The Skillful Teacher

Abstract Conceptualization or Practical Illustration
To a large extent the degree to which teachers emphasize abstract
conceptualization over practical implementation is determined by
the content or skills they are trying to teach. But even in highly
abstract subjects a measure of practical illustration will be appreci-
ated. One of the most frequently mentioned themes in students’
evaluations of teaching (and this applies across the disciplines) is
the helpfulness of practical examples. As a general rule every new
concept that is introduced into the curriculum should be accompa-
nied by at least three practical illustrations from the teacher fol-
lowed by the students’ attempt to provide a fourth.
In order to give helpful examples of new concepts, it helps if the
teacher knows something of the student’s world. There is little point
giving brilliant illustrations of difficult ideas if only the teacher under-
stands their full resonance. As students in my classrooms become
increasingly diverse (and younger!), the examples, metaphors, and
analogies that make sense to me are rendered increasingly irrelevant.
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Music, films, sitcoms, novels, and lines of poetry that are part and par-
cel of my cultural milieu are in no sense universal. Quoting thirty-
five-year-old Monty Python sketches to students not even born until
fifteen years after these sketches were first aired is not really an option
for me these days. And even the contemporary pop culture examples
I use will reflect my own racial and class membership. Some of my
most embarrassing moments these days come from my attempts to
quote dialogue from films or hip-hop lyrics and getting them hope-
lessly wrong. As a result I tend to stick to everyday tasks for the source
material for my practical examples, such as riding the subway, going
online, or shopping in supermarkets.