If ever there were an arena in which practical excellence—active choices informed by knowledge and moderation—is of the essence, it is the classroom. Students join us in a process that is dynamic in the extreme: the best-laid plans, most carefully constructed paradigms, and most cleverly crafted interventions crumble in the face of students’ shifting interests and varied abilities, as well as the human vicissitudes (for students and teacher) of fatigue, pressure to perform, the common cold, even (at least in a Midwestern winter) the weather. Therein lies, it seems to me, both the challenge and the great joy of teaching: every course, every class, every meeting with students offers up the unexpected, regardless of the number of times we have taught the same course and met with the same class, or how long we have known the students. The vagaries of time, talent, and interest weigh heavily in the balance of teaching, learning, and “classroom management.” These exigencies aside, however, each of us has a more broadly theoretical philosophy of teaching, whether self-consciously articulated or not, and the former would seem considerably preferable. For that reason, when pushed to articulate my own teaching philosophy, I turn to Aristotle’s understanding of practical excellence and to Heraclitus, who offered the deceptively simple observation that we never step into the same river twice.

I have had the great good fortune to be educated by talented teacher-scholars and to teach a wide range of students at a variety of colleges. I look back over student comments on my teaching and note wryly that it was Lake Forest College students in my first 100-level classes who taught me the finer points of course design, syllabus construction, and classroom interaction. What comes through even in those earliest evaluations, however, and is emphasized by the subsequent classes who benefitted from those students’ comments, is that I care: I care about the students themselves and their lives outside the classroom, about our shared experience in the classroom, and about the texts and ideas that we engage together. I have good organization, administrative, and people skills. I also enjoy class, relate easily to my students, and seek to cultivate what I consider the essential qualities of an excellent teacher: commitment to civility and respect; close engagement of the assigned texts, accompanied by openness to debate and correction; a capacity to accommodate different learning styles and skills; commitment to both scholarship and teaching; and a genuinely kind disposition toward students.

I think that in any format, a teacher must be prepared to offer didactic commentary and, at times, full and accessible lectures. In seminars, the teacher’s capacity to support and cultivate students’ own engagement with the material is crucial, in addition to encouragement of lively and productive conversation. In a lecture format, I think it is especially important that the teacher master the material and present it in a way that illustrates its significance and provides students the tools needed to explore it further. When lecturing, I strive to allow for questions, clarification, and discussion and to present material in a way that speaks effectively to different learning styles. In sum, I expect my students to bring their best, most engaged selves to the subject matter at hand, and I do my best to model, as well as encourage that commitment.