New Books Network Carlo Rotella, "What Can I Get Out of This?: Teaching and Learning in a Classroom Full of Skeptics" (U California Press, 2025)
Dec 7, 2025
Carlo Rotella, a Professor of English at Boston College and acclaimed author, explores the dynamics of teaching in his latest work. He shares insights from his experience with a skeptical classroom during the tumultuous spring of 2020. Topics include engaging disinterested students, turning negative book reactions into critical analysis, and fostering discussion as a practical workshop for ideas. Rotella reveals the importance of knowing students' backgrounds and adapting teaching methods for the AI age, offering practical advice for early-career educators.
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Teaching As A Shared Craft
- Teaching is a craft where students and teachers both work on their chops in a shared practice.
- Rotella prefers making an education available for students to take rather than pouring it out at them.
Lessons From A Boxing Gym
- Rotella learned teaching lessons from watching boxers who made students come to them.
- He decided to scale back his own over-teaching and require students to meet him halfway.
Humanities Teach Transferable Tools
- Literature classes teach transferable skills: extracting meaning and building evidence-based arguments.
- These skills help judge reliability and understand opposing viewpoints, which society struggles with.
