The Nitty Gritty on Being a Cool Teacher

In the Blogging Heads video, professor William Deresiewicz from Yale University and Marc Edmunson from the University of Virginia discuss their stance on what professional teaching should be like at the university level. In his New York Times Magazine article, Marc Edmunson states that he believes that teachers should not try to be cool in the classroom and strictly stick to educating their students. In response, William Deresiewicz says that a teacher should establish a good connection with their students in order for them to be fully immerged in the classroom setting. Deresiewicz’s stance on how teachers should act at school is a valid point because students should be able to have a likable person to look up to. Teachers with neutral personalities do not receive enough gratitude from their students if they do not establish a good relationship with them.

At the beginning of the video, William Deresiewicz summarizes Marc Edmunson’s article by saying that “we as teachers need to resist the temptation to be cool, because the job of the teacher is, in a sense, to be uncool; not to model the conventional behavior that students are already invested in emulating, but rather to be ourselves.” Here, Edmunson tries to validate the point that university level teachers’ main priority is to educate students as opposed to trying to have impressive personalities or become friends with students. However, the question of what makes a “cool” teacher arises. In a sense, Edmunson’s stance on this topic has its valid points. Teachers should not be held responsible for whether or not they are liked by students but merely should be expected to teach and educate them. However, when looked at from a student’s perspective, a student will most likely want to have an approachable and caring professor whom they will feel comfortable to be around.

Students in college have many expectations from teachers. As a result, these expectations can weigh down on them causing stress and intimidation. Teachers with high expectations and neutral personalities add to this stress, causing the student be intimidated by them and not want to establish any kind of relationship with them. A student will not look forward to going to class with dull professors who merely lecture as opposed to a teacher who engages everyone into the classroom discussion. Also, teachers with a neutral personality will make it harder for students who want to see them for extra help. A student will most likely want to approach an accessible and understanding professor for help outside the classroom than someone who will put them down for their trouble.

William Deresiewicz explains that while teaching, he makes jokes and analogies for his students to better understand the topics at hand. He likes to keep a cool attitude toward his students for their entertainment as well as to grasp their attention for their benefit. This shows that his style of teaching is not completely neutral, but still does not fit the “cool” label. Being a cool teacher does not call for a teacher to be completely inattentive of their student’s progress but more so means that teachers should have a likable personality so that students are not intimidated or unimpressed by their teachers. Many college students would love to have a completely “cool” teacher that does not care whether or not they show up to class, but students still need that teacher who will make sure they are learning and not slacking off while in the classroom.