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My Top Choices on Teaching and Pedagogy: An Annotated Bibliography for Professors of Religion PDF-NOTE: Internet Explorer Users, right click the PDF Icon and choose [save target as] if you are experiencing problems with clicking. Print

David B. Howell, Ferrum University

1. Bateman, Walter L. Open to Question. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1990. Bateman argues that the best way to teach students to think critically and creatively, to transform learning from a passive process, is through inquiry. After an opening section where Bateman sets forth the benefits of actively engaging students through inquiry, the central section of the book discusses some of the different ways one can teach through questioning and some of the different skills and educational goals that inquiry can develop and reach.

2. Baxter-Magolda, Marcia. Knowing and Reasoning in College: Gender-Related Patterns of Students' Intellectual Development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1992. Baxter Magolda builds upon the developmental work of Perry and Belenky, et. al. to study if men and women experience ways of knowing in different ways. The data for her study was collected in a series of interviews that followed students from college enrollment past graduation. The resulting schema of epistemological reflection has four ways of knowing that parallel the categories in Women's Ways of Knowing. The second half of her book discusses implications of her findings for our practices both inside and outside the classroom.

3. Beidler, Peter G., ed. Distinguished Teachers on Effective Teaching: Observations on Teaching by College Professors Recognized by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1985. Award winning professors from CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) are interviewed about their views on teaching and the profession of teaching. The resulting book centers around 8 of those questions and provides insight and encouragement from those who have been recognized for excellent teaching. Chapters include advice to new professors and how to keep from getting bored and being boring!

4. Belenky, Mary F., et. al. Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind. New York: Basic Books, 1986. An influential study on the ways women know and value. The authors construct a developmental schema of epistemological categories that modify, but in some ways parallel, the scheme of William Perry. The authors use metaphors of speaking and listening to describe the different epistemological categories used by women; silence, received knowing, subjective knowing, procedural knowing, and connected knowing. The book concludes with a helpful chapter on connected teaching that discusses the implications of the study for teaching practices.

5. Brookfield, Stephen. Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995. Brookfield offers a vision of critically reflective professors who will view their teaching through four different lens: 1) their own experiences as teachers and learners, their students' eyes, 2) their colleagues' perceptions, and 3) current pedagogical and theoretical literature.

6. Border, Laura L. B., and Nancy Van Note Chism, ed. Teaching for Diversity: New Directions for Teaching and Learning, No. 49. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1992. A collection of essays that address some of the diversity issues facing higher education.

7. Boyer, Ernest L. Scholarship Reconsidered. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990. A study prepared under the auspices of the Carnegie Foundation that argues for a reconsideration of how we understand scholarship in higher education. Boyer contends that scholarship should be seen in terms of four overlapping functions: the scholarship of discovery, the scholarship of integration, the scholarship of application, and the scholarship of teaching.

8. _____. College: The Undergraduate Experience in America. New York: Harper and Row, 1987. A wide-ranging study of the college experience in America by the Carnegie Foundation that covers everything from admissions and recruitment to placement after graduation. Boyer examines in this important study different facets of institutional life and culture; student, faculty, and administrative.

9. College Teaching. An interdisciplinary periodical devoted solely to issues of teaching and faculty development.

10. Cross, K. Patricia, and Angelo, Thomas A. Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for Faculty. Ann Arbor, MI: National Center for Research to Improve Postsecondary Teaching and Learning, 1988. A reference tool for faculty designed to give suggestions and generic examples on how faculty can get feedback on what students are learning and how they are learning it. The handbook is divided into three major categories: techniques for assessing academic skills and intellectual development; techniques for assessing students' self-awareness as learners and self-assessment of learning skills; and techniques for assessing student reactions to teachers and teaching methods, course materials, activities, and assignments. The motivation behind these different assessment techniques is not evaluative so that the instructor gains feedback that can be used for grading. Rather, they are driven by the desire to learn more about student learning in order to improve teaching.

11. Diamond, Robert M. Designing and Improving Courses and Curricula in Higher Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1991. A descriptive handbook that offers a practical guide for administrators and faculty on how to evaluate existing programs and to design and implement new courses and curricula. Although a new faculty member may find some of the suggestions helpful (e.g., a chapter on designing a student manual), the model which is presented in the book is probably more appropriate for administrators and more experienced faculty. The concerns I faced as a new faculty person were different than the ones addressed in this book!

12. Erickson, Bette LaSere, and Diane Weltner Strommer. Teaching College Freshmen. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1991. Anyone who teaches freshmen will find this book very helpful. It is divided into three sections: understanding the transitional needs of freshmen as they move from high school to college, teaching freshmen, and special challenges in teaching freshmen. The center section on teaching freshman covers everything from preparing a syllabus to evaluating student learning. New faculty should find this section helpful even if you do-not teach freshmen!

13. Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of Hope. New York: Continuum, 1995. Freire revisits his classic text on liberative teaching (Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 1970) with autobiographical comments.

