For past decade, center has demonstrated that learning how to teach is a lifelong process
Armed with a folder full of notes and a box of multi-colored chalk, Julie Benson is prepared for the worst: yawns, blank stares or ... silence from undergraduate students in her mathematics class.
"It's sort of renowned as a subject that either people get or don't get - either they really like it or they hate it. That's hard," said Benson, who teaches courses at Brown as part of her role as a graduate student.
Like most graduate students, Benson began teaching without having any experience or training in it. Although required at the elementary and secondary levels, a degree in education is not a prerequisite for college instruction.
In Benson's case, the students apparently thought she was an effective teacher, rewarding her with reviews that led to her receipt of a Presidential Teaching Award this year.
She was among several members of the Brown teaching community recognized for their work in the classroom who spoke about what makes a good teacher on the10th anniversary of the University's Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching.
Graduate students like Benson, who often are aspiring professors, were the reason the center was created a decade ago. However the center has since expanded to offer programs year-round to the entire Brown teaching community, from teaching assistants to veteran professors.
Benson knows that she wants to be a professor.
About teaching, she said, "Half the battle is just wanting to be a good teacher. You really have to be enthusiastic about it because if you're not, how can you get your students interested in it?"
Beyond enthusiasm is preparation, preparation, preparation. Benson formulates calculus equations on sheaves of white-lined paper before each class and graphs them on the blackboard with colored chalk. She asks the students to work through the problems with her in class.
"The notion that you go to college and passively sit and take notes is gone. There is a much more proactive relationship between teacher and student," said Rebecca S. More, who works at the center and is a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design.
That is where the center can help, said More. Although Benson has not yet attended any of the programs, some other recent Presidential Teaching Award recipients had, and said it helped in the classroom.
"They were very good about the practical nuts and bolts of teaching, and also made me think about why I want to teach that information - what are my objectives," said Vicki McKenna.
McKenna attended the programs as a graduate student in the Department of Geological Sciences six years ago.
The key to teaching, she said, is maintaining a dialogue with students in class. A good teacher tries to make the subject matter relevant to students by connecting it to their interests.
Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar, '87, said it is also necessary to spend time figuring how to be a teacher before becoming one and not accept that just because you are a graduate student it will come naturally.
"You've been a student and now you're going to be on the other side and you're not told how to cross that bridge," said Rodriguez-Farrar. "You're told to just do it, but you're not told what `it' is."
Rodriguez-Farrar said the center's programs began her thinking about teaching as a responsibility. She is now instructing courses at two local colleges while working toward a doctorate at Brown.
The center's services are available to members of the Brown teaching community throughout their careers, said More. Learning how to teach is a lifelong process and the programs are designed to engage people in throughout the process, she said.
Although Benson, McKenna and Rodriguez-Farrar received the awards for their work in the classroom, the ultimate reward is making the connection with students, they said.
"I like when people come up and tell me `I get it now,'" said Benson.