As a college professor myself, I was interested in this book's title, especially the prospect of strategies of successful teachers "in the trenches." I enjoyed this part of the book immensely. Unfortunately, it proved to be only a portion of what I wanted.
The first fifty-three pages of the book do not talk about successful teachers at all, but bring up all the challenges which professors face from both college students and administrations today. While some may find this enriching, especially those faculty with an interest in assessment and evaluation, I found it boring.
Finally, Chapter 4 arrived. Here were case studies of ten award-winning teacher scholars. Each entry detailed a class observed in meticulous detail and included highlights from a follow-up interview with the professor.
I had expected the rest of the book to analyze the successful strategies of all the professors and come up with some healthy conclusions, but it only came up with generic results, no specific answers. For example, successful professors seem to express "emotional intelligence." Great. Successful professors also are good at noticing students' attitudes and needs in class and adjusting quickly to satisfy those needs.
The rest of the book was similar to the opening few pages. It discussed the problems of dealing with diverse students, systemic problems with lack of training for Teaching Assistants, and the need for a comprehensive program for faculty development.
While the book is well written and seems to be very well-documented (numerous, current sources), I feel as if the book is not exactly what the cover makes it out to be. This book may be of particular interest to a professor involved in the region of faculty assessment or professors in Education departments, but I found it lacking in the areas of solid teaching strategies.
I did receive some good ideas for my own use in teaching, but I would recommend other books like McKeachie's Teaching Tips before this one.