14. Gullette, Margaret, M., ed. The Art and Craft of Teaching. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982. This small collection of multi-authored essays was prepared by the Harvard-Danforth Center for Teaching and Learning and is intended to offer helpful advice to the new professor. The essays range from preparing a syllabus to leading discussions and there is much that the new instructor will find helpful in a short book.

15. hooks, bell. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge, 1994. This is an influential book on teaching that is informed by Hooks' feminist perspectives.

16. Liberal Education. A periodical published by the Association of American Colleges.

17. Lowman, Joseph. Mastering the Techniques of Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1984. Lowman offers practical advice about effective college teaching on the basis of a two-dimensional model that is primarily teacher-centered. Lowman argues that effective teaching must 1) create intellectual excitement and 2) develop interpersonal rapport. A helpful chapter on understanding classroom dynamics is followed by chapters on such topics as lecturing, leading class discussions, or evaluating performance. Much of the advice is common-sensical, but sometimes it can be helpful to remind us of the obvious.

18. McKeachie, Wilbert J. Teaching Tips: A Guidebook for the Beginning College Teacher, 9th ed. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1994. A comprehensive handbook which will provide a new teacher with practical "tips" on a number of problems and issues in addition to a discussion of research and theory in teaching and learning. The range of topics covered include preparing meeting a class for the first time, lecturing and discussing, exams and grading, personalizing education and ethical standards in teaching, etc.

19. Moffatt, Michael. Coming of Age in New Jersey. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1989. An anthropologist from Rutgers University chooses the dormitories of Rutgers as the "alien culture" in which to conduct an ethnography. The result of the ten-year study is an interesting look at student culture and college life at a state university. For faculty members, it provides a perspective on what students experience outside the classroom in addition to how students perceive the academic experience.

20. Neff, Rose Ann, and Maryellen Weimer. Classroom Communication: Collected Readings for Effective Discussion and Questioning. Madison, WI: Magna Publications, 1989. A collection of essays that seeks to help faculty members make classroom interactions more effective. The book is divided into two sections, one on discussions and one on questioning. The essays range from "nuts and bolts" advice on ways to lead discussions and ask questions to suggestions about ways to grade seminar and classroom communication. Each entry includes at the end a series of discussion questions that invite faculty members to evaluate their own teaching in light of what they have just read. One goal of the collection therefore is to help faculty members think about their use of discussions and questions in terms of the larger educational goals and strategies for their courses. I have found this to be a most helpful book whose usefulness is heightened by the brevity of the articles. Busy teachers can dip into the book and find help as they find time.

21. Perry, William G. Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970. A study of the development of students' conceptions of the nature of knowledge and themselves as knowers based on interviews with Harvard, primarily male, undergraduates. Perry constructs a scheme of epistemological perspectives or positions which students (may or may not) progress through; dualism, multiplicity, relativism, and commitment. Perry argues that the key positions and most interesting aspects of his scheme are the transitional points as people move from one perspective to another. Perry's study has probably been the seminal work in developmental theory and has been widely used in different areas of higher education.

22. Perry, William G. "Cognitive and Ethical Growth: The Making of Meaning." In The Modern American College, pp. 76-116. A. Chickering, ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1981. This article is a summary and update of Perry's earlier work.

23. Reinsmith, William A. Archetypal Forms in Teaching: A Continuum. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1992. An interesting book that does not provide much practical advice for teaching but offers a philosophical approach to conceptualizing the teaching enterprise along a continuum of 9 different modes or forms. Forms 1-4 are teacher-centered (e.g. presentational mode or initiatory mode), form 5 is the dialogic mode, and forms 6-9 are student-centered (e.g. elicitive mode or apophatic mode).

24. The Teaching Professor. A small newsletter published ten times a year by Magna Publications that provides teaching tips and summaries of articles from books and journals related to teaching and learning.

25. Weimer, Maryellen. Improving College Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1990. This book does not provide "nuts and bolts" advice to faculty who seek to improve their teaching. Rather, it focuses on the improvement process itself and how institutions and individuals in institutions can implement instructional development activities. The most helpful section of the book for new faculty will probably be the discussion of elements of successful instructional development. A variety of resources, activities, and strategies are suggested for faculty seeking feedback on their teaching.

26. _____. "Reading Your Way to Better Teaching." College Teaching 36 (No. 2, 1988): 48-53. Weimer argues that a program of pedagogical reading be pursued to help improve college teaching. The article includes annotated lists of ten best sources to read on teaching, learning, and lecturing.

27. Weimer, Maryellen, and R. A. Neff, eds. Teaching College: College Readings for the New Instructor. Madison, WI: Magna Publications, 1990. A collection of short readings for new faculty members that focus on the "essentials" of teaching. The material is organized somewhat sequentially. It begins with introductory issues and reflections about the nature of the teaching and learning enterprise, moves to planning topics (e.g. organizing the course, selecting textbooks), then offers advise about instructional methods and strategies (e.g. lecturing, leading discussions), and finally addresses issues of evaluation (e.g. grading, exams, assessing participation). This volume is full of helpful advice. The brevity of the articles make it a most accessible resource which can be consulted as needed throughout the semester.

