Teachers Noticing Teachers is a program of peer mentoring designed to allow professors to observe the teaching of a particularly accomplished colleague. Although many of the TNT participants have themselves been extremely accomplished teachers, they have made enthusiastic, inquisitive and probing students.
TNT participants will visit the host professor’s class once in the first few weeks and then everyone—participants, host teacher and the CTL director—will meet for lunch and talk. Conversation begins with two simple questions. “What did you see that you liked and that you think you could steal?” “What would you have to do in order to adapt that technique to your style and your class?”
From this simple beginning conversation roams over a variety of teaching topics depending on the host professor’s style and on the interests and concerns of professor-observers. Every group has provided rich conversation and has stimulated deep reflection into the nature of teaching and the fascinating complexity of teaching well.
Below is a list of the professors who have been TNT host professors and some of what they excel at in the classroom. It has been a privilege to view each of these professors!
Kathleen Czech, Spring 2008
Mike McKinney, Fall 2007
Leon Kugler, Kineseology, Spring 2007
Dean Nelson, Journalism, Fall 2006
Ted Anderson, Kinesiology, Spring 2005
Bruce Schooling, Business, Fall 2004
Creating young leaders
Overt and purposeful integration of faith and learning
Karl Martin, Literature, Spring 2004
Transforming a class into a community
Empowering students to think independently
Maria Zack, Math and Computer Science, Fall 2003
Active and communal learning
Process orientation to skill acquisition
Mike Lodahl, Philosophy and Religion, Spring 2003
Lip-service to heart-service: making religion real
Teaching as illustration of one’s discipline at work
Linda Beail, History and Political Science, Fall 2002
Teaching as a feminist
Training independent thinkers
Bill Wood, History and Political Science, Spring 2002
Speaking the truth in love
Connecting students born after the Jonestown Massacre to Ancient History
Mike McKinney, Literature, Fall 2001
Virtues of using the Socratic method
The Socratic method in a large class