Dr Chris Marshall - Tertiary Teaching Excellence Teaching Profile

Religious Studies Programme, Victoria University of Wellington

There is an old debate about whether good teachers are born or made. The choice is specious of course, for in most areas of human experience nature and nurture exert their influence by way of mutual interaction. The ability to teach well is fundamentally a gift. But gifts never come fully formed, and even the most naturally ungifted of communicators can still lift their game considerably by acquiring some basic pedagogical skills.

As I have reflected on my own teaching practice, I have arrived at several conclusions about the key ingredients that go into the mix of successful teaching.

Personal presence

The first prerequisite for good teaching, I believe, is neither in-born talent, nor masterful technique, but rather personal presence. Good teachers do not just teach about their subject; they “in-dwell” their subject, so that when students encounter the teacher, they experience someone who has been personally formed, even transformed, by their field of knowledge, and who teaches out of the centre of that experience. Great teachers do less to persuade students of the value of learning their subject than to parade it before their eyes.

It is a mistake to believe that the practice of teaching derives merely or wholly from the intention to teach well. Much of human communication is in fact unintentional; most human learning occurs unconsciously from what we observe and participate in. The same applies to teaching.

Teachers teach as much by the way they conduct themselves in the classroom, by the way they act and react to people, by the things they value and the values they embody, as they do by conscious didacticism.

Conviction

From this comes a second prerequisite for effective pedagogy, which is authority or conviction on the part of the teacher. Before they give it, teachers must first get it, and get it deeply. Paradoxically the true evidence of having got it is humility. It is a humility born of the teacher’s awareness of being dwarfed by the grandeur of the knowledge he or she is dealing with, together with a confidence of having gained at least some true insight into it.

What makes teaching so satisfying for me is that it constantly renews my enthusiasm for my subject; it replenishes my awareness of the worthwhileness of knowing this kind of stuff, and of the value of inviting others to discover it too.

A student recently commented of my classes that I teach as though it matters. And it does matter to me. I consider the things I teach to be important, so that imparting my understanding of them as clearly as possible is not only a pleasure but also a responsibility – a responsibility to the discipline I am part of and towards those encountering it for the first time.

There is a world of difference, I believe, between being a good teacher and a good entertainer. Good teaching is not simply good theatre. A good entertainer will amuse or impress the audience by his or her rhetorical or comic abilities; a good teacher should impress them with the beauty of knowledge, and the satisfaction of seeking to understand it.

Content

This is why I am old fashioned enough to believe that content is still important in teaching. Certainly classroom teaching should never be reduced to the mere transfer of information, especially in this electronic age. Students need to learn how to learn, not just what to learn, and more than ever they need to develop the critical skills to evaluate the almost infinite amount of information now out there. But one important way of acquiring this capacity is to see it modelled by their instructor, observing how the lecturer navigates through the terrain, what information is chosen as significant, and what explanatory relationships are considered most persuasive.

Adult education specialists are sometimes scornful of lectures as a method of teaching. But what a good lecture can still do, better arguably than any other mode of instruction, is to impart wisdom – the wisdom needed to turn information into reliable knowledge.

This requires the lecturer to say something substantial in each lecture. My lectures are always generous in content. I want students to leave feeling they have learned something new, and that they could not have done so any more effectively than by being in this class. This is one important way of showing respect for students. To waste students’ time with ill-prepared or disorganised or boring lectures is fundamentally disrespectful to them.

Respect

Respect for students, then, is the fourth essential feature of my approach to teaching. So called “student-centred learning“, to my mind, basically comes down to the matter of respect – respect for them as co-learners, if not yet co-equals, in the enterprise.

Respect also entails the obligation to support and encourage students, and to be available to them out of class hours. I strive to be approachable to and welcoming of students, and work very hard at creating a non-anxious environment in the classroom, since performance anxiety, especially in public, is a huge block to learning. “There is no such thing as a silly question”, one of my own lecturers used to say, “only silly answers”. That may not be entirely true. But if students are afraid to ask questions for fear of looking silly, their learning will suffer.

Preparation

Respect also demands good preparation for teaching. The preparation needs to be of two kinds. One kind is academic. Throughout my career I have never accepted any rigid distinction between teaching and research. Much of the initial spade work for my publications has come from lecture preparation, while lectures frequently become the occasion for drawing on my research. The other kind of preparation is pedagogical. I spend a lot of time thinking about how to organise the content, how best to explain the ideas, what examples or illustrations to use, what scholarly disputes to cover and how they should be assessed.

