Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 248
•
Trim: 6⅜ x 9
978-1-4758-3279-2 • Hardback • May 2019 • $75.00 • (£58.00)
978-1-4758-3280-8 • Paperback • May 2019 • $38.00 • (£30.00)
978-1-4758-3281-5 • eBook • May 2019 • $36.00 • (£30.00)
Chris Palmer, retired professor, is a speaker, author, and wildlife film producer, who gives speeches and workshops on a variety of topics, including how to motivate and engage students. He is the author of four other books: Shooting in the Wild (2010), Confessions of a Wildlife Filmmaker (2015), Now What, Grad? Your Path to Success After College (2015), and Raise Your Kids to Succeed (2017). He has won awards for his teaching at American University.
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: Realize the importance of professors
Chapter 2: Manifest good values
Chapter 3: Create an effective syllabus
Chapter 4: Establish a philosophy of grading
Chapter 5: Harness the power of caring
Chapter 6: Convey your passion
Chapter 7: Promote active learning
Chapter 8: Support and encourage quiet students
Chapter 9: Make large, lecture-based classes feel smaller
Chapter 10: Add variety to your class
Chapter 11: Finish the semester strong
Chapter 12: Be responsive to students
Appendix I: Teaching Workshop Handout, by Chris Palmer
Appendix II: Finding a Great Mentor, by John Richardson
Appendix III: Teaching as Performance Art, by Thomas Kaufman
Appendix IV: Rethinking Tenure, by Chris Palmer
Notes
Index
About the Author
Chris Palmer’s College Teaching at its Best is a wonderful new book. Wisdom pours out of it like a river. Its brisk and lively chapters urge teachers to keep working to improve themselves in the classroom as they demonstrate concern for their students and demand steadiness and hard work in return. As Palmer says, you’re not teaching if the students aren’t learning. Teachers have to accept responsibility when classes aren’t performing up to their expectations; they have to model the vitality and conscientiousness they expect from their charges. He also dares to take on the question of reforming tenure, a system that in too many cases has become a shelter for classroom mediocrity. I can’t recommend this book too highly and I hope it will catch on widely among faculty members everywhere.
— Patrick Allitt, Cahoon Family Professor of American History, Emory University
Chris Palmer's book is one of the most unexpected, intelligent and compassionate guides I have ever read, and that includes guides I have read to just about anything--cooking, golfing, gardening, you name it. One of our nation's greatest and least acknowledged problems is the lousy teaching that goes on in even our best universities. Palmer became a professor late in life, which may be why his book is so good. He had no long-term career ambitions to distract him. He just wanted to help students. He started asking students and other professors how to do that best. The result is a joy to read.
— Jay Mathews, Washington Post columnist
In this accessible and personal book you will find insight and utility in equal measure. Chris Palmer writes from varied and well-mined experience about the relational basis to teaching and the importance of connecting to all students with passion and caring. Wise and practical, this is a helpful resource to professors at any stage of their teaching career.
— Stephen D. Brookfield, Distinguished University Professor and John Ireland Endowed Chair, University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis-St. Paul