i Copyright and Other Legal Notices The individual essays contained within this edited volume are © Copyright 2006 by their respective authors. This collection of essays as a compendium is © Copyright 2006 Society for the Teaching of Psychology You may print multiple copies of these materials for your own personal use, including use in your classes and/or sharing with individual colleagues as long as the author's name and institution and a notice that the materials were obtained from the website of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP) <www.teachpsych.org> appear on the copied document. For research and archival purposes, public libraries and libraries at schools, colleges, universities and similar educational institutions may print and store in their research or lending collections multiple copies of this compendium as a whole without seeking further permission of STP (the editors would appreciate receiving a pro forma notice of any such library use). No other permission is granted to you to print, copy, reproduce, or distribute additional copies of these materials. Anyone who wishes to print, copy, reproduce, or distribute copies for other purposes must obtain the permission of the individual copyright owners. Particular care should be taken to seek permission from the respective copyright holder(s) for any commercial or "for profit" use of these materials. Edition/Version Because this book is being published electronically, we will periodically correct errors that may be present in the text. Updated edition/version numbers will be reported here. Date Version March 22, 2007 1.0 ii Suggested Reference Format Following examples in the 5th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association for reference materials found online, we suggest that the overall text be referenced in this fashion: Irons, J. G., Beins, B. C., Burke, C., Buskist, B., Hevern, V., & Williams, J. E. (Eds.). (2006). Teaching psychology in autobiography: Perspectives from exemplary psychology teachers, vol. 2 . Society for the Teaching of Psychology. Retrieved [insert date] from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology Web site: http://www.teachpsych.org/resources/tia2006/ Individual chapters may be referenced in this fashion: Weiten, W. (2006). A Fortuitous Life Path. In J. G. Irons, B. C. Beins, C. Burke, B. Buskist, V. Hevern, & J. W. Williams, (Eds.), Teaching psychology in autobiography: Perspectives from exemplary psychology teachers, vol. 2 (chap. 18). Society for the Teaching of Psychology. Retrieved [insert date] from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology Web site: http://www.teachpsych.org/resources/tia2006/ iii Table of Contents Preface ................................................................................................................ vi 1. Intention and Commitment William Buskist, Auburn University .................................................................. 1 2. Teaching as a Problem in Applied Psychology Stephen L. Chew, Samford University ................................................................ 10 3. The Fears and Joys of Teaching High School Psychology Amy C. Fineburg ................................................................................................. 17 4. The Road Not Taken Diane Finley, Prince George’s University........................................................... 24 5. Teaching as an Unplanned Career Path Amy T. Galloway, Appalachian State University ............................................... 31 6. With a Little Help From Our Friends: Teaching in Community David E. Johnson, John Brown University ......................................................... 38 7. A Wonderful Life Mary E. Kits, Ball State University ..................................................................... 45 8. Epiphany in Schlenly Park James H. Korn...................................................................................................... 52 9. Living, Learning, Teaching Thomas E. Ludwig, Hope College....................................................................... 58 10. Striving for Excellence Maria Lynn, New Jersey City University ............................................................ 66 iv 11. You Never Know For Whom You Toil… Jim Matiya, Moraine Valley Community College/ North Central College......... 71 12. Learning to Teach, Teaching to Learn Joseph A. Mayo, Gordon College ....................................................................... 77 13. Nothing More Than a University Professor Engaged in Teaching, Research, and Service: Nor Less Dean Keith Simonton, University of California, Davis....................................... 85 14. On Becoming a Teacher of Psychology George M. Slavich, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School ........................ 92 15. I Am Part of All That I Have Met (Tennyson’s “Ulysses”) Jeanne M. Stahl, Morris Brown College ............................................................. 100 16. College Teaching: My First Few Years Jeffrey R. Stowell, Eastern Illinois University ................................................... 108 17. Teaching Psychology Can Be Magical Mark W. Vernoy, Palomar College .................................................................... 113 18. A Fortuitous Life Path Wayne Weiten, University of Nevada, Las Vegas ............................................. 118 19. Changing Course: A Teacher in Transition Kristin Habashi Whitlock Viewmont High School ............................................ 126 v Preface A collection of 53 outstanding teachers contributed to STP’s first volume of Teaching Psychology in Autobiography: Perspectives from Exemplary Psychology Teachers . Each contributor to this volume had received national recognition for his or her excellence in teaching and/or leadership in advancing the teaching of psychology at some point over the last four decades. Teaching Psychology in Autobiography serves as an insightful and inspirational account of success becoming an outstanding teacher of psychology. Volume 2 of Teaching Psychology in Autobiography: Perspectives from Exemplary Psychology Teachers extends the mission of the first volume by including 19 more invited autobiographies. The authors enthusiastically shared their teaching stories by addressing their early development and maturation as teachers, offering insights to their personal philosophies of teaching, and sharing their advice about how others might become effective teachers of psychology. In keeping with the ideals of the first volume, we invited recipients of all five of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP) teaching excellence awards (Robert S. Daniel (Four-Year College or University) Award; Two-Year College Award; Moffet Memorial (High School) Award; Early Career Award; and the McKeachie Graduate Student Award), all recipients of the American Psychological Foundation’s Teaching Excellence Award (now called the Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award), past and present editors of Teaching of Psychology , and all past-presidents of STP to contribute chapters to this volume. To provide consistency in both content and style across all chapters and volumes of this series, each contributor responded to the following 12 questions: • What kind of preparation for teaching did you receive in your doctoral or master’s program? If you had a course on teaching, please describe it. • Did you have a teaching mentor or mentors? If so, please describe any unique characteristics of that relationship. • If you did not have any formal training in teaching or teaching mentors, please describe how you “taught yourself” to become an effective teacher. • What factors may have led to your decision to become a college and university level teacher? vi • Have you faced any obstacles in your teaching? If so, how have you attempted to overcome these obstacles in your own teaching? Please describe any issues with which you continue to struggle and how you attempt to deal with them. • Many academics see their work as a zero sum game—for example, time spent in the lab is time that necessarily cannot be spent working on teaching and so on. Have you felt that you have to sacrifice your research, service, or outreach efforts in order to become an effective teacher. Why or why not? • What principles rest at the heart of your personal philosophy of teaching? • In what interesting and significant ways has your approach to teaching changed over your academic career? • What sorts of things do you find most rewarding from your teaching? What are the greatest frustrations and how do you try to overcome them? • What methods and processes do you use to evaluate and reflect on upon your teaching? How has your view of the role of assessment of teaching changed over the course of your teaching career? • In what efforts do you engage to continue to improve your teaching? How frequently do you engage in these efforts? • If someone wants to become a good or even outstanding teacher, what would you advise him or her to do? As you will see when you read any chapter in this volume, the authors organized their answers to these questions under the following headings: • My Early Development as a Teacher • Working at Defining Myself as a Teacher • The Examined Life of a Teacher • Advice for New Teachers • Final Thoughts We are grateful to all those who have shared their teaching stories so that others might benefit from their experiences and sage advice. We would also like to thank the STP leadership, particularly members