Art of Teaching: Best Practices from a Master Educator – TTC, Patrick N. Allitt

Teaching is more than a job. It’s a responsibility—one of the greatest responsibilities in civilized society. Teachers lay bare the mysteries of the world to us. They train our minds to explore, to question, to investigate, to discover. They ensure that knowledge is not lost or forgotten but is instead passed on to future generations. And they shape our lives in limitless ways, both inside and outside of the classroom.

But teaching is no easy task. It’s an art form; one that requires craft, sensitivity, creativity, and intelligence. Whether your classroom consists of 3 students or 300, it’s important to be as effective and successful a teacher as possible, both for the education of your students and for your own professional and personal growth.

The Art of Teaching: Best Practices from a Master Educator, one of the most dynamic and innovative Great Courses we’ve ever produced, is designed to help you achieve new levels of success as a teacher. These 24 lectures will help you develop and enhance your teaching style; provide you with invaluable methods, tools, and advice for handling all manner of teaching scenarios; and open your eyes to how other teachers—and their students—think about and approach this life-changing profession.

An invaluable aid, this course’s insights are useful to a wide variety of teachers and people in other leadership positions:

• Current teachers at the college and high-school levels
• Aspiring teachers and teachers in training
• Corporate managers and trainers
• Public speakers

In addition, The Art of Teaching has value for anyone who’s curious about how academic education in the 21st century works. While the examples used in this course are rooted in the world of academia, the concepts and principles they illustrate—

• lecturing,
• presenting,
• leading discussion groups,
• using technologies, and
• using creativity and innovation

—can be put to use in nearly every situation in which you’re required to teach and lead.

Learn How to Teach from the Best of the Best

The Art of Teaching is delivered by award-winning Professor Patrick N. Allitt of Emory University, one of The Great Courses’ most popular professors. A distinguished teacher with more than 30 years of classroom experience and 5 years as Director of Emory College’s Center for Teaching and Curriculum (designed to study and improve the art and craft of university teaching), he is the perfect instructor with whom to explore ways to become a great—or even greater—teacher.

What’s more: He enhances his lectures with candid and illuminating interviews with an all-star group of veteran Great Courses professors, some of the brightest teachers in higher education. Not only do you hear what they have to say about their roles as teachers, you actually witness them applying their tools and techniques in lecture halls, seminar classes, and even one-on-one student coaching.

These teachers are

• John Hale, Director of Liberal Studies at the University of Louisville
• Jeanette Norden, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
• Stephen Nowicki, Dean and Provost of Undergraduate Education and Professor of Biology at Duke University
• Scott E. Page, Collegiate Professor of Political Science, Complex Systems, and Economics at the University of Michigan
• Steve Pollock, Associate Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder
• Michael Roberto, Trustee Professor of Management at Bryant University

With these professors’ wealth of teaching awards and accolades, their combined decades of experience teaching in classrooms of all sizes, and—most important—their deep and abiding passion for the importance of their profession, you’ll learn how to teach from the best of the best.

Explore the Toolkit for Effective Teaching

At the heart of this new and unique course are the lessons you learn on how to enhance and improve your own teaching. In each lecture of The Art of Teaching, you’ll discover a veritable toolkit of tips, techniques, exercises, advice, and wisdom rarely assembled in a single, affordable package.

Here’s just a brief sample of what you’ll learn in these 24 lectures:

• How to handle the first day: The first day of your class is critical, because it gives your students an idea of what their learning experience will be like. Make sure that, during your first class, you explain your subject and establish your credentials for teaching it, demonstrate why the subject matters, set your expectations, learn your students’ names, and immediately engage your students.
• How to give a dynamic lecture: Excellent lectures are both informative and interesting. Some tips to make your lectures more dynamic and memorable: Start your lecture with something stimulating or controversial; vary your vocal volume, tone, and expression to maintain attention; occasionally ask rhetorical questions; and avoid overfilling your lecture with content.
• How to effectively use technologies: When dealing with aids like PowerPoint, remember that the more teaching technology you use, the more time you’re likely to devote to it instead of to your students. Keep your PowerPoint presentations bold and simple, and don’t forget the usefulness of “traditional” technologies like blackboards. When using a teaching aid, always ask yourself: What does this method of teaching add? How will it help my students to learn?
• How to create and administer exams: Exams should fully test your students’ knowledge and thinking ability. Before writing an exam, ask yourself what you want the students to take from your course. Decide whether to administer a multiple-choice test, a take-home exam, or an oral exam; each has its benefits and drawbacks. Similarly, decide beforehand whether you’re going to grade on a curve or according to an absolute standard, and what your policy will be for handling potential grade disputes.
• How to survive the challenges of teaching: Teaching can be stressful at times, but there are many ways for you to remain focused. First, never take conflict with students personally; remember that your relationship with them is professional, and any disagreements should be handled professionally. It’s also important to periodically reflect on your life as a teacher to ensure that you still view it as a vocation and not just a job to suffer through.

A Course Unlike Any We’ve Crafted Before

The Art of Teaching is a course unlike any we’ve crafted before—specifically because of how thoroughly it immerses you in the experience of being a teacher.

Professor Allitt’s course takes you across the country and brings you inside the classrooms of some of the greatest universities in America, where you actually watch great teachers doing what they do best. It’s this dynamic approach that makes the course a unique learning experience—one that gives you the knowledge on how to be an effective teacher, then demonstrates it for you.

In addition, you get a chance to hear views about teaching from the students themselves. Professor Allitt’s interviews with students offer a fresh and often undocumented perspective on the art and craft of teaching. What do students think are the qualities of a great teacher? How would they describe the perfect classroom experience?

With its diverse perspectives, its immersive nature, and its unparalleled look at the lives and minds of a variety of instructors, The Art of Teaching will reshape the way you think about and approach this important profession. By the conclusion of the final lecture, you’ll have an amazing reservoir of skills to draw on in your own teaching. Most important, you’ll have found a source of guidance and inspiration that will last your entire career.