Lauren Barbeau, Assistant Director at Georgia Tech's Center for Teaching and Learning, and Claudia Cornejo Happel, Director at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, explore critical teaching behaviors. They emphasize that effective teaching is learned, not innate. The conversation touches on the importance of reflective practices, embracing inclusivity, and engaging students in a meaningful dialogue. They advocate for self-compassion in teaching and suggest concrete tools for educators to enhance their effectiveness. Shared values and collaboration are highlighted as key to successful teaching.
Effective teaching is developed through intentional actions and strategic approaches rather than innate personality traits, highlighting the importance of the Critical Teaching Behaviors Framework.
Reflection on teaching practices is essential for professional development, enabling educators to identify strengths and improve student learning through collaborative feedback.
Deep dives
Introduction of the Critical Teaching Behaviors Framework
The podcast highlights the development of the Critical Teaching Behaviors Framework, which comprises a synthesis of research-based instructional practices aimed at enhancing student learning. The framework identifies six categories of essential teaching behaviors: align, include, engage, assess, integrate technology, and reflect. These behaviors collaboratively create a shared understanding of effective teaching, allowing educators to adapt and improve their methods. The inclusion of documentation tools enables educators to gather evidence of their engagement with these behaviors and helps in self-assessment.
Transitioning from Personality-Focused Teaching to Strategy-Based Teaching
One of the key insights shared in the episode is the shift in perspective regarding what constitutes effective teaching. Early in their careers, both guests felt that teaching success was a popularity contest driven by personality traits. However, through experiences such as teaching in challenging settings, they learned that effective teaching relies more on strategic approaches than on individual charisma. This realization propelled the development of the Critical Teaching Behaviors Framework, emphasizing that teaching effectiveness can be improved through intentional actions rather than innate qualities.
The Importance of Reflective Practices
The podcast underscores the significance of reflection in teaching as a critical behavior for professional development. Reflection allows educators to assess their practices and identify strengths, facilitating targeted improvements. The hosts advocate for engaging in reflective conversations with colleagues and utilizing feedback from students to enhance teaching effectiveness. They suggest that building a habit of reflection can foster a deeper understanding of teaching, leading to more intentional decision-making and ultimately benefiting student learning.
Creating a Supportive Community Around Teaching
The discussion emphasizes the need for a supportive community focused on teaching excellence. Engaging in conversations with peers and sharing experiences can lead to collective growth and improvement in teaching practices. The guests encourage faculty to be curious about each other's methods and to actively seek feedback beyond end-of-semester evaluations. Additionally, they advocate for transparency in teaching practices, helping students understand the purpose behind assignments, which fosters a collaborative learning environment.
Lauren Barbeau + Claudia Cornejo Happel discuss how to cultivate critical teaching behaviors on episode 559 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast.
Quotes from the episode
Being a good teacher or a good researcher is not something you’re born with. It’s something you learn. It’s something you can get better at.
-Lauren Barbeau
Teaching doesn’t fall into nice, neat color coded boxes. We need something that represents the complexity and the messiness and the way that behaviors overlap and might fall into more than one category.
-Lauren Barbeau
If we can’t reflect on our teaching, we can’t identify our strengths to start leveraging them, to start working on them.
-Lauren Barbeau
If you’re looking for an entry point into critical teaching behaviors, start by reflecting on your teaching and take a look at the materials we’ve provided to help you do that.
-Lauren Barbeau
Be kind to yourself because some semesters are harder than others.
-Lauren Barbeau
It all comes back to caring about students, being transparent about what we’re doing in the classroom, explaining our purpose, and involving them in the conversation that is the learning together in the classroom.
-Claudia Cornejo Happel
While there’s no one thing that is more difficult than another, it really helps us to find a behavior that resonates with us and that we can use as a lens to think about our teaching more holistically.
-Claudia Cornejo Happel