Callings

The Craft of Teaching (and Learning): Carlo Rotella

Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education Season 6 Episode 7

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0:00 | 46:50

Carlo Rotella, a writer and a professor at Boston College, is interested in the nuts and bolts of teaching. In particular, he is interested in the craft of teaching and the ways we can build classroom experiences that help people make meaning. His new book, What Can I Get Out of This?: Teaching and Learning in a Classroom Full of Skeptics, follows the experience of a single cohort of students in a required introductory literature course, most of whom are not English majors. Rotella tells the story of what happens when students practice discussing ideas and readings with each other over a semester and then follows up with them a few years later, revealing that the course’s impact yielded an impactful return on investment in one’s education and life. This conversation captures the impact of classroom learning alongside the ways our callings within and outside of education can help us practice being better at what we do.