Personal Essays on the Scholarship of Teaching

Foreword

The role of the public university professor was created on these Grounds, and it has from the start involved more than classroom teaching. The professors Thomas Jefferson brought to the University of Virginia were expected to interact with and tutor students in ways beyond the purely academic: ethically, socially, and spiritually (if not in a strictly religious sense). By the evidence of these essays on teaching, our founder would be pleased by the faculty's determination to convey more than information to the University's students. The 52 essays presented in this book and those on the companion Web site come from passionate women and men who have dedicated their hearts and minds to one of the most essential roles in our culture, that of reflective teacher.

In these essays, colleagues from different academic disciplines offer various views of the scholarship of teaching, the achieving and sharing of intellectual discovery. Particularly heartening are several recurring themes: fervent commitment to one's academic discipline; excitement about sharing knowledge and perspectives; respect for students and their ideas; ongoing desire to improve one's teaching skill. These colleagues demonstrate in their thinking about teaching the inherent interrelationships between teaching and learning, between researching and sharing discoveries, between teachers and students. As a teacher who cares deeply about the quality of the knowledge that we pass along to succeeding generations—those we educate to become civic leaders and self-sufficient, moral, intellectual persons—as well as the administrator directly responsible for how well we do so, I commend these essays to you. You will find pleasure in their enthusiasm and in the joy of vocation that they convey. The Teaching Resource Center has done us all a good turn by soliciting, collecting, and publishing these statements by some of our most committed, talented faculty and graduate teaching assistants.

John T. Casteen III
President