UWA SPOT/SET Project

106)    the teacher has been approachable

Being seen as approachable may take a number of forms;  approachable in the sense that students feel comfortable coming to talk to you but also being accessible such as in providing flexible office hours and other forms of contact.

·         Parker Palmer (1998) talks a lot in Chapter Two about the fear that teachers have of their students, thus placing a barrier between teacher and student. 

·         Zita McLure’s Case in Teaching Matters: Tutorials (Centre for Learning and Teaching, 1992) gives a range of techniques for developing effective relationships with students.

·         A brief and insightful note on the effectiveness of ‘office hours’ is provided in Gullette (1984)

·         Davis, Wood & Wilson (1983) present ways in which to make connections with your students 

 

Centre for Learning and Teaching. (1992). Teaching matters: Tutorials [Video Tape]. Sydney, Australia: Centre for Learning and Teaching, University of Technology Sydney.

Davis, B. G., Wood, L., & Wilson, R. C. (1983). A Berkeley compendium of suggestions for teaching with excellence [World Wide Web]. The University of California. Retrieved 20 October, 2002, from the World Wide Web: http://teaching.berkeley.edu/compendium/sectionsmenu.html#Section16

Gullette, M. (Ed.). (1984). The art and craft of teaching (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard-Danforth Center for Teaching and Learning.

Palmer, P. (1998). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher's life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.