The Skillful Teacher

Maxim 8: Don’t Be Afraid to Take Risks
Risk is endemic to skillful teaching. Good teachers take risks in the
full knowledge that these will not always work. The more you take
risks, the more you open yourself to making a mistake, to falling flat
on your face in front of your students and colleagues. However, the
more these things happen, the more adept you become at recogniz-
ing when risks are justified and likely to pay off. In particular, you
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become better at responding to truly teachable moments—those
times when an unexpected event creates a high level of readiness
amongst learners that can be seized on to help them grasp a con-
cept at a deeper level, see the relevance of a piece of knowledge, or
try out a new skill in a way that embeds it dramatically in their
existing skill sets. When a teachable moment occurs, it is a real gift
and, if possible, should be built on to greatest effect. This is partic-
ularly the case when you’ve planned what you thought would be
supremely exciting activities only to find that they draw lukewarm
responses or studied indifference. Often in my own Critical Inci-
dent Questionnaire responses, I have found that students remem-
ber most clearly events that were unplanned.
In this regard it is helpful to think of a good educational expe-
rience as resembling a good conversation. Good conversations can-
not, by definition, be predicted in advance. They are characterized
by surprise and spontaneity. If I knew what you were going to say
before you said it, and if you could predict beforehand my responses
to your comments, there would be no point in talking. A conver-
sation—and a class—with this degree of predictability is forced and
boring. It’s true that students want to know what’s coming in a
course, particularly if they are juggling multiple commitments and
have to carve time for learning out of a busy schedule, or if the
course is one that will play a big role in determining their future.
But within the reassuring structure or scaffolding provided by the
syllabus or the teacher’s directions, they also need elements of sur-
prise. Knowing exactly what will happen at every single moment
along the way robs learning of the kind of spontaneity that keeps
learners engaged and alert.