福利姬自慰

Authenticity is the key to great teaching, says Professor Ivan Silver (photo courtesy of Professor Silver)

Great teaching at U of T: tips from an expert

President's Teaching Award series - Professor Ivan Silver

Sometimes it鈥檚 the uninspiring teachers who can have the greatest impact on a student - just ask Professor Ivan Silver.

The inaugural vice-president, (education) at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health encountered good teaching during his own student years. But it was the ineffective teaching that intrigued him.

"There wasn鈥檛 much attention paid to where students were starting from or how they were integrating the information with what they already knew - particularly in the health professions," says Silver. "My career in the professional development of other teachers has been largely shaped by what I perceived as a student was not very effective teaching."

A professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Silver is one of three winners of U of T鈥檚 2011-2012 President鈥檚 Teaching Awards. He鈥檚 joined by Professor Jim Wallace, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering and Karen Reid, a senior lecturer with the department of Computer Science.

The awards recognize sustained excellence in teaching, research on teaching, and the integration of teaching and research. Winners are designated as a member of the Teaching Academy for a five-year period and receive an annual professional development allowance of $10,000 for five years.

"Dr. Silver is an internationally respected scholar in the areas of inter-professional education and collaboration, continuing education and professional development, and faculty development," says Cheryl Misak, vice-president  and provost. 鈥淗e has profoundly influenced health professions education at and outside the University of Toronto as a teacher, mentor, and scholar with a passion for creating and nurturing a culture of teaching and learning.鈥

Silver joined the Faculty in 1981 and completed a master鈥檚 degree in education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto in 1997. He has served as director of the Faculty of Medicine鈥檚 renowned Centre for Faculty Development and Vice-Dean of Continuing Education and Professional Development.

鈥淧eople get too taken up with techniques of teaching and forget that the basic part is the relationship and how you convey that you care about what you鈥檙e doing and about the people you鈥檙e teaching,鈥 Silver says. 鈥淏ut basically what students will remember is the idea that you care about them and you are passionate about teaching. Everything else follows from that premise, everything else is easy.鈥

Good teachers are 鈥渢ruly interested in who鈥檚 sitting in front of them and how they鈥檙e learning鈥 and are proud of their students鈥 accomplishments, Silver says. But the key to great teaching is authenticity.  

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 be one way with your students and another way with your colleagues and another way with your patients,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 say to people that the students are watching 鈥 and how you relate and how you connect with everybody who鈥檚 around you, is really the true informal or hidden curriculum.鈥

A good teacher will take risks, challenge herself and experiment with new approaches, Silver says.

鈥淵our teaching has to have a certain edginess that relates to an uncertainty that might come from keeping your teaching fresh and trying new things,鈥 says Silver. 鈥淲hen I鈥檓 teaching other teachers I encourage people to experiment with their teaching and to change for change鈥檚 sake. Even if something is working well, I guarantee it will stagnate after a while.鈥

Taking a workshop, being observed by other teachers, getting feedback from students 鈥 these are all ways teaching can evolve and improve, Silver says.

鈥淯nless we鈥檙e putting ourselves on the line the same way we鈥檙e asking our students to put themselves on the line to be evaluated, I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 authentic,鈥 he says. 鈥淭he students need to see that you are trying something new, that you do want feedback - and you鈥檙e making it transparent by using the feedback or recognizing that it didn鈥檛 go as well as you wanted and this is what you鈥檙e doing about it.鈥

But great teaching goes beyond conveying course content effectively.

鈥淲e need to be prepared to fail as teachers,鈥 Silver says. 鈥淲e should really expect the same things from ourselves as professors and teachers that we expect from our students.

鈥漎ou鈥檙e really modelling lifelong learning for students.鈥

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