Religion

28. AAR Syllabi Project. Initiated by the AAR's Committee on Teaching and Learning, the Syllabi Project offers a selection of syllabi on courses in religious studies. The syllabi are grouped according to subject and represent courses taught at a wide variety of institutions. The page also contains links to other online resources for teaching. This program has been moved to the Wabash Center for Teaching Religion and Theology.

29. Harris, Maria. Teaching and Religious Imagination: An Essay in the Theology of Teaching. San Francisco: Harper, 1987. Harris offers a paradigm of teaching that sees it as an activity of religious imagination that incarnates the subject matter in a way that leads to the revelation of the subject matter. Although Harris concludes the book by providing the reader with models of teaching, the focus of the book is to offer a philosophy or theology of teaching.

30. Hart, Ray L. "Religious and Theological Studies in American Higher Education: A Pilot Study." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 59 (1991): 715-826.

31. Juergensmeyer, Mark, ed. Teaching the Introductory Course in Religious Studies: A Sourcebook. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991. A collection of essays from the Berkeley/Chicago/Harvard Project on "Religious Studies and Liberal Education: Toward a Global Perspective" which focuses on the introductory course. The essays, both theoretical and practical, are organized around the following themes: types of introductory courses, thinking about the traditions, a symposium on "how I teach the introductory course," and the classroom experience.

32. Marsden, George M., and Bradley J. Longfield. The Secularization of the Academy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. A collection of essays which traces the marginalization of religious sponsors and leaders in higher education over the past century and a half as well as the recent displacement of religion from the curriculums and programs in universities today.

33. Miller, Richard B., Laurie L. Patton, and Stephen H. Webb. "Rhetoric, Pedagogy, and the Study of Religion." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 62 (1994): 819-50. The authors offer a rhetorical paradigm for conceptualizing teaching rather than an instrumental one (which centers on questions on mechanics) or a transmission paradigm (with its focus on imparting specific concepts and tools of the subdisciplines within religious studies. Their paradigm, in contrast, "champions interactive, local, and practical dimensions of teaching."

34. Palmer, Parker J. To Know as We are Known: A Spirituality of Education. San Francisco: Harper, 1983. Parker offers a critique of contemporary higher education which too often operates on the basis of an epistemology of objectivism within a teaching paradigm of informational transference. In its place, Palmer argues for an approach which considers truth as personal and sees teaching and learning as activities which engage the whole person.

35. Segovia, Fernando F., and Mary Ann Tolbert, ed. Teaching the Bible: The Discourses and Politics of Biblical Pedagogy. Maryknoll: Orbis, 1998. This collection of essays, both theoretical and practical, from people around the world explores implications of an interpreter's social location for teaching the Bible. The essays are divided into four sections: 1) Biblical Interpretation and Theological Education, 2) Social Location and Biblical Pedagogy in the United States, 3) Social Location and Biblical Pedagogy in Global Perspective, and 4) Biblical Interpretation: Pedagogical Practices.

36. Smith, Jonathan Z. "'Narratives into Problems': The College Introductory Course and the Study of Religion." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 56 (1988): 727-740.

37. Spotlight on Teaching. An insert published by the AAR and appearing in Religious Studies News that is "designed to encourage creative and sustained reflection, research, and innovation" in teaching religion.

38. Teaching Theology and Religion. This journal, published by Blackwell's publishers in co-operation with the Wabash Center for Teaching, is dedicated to exploring issues of teaching and learning within the various subdisciplines of religion. Each issue includes articles, notes from the classroom, and reviews of books (both in religious studies and higher education more generally) that are relevant to issues of teaching and learning.

39. Wabash Center for Teaching Religion and Theology. Besides listing grant opportunities from the Center for individuals and institutions involved in teaching projects and research, the Wabash Center for Teaching Religion and Theology also has links to internet resources relating to teaching theology and religion. This site is an excellent place for someone to begin searching the variety of resources on the web as it contains links to syllabi, bibliographies, electronic journals, papers, and databases to name just a few categories.

40. Williams, Raymond B., ed. "Thematic Issue on Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 65, vol 4 (1997). An entire volume of JAAR is devoted to a selection of papers prepared for a consultation on teaching and learning involving participants in some of the AAR and Lilly Teaching Workshops. Different issues addressed in the volume include the teacher's life and vocation, goals in teaching, issues of advocacy and objectivity, concerns about specialization and interconnectedness, the social function of teaching, and how to teach students who vary in their preparedness and commitments.

Novels

41. Sams, Ferrol. The Whisper of the River. New York: Penguin, 1984. A novel which follows the collegiate adventures of a young man from rural Georgia at a Baptist University in the years leading up to World War II. The naive protagonists development toward maturity provides the reader with a humorous look at faculty, campus life, and the educational experience from the perspective of the student.

42. Sarton, May. The Small Room. New York: Norton, 1961. A novel about the first year of teaching by a young woman, fresh from her doctoral work, at a New England women's college. The novel portrays campus life and the student-teacher relationship through the perspective of a faculty member.

 

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