Inspired College Teaching: A Career-Long Resource for Professional Growth

Abstract

Praise for Inspired College Teaching "The thoughtfulness, personalization, and consideration Maryellen Weimer demonstrates in discussing the experience of faculty members; her ability to identify issues that are shared and solvable; and her suggestions and solutions to commonly experienced stressors and difficulties in college teaching are major strengths of this volume. In addition, her personal and professional reflections on her long career as a faculty member, writer, and faculty developer expose tantalizing research questions that young education researchers might want to examine. The originality of this volume is its exploration of and reflection on a faculty member's career from a long-term perspective. The focus on iterative self and course renewal is personal and thus practical. In a way, it is a 'workshop between book covers' or perhaps several workshops!" — Laura L. B. Border, director, Graduate Teacher Program and Collaborative Preparing Future Faculty Network, University of Colorado at Boulder "A book by Maryellen Weimer always displays her wonderful grasp of the literature on college teaching and learning, her ability to tell good stories, and her wit and wisdom. This one is no exception." —Nancy Van Note Chism, professor, Indiana University School of Education, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis "Although I work at a faculty teaching center and encounter many books on teaching, I have seen very few that span the full arc of the teaching career and what steps can be taken at each stage in order to retain vitality all the way through the way that this book does. I look forward to getting my own copy and using it as a resource in the faculty development activities of my center. It will have a wide readership." —Mano Singham, University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education, Case Western Reserve University From the Inside Flap Good teaching requires a lot from teachers: emotional energy, the will to keep caring, intellectual stamina, creative approaches, vigilance, perseverance to find the way back from failure, and faith in the power of feedback to promote learning. In this groundbreaking work, Maryellen Weimer, acclaimed education author, experienced college teacher, and editor of The Teaching Professor, posits that the growth and development of a college teacher should be seen as a journey and shows how this career-long quest can be just as exciting as its destination. Inspired College Teaching reveals what faculty at all levels (beginning, mid-career, and senior) are best positioned to accomplish as teachers. It proposes activities that faculty can use across their careers to awaken their intellectual curiosity, develop instructional prowess, and keep alive the motivation to teach with passion. Filled with wisdom and a healthy dose of wit, Inspired College Teaching puts the spotlight on how faculty can best use Weimer's tested improvement process. Step by step, she shows how to select changes, how to adapt them, how to implement them, how to assess their effects, how to revise them, and when to infuse these changes elsewhere in the classroom. This method rests on Weimer's premise that faculty can and should play the central role in their own improvement process. Only by being truly involved can faculty undertake the transformative activities that result in vibrant, invigorated teaching. Inspired College Teaching is the hands-on resource that can help faculty understand and plan for all that it takes to sustain teaching excellence across a career