Ch 1 Summary

Teaching with Your Mouth Shut, by Donald L. Finkel

Chapter 1

Significant Points in the Chapter

Fundamentally, teachers instruct through telling; lecture, talking, informing, directing, or in other words, telling the students what they need to know. The first chapter discusses this traditional approach and posits other methods for defining “good teaching”.

What Do You Do?

When you identify your profession, how do you introduce yourself?  Many people “have a set of ready-made assumptions about what a teacher does” (Finkel, 2000, p. 1). Sometimes this includes being an actor, lecturer, professor, presenter, performer, etc. Regardless of the title, all of them profess that you do something with your mouth open; Teaching is Telling. But how often does the learner retain information from even the most brilliant lectures? Finkel suggests that we need to revisit the definition of learning and consider the idea that learning is “knowing something we didn’t know before” (p. 1).

Teaching as Telling

Our natural inclination when teaching is to tell; “to carefully and clearly tell students something they did not previously know. Knowledge is transmitted through this act of telling” (p. 2). Given that telling is the natural way to teach, what is wrong with it? Finkel discusses a scenario to illustrate the difference between telling and learning by using the example of providing directions to your house to a friend. Did they learn anything from this that will be retained years from now or was it simply transmitting specific information? The same concern is expressed with exams; “how many could pass those same exams five years later?” (p. 3).

Even though research demonstrates that discussion is preferred over lectures as an instructional method for the retention of information, many do not practice it with the same regularity. Finkel suggests that “education should aim at long-lasting learning that forever alters our grasp of the world, deepening it, widening it, generalizing it, sharpening it.” (p. 4). When something has been internalized, it cannot be unlearned. As educators, we should strive toward the development of understanding, unless the person does not possess the cognitive or emotional means to do so. Even though Telling is popular and frequently used, is it really “good teaching” or are there other forms?

The Great Teacher

What make a good teacher great? Think about the characteristics of someone you admired. Most of the time, they will possess similar traits: enthusiastic, knowledgeable, captivating, asked probing questions, and had enlightened answers. These characteristics are usually included in our engrained cultural ideal of a great teacher and it is not easy to consider another image. However, the purpose of this book is contemplate other forms of great teaching and, if you can let go of the traditional ideal of good teaching,  realize there are many types of great teaching.

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Simple Test

          Most of the time, significant learning does not occur in the classroom; significant learning is discovered. This fact does not mean that teaching is not important but rather that the learning did “not take place as a result of intentional teaching” (p. 7).  However, this is not to imply that significant learning cannot take place from teaching, especially if  it “were undertaken in the best possible manner” (p. 7).  The most important thing to ponder is that in moments of great learning, the teacher probably “got out of your way, gave you the opportunity to make your own mistakes, or failed to rebuke you when you expected a rebuke” (p. 7).

Good Teaching Leads to Significant Learning

Finkel describes “good teaching” as “creating of those circumstances that lead to significant learning in others” (p. 8). Naturally, we tend to evaluate our efforts through our immediate emotional responses, in that, “wow they loved me today” or “they were really into it and receptive”.  However, our primary goal is learning, not teaching, and “teachers must never forget that end when devising ways to teach” (p. 8). Our purpose is to create an environment that is conducive to learning.

Different Images of Good Teaching

If we can give up our ideal image of a great teacher, then we can be open to creating a multitude of activities that will enhance student learning. Once we reconsider what actually constitutes teaching, “we can expand and diversify our notions of “great teaching” (p. 9).

Finkel, D. L. (2000). Teaching with your mouth shut. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.