Category Archives: Teaching

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What Jon Stewart’s run on the Daily Show can teach us about teaching

Jon Stewart is signing off as the host of the Daily Show after an impressive 16 year run. The fake news show has become a cultural marker and gave voice to many concerned about media, politics, and the future of the country. Having watched the show for much of Stewart’s tenure, it has been fun to look back at some of the old clips of the show’s early days. It doesn’t get much better than Stewart, Colbert, and Carrell doing a comedy bit. What struck me most in looking at old clips was the evolution of the show and Stewart. I think Stewart’s transition can be instructive in thinking about teaching and how we develop our instructional personas in the classroom.

It is so funny to see how Jon Stewart looked and acted in the early days of the Daily Show.  His suits didn’t quite fit right.  He was clearly not very comfortable.  Even the jokes didn’t flow very easily.

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Teaching with humor: Lessons from the Dalai Lama

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a wonderful teacher. The same could be said for Pope Francis and many religious leaders. I had the privilege to hear the Dalai Lama during his visit to SMU’s campus. He shared his belief in humanity and the power of compassion and happiness.  Of course, these are themes His Holiness frequently discusses. What struck me most throughout the event was the degree to which he obviously believes in teaching with humor. Despite the well-known benefits of teaching with humor, I believe we don’t do this enough in college teaching.

From the nearly the moment he took the stage to the end (pictured above), the Dalai Lama used humor to bring in and connect with the audience.

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How to read student course evaluations

After the conclusion of each semester, I always eagerly await my student course evaluations. I know many faculty that dislike student evaluations. I share the concerns about the overweighted importance that evaluations can sometimes hold over an instructor’s career. However, I also appreciate hearing from my students and trying to improve. In today’s post, I will share how to read student course evaluations to reflect upon and improve your teaching.

Student course evaluations may be like the oft-quoted Winston Churchill line, “democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried.”

I firmly believe that if you follow the five steps I describe below that you will find student course evaluations productive and useful for improving future classes.

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How David Letterman inspired my teaching philosophy

David Letterman is a comic genius.  The ability to both innovate and survive for over thirty years is a testament to his ability.  I am too young to remember much from Dave’s time at NBC but watching him in the 90’s was a thing of beauty.  His nearly singular ability to be smart and stupid at the same time has always struck me.  I would say that we share the same sense of humor, but the reality is that Letterman shaped my sense of humor.  In recent years, I haven’t watched the Late Show as much as I did back in the day (thanks to the kids I can’t stay up that late).  With all of the celebration of Letterman in recent weeks, I’ve been reminded how much I loved watching him.  At the same time and with the benefit of hindsight, I now realize how David Letterman inspired my teaching philosophy.

Photo credit: CBS
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The Five Advantages of Teaching with Discussions

I once joked in class that I was a one trick pony when teaching so I hope they like discussions because that’s all we were going to be doing.  I believe in the power of discussions particularly when teaching graduate students.  Since the days of Socrates, the value of teaching using probing questions has served to help students learn and develop critical thinking skills.  In today’s post, I will detail the five advantages of teaching with discussions.

There are many different types of discussions.  From whole class discussions to small group ones, discussions present many advantages when teaching.  Specifically, I believe there are five advantages that make discussions a valued approach for teaching college students.