This is really a fantastic blog!!! In fact the bias is all-around us. Not only students are treated differently by teacher, sometime teachers are treated differently by students. Like your pictures of VT presidents, student’s also prefer to sit in the lecture of a white male rather than non-white female, especially when the female is petite (definitely not the case in our CP class ^-^).

Thanks for brought up the issue of our own limitation. However, sometimes I find it hard to balance to between confidence and awareness of our limitation. To tackle with this problem, it goes back to our previous discussion about authentic teaching. Being yourself. Realize our human limitation and at the same time deal with it. As akin01 says, we can not reduce our limitation to zero, but a good and friendly community will be helpful to that.

Hi Bernardo, thanks for the ice break and alternative supplement suggestions. I totally agree with you. Alternative way of explanation not only beneficial to students, but also to teachers. It makes me a better communicator. The essential part of teaching is communication. If we can explain things through different ways in teaching, then we can also do that with our colleagues and co-authors.

Thanks for recommending this book. I will definitely read it. It is always inspiring to know a group of people trying to be a better teacher despite of the challenges.

Hi Waili, thanks for sharing this encouraging insight. We all have our comparative advantage to offer in teaching.

Hi, Ashish, thanks for brought up the dialogue between students and instructor into the discussion. I totally agree with you. A candid conversation with students about our background starts with a candid conversation with ourselves. This authentic teaching provides more opportunity for both students and instructors to learn from each other.

Before reading your blog, I was recommended and also planned to target mainly on the median student in teaching. It is interesting to see that you sharing a totally different teach strategy. Paying attention to these two tail students echoes to the idea in your previous blog “No one less”. I really appreciate you doing that, which give me a second thought in my own teaching strategy.

Thanks for putting “bad teachers” into this discussion. That’s definitely another perspective in this discussion. While reading your post, it suddenly occurs to me: why bad teachers are still there after years of poisoning their students?

Part of the blame goes to the system, forcing professors doing things they are not good at. But also, we as students are ( at least, I am) partly responsible for that as well. I am not fully utilize the evaluation system! I find it hard to say bad things about professor, especially a senior/old one. Firstly, maybe they already finished their tenure check and don’t care about teaching and there is nothing I can do about it. Also, he/she is too old to change. What’s more, I am embarrassed that the professor may figure out that it was me giving the low rate, so he/she may give me a hard time later. So every year, when I find the professor is still teaching the class, I feel bad for the those students. I should have done something to change it, but I didn’t. Hopefully, I can give it a try next time.

Yes, I used the words of this blog. Hopefully this wordle will give the readers some general information before they dive into the blog.

Thanks for this valuable tips. I think what’s also important is to be yourself. I remember in my first teaching experience, I was copying the way the previous teacher taught it. But I feels that in certain point, I am not convertible with the way of the teaching. Maybe it is natural with that teacher, but it is not natural for me. That’s not me! Therefore, it is key (and also takes time) to teach the way you are.