The article discusses the qualities of great teachers and the importance of objectivity, expertise, and high standards. The author highlights the role of collegiate teaching in fostering mature perception and refining learning behavior. The article also touches on language acquisition and the importance of listening and copying. The author mentions Roman Weil, a professor at the University of Chicago, as an example of a magnificent pedagogue who knew something about the learning process, memory, and retention. Weil believed that effective financial reporting required ruthless objectivity and extreme expertise. The author concludes that good teaching and learning are vital elements of university culture and help develop a comprehensive, constructive survey of actual needs, problems, and possibilities.
What it Takes to be a Great Teacher
John Dewey, in his book Experience and Education, advises educators to think in terms of Education itself rather than being controlled by different “isms” that often emerge as a reaction to other “isms.” He encourages a comprehensive and constructive survey of actual needs, problems, and possibilities. Despite ideological and political conflicts on campuses, colleges and universities can still hope for enduring legitimacy through great teachers.
According to Alfred North Whitehead, a British mathematician and philosopher, the essence of a great university lies in the personal dimension of the relationship between the student and the instructor. A great teacher becomes a thought partner, mentor, or even a role model who facilitates the intellectual growth of the student and their own.
Although books are cheap and the system of apprenticeship is well understood, universities’ primary purpose is not just the mere imparting of information or research opportunities. The universities’ justification lies in preserving the connection between knowledge and the zest of life by uniting the young and the old in the imaginative consideration of learning.
In collegiate teaching, most professors are average performers, a few underperform, and some really stand out. Good institutions define what teaching is, and they demand high standards of teaching performance. They recognize that teaching is an art that deserves attention in Ph.D. programs.
Therefore, to be a great teacher, one must have ruthless objectivity and extreme expertise. They must think comprehensively and constructively and avoid being controlled by different “isms.” A great teacher facilitates their student’s intellectual growth and fosters a personal relationship with them. They preserve the connection between knowledge and the zest of life and make learning an imaginative consideration. Finally, great teachers demand high standards of themselves and their students and understand that teaching is an art that deserves attention.
The Traits of a Great Teacher
One reason why great or even capable teaching is rare is that the stakes are not high enough. A prime example is the high standard of teaching in flight training programs, where the risks of failure, neglect, or incompetence could have severe implications for the safety of life and limb. Poor instructors are washed out, remedial training is given, or they exit the profession voluntarily. Flight instructors with technical competence, mental organization, and communication skills are usually successful. However, the distinguishing factor for excellent instructors is maintaining very high standards.
Great teachers are obsessive about quality, clarity of thought, and deliberation, along with demonstrating progressive improvement among their students. Apart from these, there is another factor that is necessary to become a great teacher. Roman Weil, a professor of accounting at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, had this extra factor, which he developed through years of experience teaching adult students in business and law programs.
Weil had an articulate and outward command of his subject and co-authored his own text, which is among the standards of the accounting profession. In addition to his expert competence, Weil had an explicit philosophy of teaching and a “science” of learning. His approach to teaching involved thinking through and across concepts and aimed towards the logic of the accounting operation and what it all meant. He provided constant context that permeated even the most basic drill, up to its final inclusion in a financial statement.
Weil’s teaching style was not only successful in a graduate school of business, but it was also challenging. Accounting is conceptually sophisticated and has enormous breadth in its methods and applications. In addition, it moves at a brisk pace. Weil’s approach to teaching and learning accounting was different from that of other professors. He had developed an “extra something” that made him a magnificent pedagogue.
In conclusion, to become a great teacher, one must have technical competence, mental organization, and communication skills. However, maintaining very high standards and having an explicit philosophy of teaching and a “science” of learning are necessary to become an excellent teacher. Teachers who have developed their unique approaches to teaching and are passionate about their subjects are rare but have the ability to inspire and motivate their students to learn.
The Importance of Good Teaching and Learning
Great teachers not only possess technical competence, mental organization, and communication skills, but they also have an explicit philosophy of teaching and a “science” of learning. Roman Weil, a professor at the University of Chicago, had this extra quality. Weil had an articulate and outward command of his subject, which he co-authored in his own text, and a thorough understanding of how students learn, how memory and retention work, and the natural learning process.
Weil believed in the importance of ruthless objectivity and extreme expertise in financial reporting. Effective financial reporting requires unbiased and informed measurements, and users of financial statements must comprehend and analyze those measurements with skill and objectivity. According to Weil, retaining only detailed information is not useful in the long term, and it is more important to understand general principles and how they apply to concrete situations.
In language acquisition, we don’t learn our native language by studying it. Instead, we learn it by listening to and mimicking others. Even when we study advanced expository and creative writing, we still do it by listening and copying. Weil also believed that learning a foreign language as an adult is similar to that, and it is more about time and passive retention than just studying grammar and syntax.
Therefore, good teaching and learning require not only technical competence, mental organization, and communication skills but also an explicit philosophy of teaching and a “science” of learning. Teachers who have developed their unique approaches to teaching and are passionate about their subjects can inspire and motivate their students to learn. Good learning is not just about retaining detailed information, but it is more important to understand general principles and how they apply to specific situations. Finally, learners must have ruthless objectivity and extreme expertise to comprehend and analyze measurements with skill and objectivity.
Roman Weil’s teaching and learning philosophy revolved around objectivity and expertise, which he believed to be the fundamental posture of a coherent education system. He kept these principles at the forefront of his teaching, believing that they were the key to rationality, reasoning, and legitimate creative license. Weil recognized that higher education’s most important utility consists of structured experience leading to the development of mature perception and that the process is durable. By organizing academic experiences thoughtfully, one can refine their learning behavior so that they become their own best teacher.
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