The Skillful Teacher

Maxim 14: View Yourself as a Helper of Learning
This is perhaps the most fundamental truth of all. At the heart of
skillful teaching is the attempt to find out how students are experi-
encing the learning we are overseeing so that we can make this as
relevant and accessible as possible. The only reason we teach is to
help someone else learn, and whatever we do to help them in that
regard must be considered as good teaching, no matter how unpro-
fessional or strange it may seem to an outsider. If a practice con-
tributes to students’ learning, we should do it, no matter how much
18_980668 ch14.qxp  7/27/06  3:28 PM  Page 276

---

it may offend against professional or community expectations
regarding good teaching. Contrarily, if a practice hinders students’
learning then we should stop it, no matter how much it may be
expected of us by students, peers, and superiors.
Of course, we all have to make compromises in this regard.
Much as I would like never to have to give a grade, there are times
my institution requires this of me. Much as I am suspicious of the
use of closed-book examinations as true measures of students’ abil-
ities or learning accomplishments, I cannot avoid having my stu-
dents take these if a licensing board requires them. But when it
comes down to it, when you’re deciding whether or not something
is an example of good teaching, the only question you have to ask
yourself is “Does this help my students learn?”
Adopting this approach to teaching means we must consider as
examples of good, skillful teaching all kinds of activities that fall
well outside the “teacher as charismatic performer” paradigm. If
teaching is helping learning, then textbook authors or software
developers who never see inside a classroom or meet any of your stu-
dents must be considered some of their most effective teachers. You
can be a highly skillful teacher if you design well-conceived and
richly illuminating role plays or simulations that students explore
without you being present. In this electronic era the designers of
online courses are some of the powerful teachers that students are
exposed to, yet they are for the most part faceless. Again, being able
to help students understand their learning difficulties in an area of
learning is a highly effective teaching act, even though it may be
carried out by someone who carries the professional label of diag-
nostician rather than teacher. Someone who puts students in touch
with each other so that they can form learning communities is, as
Chapter Five has shown us, one of the most effective teachers stu-
dents can benefit from. Often it is the support staff in a program that
students turn to because they know that these staff don’t hold the
power of the grade over them. And it is support staff that can be so
effective in putting students in touch with each other and thereby
building community.
Surviving Emotionally
277
18_980668 ch14.qxp  7/27/06  3:28 PM  Page 277

---

278
T
HE
S
KILLFUL
T
EACHER
So forget Robert Donat or Peter O’ Toole in Goodbye Mr. Chips,
Sidney Poitier in To Sir With Love, Edward James Olmos in Stand
and Deliver, Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society, Jon Voight in
Conrack, Richard Dreyfuss in Mr. Holland’s Opus, Michelle Pfeiffer
in Dangerous Minds, or Kevin Kline in The Emperor’s Club. These
are excellent fictional portrayals of powerful individuals whose per-
sonal authenticity and pedagogic brilliance illuminate the medioc-
rity surrounding them. But they are bad role models (at least for
me). Teaching is not about charismatically charged individuals
using the sheer force of their characters and personalities to wreak
lifelong transformations in students’ lives. It’s about finding ways to
promote the day-to-day, incremental gains that students make as
they try to understand ideas, grasp concepts, assimilate knowledge,
and develop new skills. All the small things you do to make this
happen for students represent the real story of teaching. Helping
learning is what makes you truly heroic.