Teaching Award Recipient 2003-04

Dr. Stephen Lynch

English

“When I first began to teach, I aspired to a style I admired in teachers who had a special influence on me. I figured that I would master that style and teach everything accordingly. I have since realized, however, that I need to adjust or even transform my style from course to course, and from day to day within the same course. I no longer want to be the one teacher I most admired. Instead, I want to be several teachers: the one who roams about the room, the one who sits calmly on the desk, the one who gathers students in a circle, the organized lecturer, the negotiator of lively discussions, the teacher who argues and defends a position, and the teacher who asks probing questions without committing to any particular view.”