The structure of the lecture is incredibly important. It needs to be logical and have a clear progression, without becoming formulaic; the subject matter needs to be presented in distinct and manageable sections; and within each section, it is important to enumerate the distinct ideas or facts that are pertinent. The real skill (especially in my area) is to itemise the key points of learning while developing a larger coherent narrative about the topic. Itemising the key points brings understanding, while the unfolding narrative sustains interest.

Delivery

Finally, delivery is fundamental to pedagogical success. I visit and revisit my lecture notes many times before stepping into class. I rehearse delivery in my imagination before doing it in practice. Part of this rehearsal is anticipating the interactive components that may enhance student engagement. Over time every teacher builds a repertoire of such techniques, and brings out of the tool bag what will work in each setting.

After almost a quarter century of teaching I am still amazed by how different every class group is, and how distinct each lecture performance is, even when repeating familiar material. Scholars have found that the transmission of oral tradition in oral societies is simultaneously conservative and creative; the same essential content is conveyed each time the tradition is narrated, but every telling has creative features, since every linguistic event is unique. Something similar applies to lecturing. The chemistry of each class is different, so the delivery of each lecture is also different, even if only subtly. There is therefore an irreducible role for spontaneity in even the most carefully prepared lecture. It is this that prevents the lecture from degenerating into a speech and the lecturer not merely going through the ropes but communicating directly with them, as individuals, on this occasion.

Which brings us back to respect. Excellent teaching is grounded in respect: respect for the subject area and the importance of understanding it, and respect for students as human persons who – to pinch Aristotle’s words – “by nature desire knowledge”. It involves respect for them as colearners in the process; respect for their intelligence, and their ability to discern depth and sincerity in their teachers; respect for their capacity to see things the teacher fails to see, and also for their right to see things differently; and respect for the special relationship that is created in the classroom through the shared endeavours of teaching and learning.

The Future?

I feel honoured to be included in the ranks of TTEA recipients, but I doubt I will ever become blasé about my capacities as a teacher. I can still get butterflies before a class, and I rarely attempt to wing it, even with familiar material. There is also much for me still to learn about teaching – especially about the place of technology in teaching and about how to be more effective in small group settings. I am also aware that as my courses diversify in the coming years, I will need to develop new methodologies to match. I hope to use my prize money for such purposes.

Peer and Student Comments

“I have completed nine years of tertiary education: five at Victoria University (BA/LLB); three at Bible College of New Zealand (BD); and one at The University of Auckland completing several additional papers required for ordination. I can confidently say that Chris was the most inspirational lecturer that I had during nine years of study.”
Jo Kelly-Moore (former student)

“In my mind a good teacher is one who is able to communicate their subject in ways that the student will understand and be able to apply. In contrast, a great teacher not only communicates clearly, but also inspires and models a commitment to enquiry and learning as a way of life; their influence continues long after their teaching days are done. I have had many good teachers in my life, but Chris Marshall stands out as a truly great teacher.”
Karen Kemp (former undergraduate student; current MA student)

“I am writing to say thanks for the course. It was excellent…Thanks for your organisation. Thanks for your quiet enthusiasm which grabs a person’s interest but gives them space to think…Thanks for your commitment to clear communication, and not getting wrapped up in the sound of your own ideas…If there were more courses of this genre I’d take them.”
P. Carew (former undergraduate student; current MA student)

“In the whole of my five years at Victoria University I have so far only ever been tempted to write to a lecturer because of a brilliant course on about two occasions, and so far you are the first lecturer to tempt me out of procrastination to actually write something! I took your paper at the end of last year …and I can categorically say that it is one of the best, if not the best, paper I have attended at university so far. I was transfixed from the first day. I have never enjoyed sitting still for two hours, let along being in a 2 hour lecture, but I had no problems at all sitting through your lectures… The content was riveting, but more so I think because of your lecturing style and presence…”
Melanie Phillips (former undergraduate student)

“Chris’s lectures are unfailingly interesting. He manages to traverse the fraught territory of New Testament scholarship with clarity, wit and enthusiasm. Some would consider such subjects as the study of Pauline theology to be entirely esoteric. Chris manages, however, to make these subjects alive to all students, whether or not they have a background in theology... In academic matters, he maintains a lightness of touch that is nonetheless rigorous and can never be accused of “dumbing down”. As a mentor and academic guide for students, Chris’s performance is also exemplary. He provides his time unstintingly to students, listens carefully to them, and treats their inquiries with respect and honesty.”
Dr Tim McKenzie (tutor and colleague)