Pedagogical modeling in the higher education classroom

Chronicle Vitae “Modeling the Behavior We Expect in Class”

This is a great little article. I really like the idea of showing one’s own intellectual vulnerability in order to encourage students to be more intellectually courageous. I also agree that getting students to use their power of empathy to ‘take the perspective of a scholar’ is really valuable. I would add that our conduct as conversationalists also provides an important model in the classroom. When we interrupt, appear not to be listening, or don’t even bother to ask for student voices, we fail to model proper ‘dialogue technique’ for our students. This is something that I struggle with. I try to foster a lot of discussion in class, but I am also an impatient New Yorker who likes punchy, back-and-forth conversation… and when I model that, I know that I lose students with other conversational sensibilities.