What Teaching Is

Merriam-Webster defines teaching as "to cause to know something." This implies that for teaching to happen, learning must occur. And that is absolutely true. Saying "I taught it, but they didn't learn it" is as much of a contradiction as saying "I sold it, but nobody bought it." If a student hasn't learned, then whatever I was doing–lecturing, presenting, or explaining–wasn't actually teaching. At best, it was attempted teaching.

This makes teaching hard. But it's also what makes it fun. I love preparing a recitation or lecture: coming up with an initial way to explain a problem, thinking through which parts will be confusing or could be misunderstood, and iterating on the explanation until I have a cohesive, easy-to-follow story. And then, during class, asking a lot of questions and being relentless about getting answers. Nothing gives me more information about whether learning is actually happening than how students answer my questions.

Defined this way, teaching really is problem-solving. If a student isn't learning, I need to figure out why. Is my explanation less clear than I thought? I'll ask a colleague to observe me and give feedback. Has a student missed class due to illness? I'll sit down with them to provide the support needed to catch up. Is a student stressed or sleep-deprived? I'll provide the support I can and escalate to the appropriate resources. As a teacher, I take responsibility for doing everything in my power to ensure every student learns.

It is more important now than ever to remember that teaching requires more than just explanation. AI can do a great job of solving problems and explaining concepts, but it is hopeless at ensuring that learning actually takes place. If we view teaching only as explanation, AI becomes detrimental to learning. We fall under the impression that learning has occurred simply because code passed test cases or an assignment was well-written. Instead, we must take responsibility for the full learning process. We must never assume learning has occurred without seeing it with our own eyes. We must monitor the learning process more intentionally than ever–through in-class problem-solving, reproduced homework problems, or frequent quizzes–while explaining to our students exactly how this rigor helps them.

Just as I now take responsibility for my students' learning, I want to thank some of the people who once took responsibility for mine. David Kosbie taught me that teaching is inseparable from learning. Mike Taylor taught me to care deeply about the people I work with. Austin Schick taught me to ask lots of questions. Lauren Sands taught me how to help others grow into their best selves. And the many TAs and students I've worked with taught me how to be a better educator and leader.