The Skillful Teacher

A Caution
Although I have argued forcefully for the use of Critical Incident
Questionnaires as a central component of skillful teaching, I want
to acknowledge that my use of these has been bedeviled by one con-
stant problem. I have called this, at various times, the trap of 
conversional obsession, or the perfect-ten syndrome. Conversional
obsession describes the process of becoming obsessed with convert-
ing all your students, even the most hostile, to becoming enthusi-
astic advocates of whatever learning process you are trying to
encourage. This trap compels me to think that unless everyone
leaves my class bubbling over with exultant expressions of unblem-
ished self-actualized joy, I have wasted my time. The perfect-ten
syndrome describes the unreasonable desire to want to collect a
batch of critical incident forms at the end of every class that con-
tains no negative comments and a surfeit of compliments. I find
myself repeatedly frustrated by not achieving an unblemished record
of expressed student satisfaction for every week of the course. Unless
the CIQ sheets are returned with the sections on distancing
moments and puzzling actions all left blank, or marked “Not appli-
cable,” and unless no negative comments are written in response to
Understanding Our Classrooms
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54
T
HE
S
KILLFUL
T
EACHER
the question about surprising aspects of the class, I then feel as if
somehow I’ve failed.
Knowing that this is a stupid, irrational reaction on my part
doesn’t seem to help me very much. Intellectually and viscerally I
know all about the contextual, complex nature of learning, and I am
well aware of the contradictions and ambiguities inherent in teach-
ing. I know, too, that the phenomenology of classrooms means that
the same event is perceived and interpreted by different students in
a myriad of sometimes antithetical ways. But the voice of reason is
not heard very loudly by whatever emotional demons are driving
me to assume the mantle of consistent perfection.
Even after many years of collecting, analyzing, and reporting
back students’ critical incidents, I still die a hundred small deaths
each semester as I read descriptions of distancing moments and
unhelpful actions. So, if you’re thinking of trying out something like
the Critical Incident Questionnaire, try to learn from my mistakes.
Remember that the point of doing this is not to score a perfect ten
of student satisfaction week after week. The point is to situate your
teaching in an understanding of the emotional, cognitive, and polit-
ical ebbs and flows of group learning that help you realize why
achieving such a score is impossible.
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4
I
n this chapter I want to explore the characteristics of helpful
teachers that students say they particularly appreciate. In students’
eyes an important component of successful learning is perceiving the
teacher as both an ally and an authority. Students want to know
their teachers stand for something and have something useful and
important to offer, but they also want to be able to trust and rely on
them. When describing teachers who have made a difference in
their lives, or who are recalled as memorable and significant, stu-
dents rarely talk the language of effectiveness. Instead they say they
trust a particular teacher to be straight with them or that a teacher
really helped them “get” something important.
A teacher is perceived as being effective because she combines
the element of having something important to say or demonstrate
with the element of being open and honest with students. Students
do not measure a teacher’s effectiveness solely in terms of a partic-
ular command of technique. Rather students want to feel confident
they are learning something significant and that as they are doing
so they are being treated as adults. Given the diverse nature of con-
temporary college classrooms, it is a mistake, in my view, to think
we can generate the seven (or any other number) habits of effec-
tive teachers. Racial identity, learning style, personality, cultural
formation, age, class location, gender, previous experience with the
subject, readiness to learn, organizational values—all these factors