Michael Palmer, TRC Assistant Director, is looking for a dozen faculty members who would like to read and discuss as a group Therese Huston’s Teaching What You Don’t Know. Ken Bain, author of What the Best College Teachers Do, says this of Huston’s book, “This is one of the best books I’ve read on university teaching and learning in a long time. It addresses an issue that’s seldom discussed, in a book that’s both carefully researched and wonderfully sparkling in style. The author makes a strong case that teaching outside your area of expertise is a serious and extensive problem, and she offers some highly practical advice about how to meet the challenges.”

Here’s how this learning community will work:

• Participants will receive a complimentary hardback copy of Huston’s book.
• We will meet at the Teaching Resource Center (Hotel D, on the East Range) over a brown-bag lunch from 12:00-1:30pm on these six Tuesdays: February 8, 15, 22 and March 1, 15, 22. Participants are expected to attend all meetings fully prepared to engage in lively discussion. The TRC will provide spring water, coffee, tea, and cookies.
• Michael will kick off the discussion group on February 8, leading the discussion of the book’s introduction and chapters 1-2. At that first meeting, we will decide which colleagues will lead the discussion of subsequent chapters.
• Therese Huston will be on Grounds Friday, April 1 and will lead two different workshops on the research presented in her book. We encourage you now to reserve the day to meet and interact with Ms. Huston. Details will be announced soon.

To apply for this reading group, please use the on-line form to give us a good sense about your interest in and contributions to this learning community:

• Why are you interested in participating in this reading group?
• What will you contribute to the conversation?  Contributions can include ideas, experiences, discussion-leading skill, enthusiasm, questions,...
• Will you be able to attend all the Tuesday lunchtime meetings (February 8, 15, 22 and March 1, 15, 22)?

Please tell us enough, but not too much; we are looking for responses between 200 and 300 words long, in total. We hope to gather together colleagues from a diverse set of disciplines who enjoy meeting new people and sharing ideas.

We will select reading-group members from the applications received by Friday, January 28, and notify all applicants by Tuesday, February 1. Reading group members may then pick up their book and meeting schedule at the TRC or we can mail the materials via Messenger Mail.