Sober Philosophy: What Makes Teaching Good? (Gabriel presents)

A great teacher can be life-changing, while a bad teacher can make even topics you love torturous. But why is that? What separates good teaching from bad teaching?

We think of teaching as what happens in a classroom, but as a social and thinking species, we’re always teaching and learning from everyone we interact with. What we learn, in turn, becomes how we think and who we are. For something so both ubiquitous and important,
pinpointing what makes teaching good is surprisingly difficult.

Here’s my attempt at doing so:

1. Use the language of the student. Math concepts on Wikipedia are written for math students, and as such, they’re virtually incomprehensible to most people. But translated into plainer terms, many of these concepts become surprisingly accessible.
Good teaching means bridging what someone already knows to what they don't, using their language rather than yours.
2. Let the student come to you. A fellow Sober Philosophy member once asked his martial arts instructor if his stance was good. The instructor said it was. But when the student pressed him with specific questions, the instructor gave him specific corrections. When asked why he didn't offer those corrections upfront, the instructor
said he only gives answers when the student is ready to hear and apply them. The Socratic method and discovery-based learning work on similar logic: after you've done the hard work of sitting with a problem, the answer has somewhere to land. Before that, it's just noise.
3. Get the balances right. Something with no challenge is boring. Something too challenging is overwhelming. The zone of maximal learning sits in between, where you're stretched but not broken. The same balancing act applies to feedback: too much guidance and the student never learns to think independently; too little and they spiral into misconceptions. A good teacher calibrates their teaching to the
specific student at that specific time.
4. Inspire and teach passion for the subject. Beyond transferring knowledge, teaching also transfers passion: an interest in and a love of the topic. You can often trace your deepest interests back to a specific person who made a subject feel alive. When a great teacher inspires, what they're really doing is showing you what it looks like to
find something genuinely fascinating.

Questions to consider:

1. What else makes teaching good?
2. Personalized tutoring massively outperforms group instruction. Does this imply that all group-based education is a compromise, or can groups offer something a tutor cannot?
3. Are there subjects that are inherently hard to teach well?
4. Teaching often shares the stage with daycare, job training, and status-seeking in academia. What would institutions of learning look like if they were dedicated entirely to curiosity and knowledge?
5. What is the role of AI in teaching? Can it replicate the calibration of a great tutor, and if so, does it still lack the ability to inspire?

Symptom-free people with the capacity to listen considerately to diverse viewpoints are invited to attend after successfully RSVPing.

We begin the discussion at 1:00 pm sharp in the mezzanine above the lobby of the Graduate Hotel in Seattle's University District. Feel free to come up to 30 minutes early and hang out with us beforehand.

AUDIO RECORDED (AR):
This meeting will be audio recorded for conversational dynamics analysis and testing purposes. This recording will not be made publically available.

OPENING ROUNDTABLE FORMAT (ORF):

1. The topic presenter begins the discussion by explaining why they are interested in the topic and some introductory thoughts on it.
2. Each participant in turn going clockwise from the presenter describes their general thoughts on the topic.
3. If one is not ready to speak they can just say “pass” and the next person speaks.
4. After we've gone around once anyone who passed will get a second chance to comment.
5. Once everyone has given opening remarks or passed twice, Opening Roundtable is completed and the meeting shifts into its main format.

TIMED DIRECTION FORMAT (TDRF>5):
If there are more than 5 people present we will use the format below.

1. We will divide up the timed direction discussion time by the number of participants plus one (for a buffer). A timer will be set for this amount of time.
2. Each participant in turn will become a Discussion Director and lead the group discussion.
3. If one is not ready to direct they dimply say “pass” and the next person becomes the Discussion Director.
4. Anyone who arrives after step 1 (above), may participate but will not get a turn as Discussion Director.
5. The Discussion Director can make statements or ask questions, or interrupt or redirect the discussion at their discretion.
6. The discussion participants can state their own opinions only when asked by the Discussion Director, not Interrupt others and accede to the Discussion Director’s interruptions or redirections.
7. When the timer goes off the person speaking finishes their thought and then the next participant clockwise becomes the next Discussion Director.
8. After we've gone around once anyone who passed will get a second chance to direct.

At the end of the meeting, participants will have an opportunity to vote on the topic and format for the following meeting.