, given the scope implied by the title; do people just want to hand off the responsibility of thinking??)It also means that you only have to remember one set of guidelines no matter what kind of class you are asked to teach, now or in the future. What if you're a lab junkie and you get stuck with a freshman writing seminar (albeit in your field of science)? What if you co-teach a multidisciplinary seminar; are you content to only contribute to your portion of the class and hope someone else "knits it all together" for the students? You don't have to wing it. That's excellent. It enables us as instructors to do what we do best without demanding that we re-invent the teaching wheel every time we do something slightly different. Three cheers for principles.And yes, the author covers a lot of territory and ideas that are not new. But there's a lot of value in1) having the principles and associated questions set down concretely, vs. letting them remain as nebulous, guilt-inducing ought-to's in the back of your mind, and2) connecting the dots at the level of discipline-transcendent principles, and not just suggestions or rules of thumb. This allows you to have the confidence to just focus on a few things that are known to work vs. trying to implement a hodge-podge of nice ideas that other people claim you ought try. Because if you're not in education research yourself, who has time to do the research to produce these kinds of principles?

First off, a little info about myself:I teach physics and engineering at the pre-U and undergraduate level. I have consistently received good teaching ratings from colleagues and students alike, and I have even garnered an award for teaching in the first two years of my career.When I purchased this book, I thought it was a simple "cookbook" to highlight the best practices. To my pleasant surprise, it is not. It is extremely well written and organised, and deceptively easy to read as it is filled with anecdotes. However, it is jam packed with valuable advice/practices which require insight and experience to fully appreciate. The book nevertheless puts forth convincing arguments as to why each practice is worthy of your consideration.The book also challenged, motivated, and convinced me to think about my teaching in ways many books don't (with the exception of another equally wonderful but complementary book by Susan Ambrose: How Learning Works). All of my best practices (some discovered by accident, and most from students' feedback) are highlighted in this book. How I wished I had read this book before I started teaching, it would have saved me from much grief and frustration. More importantly, since this book distills the best practices from many great teachers, I find myself fulfilling only a fraction of what a great teacher should be. The good news is, teaching can be learned, if one is willing to. My understanding of what teaching and learning means has been greatly expanded, and my students are reaping the benefits even now.One final note: though this book contains the best practices, it only has scant references to studies on the best teaching and learning practices by leading educational psychologists (experts who know how our brains are wired to learn). Nevertheless, practices highlighted in this book reflect major conclusions reported in educational journals. As such, for in-depth understanding of why certain practices work at the cognitive and emotional level, I recommend you get the book by Susan Ambrose: How Learning Works, which summarizes the most important findings on learning by researchers. I find both books complement each other nicely.All the best in nurturing the next generation!EDIT: After reading through some of the negative comments from reviewers, I am compelled to reiterate the following: This book is deceptively easy to read, but is filled with practical, life changing advice. For example, a common problem in learning is what Bain termed the plug and chug learning. Students absorb info and regurgitate it during exams resulting in shallow learning (and many teachers are responsible for this). How do we overcome this problem? Bain condensed 7 extremely good methods to overcome this problem (applicable in small class settings or in lecture halls) -- on the last paragraph of pg. 41! Only a single paragraph! And you see this pattern repeated many times over. Therefore, please read with attention to details and get ready when the "gems" pop up. It took me 4 days to complete a single chapter because I had to constantly understand, review and, more importantly, reflect upon what I have read.