Letting the Student Lead: The Courage to Teach with Uncertainty (original) (raw)

MnSCU Board of Trustees Educator of the Year Teaching Portfolio

Education is an integral part of human civilization; its history is more than 4000 years old. We have sources that describe classrooms, students and school exercises dating back to the third millennium before the Common Era. Many ancient teaching strategies are familiar to us today: the ancient classroom, like the modern, relied upon lecture, textbooks, classroom exercises, and homework. Then, as now, there were experienced and novice teachers, as well as stellar and indifferent students. Then, education was reserved for the children of the elite. Thankfully, today, we believe that education should be available to everyone.

Emerging Trends in College Teaching for the 21st Century: A Message from the Editors

Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 1993

Over the last 30 years, the role of teaching in academe has been ambiguous. At both established and developing universities, faculty attitudes and activities came to be shaped by the demands of, and rewards for, discovery scholarship. At two-and four-year colleges, heavy teaching assignments stifled pedagogical innovation. Faculty with an interest in teaching became confused and frustrated by the conflicting messages of mission statements and reward structures. In the narrow confines of discipline, specialization, and department, the community nourished by teaching disappeared; professors isolated their classrooms and were left to pour content into students. Dialogue and collaboration around teaching dwindled. Amazingly, through it all, some faculty, as individuals-as loners-maintained their interest in and love for teaching. And a few individuals, programs, and colleges developed and published their teaching innovations.

Teachers for a New Era at CSUN: Year 3 Report

After 3 years of work, Teachers for a New Era (TNE) at California State University at Northridge (CSUN) has made great strides. The initiative has matured into a campuswide reform of teacher preparation. It has evolved even beyond the campus, with efforts that include local K-12 schools and community colleges. Recently, other CSU campuses have begun learning about TNE and the changes under way at CSUN. Given the size and complexity of CSUN, many challenges remain, and much work remains to be done. But the initiative has matured enough that there is now broad consensus among the TNE leadership about the initiative's successes and challenges.