Insights into Teaching

John Paynter
Not All Violins Sound the Same

What do the best teachers do to captivate and motivate students, to help them reach high levels of achievement that are long remembered and much appreciated? When John Paynter, professor of conducting and director of bands at Northwestern, died last spring, many of his colleagues and students celebrated his brilliant career and excellent teaching. They remembered a teacher who had an enormous and sustained influence on his students. . . (More)

Jeanette Norden
Note: The following article briefly describes Professor Norden's teaching philosophy.

The core course in neurobiology for medical students at Vanderbilt University used to be one of the least popular courses in the school. In fact, the unpopularity of neurobiology courses is not an uncommon phenomenon in medical schools across the country. Three years after Jeanette Norden, Professor of Cell Biology at Vanderbilt, took over the directorship of the course, she was awarded the "Shovel," an award presented by the graduating class to the faculty member regarded as having the most positive influence on them in their four years of medicine. She continues to teach this and other courses, maintains a highly successful research program, and has received numerous other teaching awards. She was the "Best Lecturer in the Medical School" in 1985, and received from the classes of '93 and '95 the "Jack Davies Award" for basic science professors who uphold the highest standards of teaching excellence. In 1993 and 1994, Norden was named "Teacher of the Year" at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Most recently, Norden was awarded Vanderbilt's first University Chair of Teaching Excellence. . . (More)

Barbara Jordan
Her Voice--and Vision--Survive
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the Texas Observer.

The class was debating the decision-making process that led President Truman to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. Some of the students in the small seminar room argued that the act itself was so immoral, so unethical, that the decision-making process must have been flawed. Others said that it was unfair to apply today's values to events and circumstances of a half-century ago. They noted that military officers, clergymen, physicians and a variety of others had been invited to offer advice--wasn't that enough? . . . (More)