Teacher, Know Thyself

Being relatively new to the profession of college teaching, I regularly seek out and devour handbooks on teaching with the hope of making my learning curve a little bit steeper and a lot less painful. So it was with great pleasure and anticipation that I agreed to review The Joy of Teaching by Peter Filene. Surely, a seasoned history professor with six teaching awards and 75 semesters in the classroom has some sage advice to offer a young novice like myself. As expected, Filene dispenses plenty of time-tested, practical advice on teaching your first college course, from designing a syllabus to lecturing effectively to grading. What is surprising about this book, however, is the degree to which Filene delves into the " intan-gibles " of good teaching. The author rightly claims that, in order to be a truly effective teacher, you must know your students, and most importantly, you must know yourself. In chapter 1, " Understanding Yourself as a Teacher, " Fi-lene stresses the importance of self-reflection in developing your own unique teaching style. He notes that many new instructors make the rookie mistake of trying to imitate teachers they admire, often with awkward and disastrous consequences. Emulation does not work, he argues, because your teaching style should be a reflection of your own personality. Thankfully, Filene offers practical approaches to this otherwise murky process of introspection. For example, for developing your own individual style, he recommends that you ask yourself, " Are you fierce, funny, or gentle? Do you lecture, question, or coach? " He also provides a number of useful prompts to help you articulate your beliefs about teaching R " are registered trademarks of The American Society for Cell Biology. and learning. Be true to yourself, he advises, and good teaching will follow naturally. In chapter 2, Filene shifts the reader's focus outward to the task of understanding your students. Here, he covers the more obvious questions concerning the academic and socioeconomic profiles of the student population, as well as more Socratic questions, such as " What do your students know, or think they know? " The author makes the somewhat obvious but important point that first-year students are at a very different stage of cognitive development than seniors, so the two groups should be taught very differently. Importantly, he offers quick, practical approaches for gathering feedback on students' prior knowledge and preconceptions, and 237