What the best college teachers do - K. Bain

What the Best College Teachers Do
Ken Bain, 2004

Acabo de releer este libro, con idea de refrescar algunas ideas sobre cómo enseñar bien. Dejo aquí colgado estas notas para poder volver sobre ellas de vez en cuando.

El autor busca y entrevista a profesores con mucho prestigio, y se pregunta qué es exactamente lo que hacen. Entre sus respuestas, destaco las siguientes:

1. Dominan su materia y están al día de los debates que la misma suscita.

2. Prestan atención a los alumnos, esperan mucho de ellos. Parten de lo que el estudiante sabe y de lo que puede interesarle.

3. Centran su materia en torno a las grandes preguntas que ésta trata de responder. El mal profesor llega a clase y comienza a dar materia –a ofrecer respuestas- sin haber siquiera concretado las preguntas.

4. Su enseñanza es bastante práctica: fomentan el pensamiento crítico y el aprendizaje bastando en la resolución de problemas de la vida real.

Aunque ahora me toca rumiar un poco el libro, de entrada pienso que a la hora de impartir un curso o dar una clase debería preguntarme:

- ¿Cuál es el problema clave aquí? ¿A qué estamos intentando responder?
- ¿Por qué es un problema relevante? (So what?) ¿Qué interés tiene en mi vida y en la de mis estudiantes?
- ¿Cómo pueden aprender este asunto de forma activa?
- ¿Cómo pueden aplicar lo aprendido en su vida o su práctica profesional?
- ¿Qué conexiones existen entre este problema y otros problemas de otras ramas del Derecho o de otras ciencias?

Dicho esto, dejo algunas citas literales del libro, algo desordenadas.

Comentario introductorio. Destaco el estar al día de las discusiones de su ámbito
Without exception, outstanding teachers know their subjects extremely well. They are all active and accomplished scholars, artists, or scientists. Some have long and impressive publication lists, the kind the academy has long valued. Others have more modest records; or in a few cases, virtually none at all. But whether well published or not, the outstanding teachers follow the important intellectual and scientific or artistic developments within their fields, do research, have important and original thoughts on their subjects, study carefully and extensively what other people are doing in their fields, often read extensively in other fields (sometimes far distant from their own), and take a strong interest in the broader issues of their disciplines: the histories, controversies, and epistemological discussions. In short, they can do intellectually, physically, or emotionally what they expect from their students.

A. Esperan más
Simply put, the best teachers expect “more.”
The best teachers we encountered expect “more” from their students. Yet the nature of that “more” must be distinguished from expectations that may be “high” but meaningless, from goals that are simply tied to the course rather than to the kind of thinking and acting expected of critical thinkers.

B. Fijarse en las preguntas
What is the key problem we face here? What are we trying to solve?
“We define the questions that our course will help them to answer,” another reminded us, “but we want them, along the way, to develop their own set of rich and important questions about our discipline and our subject matter.”
They stress the beauty, utility, or intrigue of the questions they try to answer with their students, and they pursue answers to questions rather than simply the “learning of information.”
might begin,” one professor told us, “by trying to write down the largest question that the course would address. I would then list the questions that one would need to explore to address the larger issue
Jeanette Norden argued that every discipline can find ways “to confront students with questions of who they are as human beings.”
An intriguing question or problem is the first of five essential elements that make up the natural critical learning environment.
Many teachers never raise questions; they simply give students answers.

C. ¿Por qué esto es relevante? Ampliar el foco
Best teachers avoid the language of demands and use the vocabulary of promises instead.
University of California, invokes the principle of what he calls “WGAD”—“Who gives a damn?”
In contrast, the best teachers tend to embed the discipline’s issues in broader concerns, often taking an interdisciplinary approach to problems.

D. Empezar por el alumno. Qué sabe? Qué le interesa?
“My strongest feeling about teaching is that you must begin with the student.
Start with something that, as Sandel put it, “students care about, know, or think they know, rather than just lay out a blueprint or an outline or tale or theory or account of our own.”
I could give them detailed instructions on how to hold the bat, where to stand, how to look for the ball from the pitcher, and how to swing, never letting them hold a bat until they had heard several lectures on the subject. Or, I could give them a bat and allow them to take a few swings, after which I might find one thing that the kid is doing, which if adjusted, would make him a better hitter.”

E. Solución de problemas
People learn naturally while trying to solve problems that concern them.
Third, the natural critical learning environment also engages students in some higher-order intellectual activity: encouraging them to compare, apply, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize, but never only to listen and remember.
A simple yet profound perception guides the natural critical learning experience: People tend to learn most effectively (in ways that make a sustained, substantial, and positive influence on the way they act, think, or feel) when (1) they are trying to solve problems (intellectual, physical, artistic, practical, or abstract) that they find intriguing, beautiful, or important; (2) they are able to do so in a challenging yet supportive environment in which they can feel a sense of control over their own education; (3) they can work collaboratively with other learners to grapple with the problems; (4) they believe that their work will be considered fairly and honestly; and (5) they can try, fail, and receive feedback from expert learners in advance of and separate from...

F. Otras cosas

Thought of teaching as anything they might do to help and encourage students to learn.
“I also tell them that my decision to teach the class includes the commitment to offer sessions worth attending, and I ask them to let me know if they think I’m not doing that.”
Thus it seeks ways to provide learners with feedback rather than simply judge their efforts. What level of interaction can I have with each student? Will I have time to talk with students individually in addition to reading their work?
In general, they looked for the diamonds in the rough, took all their students seriously, and treated each one with respect.
Her classes, she explained, were in her view like a great meal she had prepared, and she simply wished to invite her students to the dinner table.
They know how to simplify and clarify complex subjects, to cut to the heart of the matter with provocative insights.